I’ll take that bet. I suspect we’re going to hear all year that Skinner’s deficiencies were greatly exaggerated, and he’ll likely be given credit for his new found defensive sensibilities that are respectable enough for him to keep his job.
I believe this as well. In fact, Skinner is now in a place where he could be considered a veteran leader and I wouldn't be surprised for that to happen. The opposite might happen as well, but that feels unlikely in a contract year. I think you'll see the very best "Jeff Skinner" this season.
Carolina doesn’t know what sucking and a bad owner really is.
Mariners, Pirates....what about us Orioles fans!!!!???
The lack of any kind of roster player in return on the deal? The fact that this teams offense still wasn't projected to be in the top half of the league even with Skinner now has to make up for his output
Serious question here....when has any recent "rental player" trade included a roster player of any consequence coming back....I'm not talking about a cap dump or a 3rd line scrub....I mean a real, contributing roster player?
If Necas can match Ryan’s point totals from this past season we should all be thrilled.
38 points from Necas is right where I hope/anticipate Martin's production to be.
As others have said.....Alice, is that you from down in the rabbit hole?
I’m not saying either of Martinook or Ferland was a bad acquisition, far from it.
Ferland I'm cautiously optimistic for....Martinook, in my opinion, is probably a non-factor.
With what will surely be among the worst goaltending in the league.
The idea that, somehow, Cam Ward gave/gives us a better chance at eeking out mediocrity is revising history. Plus, despite having a couple of bad years, Mrazek has a better lifetime save % than both Cam Ward and Scott Darling. To say that his presence guarantees a worse goaltending duo just isn't born out by the data.
Plus, and yes I am the resident optimist, Mrazek's season in 16-17 was in front of a near historically bad defense (Detroit posted a 79 point season that year).
He said he would spend to compete, but it would be for the right players. Skinner wasn't a part of that equation.
Probably goes without saying, but we're still a good ways away from the season's start. Personally, I just can't see assets not being used to make at least one more move up front.
It’s been a lot of mostly pointless bickering
....which is either new or unusual how?
Skinner was not the captain, and he always seemed to care and play hard, many times carrying the team on his back and single handedly winning games.
While I will agree that he did always seem to care (until the 2nd half of this past season), his "play hard" quotient was erratic at best. He was often characterized, and correctly so, as "floating", which isn't a rare thing for guys primarily known for their goal scoring. What I do take umbrage with is the bolded part above. He may have occasionally taken the team on his shoulders, it was more rare than not, and best characterized as erratic or inconsistent.
I loved Jeff Skinner as a Cane. But let's not rewrite history in either direction. He was a great goal scorer who could dramatically impact games with his offense. He could back check when he wanted and ended up being a "takeaway" monster. His overall defensive game was lacking and, despite having great vision and good passing skills, he almost never utilized his linemates very effectively. One just has to know what they get with Jeff Skinner and use him effectively. Disappointment with him was never a consistent thing either, but it was maddeningly frustrating.
In context of having it confirmed from Skinner himself that he never shot down an offer, I’m not sure what to make of Cole going out in his official capacity as a Canes ambassador and putting it into the media that Skinner was “nixing trades”.
The truth is always somewhere in the middle. What we do know is that Jeff's team gave a very limited list of teams he'd be willing to go to. That list likely was accompanied with some form of caveat around...."I'm not interested in going anywhere else". In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if ideas were brought to Jeff's agent and shot down before actually getting to Jeff. That's the agent's job, in most cases, to be a buffer and/or a translator of client wishes.
The whole Erik Cole thing was interesting in that it felt almost like he couldn't help himself....but it also felt a bit like he was articulating Roddy's position.
