After they draft Auston Matthews, duh..
Not happening. Vancouver will be picking him.
After they draft Auston Matthews, duh..
I don't think he truly believes what the URL says, but he recognizes a problem a lot of us have been commenting on for some time: A lack of depth preventing this team from being coached like other teams.
As a result, I like the Gagner, Vanek, Del Zotto and Burmistrov signings in our forward and D ranks. With a tiny bit of injury luck, and by luck I mean not being beaten with a cudgel by the hockey gods, we will be more competitive this year.
I'm not hitching my flag to the playoff wagon just yet, but anything better than "second-worst-behind-Colorado's-gongshow" is an improvement to me. Not being blown out by bad teams, then losing 3 straight one goal games is an improvement. Being able to scratch someone that is not performing is an improvement. I'm ready for an improvement.
But are they also aware that they are on the down Ward trend in their career?
I don't expect them to combine for more than 105 points at most this year. Lucky to break 100.
The Sedins are toeing the company line. They're loyal soldiers to the end. What the hell else are they going to say? "Well, my brother and I are only getting older and slower, and all those years the refs laughed while we got our heads kicked in are starting to add up, so don't expect anything but the inevitable decay of time. Those guys Benning picked up are yet more veteran bandaid moves that reek of a management team that's out of ideas and are just praying someone they acquire comes to their rescue even though there's no history of them doing so!"
Not likely.
Soooo ... it's probably time to talk about the Sedins and this is the only thread I could find to bump.
I've been one of their biggest supporters here since forever, but the way they've hit a wall is frankly astonishing.
On March 7, 2016, Daniel Sedin had 56 points in 65 games and was on pace for a 70-point season, top-20 in NHL scoring. The previous year, they were top-10 in league scoring. They were 35-36 and seemed to be aging gracefully (as most Swedes tend to) and looked solid to finish out the last two years of their contracts at reasonable value. That was only 18 months ago.
Since then ... ugh. And to start this season, they've been on the ice for 2 ES goals for in 6 games. Henrik has 2 SOG. But it's how they look that's worse. The Boston game hurt to watch. So slow, so many poor, weakly intercepted passes or weak pointless shots. Ability to cycle is pretty much gone. Total liabilities on the ice. Legs look to be gone and simply can't keep up or find ways to separate themselves to make plays.
Barring a huge rejuvenation, this has to be their last season, and you wonder when the announcement will come that turns this into a goodbye tour. Or even if they might end up being too proud to go on like this and retire mid-season.
After what they've done, you'd have hoped they could go out on a high, but that looks pretty unlikely. April 5 against Arizona might be a game to start looking into buying tickets for.
Soooo ... it's probably time to talk about the Sedins and this is the only thread I could find to bump.
I've been one of their biggest supporters here since forever, but the way they've hit a wall is frankly astonishing.
On March 7, 2016, Daniel Sedin had 56 points in 65 games and was on pace for a 70-point season, top-20 in NHL scoring. The previous year, they were top-10 in league scoring. They were 35-36 and seemed to be aging gracefully (as most Swedes tend to) and looked solid to finish out the last two years of their contracts at reasonable value. That was only 18 months ago.
Since then ... ugh. And to start this season, they've been on the ice for 2 ES goals for in 6 games. Henrik has 2 SOG. But it's how they look that's worse. The Boston game hurt to watch. So slow, so many poor, weakly intercepted passes or weak pointless shots. Ability to cycle is pretty much gone. Total liabilities on the ice. Legs look to be gone and simply can't keep up or find ways to separate themselves to make plays.
Barring a huge rejuvenation, this has to be their last season, and you wonder when the announcement will come that turns this into a goodbye tour. Or even if they might end up being too proud to go on like this and retire mid-season.
After what they've done, you'd have hoped they could go out on a high, but that looks pretty unlikely. April 5 against Arizona might be a game to start looking into buying tickets for.