I'm wondering if anyone realizes offensively this is a 2 man team. Could that be the issue?
Gaudreau, Bennett, Ferland, Brodie, Hamilton, Giordano, Tkachuk, Jankowski, Backlund, Monahan, Stone. On paper this is anything but a two-man team.
Is this really that good a team on paper?
On paper this is a top 5 team in the NHL. If they have any issue it's poor player utilization. We haven't even unleashed Mangiapane into the wild yet.
This team oozes heart.
We've seen this for years with this crew.
What we've seen with this crew for years has been terrible and unpredictable luck mixed with a few mind-numbingly bad moves that end up tanking this team (Waiving Paul Byron in 2015, Signing Brouwer in 2016, Signing Bartkowski in 2017)
2014-15 was probably a team that could have given the Ducks a serious challenge, especially with David Schlemko completing our third defense pair after the brutal Smid-Engelland third pair killed us for half the season. But without Mark Giordano we were screwed before the series even started. Giordano was the best defenseman in the NHL that year, and we didn't have him for the playoffs.
2015-16 was probably a team that could have made the WCF or better, but the Byron waiving followed by the fact we were screwed by some of the worst goaltending in
history from Jonas Hiller a year after he gave us solid league-average goaltending. The refusal to use Wideman as a #6D with Brett Kulak was probably the other killer that year, as Wideman-Engelland was a brutal third pair. If that team had Paul Byron and league-average goaltending they would have been killer.
2016-17 was probably a team that should have made the SCF or better, but we were screwed by the brutal Bartkowski-Engelland pair and Brian Elliott having a cold streak at the worst time of year. If Elliott had been on one of his hot streaks, we don't lose many games to the Ducks, Oilers. Nashville and Pittsburgh would have been good challenges.
2017-18 is probably a top 5 team in the NHL currently being screwed by coaching staff's stubborn refusal to make changes to the power play and by some terrible shooting percentages to damn good players. It happens. The Kings won two cups as basically 8th seeds. The Preds were basically an 8th seed last year. As nice as it would be to cruise to a President's Trophy, the Canucks and Capitals have shown us that means very little these days. Making the playoffs while being a good team (which we are) is all that matters. We just have to get into the playoffs. And it's going to come off the back of our U25 players, not hired gun vets like Frolik, Hamonic, and Brouwer.
Lol he still dominates. Only thing he needs is better puck luck, as he has a low shooting percentage.
I think the question is how to add to the squad?
- Sticking with it and not making knee jerk moves unless you win a lopsided trade
- Sam Bennett flanked by Gaudreau and Ferland for a true elite and dynamic first line
- More starts for David Rittich so Smith can be fresh in April / May / June.
- Potential callups for Oliver Kylington, Andrew Mangiapane, Dillon Dube, Matthew Phillips, Rasmus Andersson, Marek Hrivik, Emile Poirier, Morgan Klimchuk, and Spencer Foo come playoff time.
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