unreal
- Cptmjl

Amac made one nice play (tying goal). Otherwise I thought he was awful, as usual. Problem is, some of our other dmen are even MORE awful.

Amac made one nice play (tying goal). Otherwise I thought he was awful, as usual. Problem is, some of our other dmen are even MORE awful.
- keaner17

That is the problem and it's a biggie

The question is why? Why stick with someone who obviously is not playing good? Poulin actually looked steady in Chicago. Even if he was mediocre you'd have to give him the nod more than he's got. To everyone with half a brain Nabby is someone who can't handle a heavy work load yet Poulin has played only one game. Why does Capuano not see the obvious. Can he really be this numb?
- Cptmjl

Yep. My big "why" is that if you never trusted Poulin enough to start more than 1 out of every 10 games, why did you elect to keep him around at all? We had a goaltending meltdown in the playoffs last year, so we elected to stick with the same format?
Give Poulin 3 or 4 consectutive starts and see where things go from there....Otherwise, figure out plan B fast.

After his one game? Kind of hard to gain anything in that short of a time. I get it Nabakov had an awful game and Poulin should've been playing at least three games more than he has but I don't have much faith in him or our defense for that matter. I unfortunately think we may be in some trouble unless Poulin surprises? Fortunately or unfortunately we will probably be seeing that. If not Capuano should be fired due to sheer stupidity.
- Cptmjl

You still want to trade Neilson (last year), how about Moulson (this year)?
glass half Full:
I thought Hickey played well tonight. I thought Donovan played very well tonight. As did Brock Nelson, Cal, Neilsen, Bailey, Casey and Hamonic.

1/2 empty:
Carkner, Strait and Bouchard should not be on this team... period.

I thought Okposo was sub-par at best tonight. Amack had a terrible game. Nabby was a friggin sht show and Regin has to hit an open net... unreal.

Conclusion... with Viz and Grabner out and Isles not calling up a Dehaan, signing a Martinek or something else that made sense.. I assumed we were in trouble. I'll take the point and hopefully for the love of God... they will finally sit the "passengers" and not the fken Youth.

Amac made one nice play (tying goal). Otherwise I thought he was awful, as usual. Problem is, some of our other dmen are even MORE awful.
- keaner17

For once I agree.. Amack was horrible. It might be that he is playing 57 minutes a game though too.. smh.

You still want to trade Neilson (last year), how about Moulson (this year)?
glass half Full:
I thought Hickey played well tonight. I thought Donovan played very well tonight. As did Brock Nelson, Cal, Neilsen, Bailey, Casey and Hamonic.

1/2 empty:
Carkner, Strait and Bouchard should not be on this team... period.

I thought Okposo was sub-par at best tonight. Amack had a terrible game. Nabby was a friggin sht show and Regin has to hit an open net... unreal.

Conclusion... with Viz and Grabner out and Isles not calling up a Dehaan, signing a Martinek or something else that made sense.. I assumed we were in trouble. I'll take the point and hopefully for the love of God... they will finally sit the "passengers" and not the fken Youth.
- niteislander

Agreed for the most part...though again in regards to Moulson..for two games we've seen him excell in the ONE area he's useful..the power play. Otherwise the guy is an anchor (in a bad way) on any line. Nielsen is off to a hell of a start, we'll see if it continues. The guy is a damn fine third liner. I'd still like to ultimately do better on the second line (Strome, Nelson, Sundstrom). I think a trade of either of those guys depends largely on the return.

I don't know what the love fest is with Andrew MacDonald. They guy was out there for like 40 minutes. He was horrendous once again and cant hit the net to save his life. He turns the puck over never uses his body he blocks a shot now and then but still. Capuano must praise this guy. Maybe he has a shrine of him in his house, but on any other team Amac is not with the club. Another Chris Campoli in the works and when a new coach comes in eventually Amac will be nothing but maybe a 6th defenseman.

That being said Donovan and Nelson really impressed last night but Cappy is stupid so he will probably bench them next game anyway or when everyone is healthy he will banish them. It seems he does not know how young guys work. They need to play a string of games before you know what you got.

Also good to see Moulson in a good stretch cause soon he will go scoreless for a while. Hickey was a beast last night and Bryan Strait something not right with him he was invisible again. Garth and company really should have gone out and got a Dman but they love this team as it is the same team we have had for like 5 years.

You still want to trade Neilson (last year), how about Moulson (this year)?
glass half Full:
I thought Hickey played well tonight. I thought Donovan played very well tonight. As did Brock Nelson, Cal, Neilsen, Bailey, Casey and Hamonic.

1/2 empty:
Carkner, Strait and Bouchard should not be on this team... period.

I thought Okposo was sub-par at best tonight. Amack had a terrible game. Nabby was a friggin sht show and Regin has to hit an open net... unreal.

Conclusion... with Viz and Grabner out and Isles not calling up a Dehaan, signing a Martinek or something else that made sense.. I assumed we were in trouble. I'll take the point and hopefully for the love of God... they will finally sit the "passengers" and not the fken Youth.
- niteislander

Never wanted to trade Nielsen and still feel the same way about Moulson even after he had a good game. I actually saw him stick check someone with two hands on the stick!!! The one thing i agree with is keeping him on the 1st PP unit and third line. One of the few semi intelligent things Capuano has done since coming here, only took him three seasons to accomplish this. Nielsen and Bailey have been my favorite players on this team besides JT since they started. I may have said if he was part of a package for a Dman or goaltender I would've been fine with it because desperate times call for desperate measures? I have the guys jersey for facks sake. Please don't put words in my mouth.

You still want to trade Neilson (last year), how about Moulson (this year)?
glass half Full:
I thought Hickey played well tonight. I thought Donovan played very well tonight. As did Brock Nelson, Cal, Neilsen, Bailey, Casey and Hamonic.

1/2 empty:
Carkner, Strait and Bouchard should not be on this team... period.

I thought Okposo was sub-par at best tonight. Amack had a terrible game. Nabby was a friggin sht show and Regin has to hit an open net... unreal.

Conclusion... with Viz and Grabner out and Isles not calling up a Dehaan, signing a Martinek or something else that made sense.. I assumed we were in trouble. I'll take the point and hopefully for the love of God... they will finally sit the "passengers" and not the fken Youth.
- niteislander

Don't count on that Cappy cant wait for the guys to come back so he can bench these two.

For once I agree.. Amack was horrible. It might be that he is playing 57 minutes a game though too.. smh.
- niteislander

Or it could just be the fact that he's undertalented, slow and with no individual skill that exceeds "average".
Pullock, Reinhart, Pedan, Mayfield, Hamonic...all of these guys should eventually make a fringe player like Amac either a bottom pairing guy or trade chip.

For once I agree.. Amack was horrible. It might be that he is playing 57 minutes a game though too.. smh.
- niteislander

The funny thing is this was one of his better games. Still terrible but one of his better ones none the less.

I like the team and think that they're good but up against the rest of the league and with a 3-3-3 record they can go either direction at this point. The overuse of a 37 yr old goalie especially come the spring will be telling. No need to panic trade but Poulin needs the work and Nabokov needs the rest at some point. They scored some exciting goals on PP but the constant defensive breakdowns and bad goals were horrific so alot of work to be done. Overall speed w or w/o Grabner is telling and no overall defensive shell they can play in. I know Capuano wants the constant attack style but they need to vary the tempo because they can't maintain the emotion and physical level which is why they breakdown after scoring goals.

Our defense is flat out terrible. A bunch of depth players, with one promising player (Hamonic). Amac and Strait were bad enough then our aged goaltender fights the puck all night. This should be Poulins chance to steal a few starts but it won't since Cappy is hung up on playing Nabby to death.
I do think we can get better defensively provided Donovan gets mote icetime. Still, we obviously need at least a top four dman fast.
We missed Grabner's transitional speed tonight
- keaner17

MacDonald is just asked to do way too much. Guy played 31 minutes last night. If he was our #4 defensemen we would all like him a lot. Otherwise I agree. If you have Carkner in the lineup playing only 10 mins then get rid of him already.

The problem is they don't appear all that interested in exploring any options beyond wearing Nabby to the bone. 8 of 9 games now started by Nabby. Two consecutive poor performances and I've yet to see a game this season that I felt he was the first star. In his prime, Nabakov was a borderline elite goalie who seemed to suffer lapses at important times. At 38, he appears a step slower. We've yet to give Poulin a legitimate chance to take the ball and run and now Nilsson is struggling a bit in the A, which means mgmt might be even more hesitant to bring him up.
The woulda, shoulda, coulda comments about bringning in a goalie are pointless. The team has three prospects in the system...the problem is they've appeared to hit 'pause' on their careers.
- keaner17

they need better goaltending. That's a given. I think it can't hurt to play Poulin more. If he can't play, then send his a** down and call Nilsson up. Something has to give. I agree, they are wearing Nabby down to the bone. He can't play 70 games. it'd be one thing to play him 8 of 9 if he was playing real well. He's not. He's playing okay.

I know the goaltending has been the focus on this board, but my real issue with this team is the nonsense of constantly blowing leads and letting teams score goals in bunches in short periods of time or immediately after the Isles score. Yes, the goaltending has something to do with that, but there's a bigger issue. These are classic signs of letdowns, of taking the foot off the gas. This has to stop. Good teams don't take their foot off the gas when they have a lead. They use that foot to squash the throat of their opponent and finish them off. This team doesn't do that.

You still want to trade Neilson (last year), how about Moulson (this year)?
glass half Full:
I thought Hickey played well tonight. I thought Donovan played very well tonight. As did Brock Nelson, Cal, Neilsen, Bailey, Casey and Hamonic.

1/2 empty:
Carkner, Strait and Bouchard should not be on this team... period.

I thought Okposo was sub-par at best tonight. Amack had a terrible game. Nabby was a friggin sht show and Regin has to hit an open net... unreal.

Conclusion... with Viz and Grabner out and Isles not calling up a Dehaan, signing a Martinek or something else that made sense.. I assumed we were in trouble. I'll take the point and hopefully for the love of God... they will finally sit the "passengers" and not the fken Youth.
- niteislander

The problem with that argument is that even if they sign Martinek, he's not taking the place of the problem ie:Strait, Carkner, AMac. They sign Martinek and Donovan sits.

MacDonald is just asked to do way too much. Guy played 31 minutes last night. If he was our #4 defensemen we would all like him a lot. Otherwise I agree. If you have Carkner in the lineup playing only 10 mins then get rid of him already.
- Isles316

The problem I have with this common theme on here is do you like a defenseman who puts passes directly on opposing players sticks and gets outmuscled consistently behind or in front of your net even if he's number 4 Dman?

they need better goaltending. That's a given. I think it can't hurt to play Poulin more. If he can't play, then send his a** down and call Nilsson up. Something has to give. I agree, they are wearing Nabby down to the bone. He can't play 70 games. it'd be one thing to play him 8 of 9 if he was playing real well. He's not. He's playing okay.

I know the goaltending has been the focus on this board, but my real issue with this team is the nonsense of constantly blowing leads and letting teams score goals in bunches in short periods of time or immediately after the Isles score. Yes, the goaltending has something to do with that, but there's a bigger issue. These are classic signs of letdowns, of taking the foot off the gas. This has to stop. Good teams don't take their foot off the gas when they have a lead. They use that foot to squash the throat of their opponent and finish them off. This team doesn't do that.
- Jethro09

Yes, goaltending and defense fwds incleded in that. That's the problem.

MacDonald is just asked to do way too much. Guy played 31 minutes last night. If he was our #4 defensemen we would all like him a lot. Otherwise I agree. If you have Carkner in the lineup playing only 10 mins then get rid of him already.
- Isles316

Disagree...Make it 5-6 and I'll go along with that. Amac has no business being a top 4 dman.
I like his effort and he's obviously a decent character guy, but folks have gotten so used to seeing mediocre defensemen around here, they start embracing them. If this team wants to get to the next level, spots held by guys like Carkner, Strait and AMAC MUST be upgraded. We have the guys in our system to do that, but they won't be ready soon enough. I'm okay with Hamonic and Vis taking a second pairing role, but we need two guys to step into that top pairing. Reinhart and Pedan may be those guys...we'd better hope so.

Then they are not going to be any good...if Snow doesn't want to do his job, I'll do it for him. The best....BEST....those two players should be are 5th and 6th defensemen, at this point. I still think MacDonald has the potential to be slightly better than that, but he's going to have to play stronger, especially on the puck in his own zone. The other guy is too slow, period. Also, "on the team" is different than "30 minutes a night"....they need to get a defenseman who is ahead of Hamonic on the depth chart. The goaltender IS pedestrian, but again, I don't know how many saves you really expect him to make during one sequence.

I also think a lot of their problem right now is that they are trying to do too much. A couple of games of just concentrating on the basics in their own zone might at least improve them a little bit, anyway....but I still think they need a defenseman who can play....
- dcb1

Top pair D-men don't grow on trees. They are hard to obtain and cost a King's ransom should you trade for one. Nobody wants to see the isles trade the type of package away it will cost to get that type of guy. Besides, teams aren't exactly lining up to move top pair guys.

This is how it's going to be: use the guys on the roster now to hold down the fort until the prospects develop. It's probably the better formula for long term success, although it's frustrating in the short term.

they need better goaltending. That's a given. I think it can't hurt to play Poulin more. If he can't play, then send his a** down and call Nilsson up. Something has to give. I agree, they are wearing Nabby down to the bone. He can't play 70 games. it'd be one thing to play him 8 of 9 if he was playing real well. He's not. He's playing okay.

I know the goaltending has been the focus on this board, but my real issue with this team is the nonsense of constantly blowing leads and letting teams score goals in bunches in short periods of time or immediately after the Isles score. Yes, the goaltending has something to do with that, but there's a bigger issue. These are classic signs of letdowns, of taking the foot off the gas. This has to stop. Good teams don't take their foot off the gas when they have a lead. They use that foot to squash the throat of their opponent and finish them off. This team doesn't do that.
- Jethro09

If this team truly wants to 'develop' their next goaltender, they have to at least play said goaltender. Poulin will do nothing but get worse rusting on the bench like this. He's seen actual game action ONCE this season. It's becoming increasingly obvious that Cappy has no intention of allowing him to compete for the starting position. I've been saying it since early last season, the plan has to be to go about 60/40 for Nabby in starts while ultimately increasingly Poulin's workload based on performance. He gave us a fine start in his first game against our most difficult opponent yet, but was subsequently sent back to mothballs after that. Inexcusible.

Disagree...Make it 5-6 and I'll go along with that. Amac has no business being a top 4 dman.
I like his effort and he's obviously a decent character guy, but folks have gotten so used to seeing mediocre defensemen around here, they start embracing them. If this team wants to get to the next level, spots held by guys like Carkner, Strait and AMAC MUST be upgraded. We have the guys in our system to do that, but they won't be ready soon enough. I'm okay with Hamonic and Vis taking a second pairing role, but we need two guys to step into that top pairing. Reinhart and Pedan may be those guys...we'd better hope so.
- keaner17

I disagree with everyone on here about AMac. Guy played 31 minutes last night, blocks a lot of shots, made a great play on the tying goal. He plays against the top players on each team every night as well so obviously he is going to make mistakes because he shouldn't be playing that much. But he's probably the most reliable guy back there. The most over rated player on the team is Hamonic. He's been flat out poopty this year.

If this team truly wants to 'develop' their next goaltender, they have to at least play said goaltender. Poulin will do nothing but get worse rusting on the bench like this. He's seen actual game action ONCE this season. It's becoming increasingly obvious that Cappy has no intention of allowing him to compete for the starting position. I've been saying it since early last season, the plan has to be to go about 60/40 for Nabby in starts while ultimately increasingly Poulin's workload based on performance. He gave us a fine start in his first game against our most difficult opponent yet, but was subsequently sent back to mothballs after that. Inexcusible.
- keaner17

Capuano said if he plays well he's going to get more starts. Personally from what I saw out of Poulin last year I don't want him to play any games. He was as bad as DiPietro.

Top pair D-men don't grow on trees. They are hard to obtain and cost a King's ransom should you trade for one. Nobody wants to see the isles trade the type of package away it will cost to get that type of guy. Besides, teams aren't exactly lining up to move top pair guys.

This is how it's going to be: use the guys on the roster now to hold down the fort until the prospects develop. It's probably the better formula for long term success, although it's frustrating in the short term.
- Jethro09

Agreed...
The march to 2015 continues. Our best hope for defensive help will be if Pedan dominates in the A this season and forces them to give him a look. Donovan should continue to get better and better, provided he actually is allowed to play. Just two players like that, despite not being ready to be true top pairing guys, can shake the defensive corps up enough to make us better.

Remember, we're only missing ONE dman from last season and we all agreed he was horrible in his own zone. While our dmen as a group are subpar, if the forwards start backchecking more effectively, we can compensate for those inefficiencies....just like we did last season.
We were 4-8 last season and through the first half of the season we were terrible at home. Perhaps we're just watching a repeat performance. Fortunately the rest of our division, save for the Pens, stinks.

Capuano said if he plays well he's going to get more starts. Personally from what I saw out of Poulin last year I don't want him to play any games. He was as bad as DiPietro.
- Isles316

You're basing that on watching the kid start FOUR games?
You have to give consideration to the difficulty of adjusting from AHL hockey to NHL hockey for a goaltender. Then add in seeing a start one out of every 10-11 games. There was no fair platform to judge him on. A goalie like that needs several starts in a month to adjust, gain confidence and hone their play. NO young goalie is going to perform well under those circumstances.

I disagree with everyone on here about AMac. Guy played 31 minutes last night, blocks a lot of shots, made a great play on the tying goal. He plays against the top players on each team every night as well so obviously he is going to make mistakes because he shouldn't be playing that much. But he's probably the most reliable guy back there. The most over rated player on the team is Hamonic. He's been flat out poopty this year.
- Isles316

Give Hamonic a partner worthy of top 4 minutes and you'll see how good he is. AMac is a 5 on a scale of 1-10. Useful in depth, overused in premium circumstance.