Coaching or Core: Where do you prefer the change?

[CB Joe]

Clearly the on ice product is not working as the Avs are currently tied for last in the league for points. While we all have different opinions of where the Avs should be in their rebuild, I think most fans would agree that the Avs should at least no longer be a bottom feeder.

There has been some rumours/speculation around the league that the Avs have had trade discussions involving one of more of their core players. If drastic change is coming to the Avalanche would you prefer it be a coaching change or a trade involving a core player?

For the sake of clarity I would consider a coaching change to mean replacing at the very least the Head Coach, Roy. As for the core players, I think the general consensus is that the core players are: MacKinnon, Landeskog, Duchene, Johnson, Barrie, and Varlamov.

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[InjuredChoker]

as of now, neither.

add better support pieces and maybe one more core piece (might have two or even three in rantanen, bigras and zadorov).

i don't think changing the core is an answer. depth would still be poor. they'd still lack good two way Fs and/or high end talent. i think it would be too much of a lateral movement. i'm open to idea of trading barrie for say, hamonic if barrie has ridiculous contract demands but i don't see it changing much.

if i had to choose between the two.. i don't want to fire roy but i'd lean on coaching change (depending on what comes back in a trade for a core player).

 

[Bubba Thudd]

I think this poll is entirely too limited.

I'm not jumping on the Fire Roy wagon just yet. I'd like to see them start with Farrish and Army.

And I think they might have to take a look at trading a core player, if they want to "shake things up". I think any trade would have to make sense, though. Something like Barrie for Hamonic, for example, might make sense. That's the only kind of core-player trade I'd consider.

There are plenty of players on this team that aren't core players, though, that aren't pulling their weight (not saying the core players are pulling their weight, either...) If they could be traded for picks/prospects or expiring contracts, do it.

I think the rebuild got derailed by management thinking the team was ready to take the next step, and has been set back (yet again) as a result. Unfortunate, but a 112 point season can do that.

If I knew the recipe to get this team on track successfully...well, I'd probably be employed somewhere in the NHL. This team isn't totally FUBAR, but it needs some major work.

 

[AslanRH]

I think Bubba has summed up my thoughts almost exactly.

I only differ in that I don't think changing the assistants only will do much. Roy has either hired or retained both guys and it is hard for me to think he doesn't influence much of what they do strategy wise. If it comes down to it, I think it needs to be a clean sweep at those 3 positions. I think that transition would go better if done at the end of the season.

 

[trip trancid]

as of now, neither.

add better support pieces and maybe one more core piece (might have two or even three in rantanen, bigras and zadorov).

i don't think changing the core is an answer. depth would still be poor. they'd still lack good two way Fs and/or high end talent. i think it would be too much of a lateral movement. i'm open to idea of trading barrie for say, hamonic if barrie has ridiculous contract demands but i don't see it changing much.

I agree very much with this. It's not just the words but also their individual letters that are excellent. And then even the space between the letters is emitting excellence ooze.

I don't think they should make changes. I like that MacKinnon and Duchene are being put in a position to be successful. I think the Avs have great core players but after that, there's a huge drop off. When these guys would be on Duchenes line, it was less obvious. Now they're being forced to show their worth without coattail riding and I like that this is being exposed to the light.

All in all, if the star players are producing, I'm happy. And MacKinnon and Duchene are having a great season. This is much better than last year.

I think when the Avs parted ways with OReilly, they made a decision to get younger. Down the road, they could be better off for it but it's not fair to make that judgment now.

But I think this season is an honest representation of where the Avs are. They have some great core players and then a lot of crap. And by getting honest results, ie results that reflect this disparity, it's probably better than if they were to over achieve. They over achieved 2 years ago and that was with a stronger collection of players. It raised expectations. Had they not overachieved then, there would be less grumbling about the team now.

If the Avs are rewarded at the draft for having a roster of so many stiffs, that could be better than perpetually drafting around 10-20. If we're going to have so many scrubs and aging players, we need more guys like Rantanen to offset that.

Think about it. OReillys replacement isn't even in the NHL yet. They have a crop of defensemen in the pipeline that were acquired by the current regime that haven't even made it to the point to contribute because they are so young. This guys are part of the trade off for not paying OReilly and Stastny so much money.

And that decision might have been impacted above Sakic. If the forces in play are influencing decisions to go younger, it's not completely fair to judge the immediate results.

 

[forsbergavs32]

I think this poll is entirely too limited.

I'm not jumping on the Fire Roy wagon just yet. I'd like to see them start with Farrish and Army.

And I think they might have to take a look at trading a core player, if they want to "shake things up". I think any trade would have to make sense, though. Something like Barrie for Hamonic, for example, might make sense. That's the only kind of core-player trade I'd consider.

There are plenty of players on this team that aren't core players, though, that aren't pulling their weight (not saying the core players are pulling their weight, either...) If they could be traded for picks/prospects or expiring contracts, do it.

I think the rebuild got derailed by management thinking the team was ready to take the next step, and has been set back (yet again) as a result. Unfortunate, but a 112 point season can do that.

If I knew the recipe to get this team on track successfully...well, I'd probably be employed somewhere in the NHL. This team isn't totally FUBAR, but it needs some major work.

I'm with you 100%

 

[Bender]

I would switch out both assistants. I believe Roy is a good motivator and I don't think this team is playing poorly motivated.

When I look at the individual players of our core, I don't see a lot of really horrible, abysmal stuff that you can point at and say "that's why we're not having the success we SHOULD be having".

Oh sure :

- Duchene had a real slow start but made up for it lately with his play (after only 2 points in his first 10 games, he has an outstanding 16 pts in his next 10 games)
- Barrie doesn't seem to be going full speed...he's like at 75% (whether that's injury related or not, I've seen him play much better)
- EJ was injured to start but has been much better the last 10 games or so
- Landeskog has looked off pretty much all season, we do need him to pick it up but he hasn't been horrible

But when I look at the 'core' of this team, I see individuals who have some up and downs like all teams do and the players are putting in the effort and are just not rewarded. To me, if the results don't add up and your core is playing relatively well, that is on coaching.

I'm quite confident when I say that Tim Army is not much of a strategist. I mean, the Power Play is always the same scheme and it rarely works. With the core group of forwards we have, our PP should be deadly. Not 20th, not middle of the pack 15th....our PP should be TOP 5 or at minimum TOP 10, imo.

Swapping out Tourigny for Farrish has been an unmitigated disaster. We are talking about a team that played close to .600 for the last 65 games of the season last year AND that was mostly without Erik Johnson and Nathan MacKinnon. Yet we are WORSE than last year?? Ridiculous.

Anyone who doesn't believe this is systems related really needs to think about this because it clearly is.

Roy doesn't go blameless in all this either. He takes forever to realize that some players just don't have it and just CANNOT play the role he'd like them to play in the NHL. (Cliche, Guenin, Holden) It doesn't mean they are bad people Patrick, they just CAN'T DO IT!!!

In 2 games, Zach Redmond has looked WAYYYYYYY better than Guenin did all year long and he's brought in at game 18??? WTF dude?!?! You're pissing away points playing this frikkin' pylon!!

That's not to say that Redmond is a world beater but he's at least better than The General in a limited role.

The same can be said for Holden. I really don't mind him on the bottom pair playing limited minutes but in our top-4, he's completely inadequate. That back pass he made to MacKinnon last night was facepalm worthy and the pass he made to Landeskog when it was frikkin' obvious to everyone he was going off on a change was awful as well.

Instead of suggesting "well some nights, Holden is 'ok' in that spot"...for ME, that's not good enough. Not even close! We NEED someone that is going to be GOOD in that spot on an nightly basis. (I 'get' that he's a bit stuck in this particular situation)

Last but not least, loading up all of his talent on one line and suggesting that "No way, I won't spead the talent around" is downright stupid. There are a grand total of ZERO NHL teams that do this and expect positive results. This is telling the other team, if you can keep our top line in check (or they just end up having an off-night) then you should be fine because the rest of our lineup probably won't be much of a threat at all. I don't understand how he can view it any other way.

Our top players are performing at the same or better clip than last year yet we are still getting outplayed on most nights???

Mackinnon > last year
Duchene > last year
Landeskog > last year (at least statistically)
Barrie = last year
Iginla > last year
EJ =< last (still close statistically)

Goalies = haven't been the reason for our record this year, imo.

I wouldn't be against moving a core guy. In fact, with Travis Hamonic being on the market, if Joe Sakic isn't on the phone with Barrie's agent that's a major FAIL for the organization. If they end up signing Barrie then that's fine but if they end up trading him for a futures package because he's too expensive with Hamonic being currently on the market, I'm going to be incredibly upset. They need to get this right. Remember, it's not JUST Hamonic, it's also the cap room he gives us to bring in some help as well.

I would either fire Army+Farrish and bring in some REAL coaches who have a clue or just add a couple of guys to our existing coaching staff to give us some new ideas on PP and PK and systems in general.

 

[Bonzai12]

I think development still is a problem for this organization. Sure the slam dunk picks have worked out like Duchene and Mac but I still fail to see where we are getting mid-high round draft picks to perform. We are still filling our 3rd and 4th lines with fringe nhl players and no young guys come in and grab their jobs.

 

[Nzap]

If those are the only two options the decision is very clear.

Still have faith that Roy can pull this around if he gets help, but I'm not sure the organization or himself know how to ask for the correct help.

 

[tigervixxxen]

I think development still is a problem for this organization. Sure the slam dunk picks have worked out like Duchene and Mac but I still fail to see where we are getting mid-high round draft picks to perform. We are still filling our 3rd and 4th lines with fringe nhl players and no young guys come in and grab their jobs.

This is what takes time. They have the talent now, let's see if they can eventually contribute.

I'd change neither. This roster just isn't talented enough past the core players. I know it sucks to throw a season away but how can they properly evaluate their "plan" when all the pieces aren't there yet? They aren't a player away. If they traded Duchene for Stamkos this team wouldn't be any better. Duchene and MacKinnon have picked up their game and are giving the Avs what they need on the scoresheet and it's not making a difference on bad nights, on good nights they are catalysts to victory like in Boston and Montreal.

Goaltending was exposed, that's been part of the problem too. What do you mean haven't been the reason Bender? Varly not having a strong game in 75% of his starts, Berra pooped the bed this week. We can see the difference between having a good goaltending week and a poor one, just look at last week vs this week.

I think I'm ready to move Barrie if that's the deal they want to make. I can't watch his behind the back spin passes anymore. I don't know why he never gets crap for being too fancy. His defensive game has improved but has he REALLY helped the team much this year?

 

[Freudian]

Avs already changed the video coach and one assistant coach and it's the same tire fire. Anyone trying to sell me on Tim Army running the show will waste their time.

I think Roy is a guy that has a junior bag or tricks and they worked season one, where his partner shtick got the players to over achieve and now that ran out.

I don't expect a coaching change to happen. When Sacco, Granato, McLean, Richards, Ramsay, MacLean and Gulutzan didn't work out as head coaches they took job as assistant coaches in the league. Anyone see Roy doing that if it doesn't work out here? Not me either.

I think Avs and Avs fans are caught here. Unfortunately. I don't think Roy is Gretzky behind the bench by any means but I do think he's getting outcoached most every night.

 

[Bender]

I think development still is a problem for this organization. Sure the slam dunk picks have worked out like Duchene and Mac but I still fail to see where we are getting mid-high round draft picks to perform. We are still filling our 3rd and 4th lines with fringe nhl players and no young guys come in and grab their jobs.

I think that stuff is coming and I also believe it's in large part as to why Pracey was fired. For the past many, many years, we just haven't had many players that we've been able to call-up and count on or even better, call-up and make us think long and hard about sending them back down because they've been so good. By my count, the last time that's happened was in 2007-08 with David Jones. To go 7 or 8 years without a late-round pick, making his way through the AHL to end up an NHL player is a massive joke.

All signs point to the Avs drafting much better in recent years and we should be able to have some players able to step in soon enough. Still, it won't matter unless they get a solid coach who understands X & Os and can make changes on the go.

Maybe we are not at the point where we are a top team or a contending team but the fact that we are a last place team with the talent we have on this team is a horrible, horrible joke and it reflects really, really bad on the coaching staff whether it's warranted or not.

 

[Avs71]

It's sad this is a discussion. Shakeup core, draft high, change coaches, successful season, crash and burn for the next couple years, and repeat.

The Avs need to get another core defenceman. Barrie racks up points, but just never seems to get it done night in and night out. The Avs need to get a third guy in there (or a 2nd if Barrie wants over 6 million).

I agree with others. Fire the assistants(again), draft high, trim some fat, grab a decent UFA, and give it one last kick at the can with Roy. If they stumble out of the gate next year, then it's time to fire Roy.

If the team completely tunes him out, I could see Roy stepping down at the end of the year.

 

[Bender]

This is what takes time. They have the talent now, let's see if they can eventually contribute.

I'd change neither. This roster just isn't talented enough past the core players. I know it sucks to throw a season away but how can they properly evaluate their "plan" when all the pieces aren't there yet? They aren't a player away. If they traded Duchene for Stamkos this team wouldn't be any better. Duchene and MacKinnon have picked up their game and are giving the Avs what they need on the scoresheet and it's not making a difference on bad nights, on good nights they are catalysts to victory like in Boston and Montreal.

Goaltending was exposed, that's been part of the problem too. What do you mean haven't been the reason Bender? Varly not having a strong game in 75% of his starts, Berra pooped the bed this week. We can see the difference between having a good goaltending week and a poor one, just look at last week vs this week.

I think I'm ready to move Barrie if that's the deal they want to make. I can't watch his behind the back spin passes anymore. I don't know why he never gets crap for being too fancy. His defensive game has improved but has he REALLY helped the team much this year?

For your first point : compare our roster with the current 10-8-1 New Jersey Devils and tell me our roster isn't talented enough past the core players? It's 'obviously' not talented enough if you stupidly load up all the talent on one line and expect a mix of fringe NHLers, aging veterans and complete unknowns to carry the rest of the team through lines 2-3-4.

I agree with you that trading Duchene for Stamkos wouldn't change a damn thing. But I do believe that trading Tim Army for say Ralph Krueger or Guy Boucher (just examples) would change things quite a bit although it's unlikely to happen.

For your 2nd point, I'm just making a general statement. My personal feeling is that I don't even think I have even ONCE thought to myself "ah...we played really great tonight and deserved to win, too bad our goaltending wasn't good enough". It may have happened once or twice (like the 3rd game in Boston - goaltending wasn't good enough but we played poorly) but certainly not enough to lead me to believe that it's been one of our weakest links so far this season. We've got bigger fish to fry so-to-speak.

Avs already changed the video coach and one assistant coach and it's the same tire fire. Anyone trying to sell me on Tim Army running the show will waste their time.

I think Roy is a guy that has a junior bag or tricks and they worked season one, where his partner shtick got the players to over achieve and now that ran out.

I don't expect a coaching change to happen. When Sacco, Granato, McLean, Richards, Ramsay, MacLean and Gulutzan didn't work out as head coaches they took job as assistant coaches in the league. Anyone see Roy doing that if it doesn't work out here? Not me either.

I think Avs and Avs fans are caught here. Unfortunately. I don't think Roy is Gretzky behind the bench by any means but I do think he's getting outcoached most every night.

I believe Tim Army runs the PP. I see him making the schemes during timeouts. Besides, as far as the 'junior tricks' you referred to, someone posted a video with the Remparts PP goals always 'stretching the opposing defender in the corner' and I've never even seen the Avs run that play since he's been our coach. (lol...maybe they should be trying it)

Like I said though, Roy deserves his share of the blame but it is my belief that Farrish runs the D and the "collapsing-shot-blocking/players wearing skate guards" is his idea (could be Roy's too) and Tim Army runs the predictable PP with Iggy on one of the points, waiting to take the shot from the left side. (instead of from the half boards )

For the record, I don't expect a coaching change either but the Avs in general could use some coaching help, imo. I think Roy is too stubborn to accept that though.

 

[AslanRH]

I think development still is a problem for this organization. Sure the slam dunk picks have worked out like Duchene and Mac but I still fail to see where we are getting mid-high round draft picks to perform. We are still filling our 3rd and 4th lines with fringe nhl players and no young guys come in and grab their jobs.

I agree but think it is getting better, but isn't ready yet.

Compher, Bleakley (if he is ever signed), and Greer alone I feel will turn out at least as decent 3rd liners.

If you could get those guys from the future and put them on this current team, it would make a huge difference. There were just too many misses at FWD from the Pracey era and that hurts.

 

[tigervixxxen]

For your first point : compare our roster with the current 10-8-1 New Jersey Devils and tell me our roster isn't talented enough past the core players? It's 'obviously' not talented enough if you stupidly load up all the talent on one line and expect a mix of fringe NHLer, aging veterans and complete unknowns to carry the rest of the team through lines 2-3-4.

I agree with you that trading Duchene for Stamkos wouldn't change a damn thing. But I do believe that trading Tim Army for say Ralph Krueger or Guy Boucher (just examples) would change things quite a bit although it's unlikely to happen.

For your 2nd point, I'm just making a general statement. My personal feeling is that I don't even think I have even ONCE thought to myself "ah...we played really great tonight and deserved to win, too bad our goaltending wasn't good enough". It may have happened once or twice (like the 3rd game in Boston) but certainly not enough to lead me to believe that it's been one of our weakest links so far this season. We've got bigger fish to fry so-to-speak.

That's exactly the point, the fringe NHLer, aging veterans and unknowns are in the lineup regardless if you put the talent all on one line or not. If other teams are getting something out of less doesn't change the fact of what's going on here. Maybe we had our "more out of less" year two years ago.

How was goaltending not a factor in every game this week? How has Varly not being at his best for most of the season not even a consideration? No, it's not like the team played perfect and the goalie was the only one to blame but giving up 4+ is not ok. Two games this week they had to go to tandem and then the other game was the goals all at once. That's not getting acceptable goaltending.

 

[hockeyfish]

Option C: Patients.

 

[StayAtHomeAv]

I do think coaching has a lot to do with it, but I'm not going to say get rid of Roy. Roy seems like a great motivator. And that is a big part of coaching. But he needs to surround himself with good assistants who can teach proper X's and O's. Farrish needs to go ASAP. Our PK and defensive scheme is an absolute joke. And Honestly, what does Army even do? But, I'm not so worried about our offensive scheme. We are getting points with a fairly weak group of forwards. Should only improve as we add more talent to the mix.

As for the core, If I'm the Avs I'm going to Barrie and saying we need to get a deal done now. And if Barrie isn't willing to take less than 5 then trade him for Hamonic. I think Barrie brings a great element to the game, but his overall effectiveness is inflated due to his stats, and now we have an opportunity to get a guy who is just as effective but is on a great contract. I would trade Varly as well, or get him in surgery to fix that groin and shut him down for the year. We can't have a #1 goalie that has chronic health issues.

 

[CB Joe]

I know the options of the poll are limited but keep in mind that I'm not saying that these are the only options to fix the Avs.

The Avs have been rebuilding since they crashed in the 08-09 season and ended up with the 3rd overall pick. That was 7 seasons ago. I think by now people expected the team to be at the point where they would no longer be in contention for bottom of the league. As the Avs continue to fall farther behind in the 8th season I get the sense that the pressure is building so that either a big trade or a change in the front office could be coming this season.

Reading through the comments this season many posters seemed to be a fairly divided on this issue.

There seemed to be people who want to keep Roy because they think he's good at developing the young talent, he's a good motivator, and that he hasn't been given a fair chance yet. On the other side there are people who think it's time to replace Roy because they are unhappy with the lineups and system he uses, and that these decisions are costing the team points in the standings.

When it comes to our core there are posters who are happy with these players and willing to commit long term. On the other side there have recently been posts questioning if it was time to move one of the core players, such as Duchene (concerns about his streakiness and chemistry with his linemates), Barrie (concerns about his upcoming contract, his one dimensional play, his lack of size in the Western conference), and Varlamov (inconsistent play, on going injury problems).The Avs would get a good return for one of their core players and could use it to target other areas of concern, as they did with O'Reilly trade.

I'm just curious where people stand and the general discussion on these issues.

 

[Zodiac]

fire the assistant coaches should be move number one.

 

[Bender]

That's exactly the point, the fringe NHLer, aging veterans and unknowns are in the lineup regardless if you put the talent all on one line or not. If other teams are getting something out of less doesn't change the fact of what's going on here. Maybe we had our "more out of less" year two years ago.

How was goaltending not a factor in every game this week? How has Varly not being at his best for most of the season not even a consideration? No, it's not like the team played perfect and the goalie was the only one to blame but giving up 4+ is not ok. Two games this week they had to go to tandem and then the other game was the goals all at once. That's not getting acceptable goaltending.

I agree giving up 4 goals is not ok but at the same time, let's not act like the goaltender letting in 4 goals is solely his fault. The play of the players in front of him are LARGELY at fault here because of poor defensive coverage.

My point is that we are not in last place in the NHL because of our goaltending but because of our OVERALL team play (which also includes the goaltending).

Would it be nice if our goalies could steal games every night? Yes, absolutely! But expecting them to do so, while playing a poor team defensive game is unrealistic, imo.

As for your other point, I believe there is certainly a difference between putting all your talent on one line and leaving the rest of your lineup almost completely barren.
There is certainly a way to setup the lines to have more balance and this certainly is not it.

Roy had the opportunity earlier this season, to setup :

Landeskog-MacKinnon-Tanguay
Grigorenko-Duchene-Rantanen
Comeau-Soderberg-Iginla
McLeod-Mitchell-Skille

Those Top-3 lines have a chance to score everynight. You can swap lines 2 & 3 depending on which one is 'going'. Neither Grigorenko or Rantanen are defensive liablilities and would probably fit in great with a guy like Duchene.

Now with Tanguay injured and Rantanen in the AHL, this isn't necessarily possible but I believe would have given us WAYYYYYYYYY more of a chance to spread the scoring across 3 lines than we have right now.

Lando-Mack-Duchene <- if this is line isn't going, we will lose on most nights
Martinsen-Grigo-Iginla <- best of luck
McLeod-Soderberg-Comeau <- LOL (and they frikkin' scored too!)
Everberg-Wagner-Skille <- whatever

I don't have a problem with loading up that top line for 2-3 games to get somebody going (Duchene) and while that's happened and it needed to happen, you need to recognize that the rest of your lineup isn't likely to produce a hell of a lot. Like TMV, I'm really happy with the way Grigorenko has been playing since the start of the season and I feel he's made some strides so far. However, I don't believe he's ready to anchor a scoring line yet and if you're going to put him in that position, you need to give him better wingers than Martisen and Iginla, imo.

 

[CobraAcesS]

I think this poll is entirely too limited.

I'm not jumping on the Fire Roy wagon just yet. I'd like to see them start with Farrish and Army.

And I think they might have to take a look at trading a core player, if they want to "shake things up". I think any trade would have to make sense, though. Something like Barrie for Hamonic, for example, might make sense. That's the only kind of core-player trade I'd consider.

There are plenty of players on this team that aren't core players, though, that aren't pulling their weight (not saying the core players are pulling their weight, either...) If they could be traded for picks/prospects or expiring contracts, do it.

I think the rebuild got derailed by management thinking the team was ready to take the next step, and has been set back (yet again) as a result. Unfortunate, but a 112 point season can do that.

If I knew the recipe to get this team on track successfully...well, I'd probably be employed somewhere in the NHL. This team isn't totally FUBAR, but it needs some major work.

The only reason I picked trading a core player, was that you reminded me Barrie was considered a core player. lol

Or I wouldn't of voted...

The idea of having Hamonic there to develop our top end young D next to, is so so sweet to me.

Almost everyone that has top four potential can move the puck quite well on that left side.

I want new assistants as well, so I guess I could of voted coaching, but that just screams fire Roy for most people and I'm not on that train yet. Especially when actually taking a long hard (difficult?) look at our roster versus the past two years.

We've gotten younger, and older at the same damn time lol.

 

[Drij]

Getting new coaches doesn't seem to be working with this team. The core players aren't very good either. Mack and duchene are alright. But everyone else is **** and overpaid. You think it's worth giving Barrie &5 m a year? Hell no.

 

[CobraAcesS]

Now with Tanguay injured and Rantanen in the AHL, this isn't necessarily possible but I believe would have given us WAYYYYYYYYY more of a chance to spread the scoring across 3 lines than we have right now.

Lando-Mack-Duchene <- if this is line isn't going, we will lose on most nights
Martinsen-Grigo-Iginla <- best of luck
McLeod-Soderberg-Comeau <- LOL (and they frikkin' scored too!)
Everberg-Wagner-Skille <- whatever

I don't have a problem with loading up that top line for 2-3 games to get somebody going (Duchene) and while that's happened and it needed to happen, you need to recognize that the rest of your lineup isn't likely to produce a hell of a lot. Like TMV, I'm really happy with the way Grigorenko has been playing since the start of the season and I feel he's made some strides so far. However, I don't believe he's ready to anchor a scoring line yet and if you're going to put him in that position, you need to give him better wingers than Martisen and Iginla, imo.

When Mitchell is back, I'd like to see

Soderberg - Greg - Iginla as the second unit if Roy is going to keep that top line the same.

GTFO of the top 6 Comeau....


I'd actually like Soda - Greg - Mikko, but you know...

 

[AslanRH]

Getting new coaches doesn't seem to be working with this team. The core players aren't very good either. Mack and duchene are alright. But everyone else is **** and overpaid. You think it's worth giving Barrie &5 m a year? Hell no.

Varly, Landeskog and EJ are far from overpaid much less the rest of that.