How many games will we go without beating a team in the West?
People think that Buffalo is a shoe-in to be last place, but they don't play Western teams as often as we do. This could be a helluva nasty season if we can only manage to beat western teams 4-5 times.
I'm not bored of listening to people talk about firing Eakins. I'm beyond bored and numbed out. We've been talking about it pretty much since the guy got here.
I at times wonder if Mac-T has been hesitant to fire Eakins because it would put his first big decision into question.
Mac-T doesn't want to make any big trades because he feels that all of those moves (there were a ******** of moves last off-season) were enough for Eakins to coach a competitive team. That's not the case yet. I honestly can't imagine how bad things have to go this season for Mac-T to make a move.
At this point he can see Yakupov breaking through and he can see that Hopkins and Hall are meeting their potential. I really don't think he can credit Eakins with any of this. These are all 1st overall picks whom were expected to turn into great players.
Assuming that it wasn't Mac-T's intention of tanking... he's gotta thinking that Eakins should be getting a lot more out of what players he picked up over the off-season.
Nikitin wasn't expected to be a #1 or a #2 d-man, but he was expected to be good for 18+ quality minutes of hockey each game.
Fayne hasn't been as bad. He's at least looking like an NHL player on a game to game basis.
Pouliot was looking like he was earning his wages playing on the same line as Hopkins and Eberle and I consider it a huge blunder on Eakins part to break that line up after Hall came back... because with the way things are now we've got two lines that are looking good. Wagon line and H-H-Eberle. If we want to have a chance at beating teams in the west we need more than two lines. I hope Eakins can wake up and Put Hal on a line with Yakupov for an extended period of time so that we can have a three lines that can be productive and hard to play again.
Purcell has been disappointing, but he's shown good chemistry with Dr Drai at times. This is another thing that can put Mac-T's decision making into question. Drai needs sheltered minutes and having him play with Perron and Purcell seems pretty logical.
Well, I doubt any of this stuff happens, because it seems that making sound decisions (such as finding a goaltending coach) has not been our forte.
When we played Phoenix I really REALLY thought we were going to finally a western team... but if we're going to lose to Phoenix... man... I donno. I really don't know what to think.
People think that Buffalo is a shoe-in to be last place, but they don't play Western teams as often as we do. This could be a helluva nasty season if we can only manage to beat western teams 4-5 times.
I'm not bored of listening to people talk about firing Eakins. I'm beyond bored and numbed out. We've been talking about it pretty much since the guy got here.
I at times wonder if Mac-T has been hesitant to fire Eakins because it would put his first big decision into question.
Mac-T doesn't want to make any big trades because he feels that all of those moves (there were a ******** of moves last off-season) were enough for Eakins to coach a competitive team. That's not the case yet. I honestly can't imagine how bad things have to go this season for Mac-T to make a move.
At this point he can see Yakupov breaking through and he can see that Hopkins and Hall are meeting their potential. I really don't think he can credit Eakins with any of this. These are all 1st overall picks whom were expected to turn into great players.
Assuming that it wasn't Mac-T's intention of tanking... he's gotta thinking that Eakins should be getting a lot more out of what players he picked up over the off-season.
Nikitin wasn't expected to be a #1 or a #2 d-man, but he was expected to be good for 18+ quality minutes of hockey each game.
Fayne hasn't been as bad. He's at least looking like an NHL player on a game to game basis.
Pouliot was looking like he was earning his wages playing on the same line as Hopkins and Eberle and I consider it a huge blunder on Eakins part to break that line up after Hall came back... because with the way things are now we've got two lines that are looking good. Wagon line and H-H-Eberle. If we want to have a chance at beating teams in the west we need more than two lines. I hope Eakins can wake up and Put Hal on a line with Yakupov for an extended period of time so that we can have a three lines that can be productive and hard to play again.
Purcell has been disappointing, but he's shown good chemistry with Dr Drai at times. This is another thing that can put Mac-T's decision making into question. Drai needs sheltered minutes and having him play with Perron and Purcell seems pretty logical.
Well, I doubt any of this stuff happens, because it seems that making sound decisions (such as finding a goaltending coach) has not been our forte.
When we played Phoenix I really REALLY thought we were going to finally a western team... but if we're going to lose to Phoenix... man... I donno. I really don't know what to think.
I believe in this team!
