GDT: Free Agent Frenzy

[serp]

They were 18th in gf and got to play against horrible detroit, columbus and chicago teams regularly.
Teams that allowed the 7th,8th and 11th most goals.

Chicago will be better than they were last year
so basically all the garbage teams are gone from the division this year, they'll have real travel again, another year of decline on basically half the forwards, and worse goaltending.


Edit forgot arizona is in the central, so 1 garbage team to exploit

I disagree with that. They'll still be a defensive tirefire because thats the system Coliton is running.

 

[Captain Awesome]

It would be a complete shock to me.
There's not enough scoring and more than enough poor goaltending to make the season a struggle

The goaltending tilts it for me. This team without a Bishop caliber goalie is going to be average at best. If you're very, very lucky, the Stars put up average goaltending and average offense with elite defense. That's a scenario where Khudobin just continues to do what he's doing, Holtby comes back from the depths of being an AHL caliber player for two straight years, and the rest of the team stays healthy with a solid Seguin bounce back. Realistically, this team is too old to be healthy for a full year, the offense is below average with this system, and the goaltending has the potential to tank you like in the later Lehtonen-Niemi years.

With the age and/or injury history of Benn, Pavelski, Radulov, Seguin, Comeau, Sekera, Suter, Holtby, and Khudobin, one or more of them could fall off a cliff, or just not available due to injury. That's before looking at injury prone players like Hintz. Really, between constantly betting against the age curve and the new goalie situation, I won't be surprised if they end up at around the same spot as last year, with bad goaltending wiping out any advances made with parts of our forward core coming back.

 

[serp]

Here's the shocking part about Holtby. He turns just 32 in September and has almost no injury history . He just randomly turned to shit from a vezina winner while still in his prime.

 

[BfantZ]

It would be a complete shock to me.
There's not enough scoring and more than enough poor goaltending to make the season a struggle

There wasn’t enough scoring the year before , than hintz and Robertson broke out just in time for seguin and radulov to get hurt . If they are all playing there’s plenty of offense .

 

[Captain Awesome]

Here's the shocking part about Holtby. He turns just 32 in September and has almost no injury history . He just randomly turned to shit from a vezina winner while still in his prime.

So you're telling me he was a vezina winner in his prime, then he gradually got worse as time passed, after his prime?

 

[serp]

So you're telling me he was a vezina winner in his prime, then he gradually got worse as time passed, after his prime?

He was still in his prime year after he won the Vezina. He still should be in the tailend of his prime at the very least agewise.

 

[Satan]

He was still in his prime year after he won the Vezina. He still should be in the tailend of his prime at the very least agewise.

This doesn't make sense and you might want to look up what prime means.

Holtbys is long removed from the prime of his career. He's a declining goalie. Can declining goalies have net positive seasons? Yes. Does it mean they're still in the prime of their career? Absolutely not.

 

[BfantZ]

Holtbys gonna show that it’s been Dallas defence keeping the GAA down .

 

[WhoahNow]

I just want Oettinger to step up and be the #1. Holtby or Dobby can be the backup

 

[suprafastcelica]

Looking at stats since his cup run.

Washington was mid pack on team goals against.

Vancouver was better than only 5 or 6 teams last year. That's it.

I'm hopeful that with Dallas Defense, holtby can have a seller year. With the lack of injuries in his career, and older goalies such as Khudobin and Fluery, it's totally possible for a great year.

In the late 90s early 2000s with Detroit I always though Osgood was crap. The defense was what won the games. When Osgood went to NYI, it showed that Osgood was an average goalie.

 

[BfantZ]

The goaltending tilts it for me. This team without a Bishop caliber goalie is going to be average at best. If you're very, very lucky, the Stars put up average goaltending and average offense with elite defense. That's a scenario where Khudobin just continues to do what he's doing, Holtby comes back from the depths of being an AHL caliber player for two straight years, and the rest of the team stays healthy with a solid Seguin bounce back. Realistically, this team is too old to be healthy for a full year, the offense is below average with this system, and the goaltending has the potential to tank you like in the later Lehtonen-Niemi years.

With the age and/or injury history of Benn, Pavelski, Radulov, Seguin, Comeau, Sekera, Suter, Holtby, and Khudobin, one or more of them could fall off a cliff, or just not available due to injury. That's before looking at injury prone players like Hintz. Really, between constantly betting against the age curve and the new goalie situation, I won't be surprised if they end up at around the same spot as last year, with bad goaltending wiping out any advances made with parts of our forward core coming back.

Other than game 6 against the blues what game have you ever said bishop won that one ? He’s a good goalie but Daryl reaugh could slap on the pads and have an above .900 svp with the stars defence and system .

 

[BfantZ]

Is Colorado moving back to Quebec and changing divisions in your scenario?

We were a stupid coaching decision from sweeping the avs in the playoffs last year . Without Robertson and with hintz only at 1.0 status and half the team injured .

 

[M88K]

We were a stupid coaching decision from sweeping the avs in the playoffs last year . Without Robertson and with hintz only at 1.0 status and half the team injured .

So was half their team.

 

[BfantZ]

So was half their team.

Regardless , Colorado really isn’t all that good . Take McKinnon out of the equation(or shut him down ) and there a bubble team .

 

[serp]

I think Vegas , Avs and Minny got overrated because they had 4 abysmal teams in their division and St.Louis wasn't good either.

 

[Johno]

Is Colorado moving back to Quebec and changing divisions in your scenario?

As good as that team is overall, they ain’t a powerhouse with that goaltending.

 

[Captain Awesome]

Other than game 6 against the blues what game have you ever said bishop won that one ? He’s a good goalie but Daryl reaugh could slap on the pads and have an above .900 svp with the stars defence and system .

Seinfeld leaving dot gif

As good as that team is overall, they ain’t a powerhouse with that goaltending.

Do you mean the drop from Grubauer to Kuemper? Feel like it's kind of a marginal change at best, both have been pretty good over many years. I'll admit to not being overly familiar with either of them.

 

[Satan]

i've been throwing an internal tantrum over Mascherin going to Europe for the past 24 hours

 

[serp]

i've been throwing an internal tantrum over Mascherin going to Europe for the past 24 hours

Give your son a call and ask him whats what.

 

[Johno]

Seinfeld leaving dot gif



Do you mean the drop from Grubauer to Kuemper? Feel like it's kind of a marginal change at best, both have been pretty good over many years. I'll admit to not being overly familiar with either of them.

Yeah IMO that drop is huge enough that it matters in the way season will play out.
How will the young defense react to suddenly having to deal with a ton more rebounds as well as defend the net front/in-tight a lot more since that’s where Kuemper has a weakness. Kuemper is also way more inconsistent with his play.

 

[Satan]

Give your son a call and ask him whats what.

We're not on speaking terms anymore

 

[Captain Awesome]

We're not on speaking terms anymore

He's got to do his Swedish immersion program or else he's never going to learn. You're just going to have to learn it with him if you want to communicate.

Yeah IMO that drop is huge enough that it matters in the way season will play out.
How will the young defense react to suddenly having to deal with a ton more rebounds as well as defend the net front/in-tight a lot more since that’s where Kuemper has a weakness. Kuemper is also way more inconsistent with his play.

I don't really think it's that big of a deal TBH, but I guess we will see. I went over to the Avs board, and they were rightfully pissed about the trade, but they also complained that Grubauer has always been inconsistent. Then again, I'd bet good money no one is watching Kuemper play a lot for the Coyotes, no way I'm watching that team for fun. The Avs D has had a bit of turnover, but I'd consider their group as good, if not better, than the Stars. Also, unlike the Stars, they have plenty of margin for error offensively.

 

[AveryStar4Eva]

I missed this in all the free agency news, but just seen that Dowling got a 2 year, 1 way contract from the Canucks. Awesome to see a guy that went through the grind in the AHL till he was nearly 30 to finally get that one way deal. Also, dude was a beast in western Canada so look out Edmonton and Calgary

 

[Captain Awesome]

I missed this in all the free agency news, but just seen that Dowling got a 2 year, 1 way contract from the Canucks. Awesome to see a guy that went through the grind in the AHL till he was nearly 30 to finally get that one way deal. Also, dude was a beast in western Canada so look out Edmonton and Calgary

I was looking at puckfriendly today and noticed that Dowling had some of the better possession metrics on the Stars over the last two years. Too bad he can't do anything with the puck when he has it. Hope he carves out a career as a 4th liner for the Canucks though.

 

[Zapp]

Benn getting ready to play C in preparation for us trading Seguin