GDT: 4/25/24 - 7:00PM EDT - #1 Florida vs #1 WC Tampa Bay [ECQF GAME 3]

[Hockeyville USA]

If we lose it's the first time they've lost in the first round consecutively since 05/06 and 06/07.

Back to the drawing board, I'd rather see a full retool then waste endless years being mediocre. Hasn't worked for any team thus far except delaying the inevitable. If our strategy is we need to be fully healthy and everyone needs to be playing at 100% of their ability to win then there's no shot.

What do you propose in your full retool? Let Stamkos walk? Trade any of Cirelli, Cernak, Sergachev? Or even trade a bigger piece like Hagel, Point, Kucherov?

 

[Sky04]

What do you propose in your full retool? Let Stamkos walk? Trade any of Cirelli, Cernak, Sergachev? Or even trade a bigger piece like Hagel, Point, Kucherov?

Kucherov and Hagel stay, everyone else is fair game until we get some cap flexibility, those are the only 2 worth their cap and more. There's too much fat on this team from those runs, need to start getting value from contracts again, that's the fastest way to retool.

 

[Hoek]

I'm for a retool. The full blow up is overboard mostly because a lot of those fail horribly and take way longer than necessary. We need to keep up some kind measure of winning culture not let it go completely to shit. We still have some elite talent so a #1 overall generational pick isn't necessary.

 

[Soul Assumption]

We live in a multiverse where Stamkos is trying to carry a team but Point, Kuch and Hagel suck

 

[DistantThunderRep]

Cirelli + Perbix for MATTHEW BARZAL & Romanov. I heard this BARZAL guy is pretty good

 

[Hockeyville USA]

We live in a multiverse where Stamkos is trying to carry a team but Point, Kuch and Hagel suck

I will give Hagel a pass as he's carried the team for long stretches at 5v5 all season. Point was disappointing much of the year until the team turned it on after the trade deadline, his performance isn't that surprising; Kucherov has been super disappointing in this series of course and was tough to watch to see him visibly rage quit out there.

 

[ccman68]

idk i'm just not as mad as everyone else. florida is obviously the better team but hese have all been one goal games. if we had gotten a lucky bounce or two we could be leading 2-1. that's just what it's gonna take to win going forward as the team gets worse

 

[Antiramie]

idk i'm just not as mad as everyone else. florida is obviously the better team but hese have all been one goal games. if we had gotten a lucky bounce or two we could be leading 2-1. that's just what it's gonna take to win going forward as the team gets worse

What ifs don’t mean much when you get swept. There aren’t many teams who get beat by 3-4 goals a game for a whole series anyway.

This is about as bad as it gets for making the playoffs. We have three 40 goal scorers, including the Art Ross winner, and a top 3 goaltender and are getting our asses handed to us.

Our depth is f***ing embarrassing even for a team that sold out some to win Cups.

 

[OffBy1]

You don't "blow up" a team with the personnel and talent this team has. There may need to be a player moved at some point to shake things up, but this is not a rebuild situation.

Keep together then for what? More seasons like this? Maybe a 2nd round exit next year? It's rebuild time and I'd prefer to make it happen as fast as possible and not extend it by clinging to the past and getting rewarded with mediocrity or worse.

Kuch exhausted himself carrying us to the playoffs and now we're seeing how close we really are to being a contender with this core intact and we're getting dominated. The only reason the scores have been close games is Vasy. We've barely given FL any reason to be stressed through these 3 games.

 

[Rschmitz]

Top 10 protected, but then unprotected in 2026 if we keep it in 2025

Unless we are praying for a 1 year rebuild, I think It's best to just try one more shot

 

[JTBF81]

Keep together then for what? More seasons like this? Maybe a 2nd round exit next year? It's rebuild time and I'd prefer to make it happen as fast as possible and not extend it by clinging to the past and getting rewarded with mediocrity or worse.

Kuch exhausted himself carrying us to the playoffs and now we're seeing how close we really are to being a contender with this core intact and we're getting dominated. The only reason the scores have been close games is Vasy. We've barely given FL any reason to be stressed through these 3 games.

No, it's not rebuild time. The core talent is still there, and adding a better dman and some better value guys in the bottom 6 will help considerably. If Stamkos walks, then theyll.have space to add better ufa's as well. None of the main 8 or 9 guys are going anywhere soon(unless Stamkos walks), so there's no real re-build coming anytime soon.

As long as JBB gets rid of Jeannot, Sheary, and Perbix, adds a better RD(plus Serg will be back), adas a better bottom 6 F than Sheary, re-signs Stamkos and Duclair(or another F in the 3.5-4 range), and a Crunch player get a shot, the depth should be better. Vasy being healthy for the whole season, and hopefully a better defensive system will also help. The core is set for the next 3-5 years, so there's no point of.blowing it up. Some of the main guys had a bad series; it's unfortunate, but it happens. Better depth is what is needed, not some major rebuild, and that is what Tampa can(and likely will do).

 

[LightningStrikes]

So frustrating, but kudos to Florida. They’ve controlled all three games and score when they have to.

So Stamkos plays his best playoff hockey in like maybe ever but Point becomes completely invisible.

 

[Antiramie]

I don’t know why anyone thinks it’s smart to try to do a soft rebuild when an aging, noticeably slower Hedman is our best D-man by a country mile.

We shouldn’t have re-signed Cirelli, Cernak, and Serg to those contracts and now we’ve got plugs like Sheary and Jeannot eating cap for years too.

You have to know when to get up from the table and cut your losses. Not only that but you have to sell things that are at their highest value to get enough return to fill a lot of those holes. And there’s two names that stick out to me: Hagel and Point.

 

[Stelio Kontos]

If espn box score is accurate..
Cirelli : 0 Shots
Jeannot 0 Shots
Point 0 Shots.
Chafee 0
Duclair 1
Hagel 1.

 

[DMB06]

Count me in for a rebuild, it's very clear this team is more than just a few pieces away. Yes we have the top end talent but the NHL is not the NBA or the NFL, where your best players play nearly the entire game. In the NHL your best players play only around a third of the game, defenders a bit more. You need depth and we have none. We won two Cups and nearly a third because we matched solid depth up with our top end talent, this formula didn't become obsolete.

We see how Kuch is when he's not winning, how likely is it that he demands a trade if next season ends like this one or worse and we don't make the playoffs at all? I'd say it's very likely. Stammer and Hedman are at the point in their careers where a significant drop off can happen at any time. They already aren't the same players, what are they going to look like 2-3 years from now? We need to get Kuch, Point, Vasy, and Hagel some help. If we do that can give us another 3-4 year window.

I think we have too many holes to fix in one offseason, unless some of our younger guys take a giant, unexpected step forward. My vote is for JBB to be extremely active seeking out trades this offseason. Try to nab a few upper level prospects and a boat load of picks, target some younger guys in FA that you feel can develop into the kind of depth we had during our run, and set our sights on 2 years from now as the start of our next window. That gives us two full offseasons to get things sorted out. Anyone on the roster not named Kuch, Point, or Vasy should be available, Hagel and Hedman I'd only deal if the offers blow us away.

I'm definitely with those who want to avoid kicking the can down the road, lying to ourselves about the true talent level of this team.

 

[ccman68]

rebuild just isn’t possible imo. good luck trying to trade those cirelli, cernak and sergachev contracts. trading franchise legends like kuch point and vasy i just don’t see ever happening so they’re gonna be dragging us to at least 80 points even if we somehow traded everyone else

 

[Meuracas]

There’s still a chance and trying not to overreact but this is worrying. I’m still inclined to think our ”new” system is making us weaker rather than stronger and clearly trusting the process is not working and hence I’d much rather get rid of Blashill (or even Cooper) than blow up the whole team - much easier too.

On the F side we’re hopefully sending Sheary to the orbit and getting an injection of new guys next season and for the love of god I hope we find a way to keep Stammer. That being said, our D is a mess and losing Sergachev this season did not help. I wonder if he’ll be able to play in any of the remaining games this round. Dumba should be joining Sheary on the orbital expedition and here’s to hoping some of our D prospects can step up but we just traded away Thompson and Powell is not signing yet and we have little to no assets to obtain a bigger piece to fit the puzzle.

Some tough times ahead for sure after 2 cups and plenty of playoff success but such is life, it all goes in cycles.

 

[LightningStrikes]

If espn box score is accurate..
Cirelli : 0 Shots
Jeannot 0 Shots
Point 0 Shots.
Chafee 0
Duclair 1
Hagel 1.

Point zero shots. Let that sink in.

Meanwhile for Florida:
Tkachuk 5
Stenlund 5
Reinhart 3
Verhaeghe 3
Forsling 3
Barkov 2
Tarasenko 0 (yay I guess?)

We're not shutting anybody down.

 

[LightningStrikes]

There’s still a chance and trying not to overreact but this is worrying. I’m still inclined to think our ”new” system is making us weaker rather than stronger and clearly trusting the process is not working and hence I’d much rather get rid of Blashill (or even Cooper) than blow up the whole team - much easier too.

On the F side we’re hopefully sending Sheary to the orbit and getting an injection of new guys next season and for the love of god I hope we find a way to keep Stammer. That being said, our D is a mess and losing Sergachev this season did not help. I wonder if he’ll be able to play in any of the remaining games this round. Dumba should be joining Sheary on the orbital expedition and here’s to hoping some of our D prospects can step up but we just traded away Thompson and Powell is not signing yet and we have little to no assets to obtain a bigger piece to fit the puzzle.

Some tough times ahead for sure after 2 cups and plenty of playoff success but such is life, it all goes in cycles.

Good point about the new system. During the reg we said “well, let’s wait until the playoffs”. Guess what, it doesn’t work.

 

[J T Money]

Biggest thing I’ve noticed is that our style of play is way too soft. We used to start scrums and fights at every single whistle…now you barely see anyone checking.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Biggest thing I’ve noticed is that our style of play is way too soft. We used to start scrums and fights at every single whistle…now you barely see anyone checking.

Cernak - 11
Cirelli - 9
Jeannot - 7
Chaffee - 7
Stamkos - 6

 

[J T Money]

Cernak - 11
Cirelli - 9
Jeannot - 7
Chaffee - 7
Stamkos - 6

You sure don’t notice it like years past

 

[Tampa22]

Ok, this hurts... Another 1st period of the series playing nothing, we just play 5 minutes in 2nd period and then nothing, just waiting the golf window. Easy to read here blaming the button lines for this or for that but you get 4 PP and nothing, where are the stars of this team? We get enough points during the season that show that the team is not a disaster but also we see the bad slumps and even winning the D was the worst point of it, part of the coaching staff needs to go, that stupid man from the Red Wings needs to be fired.
Don't know what happen, but the team quit for some reason, one of my fav players even disappear. Can't believe Mikey with just 2 hits, not playing his pest role. During this 3 games we never play with intensity, never make Panthers players pay. That kid Lilleberg came to the league with some good intentions and making big hits and now looks like another Perbix, afraid to be tough, scared, with that stupid face of mediocrity.
Probably we won the next one, but the series are over. The only one who take his role was Vassy but Panthers goalie show another level in this series.
It's time for a rebuild, Between 6 and 7 players making too much money (overpay in some cases) is not good enough to balance the lines.

 

[Artorius Horus T]

I'm for a retool. The full blow up is overboard mostly because a lot of those fail horribly and take way longer than necessary. We need to keep up some kind measure of winning culture not let it go completely to shit. We still have some elite talent so a #1 overall generational pick isn't necessary.

Just like Detroit did for 10+ years...

 

[PhysicalGraffiti]

dumba is useless.
Lilligren is young, so hard to blame him.
Perbix has disappointed me.
Duclair showing why he's been on so many teams over the years, vanishes when it's important.
Stammer is doing great.
Vasy is doing everything he can.
Jeannot had a screen last night, but other than that hasn't impressed me for shit in the playoffs.

Idk what to think, it's a team game and this team just doesn't have the pieces like previous years where they were nearly unstoppable.

I hate the salary cap, but it is what it is. The team couldn't remain at the level they were. To think a decade run involving 2 cup wins and 4 cup appearances would happen was a dream and I think most teams would take that. There has to be a time when the decline happens, and this might be the start. With some of the core I'd like to think it's not totally over yet, but some retooling will need to happen.

If the ride is over, I've enjoyed the hell out of the sustained success the team has had.