Chia needs to make moves now.

[MarchandNoseBest]

This is not talked about enough.

This roster won a Cup which earned them the right to be kept together, whatever the price. They went out quietly a year later. That Cup win bought them a mulligan.

If this team does not get to the ECF Chiarelli will make changes. He can not have the same roster not get to a conference final twice and then give them another kick at the can.

I don't really agree with this. In the 3 years since Pittsburgh won the Cup, do you know what they've done? 2nd round exit, 1st round exit and 1st round exit yet you haven't seen any major changes from them. People really underrate how hard it is just to win a playoff series in the NHL. The Detroit Red Wings, the class organization of the West has had a 2nd round exit, 2nd round exit and 1st round exit last 3 years.

Making the Conference Finals is no joke of a task. This isn't the NBA where the higher seed wins out every time, there are a TON of upsets in the NHL because the margin of error is so small when you are playing games often decided by 1 goal.

To act like not making the conference finals in back to back years is some kind of disaster that warrants changing of the core seems way off to me. Now if they lose in the 1st round again, should they be more willing to consider changing the core of the team a bit? Absolutely, but I totally disagree with "you can not bring back that team again". You don't force these things, just like Pittsburgh didn't. A deal has to make sense and just because the team doesn't make ECF's in back to back years doesn't mean the team has a fatal flaw that has to be blown up. It just means winning in the NHL playoffs is REALLY hard. That's what makes it so special when you have a run like we did in 2011.

 

[Kaoz*]

I don't really agree with this. In the 3 years since Pittsburgh won the Cup, do you know what they've done? 2nd round exit, 1st round exit and 1st round exit yet you haven't seen any major changes from them. People really underrate how hard it is just to win a playoff series in the NHL. The Detroit Red Wings, the class organization of the West has had a 2nd round exit, 2nd round exit and 1st round exit last 3 years.

Making the Conference Finals is no joke of a task. This isn't the NBA where the higher seed wins out every time, there are a TON of upsets in the NHL because the margin of error is so small when you are playing games often decided by 1 goal.

To act like not making the conference finals in back to back years is some kind of disaster that warrants changing of the core seems way off to me. Now if they lose in the 1st round again, should they be more willing to consider changing the core of the team a bit? Absolutely, but I totally disagree with "you can not bring back that team again". You don't force these things, just like Pittsburgh didn't. A deal has to make sense and just because the team doesn't make ECF's in back to back years doesn't mean the team has a fatal flaw that has to be blown up. It just means winning in the NHL playoffs is REALLY hard. That's what makes it so special when you have a run like we did in 2011.

Staal, Goligoski? Bringing in Neal, Sutter,

 

[MarchandNoseBest]

Staal, Goligoski? Bringing in Neal, Sutter,

They offered Staal a massive extension and only dealt him because he had no interest in playing anywhere except with his brother. They also did that after their 3rd playoff exit, not the 2nd so I don't think that qualifies.

Neal is a more fair but still somewhat borderline case. For starters, they acquired him in 2010-2011, so their only "lack of success" post-Cup at that point was a 2nd round exit immediately after winning the Cup...not too bad. I don't think that was shaking up the core deal from Pittsburgh's perspective, just think they accepted a no brainer of a trade that most people felt was a steal for them from day 1. It did change their core so I can see how you'd count that, but it's still not the same situation that unifiedtheory is proposing where "you can't bring back the same team".

If Chia is offered a Golioski for James Neal type trade, no question he should pounce on it, just don't think it makes sense to make change for the sake of change (Pittsburgh didn't) and I think a lot of people underestimate how hard it is to win in the NHL playoffs. There isn't a team in the league who consistently makes deep playoff runs to the Conference Finals and SCF's year after year. It's just not a reasonable expectation in the upset heavy NHL. The NBA which is a predictable league with few upsets? Sure.

 

[ODAAT]

Bob Mackenzie Interview on the Drive Time with Dave Naylor, sorry, no idea how to post it here, click on his podcast, you`ll see Bob Mack`s name. Love to hear how active it appears Chia is out there

http://www.tsn.ca/podcasts/

Targeting 5 or 6 forwards.....speculation begin...sorry, continues