GDT: Game 52: Coyotes @ Kings | 2/3/18 8:30 p.m. MST | FS-A

[Murf]

If it is summer 2017, I think you could argue that we had one of the best rosters in a long time.

Defense should have been better - then Chychrun's injury, Hjalmarsson injuries, OEL not rebounding from a lousy year.

Offense should have been better - then Domi goes cold, the coach breaks Duclair, Stepan barely shows up, Keller starts hot then fades, young players in general show less progress than we hoped.

Goaltending was a question mark - then Raanta is injured, Domingue falls off a cliff, by the time Wedgewood is acquired the season is lost.

Coaching is debatable - they tried to escape mediocrity and the rocket was a dud. It may still work out.

 

[Neighborhood Coyote]

Do we side with RT when convenient and then blast him when it is not? I personally Doan care what RT says's (unless it's convenient and he agrees with me ), but I saw us just flat out get overwhelmed by a better opponent, similar to what the Stars did after taking the first period off against us.

No worries my friend, just wanted my take on record, as it varies from what the general consensu seems to be here.

Oh yea, everyone is allowed to have their opinion on the matter! Was doin the same thing on my end. With RT, a broken clock can be right twice a day right? haha. Not saying he is in this case, just a little joke.

 

[BUX7PHX]

I think at this point the theory that this roster is a better one than any in years previous is open to significant debate.

Not that significant, or are we that soon to forget how many people were against Holland/Jooris or Chipchura/Moss?

The fact of the matter is that the players on the roster were who people WANTED on the team. So many people were asking for Demers to be traded here since well before this season. Now that the guy who everyone wanted has a bad year on a bad team, suddenly the roster isn't comparable? I call BS to that. 100%. That is a 20/20 hindsight look to save face and argue that the players are the sole ones responsible. From a talent perspective, this roster is not that much different than the 13-14 roster which was the last "capable" roster that we had. The difference is in two measures: experience and coaching.

You cannot tell me that this roster is not 100% better than what we have had in the last 3 years. Don't believe it? This guy sums it up fairly well and he posted this no more than 3 days ago on our roster discussion page:

I don't get it. How is this team bad? Looking on paper they should be fine. Keller, Stepan, Dvorak, Fischer, Perlini, Domi, Panik. On defense they have OEL, Hjalmarsson, Chychrun, Demers, Goligoski. Raanta is a fine goalie and Wedgewood is a great backup. I seriously do not understand.

Its not like they have no depth, they have guys like Rieder, Richardson, Martinook, Cousins.

I seriously cant wrap my head around how a decent team on paper like the Yotes is so bad in practice.

 

[The Feckless Puck]

This guy sums it up fairly well and he posted this no more than 3 days ago on our roster discussion page:

He also says the most important words when assessing this roster... "a decent team on paper." Frankly, we're in love with our prospects and can't imagine how they might not be NHL-caliber, if not NHL-great-caliber.

And yet the story of the NHL is littered with stories of guys who showed all the promise in the world until they played in the big league and never made it very far. So I think it is acceptable - even important - to start questioning whether we are overvaluing our prospect players. Not to the point of having a fire sale, but just for the purposes of finding the leaks in a bucket that is hemorrhaging water at an alarming rate.

 

[Coyotedroppings]

He also says the most important words when assessing this roster... "a decent team on paper." Frankly, we're in love with our prospects and can't imagine how they might not be NHL-caliber, if not NHL-great-caliber.

And yet the story of the NHL is littered with stories of guys who showed all the promise in the world until they played in the big league and never made it very far. So I think it is acceptable - even important - to start questioning whether we are overvaluing our prospect players. Not to the point of having a fire sale, but just for the purposes of finding the leaks in a bucket that is hemorrhaging water at an alarming rate.

I think it's fair to say that RT totally over valued this roster, in the beginning and has been doing his damndest to recover since.

 

[RemoAZ]

I think it's fair to say that RT totally over valued this roster, in the beginning and has been doing his damndest to recover since.

I think the whole organization panicked way too early. They should have stuck with the young guys and tried to develop them instead of adding the waiver fodder. At least the crap players haven't been average enough to kill our draft position like the last half a dozen years or so. I guess that's a positive. The commitment to develop draft picks has always been half ass imo. Nobody seems to want to put in the effort or have the patience. It really makes no sense since that's the only way we can ever have a winning team here since adding high end free agents is out of the question. Hell, they had to over pay Goligoski. Imagine what it would take to get someone really good.

 

[Bonsai Tree]

We need a really good GM and a better coach. Lots of teams are always picking low in the draft but fill their roster with terrific players, and make the playoffs most years.

 

[BUX7PHX]

I think the whole organization panicked way too early. They should have stuck with the young guys and tried to develop them instead of adding the waiver fodder. At least the crap players haven't been average enough to kill our draft position like the last half a dozen years or so. I guess that's a positive. The commitment to develop draft picks has always been half ass imo. Nobody seems to want to put in the effort or have the patience. It really makes no sense since that's the only way we can ever have a winning team here since adding high end free agents is out of the question. Hell, they had to over pay Goligoski. Imagine what it would take to get someone really good.

I think that people are mistaken regarding the commitment to develop draft picks. There is a ceiling for prospects, and there is an idea that because a player hasn't hit a certain level, it means that the team hasn't properly developed the player. When in fact, the player may have reached their proverbial peak and there is not much else that can be done.

For the first time in a long time, we have prospects who can break through. There is a reason why the Tikhonovs, Lessios, Samuelssons, and Szwarz received some burn, but never really became forces in the league either.

 

[Jakey53]

I think it's fair to say that RT totally over valued this roster, in the beginning and has been doing his damndest to recover since.

I think we did also. Mind you, after last season and how the kids were developing we expected more and we should be much better than what we are.

I think the whole organization panicked way too early. They should have stuck with the young guys and tried to develop them instead of adding the waiver fodder. At least the crap players haven't been average enough to kill our draft position like the last half a dozen years or so. I guess that's a positive. The commitment to develop draft picks has always been half ass imo. Nobody seems to want to put in the effort or have the patience. It really makes no sense since that's the only way we can ever have a winning team here since adding high end free agents is out of the question. Hell, they had to over pay Goligoski. Imagine what it would take to get someone really good.

They have stuck with the kids for the most part and have been patient, so far. This has been a lost season for awhile now and I have no idea why they abandoned the plan on bringing up players from Tucson for a look see. Sorry, playing Archibald, Cousins and Rinaldo does nothing for me at this stage of our rebuild, and especially at this time of year and where RT plays them. Hopefully, after TTD they start to bring up Strome, Crouse, Merkley and a few others to get a look see going into next year. Goligoski is playing pretty good hockey for the most part if you forget about the first month, but all the vets were still in Hawaii when the season started.

 

[Heldig]

We need a really good GM and a better coach. Lots of teams are always picking low in the draft but fill their roster with terrific players, and make the playoffs most years.

Was reading the latest The Hockey News issue (yes I subscribe to a magazine printed on actual paper) and they have a telling article. They talk about the importance of getting good roster players with later draft picks. They state "it is more important than ever to win with contributions from late round picks".

They rank every team in the NHL for gems drafted beyond round 2. They only list 27 teams. Not surprisingly the 2 worst teams in the NHL do not have a player that qualifies (Arizona and Buffalo).

 

[Bonsai Tree]

The Tucson players are experiencing success. That’s an invaluable asset for next year as the current young players have not experienced that on the NHL level.