Pre-Game Talk: Week of the Condor (@Chi, LA, VGK)

dahrougem2

Registered User
Dec 9, 2011
36,390
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Edmonton, Alberta
For the sake of my fantasy final week, I hope Varlamov plays all 3 games and goes god mode in each game lol. But with Bernier healthy, he'll likely get a game. My guess is he plays Vegas.
 

the_fan

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Jul 25, 2006
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You guys are all wrong. Another 10 game win streak to end the season!!!!!
 
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Bill Peckerskull

Fargin' Icehole
Feb 19, 2003
46,548
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Castle Rock, CO
Replace Bourque with Wilson and I'll be fine with that.
10/37/22 was a good trio before 10 and 22 got hurt. Wouldn't might seeing that again. Then put 91/13/17 together.

But I doubt 57 is coming out of the lineup. He's one of their better PKers, and Bednar seems to like and trust him. My guess is 91 gets benched, or sent down. He didn't make any mistakes vs. The Wed Wings, but he didn't do anything else either. Was just a guy out there.
 

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10/37/22 was a good trio before 10 and 22 got hurt. Wouldn't might seeing that again. Then put 91/13/17 together.

But I doubt 57 is coming out of the lineup. He's one of their better PKers, and Bednar seems to like and trust him. My guess is 91 gets benched, or sent down. He didn't make any mistakes vs. The Wed Wings, but he didn't do anything else either. Was just a guy out there.

The Tomato special
 

Pokecheque

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10/37/22 was a good trio before 10 and 22 got hurt. Wouldn't might seeing that again. Then put 91/13/17 together.

But I doubt 57 is coming out of the lineup. He's one of their better PKers, and Bednar seems to like and trust him. My guess is 91 gets benched, or sent down. He didn't make any mistakes vs. The Wed Wings, but he didn't do anything else either. Was just a guy out there.

First part I agree wholeheartedly, try that trio again, maybe work 22 in as a 4th liner to start 1-2 games.

Second part, not necessarily disagreeing with you but to crib from someone else's Twitter convo in regards to Winnipeg opting for Tanev over Roslovic because the former is a "PK guy," I think the league as a whole wildly overrates "PK specialists." To steal further, a "PK specialist" doesn't really denote that said player is really good at killing penalties, merely that they play on the PK a lot. The Avs' penalty kill was already fantastic before Gork became a regular in the lineup, it would probably remain tops without him. Not saying you can just plug any ol' player in and have it work but I don't think it's some specialized skill or anything that raises a player up a whole tier over another. The one place where I think a player sets himself apart in killing penalties is when they can generate shorthanded scoring chances. JT Compher was one such guy earlier in the season, maybe he could be that guy again.

I personally don't think Gabriel Bourque is anything more than a 13th forward at best in the NHL. His defense is almost negated by the fact that for every play where he may separate the guy from there's another play where he's turning it back over to him due to his complete lack of puck skill. Also, he is only truly effective when throwing his body around on the forecheck and creating space for his linemates, which he inexplicably does every fifth game or so. Otherwise he's pretty invisible.

Honestly I don't know how anyone could make a real assessment on 91 out there given how scantly he was used. Never got a chance to get a rhythm going or even carry the puck into the zone, and there were at least two occasions where 91 and 13 were breaking it up ice and possibly creating some offense only for the puck to land on 57's stick, where he promptly turned it over. And again, the one Detroit goal against started because of a weak NZ turnover by Gork that led to a rush the other way.
 
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ASmileyFace

Landeskog Replacement
Feb 13, 2014
12,043
5,571
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I'd really just rest Kerfoot most of the rest of the season. Dude is dead tired, and it shows badly. I want some of that Kerfoot goals-where-he-shot-6-feet-wide-and-it-goes-in magic in the playoffs.
 
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Bill Peckerskull

Fargin' Icehole
Feb 19, 2003
46,548
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Castle Rock, CO
First part I agree wholeheartedly, try that trio again, maybe work 22 in as a 4th liner to start 1-2 games.

Second part, not necessarily disagreeing with you but to crib from someone else's Twitter convo in regards to Winnipeg opting for Tanev over Roslovic because the former is a "PK guy," I think the league as a whole wildly overrates "PK specialists." To steal further, a "PK specialist" doesn't really denote that said player is really good at killing penalties, merely that they play on the PK a lot. The Avs' penalty kill was already fantastic before Gork became a regular in the lineup, it would probably remain tops without him. Not saying you can just plug any ol' player in and have it work but I don't think it's some specialized skill or anything that raises a player up a whole tier over another. The one place where I think a player sets himself apart in killing penalties is when they can generate shorthanded scoring chances. JT Compher was one such guy earlier in the season, maybe he could be that guy again.

I personally don't think Gabriel Bourque is anything more than a 13th forward at best in the NHL. His defense is almost negated by the fact that for every play where he may separate the guy from there's another play where he's turning it back over to him due to his complete lack of puck skill. Also, he is only truly effective when throwing his body around on the forecheck and creating space for his linemates, which he inexplicably does every fifth game or so. Otherwise he's pretty invisible.

Honestly I don't know how anyone could make a real assessment on 91 out there given how scantly he was used. Never got a chance to get a rhythm going or even carry the puck into the zone, and there were at least two occasions where 91 and 13 were breaking it up ice and possibly creating some offense only for the puck to land on 57's stick, where he promptly turned it over. And again, the one Detroit goal against started because of a weak NZ turnover by Gork that led to a rush the other way.
Agree. Just don't know if Bednar feels the same.
 
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Cypher

Registered User
May 25, 2011
4,928
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Edmonton
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Honestly, those playoffs would be amazing. You have natural rivalries already in Boston/Toronto, Pittsburgh/Philadelphia, and San Jose/Anaheim.

Then you have Nashville taking on two-time cup winner, Los Angeles. You've got the natural demographic rivalry of Winnipeg/Minnesota. You've got the matchup nobody on earth predicted in Vegas/Colorado.

Amazing matchups, honestly. You know the playoffs would be absolutely must-watch hockey when arguably the two "least" interesting series' would have Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, and Victor Hedman take on Taylor Hall, while the other has Alex Ovechkin in it.

Please, NHL standings, stay like this.

Just have Florida bump the Devils out and you have an all Floridan match-up, problem solved.
 

Pierce Hawthorne

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We still control our own fate, but god damn we are not getting a tonne of help from teams around us.


That said, tomorrow has the potential to be a massive day with big shifts in the standings. There's potential for us to have a 4 points cushion on 9th(Dallas), and have a game in hand on them, and a 5 point cushion on 10th(St. Louis) though they would have a game in hand on us.



Regardless of what LA does tomorrow, the one we really want to lose is Dallas in Washington. Of course LA and San Jose losing is a good bonus also.
 

MarkT

Heretic
Nov 11, 2017
3,993
4,496
First part I agree wholeheartedly, try that trio again, maybe work 22 in as a 4th liner to start 1-2 games.

Second part, not necessarily disagreeing with you but to crib from someone else's Twitter convo in regards to Winnipeg opting for Tanev over Roslovic because the former is a "PK guy," I think the league as a whole wildly overrates "PK specialists." To steal further, a "PK specialist" doesn't really denote that said player is really good at killing penalties, merely that they play on the PK a lot. The Avs' penalty kill was already fantastic before Gork became a regular in the lineup, it would probably remain tops without him. Not saying you can just plug any ol' player in and have it work but I don't think it's some specialized skill or anything that raises a player up a whole tier over another. The one place where I think a player sets himself apart in killing penalties is when they can generate shorthanded scoring chances. JT Compher was one such guy earlier in the season, maybe he could be that guy again.

I personally don't think Gabriel Bourque is anything more than a 13th forward at best in the NHL. His defense is almost negated by the fact that for every play where he may separate the guy from there's another play where he's turning it back over to him due to his complete lack of puck skill. Also, he is only truly effective when throwing his body around on the forecheck and creating space for his linemates, which he inexplicably does every fifth game or so. Otherwise he's pretty invisible.

Honestly I don't know how anyone could make a real assessment on 91 out there given how scantly he was used. Never got a chance to get a rhythm going or even carry the puck into the zone, and there were at least two occasions where 91 and 13 were breaking it up ice and possibly creating some offense only for the puck to land on 57's stick, where he promptly turned it over. And again, the one Detroit goal against started because of a weak NZ turnover by Gork that led to a rush the other way.

I totally agree, and I think Gork could easily be the odd man out because Bednar knows he has other PK options - namely J.T. Compher. Gork was actually relatively effective when he first came in the lineup because he was hitting everything that moved. Now he's gone back to the Gork of days past and should be sent down as soon as Wilson is ready to take his spot.
 
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McMetal

Writer of Wrongs
Sep 29, 2015
14,052
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Please, please take out Bork. He's a marginal NHLer who played admirably during the injury plague, but he's in no way shape or form better than Wilson or Kamenev, especially now that his little spurt of goal scoring has passed.

I guess that just leaves Barberio on injury island. Man, a Nemeth/Barbie bottom pair would be a perfect complement for both of their limited skill sets.
 
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KingSizeKirby

PLAYOFFS!?
May 26, 2011
1,313
330
Ontario
I’m feeling very confident in this team. I predict a 3-0 week. I suspect Bernier will play vs. LA seeing how it’s his former team.
 

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