It would be such a shame if Vegas is a crappy team in 25-26
At the rate they've been going lately, the Wild might knock them out of a playoff spot this year. The Knights really need to pull up their socks, or whatever it is you wear on your legs under armour. With Stone out of the lineup, they can't afford to just coast.
Missed the playoffs in 2022. Might miss in 2024. 2026?
If they form a habit of missing the playoffs in every even-numbered year, it would not hurt my feelings in the slightest.
__________________
WARNING: The preceding message may not have been processed in a sarcasm-free facility.
I think for whatever reason our d zone coverage is unusual for most players and takes time to learn. With the new core in its going to take a few weeks to get them used to playing this style. It took us 4-6 weeks at the start to learn it. Tonight was much better though. Great W for the Wolfman, Govi continues to impress, and Hunt really wants to become and everyday NHLer. I feel with our draft capital and cap room we got lots to rrpt for here. Somehow I feel better now than I did at the start of the year
The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Fourteen FTW For This Useful Post:
Huberdeau has been very good since the beginning of the calendar year. Obviously not living up to the dollar value of his contract but elevating his game and contributing in different ways has been nice to see.
Happy for Wolf and nice to Coronato rewarded for his hard work. Solid game for the Flames, but wow did Vegas look bad.
Of the top teams, Vegas and Boston haven’t looked great lately.
Only got to watch the third, but really happy with the entire team.
Watching Wolf reminds me of watching Gaudreau when he was a rookie. It's just hard to believe someone so small can do it, but I'm hoping history can repeat itself.
He has never been a difference maker so far in his career while being surrounded by good players.
Maybe he'll pull a Bouwmeester and win a cup later in his career but don't see that happening.
He is definitely a good player but don't see him as a difference maker. Hes not someone that'll take the game over.
To me he is a Bouwmeester lite.
Define difference maker and "taking over a game".
Sure a guy like Cale Makar can do that, but they are unicorns.
I'd be curious to see your list of dmen who "take over a game".
You've got a group of amazing offensvie dmen in the NHL: Hughes, Makar, Josi, Fox, Dahlin. I don't think anyone is pretending he's in a group like that.
To me he's in the group that would include the likes of Devon Toews, Gustav Forsling, Mortiz Seider, Morgan Rielly. Really strong two-way defenseman that can anchor your top pairing.
I don't disagree Bouwmeester is a good comparison. But Flames fans also underappreciated him because they were expecting a guy to be more way more offensive than he was ever going to be. But he was still an excellent dman.
The stats suggest he's a very good dman. Your counter arguments are framed in cliches.
The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to Jiri Hrdina For This Useful Post:
I agree with everything you said. I would also compare him to guys like Morgan Reily and Forsling.
My original comment was he isn't really a difference maker. The Leafs are 17-2 in their last 19 games without Morgan Reily. Players like that imo are not really difference makers. Good players forsure but don't think you'd miss them a whole lot in the long term.
Seider to me has a chance at being a difference maker. Toews I think is good but benefits a lot from Makar. I'd also put him in the Hanifin boat just with more egde to his game.
We should win the lotto. It's not fair that some teams awarded intentionally doing bad.
I kind of wonder how the game would be different if the team with the most points who misses the playoffs got the highest lottery ranking. I think it would incentivize winning more, because you either make the playoffs or get a high pick.
Everyone you named above is either better offensively or defensively though IMO
Hanifin is your ideal 3rd best D on a Stanley Cup contender . Nothing wrong with that and doesn’t mean he isn’t impactful . And he could still develop / find another level to be a true top pairing guy
Even in your offensive Dman group, aside from Makar and maybe Hughes, I’ve never seen many people saying “that win was on the back of Fox/Josi/Dahlin - he took the game over”.
“Taking over a game” is, as you say, a cliche. You don’t hear it often these days and even when you do it’s not really the case very much.
Everyone you named above is either better offensively or defensively though IMO
Hanifin is your ideal 3rd best D on a Stanley Cup contender . Nothing wrong with that and doesn’t mean he isn’t impactful . And he could still develop / find another level to be a true top pairing guy
I just don’t think he’s there at this time
Again the stats say that's his comparable peer group.
Even in your offensive Dman group, aside from Makar and maybe Hughes, I’ve never seen many people saying “that win was on the back of Fox/Josi/Dahlin - he took the game over”.
“Taking over a game” is, as you say, a cliche. You don’t hear it often these days and even when you do it’s not really the case very much.
Josi has taken over so many games. Against the Jets he was the difference maker especially in first 2 periods. Josi is probably the only reason Nashville is even in a playoff spot right now.
Those defenceman are definitely difference makers.
Fox as well. Dahlin also can be one but Buffalo is just a mess.
Hanifin has rarely ever taken a game over. This year was his best of his career I'll give him that. He looked to be more engaged than he ever has been. Maybe a contract year thing because he seemed to give a crap more.
