Quote:
Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts
Marc Staal on the 2nd pairing is hilarious. I still think they miss the playoffs.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Monahammer
A barkov or Ekblad injury may just put them in the bedard sweepstakes. Marc Staal is on their second pair for god sakes, and as I understand he is held together by scotch tape.
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I love that a team that won the President's Trophy and had 122 points last year (3 more than the cup champ Avs) is suddenly in danger of missing the playoffs outright and hilariously in the Bedard sweepstakes?
Some changes were made, and no I don't think they're better, in fact I think they're worse, but there's no way they will have a drop that significant. I think they'll be between 98-108 points, and comfortably in a spot without any question. They made fairly even swaps in talent except that they didn't replace Weegar. That will definitely hurt, but Forsling is Weegar light, so the drop to him isn't that big.
Yes, Staal on the second pair is an issue, no doubt. That's the big hole in the lineup that I can see.
Who did they lose that was actually with the team all year, meaning, was NOT a trade deadline acquisition?
Huberdeau-swapped for another 100+ point winger in Tkachuk. It remains to be seen if he can get to that level again, but he's good for 80-90 points. Maybe a small downgrade if any.
Marchment-good player on the 3rd line. I really like him but only played 54 games due to injury. Replaced by a combination of White or Cousins. A moderate downgrade.
Weegar-Forsling replaces his spot in the lineup, and he's good, perhaps almost as good as Weegar. He was +41 last year with just 37 points. A small downgrade if any. The actual problem was replacing Forsling's spot with Staal. Big downgrade.
Vatrano-was getting healthy scratched regularly by the end because he doesn't do much on the ice except score. He's not good defensively or good on the small details of the game. Replaced by either White or Cousins. Either way, probably a wash if not an overall improvement in team play.
Acciari was in and out of the lineup and only played 20 games. Decent player, but no big loss.
Giroux was a deadline acquisition and didn't move the needle much on the team. Tippett was traded for him, but he wasn't living up to his pedigree. It's not a big loss.
Chiarot was a deadline acquisition and wasn't very good at all. Definitely not going to miss him. Pissed that they blew a pick to get him.
The one thing that stands out is a lack of Duclair until December/January. That's how a guy like Balcers plays on the 2nd line. He's a placeholder until Duke returns, and when he does, the lineup looks pretty damn good to me, maybe needs a 2nd pairing d-man.
The reason Tkachuk isn't playing with Barkov is because Sasha has great chemistry with Verhaeghe, and good chemistry with Reinhart. I'm sure you'll see Tkachuk on PP 1 where he'll rack up some points.
When healthy
Verhaeghe-Barkov-Reinhart
Tkachuk-Bennett-Duclair
Those are two very dangerous scoring lines. Nothing to sneeze at there.
Luostarinen-Lundell-White
Lomberg-Cousins-Hornqvist
Not a lot of change in the bottom 6. Lundell is about to break out big time and could take over Bennett's job by year's end. Luostarinen is sneaky good and sound defensively. White may be due for a rebound, but we'll see. He has potential. I like the combination of Lomberg and Cousins...two feisty smaller guys. Hornqvist will add some snarl with them as he finishes up this contract.
Overall, the forward group is still very good. There's nothing I would call a true hole because Duclair's injury creates a mirage that they lack depth. They'll be fine.
Forsling-Ekblad: has the potential to be an elite pair. Forsling is an advance stat darling and Ekblad has the size and offensive skill to capitalize on support from his partner. I'm not too worried about this pair.
Staal-Montour: This is where I have real worries. I like Montour a lot, but he's not exactly a shut down type of guy. Staal WAS that guy, but he's pretty long in the tooth to be playing 2nd pairing minutes at this point. This is the pair that could be ripe for exposure. Time will tell, and if there's a problem, I expect a mid-season trade.
Mahura/Carlsson-Gudas: No worries here. Gudas is rock solid, but needs a slightly mobile partner to help him out. Both Mahura and Carlsson played regularly last year, so I don't have any doubts they'll be just fine, and may platoon that role.
Bobrovsky: Hopefully the good year/bad year phenomenon of Bobrovsky is a myth because he was good last year. However, if he isn't amazing, they always have their young stud Spencer Knight ready to take on more games. Overall, I don't have many concerns about goaltending either.
Coach: Maurice??? Sure, okay. He knows the game and is an adequate coach, but is he going to push this team over the top? I have some doubts. However, watching Brunette get systematically overwhelmed and outcoached in the playoffs led to this change. Likely an upgrade overall because he'll teach structure and defense. This team needed that at times last year.
I'd put their chances of missing the playoffs at about 1% or less. It's a very good team. I get that many of you don't watch them play all that often, but some of these predictions are pretty silly.
