Your likely 2023-24 Scapegoat

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I assume this is for playoff failures ?

He seems to be really good in the regular season, but disappears come playoff time, or am I missing something?

Mostly. He’s starting to dip in the regular season too. Way too much of his offense now comes off the PP and he stands on the perimeter flinging the puck around. Won’t go to the hard areas anymore. He’s a shadow of what he once was, despite his point totals in the regular season still being good. The way he plays has also caused line problems for the team with him asking to not play with Kakko, and requiring that one of his line mates be a total grinder that digs pucks out of the corner.

The playoff stuff is what matters the most. The other stuff can be tolerated.

 

[scoopscj]

Mike Babcock.

This post from yesterday did not age well at all. haha.

 

[LokiDog]

Jokiharju. It’s through no fault of his own because Adams didn’t go out and get a top 4 defenseman. So now Joker will again be playing big minutes with Dahlin and don’t think he’s equipped to handle them.

Would love to be wrong because I really like Joker and he’s had some tough injury luck. The metrics said him and Dahlin together last year in their minutes was solid. But over a whole year, we will see.

Doesn’t Dahlin play the right side with Samuelsson? And then you have Power who can be with Clifton? And then Joker/Bryson/Johnson are your bottom pair options?

For the Rangers it will rotate all year. We simultaneously hate and love everyone we have. Standouts though will be Laf, Trouba, Panarin if he is playing as lazy and turnover prone as last year.

 

[MOGlLNY]

Doesn’t Dahlin play the right side with Samuelsson? And then you have Power who can be with Clifton? And then Joker/Bryson/Johnson are your bottom pair options?

For the Rangers it will rotate all year. We simultaneously hate and love everyone we have. Standouts though will be Laf, Trouba, Panarin if he is playing as lazy and turnover prone as last year.

Bryson isn't even part of the equation, most assume unless he has an amazing camp that he will be put through waivers. Due to the amount of RD we currently have, a lot of writers / our forum feel the pairings will end up something like this.

Dahlin-Jokiharju
Power-Clifton
Samuelsson-Johnson

Stillman

Taking the load off the Top 4 over the course of the year and playing Dahlin with Samuelsson in end of game situations or when Jokiharju is going dumb dumb mode.

 

[BlueDream]

Torey Krug for sure.

It could be the entire defense but Krug will definitely lead the way since he blocked that Philadelphia trade in June.

 

[LokiDog]

Due to the amount of RD we currently have, a lot of writers / our forum feel the pairings will end up something like this:

Dahlin-Jokiharju
Power-Clifton
Samuelsson-Johnson

Stillman

Taking the load off the Top 4 over the course of the year and playing Dahlin with Samuelsson in end of game situations or when Jokiharju is going dumb dumb mode.

I guess that makes sense for regular season and not late game defending a lead situations. The Rasmus/Sammy combo is so good though, I wouldn’t want to separate them. Sammy is somewhat wasted in the bottom pair and flipping him and Joker doesn’t look like it would hurt that bad. Especially if EJ can stay healthy because he’d be a solid vet to play with HJ.

 

[MOGlLNY]

I guess that makes sense for regular season and not late game defending a lead situations. The Rasmus/Sammy combo is so good though, I wouldn’t want to separate them. Sammy is somewhat wasted in the bottom pair and flipping him and Joker doesn’t look like it would hurt that bad. Especially if EJ can stay healthy because he’d be a solid vet to play with HJ.

You won't hear a disagreement from me, however I wouldn't be surprised to see Sammy with Power either. I believe they had better underlying numbers together than Dahls and Sammy last year.

 

[Michoulicious]

Mitch Marner is well positioned to be the scapegoat again if Leafs fail another time in the playoffs.

 

[Evergreen]

For the Flyers it will be Torts

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

James Reimer.

Aside from catastrophic injuries, the only reason that Detroit doesn't improve this season is goaltending being awful.

 

[Bobby Orrtuzzo]

Torey Krug for sure.

It could be the entire defense but Krug will definitely lead the way since he blocked that Philadelphia trade in June.

Between that and people still associating him with Petro leaving it’s Krug 1000%.

Runner up will be Kyrou because he’s not Bergeron 2.0

 

[Machinehead]

It's already Panarin, we don't need to wait.

 

[Dr Robot]

Between that and people still associating him with Petro leaving it’s Krug 1000%.

Runner up will be Kyrou because he’s not Bergeron 2.0

I was going to say it will be:
Kyrou
Krug/Parayko. Probably Krug but theres an outside chance Parayko will get every single D-zone start and people will blame him for all our defensive woes even if we pull our goalie with 20 minutes left in the first.

 

[hangman005]

The Knights are due a Cup hangover, so I can see any of Hill, Karlsson, Eichel, Martínez or Pietrangelo getting blamed for a slow start.

Curious to see which player not being “on” hinders the collective sum first.

By default I think Kolsar is the scapegoat, like last year and the year before

 

[WhataKnight]

By default I think Kolsar is the scapegoat, like last year and the year before

LOL….you are not wrong!

I’ll have to keep a gif of the hit he threw on Tkachuk in the Finals handy.

 

[TageGod]

Easy answer would be a Sabres goaltender.

 

[Bouboumaster]

Drouin for the Avs. Now that Compher isn't on the team. Or Newhook.

You took our Whipping Boy from us

 

[bert]

Mitch Marner is well positioned to be the scapegoat again if Leafs fail another time in the playoffs.

Is it a scapegoat when his play dips the way it does in the playoffs? Isnt a scapegoat someone who gets blamed no matter what. Marners performance warrants the discussion.

In Ottawa its D.J Smith. Its all the posters that talk about 'systems' that dont even know how to identify one. Now it very well maybe him as its the first time they have had a team that has a roster that is built properly and has the talent to compete for a playoff spot. So it might be deserved at this point. However he will get blamed for many things that arent his fault along the way as well. My favorite one last year was it was DJ's fault that Debrincat was missing so many open looks.

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

I think Bunting will be a super popular scapegoat and player to complain about for the Canes as he'll likely take some dumb penalties leading to goals against at critical times and games lost. That said I think it'll be misplaced, just an easy/convenient thing to see and get upset about; I think his overall impact will be positive and the good will outweigh some of the dumb penalties/hotheaded moments. But we shall see.

 

[VijayPatel11]

It's amazing how dedicated my fanbase is to having one of these every season. Some of them are understandable I must admit though (*cough* Yandle *cough*). But some are kind of head scratchers.
I can't really guess right now who it will be at this moment. But I can say it will be one.

I'd imagine it would be ekblad

 

[Fire Sweeney]

The Bruins are running short of Euro's, Ullmark, Pastrnak, Zacha, your pick.

 

[AslanRH]

Avs:
F: Nichushkin (he can't under-perform after the playoff mess)
D: Manson or Girard (both have already had their share)
G: Whoever ends up being the cursed 3rd Goalie

 

[Coffey]

Nurse and Campbell, as is tradition.

And roll the dice on who the new Yamamoto will be.

 

[BonMorrison]

This has Nyquist or Gurianov written all over it.

Lauzon also.

 

[DJJones]

Huberdeau and Lindholm seem like the obvious choices. If they can't produce together with a coach coming in knowing that it's his job to get them going shits gonna get ugly.

Kadri I think people know what to expect. Half the time he looks like a 1C, the other half he looks like hes floating. Still need to find him wingers he gels with but it won't be a big story.

If Markstrom struggles Wolf is there, If they both struggle, again it's going to get ugly.