The proper title is actually a "Carle Scrutinizer." You see, we watch Matt Carle play, overlook any good plays he makes, and harp on any/all mistake making mountains out of Rosehills. And something about Eminger.
- jmatchett383

Yeah, finding a Kariya comparable was hard. Nash isn't it. Maybe he's closer to Kane than Teemu.
- jmatchett383

It was tough not picking Ovie and Datsyuk, because I like them both.

Interesting interviews with Simmonds and Hakstol, with Simmonds saying they have to cut down on turnovers and Hakstol admitting he should have called time out in the 3rd after that icing.

https://www.youtube.com/w...ch?v=Wqlf3YGR7vw&t=19m13s

Inspired from the Kings' thread:

If they'd do it, would you trade AMac for Dustin Brown if LA ate $600K to even up the cap hits??
- jmatchett383

No, Brown might be the worst contract in the league other then Horton, Clowe or Clarkson. Vinny is up there, but not even close, as length is the real killer with Brown. Talk about an anchor.

Now that all said, I really like the idea of trading for him if it means Vinny and AMAC are gone. I would even add a late pick if needed (3rd, preferably a 4th). I know that isn't likely to get a trade done but again, Brown's contract is possibly the worst in the league. 2 PPG in the past 165 games! 1 goal in the past 36 regular season games! 0 this year in spite playing on the first line and 4th most minutes on his team! I wouldn't even entertain anything more and am hesitant about that offer.

What I like about trading for him is the leadership mix up for our team. Something smells bad in that department and I think a guy that works his butt off, admittedly with little results, couldn't hurt. Maybe he regains his grove once he isn't the captain. Maybe playing with G and Vcheck get him going. I don't know but it might be worth a roll of the dice- he plays a rough game in a position of need (LW).

General question: If you can leave out injuries and are starting a team today, would you take:

Pavel Bure or Alexander Ovechkin
Sergei Fedorov or Pavel Datsyuk
Peter Forsberg or Evgeni Malkin
Paul Kariya or Rick Nash
Teemu Selanne or Patrick Kane
- jmatchett383

Bure
Datsyuk
Forsberg
Kariya
Selanne

I was in Homer, Alaska coaching my youth team when that game happened. One of the fathers was a Penguins fan. That sucked.
- wilsonecho91

I was working in a house in Avalon during that game, kind of futzing around to watch the tail end of it. Guy who lived there was cool, huge Flyers fan.

When that goal went in, I heard him yell "(frank)!" and as he did, he fired his beer at the wall. The trouble was, he was about as accurate as Mitch Williams. The bottle hit his nice, big TV rendering it as useful as Brandon Manning on a NHL roster.

As he stood there in stunned silence, I offered a muffled "Have a good day, sir" and rolled out of Dodge

No logical explanation why we can play and be competitive and win games against some of the best teams in the league (TBL, CHI, NYR) and look completely outclassed against the weaker ones (Buf, Devils, EDM). The same pattern as last year.

The ''playing down to weaker competition'' argument to explain poor play against weaker teams doesn't make much sense to me. One could use the current injuries (Couturier, Bellemare) as an excuse , but last year we had the same issue even with Coots and Bellemare in the lineup.

General question: If you can leave out injuries and are starting a team today, would you take:

Pavel Bure or Alexander Ovechkin
Sergei Fedorov or Pavel Datsyuk
Peter Forsberg or Evgeni Malkin
Paul Kariya or Rick Nash
Teemu Selanne or Patrick Kane
- jmatchett383

Can I play?

AO
PD
PF
PK
PK (but I can't stand him and want to punch myself for typing his initials) screw it, TS, class over ass

LOL. By no means is he a superstar, and I think we kind of expect that. How about hold people accountable like a leader does. I'm tired of seeing the same guys make the same mistakes, again and again and again. I.E Brayden Schenn. I "get" why Luke
has problems, he cant fix his "slow" But B.S. makes the same mistakes 2,3 4 times a game.

Does the PP have ANY other plays besides set up, get someone in the left circle and thread a pass to the guy in the left circle? Everyone can see that coming.

And how about "bad clears" how hard is it , relatively speaking, to clear the puck? You dont have to be a skill guy to do that you just have to be aware of your surroundings and the game situation.
- edmac812

Awesome any other locker room reports you can give us about how he doesnt hold people accountable like a leader does?

No logical explanation why we can play and be competitive and win games against some of the best teams in the league (TBL, CHI, NYR) and look completely outclassed against the weaker ones (Buf, Devils, EDM). The same pattern as last year.

The ''playing down to weaker competition'' argument to explain poor play against weaker teams doesn't make much sense to me. One could use the current injuries (Couturier, Bellemare) as an excuse , but last year we had the same issue even with Coots and Bellemare in the lineup.
- Chris48

Your post would have seemed more on point with the word "suck" in there a couple of times.

General question: If you can leave out injuries and are starting a team today, would you take:

Pavel Bure or Alexander Ovechkin
Sergei Fedorov or Pavel Datsyuk
Peter Forsberg or Evgeni Malkin
Paul Kariya or Rick Nash
Teemu Selanne or Patrick Kane
- jmatchett383

Other than OV I'm going to have to go with all the old heads.

you best run
- -davies-

I won't be running anywhere if his 300lb wrestling buddy has anything to say about it

General question: If you can leave out injuries and are starting a team today, would you take:

Pavel Bure or Alexander Ovechkin
Sergei Fedorov or Pavel Datsyuk
Peter Forsberg or Evgeni Malkin
Paul Kariya or Rick Nash
Teemu Selanne or Patrick Kane
- jmatchett383

How about for Defense?

Rob Blake or Shea Weber
Mark Howe or Duncan Keith
Paul Coffey or Eric Karlsson
Ray Bourque or PK Subban
Chris Chelios or Drew Doughty

Interesting interviews with Simmonds and Hakstol, with Simmonds saying they have to cut down on turnovers and Hakstol admitting he should have called time out in the 3rd after that icing.

https://www.youtube.com/w...ch?v=Wqlf3YGR7vw&t=19m13s
- Feanor

I saw the Hakstol interview last night. It seemed like he was just deflecting some blame to himself tbh. A singular timeout wouldn't have cut down on being out shot attempted by almost 50.

I feel like the system is a shell of what it was earlier. I don't see the aggressive NZ play at all now. It's just sit and defend, get the puck, turn it over or chip it in. Everyone is skittish.

I saw the Hakstol interview last night. It seemed like he was just deflecting some blame to himself tbh. A singular timeout wouldn't have cut down on being out shot attempted by almost 50.

I feel like the system is a shell of what it was earlier. I don't see the aggressive NZ play at all now. It's just sit and defend, get the puck, turn it over or chip it in. Everyone is skittish.
- Mononoke

Confidence is a fickle mistress

How about for Defense?
- Baxter27

Rob Blake or Shea Weber
Mark Howe or Duncan Keith
Paul Coffey or Eric Karlsson
Ray Bourque or PK Subban
Chris Chelios or Drew Doughty

I saw the Hakstol interview last night. It seemed like he was just deflecting some blame to himself tbh. A singular timeout wouldn't have cut down on being out shot attempted by almost 50.

I feel like the system is a shell of what it was earlier. I don't see the aggressive NZ play at all now. It's just sit and defend, get the puck, turn it over or chip it in. Everyone is skittish.
- Mononoke

Absolutely. Doubt and hesitation has taken over.

How about for Defense?

Rob Blake or Shea Weber
Mark Howe or Duncan Keith
Paul Coffey or Eric Karlsson
Ray Bourque or PK Subban
Chris Chelios or Drew Doughty
- Baxter27

Weber
Howe
Karlsson
Bourque (but PK is awesomemest after that donation to the kids hospital)
Toss up, Doughty?

General question: If you can leave out injuries and are starting a team today, would you take:

Pavel Bure or Alexander Ovechkin
Sergei Fedorov or Pavel Datsyuk
Peter Forsberg or Evgeni Malkin
Paul Kariya or Rick Nash
Teemu Selanne or Patrick Kane
- jmatchett383

Foppa over all of them...

Interesting interviews with Simmonds and Hakstol, with Simmonds saying they have to cut down on turnovers and Hakstol admitting he should have called time out in the 3rd after that icing.

https://www.youtube.com/w...ch?v=Wqlf3YGR7vw&t=19m13s
- Feanor

I don't think Simmonds is the right fit for this coach. His play in the d zone and neutral zone is bad. I don't think he is as effective in this highly structured system. He's lost his peskiness. I tend to believe the coach has an influence on that. I don't think he's much of a fit anymore and would move on from him with Konecny waiting in the RW wings. He should still have solid trade value.

Anyone worried about the future timeline for this team ?

My main concern is regarding the young group of our stud D prospects coming up and being NHL ready and effective (3-4 years ?) and the age of our current forwards. Our elite guys (G and Jake for example) are going to be 31-32 years old by that time.

Giroux: 27
Voracek: 27 (this summer)
Simmonds: 27
Read: 29
Gagner: 26

Being patient, developing prospects, accumulating and keeping draft picks is the GM's philosophy, I get it in today's cap world, but seeing the prime years of your best players on a bad team waiting for our D prospects is a painful reality.

No logical explanation why we can play and be competitive and win games against some of the best teams in the league (TBL, CHI, NYR) and look completely outclassed against the weaker ones (Buf, Devils, EDM). The same pattern as last year.

The ''playing down to weaker competition'' argument to explain poor play against weaker teams doesn't make much sense to me. One could use the current injuries (Couturier, Bellemare) as an excuse , but last year we had the same issue even with Coots and Bellemare in the lineup.
- Chris48

When you figure out why it keeps happening, or how to keep it from happening, let me know. I can't figure out why it repeatedly happens to this team going back years. I think it's about leadership.

It follows a predictable pattern. They take an opponent lightly, don't play with the urgency that is needed, have a few games of suspect effort, in which poor habits develop, such as not continuing to skate on backchecks, getting outnumbered on the puck, not making routine plays, which in turns leads to almost a team wide paralysis of self doubt, to where it all snowballs, into one big pile of dung!

Anyone worried about the future timeline for this team ?

My main concern is regarding the young group of our stud D prospects coming up and being NHL ready and effective (3-4 years ?) and the age of our current forwards. Our elite guys (G and Jake for example) are going to be 31-32 years old by that time.

Giroux: 27
Voracek: 27 (this summer)
Simmonds: 27
Read: 29
Gagner: 26

Being patient, developing prospects, accumulating and keeping draft picks is the GM's philosophy, I get it in today's cap world, but seeing the prime years of your best players on a bad team waiting for our D prospects is a painful reality.
- Chris48

In my opinion, the gap between the developing defenseman, and the current core of forwards, is the single biggest issue facing this team in the future. More than the cap and the situation with players like Lecavalier, and MacDonald.

I won't be running anywhere if his 300lb wrestling buddy has anything to say about it
- deadmau5

BE CAREFUL

I don't think Simmonds is the right fit for this coach. His play in the d zone and neutral zone is bad. I don't think he is as effective in this highly structured system. He's lost his peskiness. I tend to believe the coach has an influence on that. I don't think he's much of a fit anymore and would move on from him with Konecny waiting in the RW wings. He should still have solid trade value.
- Just5

In the last 5 games, whose play in the defensive zone has been good? The word system is thrown around all the time. Any other coach he would play for, won't have a highly structured system? Hakstol's system is no different from any other NHL coach in that regard. One coach may have F3 in a different position than another coach in neutral zone checking. Not much of a difference, it comes down to execution, and work ethic. Simmonds effort on the first Vancouver goal, was subpar. That doesn't have anything to do with the system.