Yzerman Has Some MAJOR Work To Do

[The Macho King]

Need some serious upgrades here. I know its not their goal to score tons of goals but man, the lack of production in the amount of games played is really staggering.

Point totals are highlighted.

Yeah - Hedman has more goals than the rest of them combined and almost as many points.

 

[Sky04]

He has never been consistent. These exact complaints come up about him every year. It's just that the post-season raises the expectations on him in the regular season, but he never meets those. He always does exactly what he's doing now. He's consistent with how inconsistent he is. If anything, we're going to get a few more goals out of him than we're used to.

This, he has never been consistent, this is the same Killorn every year except he had a ridiculously hot start and still ended up with the same production. Some days he snipes like Stamkos, some days he's a power forward and the other days he's got hands as like JT Brown. He was great before because he was a cheap depth player, now he's a depth player who costs a pretty penny.

 

[Bolt 45]

He has never been consistent. These exact complaints come up about him every year. It's just that the post-season raises the expectations on him in the regular season, but he never meets those. He always does exactly what he's doing now. He's consistent with how inconsistent he is. If anything, we're going to get a few more goals out of him than we're used to.

I'd still say he's been consistently underwhelming this year. He just looks less determined to get to pucks in the corners, and less determined to win battles when he gets there. He's always had one of the nastier wrist shots on the team and I don't think I've seen it at all this year. Killorn on his game has these moments where he simply won't be denied; granted, this is a larger feature in the playoffs, but there are usually glimpses of it during the regular season. Those haven't been as frequent this year. He's not getting the same kinds of chances he usually gets, and it seems to be because he's a step slow and/or he's got some sort of confidence issue going on. His passing's generally been bad, too. I would put him in the same category as Garrison in terms of a general drop off in a lot of basic areas. I mean, most of the team falls into this category, so I'm definitely not trying to single Killorn out. He's just the guy who got a nice raise. That's my take anyway.

 

[DFC]

I'd still say he's been consistently underwhelming this year. He just looks less determined to get to pucks in the corners, and less determined to win battles when he gets there. He's always had one of the nastier wrist shots on the team and I don't think I've seen it at all this year. Killorn on his game has these moments where he simply won't be denied; granted, this is a larger feature in the playoffs, but there are usually glimpses of it during the regular season. Those haven't been as frequent this year. He's not getting the same kinds of chances he usually gets, and it seems to be because he's a step slow and/or he's got some sort of confidence issue going on. His passing's generally been bad, too. I would put him in the same category as Garrison in terms of a general drop off in a lot of basic areas. I mean, most of the team falls into this category, so I'm definitely not trying to single Killorn out. He's just the guy who got a nice raise. That's my take anyway.

I think you're overrating what he used to be.

 

[Bolt 45]

I think you're overrating what he used to be.

Fair enough.

 

[Bolt 45]

Need some serious upgrades here. I know its not their goal to score tons of goals but man, the lack of production in the amount of games played is really staggering.

Point totals are highlighted.

You're right, but don't hold your breath. Some of those guys are core.

 

[T REX]

Need some serious upgrades here. I know its not their goal to score tons of goals but man, the lack of production in the amount of games played is really staggering.

Point totals are highlighted.

And how many turnovers? We need serious upgrades. Wow.

 

[DFC]

You're right, but don't hold your breath. Some of those guys are core.

I'm not too concerned with the forwards. Especially with lower line guys (Brown and Paquette), I'm not going to hold them to much of a scoring standard if any, especially when our D is struggling so much to move the puck.

Our team is always going to have weak links, and I think, when it comes to Brown and Paquette, we would only be replacing them with "different" players rather than "better" players. For now anyway. Maybe Tanner Richard can come in next year and take Paquette's job, or maybe we can bring Boyle back, but that's not really a spot where you want your scoring prospects or anything.

Wouldn't mind seeing something like Brown-Paquette-Erne as a super pest line.

All that said, I think there's a ton of reason to be concerned with the D. 3 or our top 4 are on that list.

 

[These Are The Days]

Need some serious upgrades here. I know its not their goal to score tons of goals but man, the lack of production in the amount of games played is really staggering.

Point totals are highlighted.

Ohhh it's bad. We've got to be near the bottom in scoring by defense.

 

[DFC]

Ohhh it's bad. We've got to be near the bottom in scoring by defense.

A 22 minute, 35 point guy would help a lot.

I'm hopeful Stralman will get back to that level next year.

 

[The Macho King]

Ohhh it's bad. We've got to be near the bottom in scoring by defense.

Hedman probably makes it relatively respectable.

 

[These Are The Days]

A 22 minute, 35 point guy would help a lot.

I'm hopeful Stralman will get back to that level next year.

We can only hope. But putting Dotchin in his place on the power play hasn't helped Stralman. But it has at least helped out the power play. Although the advent of Jonathan Drouin should not be overlooked. He runs that power play every bit as efficiently as Crosby does.

Hedman probably makes it relatively respectable.

More than likely. Without him we definitely rank dead last.

 

[chasespace]

You're right, but don't hold your breath. Some of those guys are core.

Stralman is the only one of those I wouldn't want to lose.

 

[bov]

Paquette, when healthy, hasn't looked all that bad this season imo. Brown on the other hand declined very noticeably (except in the fighting department), not sure what's up with that.

 

[LTIR Trickery]

But Sustr has 8 points at mostly even strength!!1

 

[HoseEmDown]

But Sustr has 8 points at mostly even strength!!1

Just like that overpaid bum Stralman.

 

[TampaBoltz]

Coburn played a terrible game against the Rangers. They are very aggressive and Coburn didn't handle it well. Sustr isn't good with pressing teams like the Rangers either. I was pro dumping Garrison asap for cap relief. Now I not so sure Coburn shouldn't go first. We need that # 2-3 D that has some O ability and can get the puck out of trouble quickly. Then we really need secondary scoring. Our young prospects may still be a couple of years away. Also, Vladdy has been playing much better. He has put the puck in places for guys to score and they just haven't. For his price, I think I would protect him and expose Killorn. I wouldn't give Palat a penny over 4M and Johnson around 5M. I like Dumont and Gorde. They make things happen. To bad we don't have a scorer like JAM to go with them. Erne is going to be fine also. SY has many decisions to make. You could make the argument that rather than paying Palat 4M, just replace him with Gorde for 600K. He brings a lot of the same things. Big decisions

 

[Sky04]

Coburn played a terrible game against the Rangers. They are very aggressive and Coburn didn't handle it well. Sustr isn't good with pressing teams like the Rangers either. I was pro dumping Garrison asap for cap relief. Now I not so sure Coburn shouldn't go first. We need that # 2-3 D that has some O ability and can get the puck out of trouble quickly. Then we really need secondary scoring. Our young prospects may still be a couple of years away. Also, Vladdy has been playing much better. He has put the puck in places for guys to score and they just haven't. For his price, I think I would protect him and expose Killorn. I wouldn't give Palat a penny over 4M and Johnson around 5M. I like Dumont and Gorde. They make things happen. To bad we don't have a scorer like JAM to go with them. Erne is going to be fine also. SY has many decisions to make. You could make the argument that rather than paying Palat 4M, just replace him with Gorde for 600K. He brings a lot of the same things. Big decisions

Please, do try.

 

[TampaBoltz]

Please, do try.

The argument against paying Palat 4-5M is that he is more off a high energy forechecker rather than a highly skilled forward. He has 32 points now and has been playing with 86 and 9. He has padded his totals the last few years playing with them. We have a lot of high energy forecheckers that would have a lot more points if they played with 86 & 9. Plus, Stevens, Joseph, Cirelli and Yan may be ready soon. Followed by Howden and Raddysh. I would be very careful give Palat big money and term. I have loved what he brings but there are injury concerns as well as lack of production. His money and trade value could help bring that 2-3D we need.

 

[CupsOverCash]

If I'm Yzerman I would try to get rid of Garrison and maybe even Coburn. Then sign another solid D. I don't think it's going to cost too much to sign our 3 big RFAs. We trade those other two we can easily fit a Shattenkirk or someone who is an upgrade from Garrison and Coburn. That's what I would do.

 

[PaulGG]

If I'm Yzerman I would try to get rid of Garrison and maybe even Coburn. Then sign another solid D. I don't think it's going to cost too much to sign our 3 big RFAs. We trade those other two we can easily fit a Shattenkirk or someone who is an upgrade from Garrison and Coburn. That's what I would do.

No doubt we need an upgrade on D. Top 4's UFA are going to be expensive and moving Garrison and Coburn would be a lot for just one UFA D to fill. One of those big RFA may have to go in addition to Garrison in order to get a prime UFA D.

 

[TampaJay]

No doubt we need an upgrade on D. Top 4's UFA are going to be expensive and moving Garrison and Coburn would be a lot for just one UFA D to fill. One of those big RFA may have to go in addition to Garrison in order to get a prime UFA D.

We don’t have the cap space to get a UFA top 4 Dman even if there were any available. The only way to get one is to trade either Palat or Johnson because no one else (Kuch and Drouin have to be off limits) will return a top 4 and that guy can’t make more than Palat or Johnson. Even after moving Bishop and Flip, there still needs to be one more cap dump (assuming Callahan is not on LTIR). If one of Garrison, Coburn or Killorn were taken by Vegas, that would solve the cap. Otherwise one of Coburn or Garrison has to be moved.

 

[Rschmitz]

Yzerman is just going to have to be creative again with cap space, and win another risky move that looks unexciting on the surface.

Trade prices are also likely to drop around the expansion draft

 

[Sky04]

This years UFA class for defenseman is god awful, not sure why you guys would want to clear cap and lose assets to sign these guys. Shattenkirk who will want near the 7m range? Azlner is the only decent guy hitting the market but will likely be resigned or go into an isane bidding war, then what? Strait? Oduya? Wideman? Kulikov? Campbell? Jeez no thanks, I'd rather ride Garrison for next year and get his contract off the books for nothing than to move him with an asset to get stuck with another bad contract.

 

[Sky04]

Also like how Palat has gone from "best forward on the team" to some people to a guy who leeches off his linesmates what have you done for me lately eh.