Around the League Thread | Conference Final Edition | Go Tanev and Bobby Lu?

[garbageteam]

Need Avs to take the stars to 7 games

I feel like Dallas is getting a similar level of underestimation as the Canucks are, like Vegas and Colorado were supposed to be the real threats of this conference and it seems likely both will be dispatched by the Stars.

 

[arttk]

I feel like Dallas is getting a similar level of underestimation as the Canucks are, like Vegas and Colorado were supposed to be the real threats of this conference and it seems likely both will be dispatched by the Stars.

I just want both teams to be tired, hell I want the Avs to take it to game 7 by winning in triple OT

 

[StreetHawk]

They really are a 2C or an actual goaltender away from getting over the hump. If they weren't still paying for Kotkaniemi and had the assets from the offer sheet, maybe Ullmark accepts a trade to Carolina, maybe they for Monahan or Lindholm... etc. Now it feels like the Canes are running out of time rather than just not making the moves needed.

Cost to get out of the KK deal is only around $800k per year but for 12 years.

I don’t foresee Boston dealing ullmark in conf. They would rather send him to LA if they can. Or somewhere west.

Pesce, Skjei, and TT are ufa. Jarvis and Necas are rfa. Have cap room but need to let TT and Skjei walk. Slavin ufa next season but can extend this summer.

See if Carolina is going to pay the retirement contract for Pesce. They have no issues adding guys in their 30’s but that’s on shorter term deals.

 

[bossram]

I feel like Dallas is getting a similar level of underestimation as the Canucks are, like Vegas and Colorado were supposed to be the real threats of this conference and it seems likely both will be dispatched by the Stars.

Hmm?

Dallas was like the trendy pick by everyone to win the Cup.

And this is Carolina in a nutshell.

They can never get more than 2 or 3 goals on a good goalie and then their own goaltending lets them down.

The first two NYR goals were absolute stinkers.

Freddie basically sewered them, but yeah, this is just the Canes and how they are.

Rod is massively overrated as a coach.

 

[sandwichbird2023]

Burns was not good this series at all, showing his age. The Cane's blueline might go from a strength to weakness this summer if they let Pesce, Skjei and Chatfield go without properly replacing them. They also have to upgrade on Anderson, find a 2C and try to extend Guentzel too. Depending on how their summer go, they might be a bubble team or worse next season. Good thing is they have lots of cap space and assets, so they should be fine if their owner is willing to spend to the cap.

 

[SopelFanThe3rd]

Dallas is really deep.

 

[Vector]

 

[ForecheckBackcheck]

Getting a fresh Demko back, assuming he is actually 100% or close to it, would be such an injection to our SCF hopes. The fact we have made it this far riding our 3rd stringer goalie is amazing.

Most teams would wilt after losing one of their Top 3 most important players from R1 - Game 1 onwards. Imagine:

Edmonton without Drai or Ekholm

Dallas without Heiskanen or Oettinger

Boston without Swayman or Marchand

Colorado without Rantanen or Makar

etc. etc.

 

[StreetHawk]

Burns was not good this series at all, showing his age. The Cane's blueline might go from a strength to weakness this summer if they let Pesce, Skjei and Chatfield go without properly replacing them. They also have to upgrade on Anderson, find a 2C and try to extend Guentzel too. Depending on how their summer go, they might be a bubble team or worse next season. Good thing is they have lots of cap space and assets, so they should be fine if their owner is willing to spend to the cap.

Pesce and Skjei leaving would be a massive hit. But, they now test Carolina's operating philosophy of not doing max term on older guys. Pesce is up and Slavin is up next season. They extended Aho, but he was 27 so max term takes him to 35 not 38 which is what Pesce and Slavin would be if they got maxed out.

They have cap room to get guys signed. Jarvis probably $7 mill range on a long term deal. TT, Skjei, are ones I'd expect them to walk from. Necas, his name keeps coming up as trade option for them. KK, if they need cap room, get rid of him and save the $4 mill.

Kind of why most thought they should have pushed in the past couple of seasons as this was when their contracts were due to come off the books and cost big (retirement contracts) to keep. Instead they take on a 37 year old Burns, a 34/35 year old Patches, OS KK.

 

[sandwichbird2023]

Pesce and Skjei leaving would be a massive hit. But, they now test Carolina's operating philosophy of not doing max term on older guys. Pesce is up and Slavin is up next season. They extended Aho, but he was 27 so max term takes him to 35 not 38 which is what Pesce and Slavin would be if they got maxed out.

They have cap room to get guys signed. Jarvis probably $7 mill range on a long term deal. TT, Skjei, are ones I'd expect them to walk from. Necas, his name keeps coming up as trade option for them. KK, if they need cap room, get rid of him and save the $4 mill.

Kind of why most thought they should have pushed in the past couple of seasons as this was when their contracts were due to come off the books and cost big (retirement contracts) to keep. Instead they take on a 37 year old Burns, a 34/35 year old Patches, OS KK.

Imagine Carolina trading for JTM 2 seasons ago when he was rumored to be available, they probably made the final last season and this one. Such a waste.

 

[arttk]

Burns was not good this series at all, showing his age. The Cane's blueline might go from a strength to weakness this summer if they let Pesce, Skjei and Chatfield go without properly replacing them. They also have to upgrade on Anderson, find a 2C and try to extend Guentzel too. Depending on how their summer go, they might be a bubble team or worse next season. Good thing is they have lots of cap space and assets, so they should be fine if their owner is willing to spend to the cap.

wow he has another year left..

Imagine Carolina trading for JTM 2 seasons ago when he was rumored to be available, they probably made the final last season and this one. Such a waste.

those cheapass came in and tried to get JTM for free. f*** them

 

[bossram]

Burns was not good this series at all, showing his age. The Cane's blueline might go from a strength to weakness this summer if they let Pesce, Skjei and Chatfield go without properly replacing them. They also have to upgrade on Anderson, find a 2C and try to extend Guentzel too. Depending on how their summer go, they might be a bubble team or worse next season. Good thing is they have lots of cap space and assets, so they should be fine if their owner is willing to spend to the cap.

They can't go into next season with like a 40 year old Burns on their top pair. The Burns-Slavin pair got exposed badly by the Rangers. Pesce going down was a massive blow to their chances.

I think they should move on from Rod. He's a good coach, but he is massively overrated. The team has consistent flaws year-to-year that he's never tried address.

 

[sandwichbird2023]

They can't go into next season with like a 40 year old Burns on their top pair. The Burns-Slavin pair got exposed badly by the Rangers. Pesce going down was a massive blow to their chances.

I think they should move on from Rod. He's a good coach, but he is massively overrated. The team has consistent flaws year-to-year that he's never tried address.

I'm not sure if the Cane's weakness are something a coach can address. Like, put in any coach you want, but if you are given Staal, Drury, KK, and Kuznetsov to fill out the 2C, 3C and 4C slots, and Anderson as your starting goalie, I'm not sure what else Rod can do with that? Aside from Boston, I don't think any other final 8 teams has weaker C. And aside from Edmonton, and maybe Colorado, which team has weaker G? Fact that RBA was able to take the Canes and make them into a top team year in-year out is a minor miracle IMO.

 

[bossram]

I'm not sure if the Cane's weakness are something a coach can address. Like, put in any coach you want, but if you are given Staal, Drury, KK, and Kuznetsov to fill out the 2C, 3C and 4C slots, and Anderson as your starting goalie, I'm not sure what else Rod can do with that? Aside from Boston, I don't think any other final 8 teams has weaker C. And aside from Edmonton, and maybe Colorado, which team has weaker G? Fact that RBA was able to take the Canes and make them into a top team year in-year out is a minor miracle IMO.

I'll quote what I said in the main board thread on RBA. IMO I don't think his roster is weak. I don't think he maximizes the talent he has available. He plays a system that would get equal results from a roster of pure grinders.

Criticize the goaltending, but last season Freddie was like .930 in the playoffs and they still maxed out at 8 playoff wins. The pattern of why they lose is the same every year.

I was texting a friend about this a few days ago. I do think Rod the Bod is overrated. He's a good coach, but not like "best coach in the league" level.

His teams play the same way every season, make no adjustments, and then they get bounced the same way every year. He's gotta change, but he won't.

His teams perform well because he is a good motivator and gets maximum effort on a consistent basis. But working harder isn't a recipe for success in the playoffs. Every team is working harder. That edge they had in the regular season doesn't exist.

Again, this work ethic and high pressure makes them very effective in their man-on-man defensive system, but in the playoffs, it's not sustainable. Teams are better, and when those breakdowns occur (your man doesn't take his man), the more skilled playoff teams pick you apart. And that's what happened.

They need to get more shot quality. Despite a massive edge in shot attempts, the Rangers led the series in xG (per SportLogiq, which includes passing data). It's not a coincidence they keep getting "goalied" or "unlucky".

These are all issues that were evident for years, with minimal adjustments made by RBA.

Guentzel, Aho, Svechnikov are not any less talented than Zibanejad, Kreider, or Trocheck.

They don't have a Panarin-level player, but Panarin really was not a driver in this series.

Rod has to make adjustments to his system to maximize his players. He doesn't and never has. This is a system you'd run with a team full of grinders to probably the same results.

 

[Orr4Norris]

They can't go into next season with like a 40 year old Burns on their top pair. The Burns-Slavin pair got exposed badly by the Rangers. Pesce going down was a massive blow to their chances.

I think they should move on from Rod. He's a good coach, but he is massively overrated. The team has consistent flaws year-to-year that he's never tried address.

They are a budget team that consistently makes the playoffs and is good for at least one round win, sometimes more.

What they lack is a game breaker. Not sure how the coach fixes that. They tried to address it with a rumoured massive offer for Petey. But not sure what else they can do other than keep doing what they be doing and hope an elite talent becomes available?

If you’re the owner, you can’t be disappointed in their year over year results…

 

[bossram]

They are a budget team that consistently makes the playoffs and is good for at least one round win, sometimes more.

What they lack is a game breaker. Not sure how the coach fixes that. They tried to address it with a rumoured massive offer for Petey. But not sure what else they can do other than keep doing what they be doing and hope an elite talent becomes available?

If you’re the owner, you can’t be disappointed in their year over year results…

They spend to the cap every season. It's well documented that Dundon skrimps out elsewhere where possible, but he's not been putting any restrictions on the on-ice roster.

You can see my later posts for my expanded thoughts on RBA. I don't really think were "less talented" than the Rangers. Maybe you could say NYR had a "game breaker" in Panarin, but Breadman wasn't the offensive catalyst for them in this series.

Dundon might be satisfied with his yearly playoff revenue. That's fine if he is. I'm not arguing that. I'm saying RBA is an overrated coach.

 

[Vector]

 

[arttk]

They spend to the cap every season. It's well documented that Dundon skrimps out elsewhere where possible, but he's not been putting any restrictions on the on-ice roster.

You can see my later posts for my expanded thoughts on RBA. I don't really think were "less talented" than the Rangers. Maybe you could say NYR had a "game breaker" in Panarin, but Breadman wasn't the offensive catalyst for them in this series.

Dundon might be satisfied with his yearly playoff revenue. That's fine if he is. I'm not arguing that. I'm saying RBA is an overrated coach.

i think they try to operate team in what they think is the most sustainable way possible so they don't end up in a spot where they spend years trading away draft picks and having to go through the typical rebuild-compete-rebuild-compete cycle because rebiuld in a small market is really tough.

 

[JAK]

Berube really likes challenging projects....

 

[Red]

 

[sandwichbird2023]

I'll quote what I said in the main board thread on RBA. IMO I don't think his roster is weak. I don't think he maximizes the talent he has available. He plays a system that would get equal results from a roster of pure grinders.

Criticize the goaltending, but last season Freddie was like .930 in the playoffs and they still maxed out at 8 playoff wins. The pattern of why they lose is the same every year.

I'm not an expert in the X's and O's, but I'm not sure what adjustments RBA can make? Their team's identity is one that works hard and shoots from everywhere, will they have more success deviating from that style and do they have the players for it?

Anderson has a .895 save % this playoff and its simply not good enough. It's not just the s% either, it's the timing and the quality he lets in. Like yesterday, he let Kreider jabbed in a loose puck at the side for a pretty weak goal in the 3rd, that deflated the whole team and queue the collapse. Comparing to the guy at the other end of the rink, I'm not sure this is RBA's fault.

I also disagree regarding Panarin. He might not have been playing at his regular season level, but he still have 11 points in the playoff and would've been 2nd on the Canes. He also takes the toughest matchups and allow the Zibanejed line to face easier matchups. Not to mention Panarin is still the key to the Rangers really good PP. You can see how a bad PP can sink a team by looking at the Canes this postseason. The Canes can really use a guy like that.

Maybe RBA is overrated, I'm not sure, but I think he is easily a top 10 coach and he made the most with the roster he is given. To me the blame lies mostly with the GM. Instead of focusing on revenge against the Habs and waste cap and assets on KK, he should've used those assets more efficiently and focus on filling the bigger holes.

 

[MS]

They spend to the cap every season. It's well documented that Dundon skrimps out elsewhere where possible, but he's not been putting any restrictions on the on-ice roster.

You can see my later posts for my expanded thoughts on RBA. I don't really think were "less talented" than the Rangers. Maybe you could say NYR had a "game breaker" in Panarin, but Breadman wasn't the offensive catalyst for them in this series.

Dundon might be satisfied with his yearly playoff revenue. That's fine if he is. I'm not arguing that. I'm saying RBA is an overrated coach.

Disagree.

I think that Brind'Amour is squeezing nearly every drop out of a fairly average roster.

The problem is that there are 4 teams in the East (Boston, Florida, TB, NYR) who have both gamebreaking superstar players as well as elite superstar goaltenders. And every year they run up against one of those teams at some point. And every year they play well ... but continually lose low-scoring games because the other team has a goaltending advantage, because they lack the x-factor players to break open low-scoring games and beat those great goalies, and because the other teams do have those players.

Yesterday they played great and should have won but lost because Andersen let in two absolutely crap goals to let NYR back into the game.

 

[krutovsdonut]

what is the knock on necas that carolina would not sign a 25 year old 60 point forward?

 

[SeawaterOnIce]

what is the knock on necas that carolina would not sign a 25 year old 60 point forward?

I'm wondering that too. Either it's a massive red flag or their GM has lost their mind in taking on guys like Kuznetsov, Orlov and Kotkaniemi which has now forced them to jettison younger depth options like Pesce (depending on the AAV he gets) and Necas.

I wonder if they take a serious run at Draistal or Marner?

 

[Bojack Horvatman]

what is the knock on necas that carolina would not sign a 25 year old 60 point forward?

Winger that's probably about to be overpaid and they have more important players to sign like Guentzel and have to sign a 2-3 D. They will probably send him a qualifying offer and trade him