jstreet
LETS GO PREDS
This team would not be in the playoffs without the start that $7M/year goalie had this year....
The sad truth is that it a better to miss the playoffs and get a better draft pick than to crap out in the first round
This team would not be in the playoffs without the start that $7M/year goalie had this year....
The sad truth is that it a better to miss the playoffs and get a better draft pick than to crap out in the first round
I said this before the playoffs started but in all the years we've been in the playoffs, we've never had a goalie go on a hot streak. Vokoun never did. Mason didn't. Rinne hasn't. No one. We chase other team's starters and their backups play great or their starter comes back and plays out of this world. Unfortunately, we have never had the hot goalie. Not sure if it's just the goalies we've had, bad luck, injuries, the team makeup, whatever it is, it just hasn't happened for us. Sometimes you don't have to have the world beater goalie, you just have to have someone that is going to be good on a consistent basis, not the highs and lows we are seeing with Rinne right now. If guys like Fleury, Niemi and Crawford can win Cups, there may be some credence to the train of thought of getting a solid goalie but not needing an elite goalie. Unless the name is Roy, Brodeur or Hasek, I don't see the need for a gazillion dollar goalie at this point. Love Rinne but he may not be the guy for us when all is said and done.
After reading this thread and seeing some of the thoughts, I really wonder if we're not in for a major re-tool this summer. Move some valuable assets, gain some younger more valuable assets in return.
The sad truth is that it a better to miss the playoffs and get a better draft pick than to crap out in the first round
The sad truth is that it a better to miss the playoffs and get a better draft pick than to crap out in the first round
I'm assuming you weren't at Game 2... that game alone was worth the price of admission.
Major re-tool?? I don't see that at all being necessary. Maybe I'm in the minority but I am pretty excited about the next few years. We are loaded on D and have the most good young forward prospects we have had in a long time, maybe ever. We definitely need an upgrade at center, but I don't see any need for a major overhaul.
Of course, all of that optimism hinges on Pekka Rinne returning to his normal form next year- a big if right now...
The sad truth is that it a better to miss the playoffs and get a better draft pick than to crap out in the first round
Unfortunately it's needed. Watch other playoff series and you'll know what I'm referring to. I was watching the Ducks and Jets last night and it was up and down hockey, physical, intense, every thing playoff hockey should be.
Go back and watch our game 3 and our guys are out there playing a lackluster sort of game. If you can't get up for a playoff game, there is a serious problem.
While I have been a fan and supporter of Poile, there is some credence in letting him go. He is unable to build a playoff style team. He can build a team that makes it to the playoffs but he hasn't shown me he's able to build one for the style that the playoffs lend itself to.
We need an upgrade at center and everyone agrees with this. The only way you get an upgrade at center is by making a big move with one of the pieces from the back end and somewhere else. That upgrade will come at the expense of either Weber or Jones and there is no way to avoid that if we want that upgrade up the middle.
Unfortunately it's needed. Watch other playoff series and you'll know what I'm referring to. I was watching the Ducks and Jets last night and it was up and down hockey, physical, intense, every thing playoff hockey should be.
Go back and watch our game 3 and our guys are out there playing a lackluster sort of game. If you can't get up for a playoff game, there is a serious problem.
While I have been a fan and supporter of Poile, there is some credence in letting him go. He is unable to build a playoff style team. He can build a team that makes it to the playoffs but he hasn't shown me he's able to build one for the style that the playoffs lend itself to.
We need an upgrade at center and everyone agrees with this. The only way you get an upgrade at center is by making a big move with one of the pieces from the back end and somewhere else. That upgrade will come at the expense of either Weber or Jones and there is no way to avoid that if we want that upgrade up the middle.
Unfortunately it's needed. Watch other playoff series and you'll know what I'm referring to. I was watching the Ducks and Jets last night and it was up and down hockey, physical, intense, every thing playoff hockey should be.
Go back and watch our game 3 and our guys are out there playing a lackluster sort of game. If you can't get up for a playoff game, there is a serious problem.
While I have been a fan and supporter of Poile, there is some credence in letting him go. He is unable to build a playoff style team. He can build a team that makes it to the playoffs but he hasn't shown me he's able to build one for the style that the playoffs lend itself to.
We need an upgrade at center and everyone agrees with this. The only way you get an upgrade at center is by making a big move with one of the pieces from the back end and somewhere else. That upgrade will come at the expense of either Weber or Jones and there is no way to avoid that if we want that upgrade up the middle.
Screw Spezza even more after thinking what his addition to this team could've meant.In Poile's defense, he did try to land that big center that we needed last offseason. It isn't his fault that Spezza refused to go to Nashville. I'm sure that Poile is well aware of what the Preds need to be successful.
Still don't think we need a major shakeup or retool or whatever you want to call it. Even if we trade Jones for that #1C I don't classify that as a major retool. Other than that C, we have all the other pieces.
And yes, the Ducks/Jets series is a good one, but don't forget, we were ahead of the Ducks in the standings most of the season, and finished 10 points ahead of that Jets team, who is about to get swept out of the first round. You make it sound like we are miles behind them, and we are not......
Going down 2-1 in a playoff series while missing our captain (best player) and alternate captain has really gotten a lot of you down!
People are talking about a full blown rebuild for a team with a great young D-corp (probably the best in the league), an elite goalie (granted, he is not currently playing like one) and young top 6 wingers set (like it or not, Forsberg, Neal, Smith, and Wilson are going to be our top-6 wingers for a while with Fiala possibly moving someone down a line).
This team is missing a top line center and a big, gritty bottom sixer. That is it! Add a top line center to Ribs, Fisher, and Gaustad, and you are set down the middle.
There are certainly some important decisions to make this offseason (Ribs, Fisher, etc), but a full rebuild is not one of them. There are probably 25 GM's in the league that would gladly trade teams with Poile.
I feel like this is more likely to happen this off-season than in years past. I haven't paid attention to who will be on the market, but I think with our relatively successful season, and a coach like Lavy who preaches an offensive system (and has won a Cup) we probably aren't seen as a dreadful place to sign. Maybe I'm just being optimistic but I felt like/hoped bringing in Lavy would help us in free agency.i agree with this. this teams has holes to fill to reach their full potential, as all teams always do
1)a true top line center
2)upgrades on third line (from top down preferably, pushing smith or wilson down a line with a fiala and fisher down because of a center add)
3)a better backup goalie.
4)a left handed stay at home guy defenseman, thats a level above volchenkov/bartley
that center needs to come from free agency (obviously the ideal scenario) or a rh defenseman trade.
so i think we are really only 2-3 players away for the next couple years. then admittedly we have to find rinne's replacement. hopefully he's already in our system. if we could improve enough up front that goalie won't have to be superman to be good enough.
I feel like this is more likely to happen this off-season than in years past. I haven't paid attention to who will be on the market, but I think with our relatively successful season, and a coach like Lavy who preaches an offensive system (and has won a Cup) we probably aren't seen as a dreadful place to sign. Maybe I'm just being optimistic but I felt like/hoped bringing in Lavy would help us in free agency.
Anybody else find it odd yesterday that Ribs was "given the day off" and was shooting basketballs at the United Center when the healthy rest of the members were practicing?
He did play every regular season game and all 3 playoff games, I think he is due a practice off.
And I am pretty sure he wasn't the only one to get a "maintenance" day yesterday.
Now, having said that, I do find it interesting that players get maintenance days during the playoffs- the most important games of the season. Is there another sport where healthy players are just given the day off from practice during the most important time of the year?