Resuming the regular season also means that vets and pending UFAs on poopty teams would have to come back and play out the string of meaningless games for non playoff teams. Let's say you're jonathan ericsson on the red wings. Are you really gonna come back from sweden to play 12 meaningless games at 36 years old when you've already made 85% of this year's salary? Do vets like Marleau and Thornton have any desire to resume play if they know they're not making the playoffs?
The NHL needs to incentivize a certain group of players to come back. Eliminating the regular season and going with a 24 team playoff format solves that problem - jcragcrumple
I'm definitely with you. It's just a matter of building a coherent roster. It's detrimental to have either him or Okposo on the 3rd line - jcragcrumple
You just can't, unless you're playing Simmonds at LW on the 4th line. Even then, how much will Simmonds want? Hard no at anything over $2M for one year?
You just can't, unless you're playing Simmonds at LW on the 4th line. Even then, how much will Simmonds want? Hard no at anything over $2M for one year? - kingcong39
I'm at a hard no unless Okposo is gone. Their skillsets are just too similar. We need more speed. I like Simmonds jam, but redundancies already run amok on this team. We need more variable skillsets
The only way bringing Simmonds back works is if Okposo is no longer on the team, as Simmonds is nothing more than a 4th line player at this point.
A 4th line of Maroon - Larsson - Simmonds would sure look nice. - kingcong39
maroon - Asplund - Simmonds
I really don't think angry larry will be back in buffalo and tbh, I don't know what all the fuss is about...he's a good fourth/line/bottom-six, checking-line center who had good analytics...but it still doesn't make up for his lack of foot-speed, lack of scoring and less than averaged faceoff percentage (48.2) and even worse d-zone faceoff percentage (45.8)
I want them to ice the best team possible and to do that, you need the best players you can get
Johansson is fine for a 3rd line winger, not a top 6 player IMO
as for simmonds, if you can buy out okposo and let girgens go, I am fine with the larsson/simmonds combo if on the 4th line playing 4th line minutes - navinrjohnson
Mojo looked great in the few minutes he played on the wing, his actual position.
Location: We are finally good, NY Joined: 12.08.2009
May 9 @ 2:03 PM ET
maroon - Asplund - Simmonds
I really don't think angry larry will be back in buffalo and tbh, I don't know what all the fuss is about...he's a good fourth/line/bottom-six, checking-line center who had good analytics...but it still doesn't make up for his lack of foot-speed, lack of scoring and less than averaged faceoff percentage (48.2) and even worse d-zone faceoff percentage (45.8) - Michael Pachla
I really don't think angry larry will be back in buffalo and tbh, I don't know what all the fuss is about...he's a good fourth/line/bottom-six, checking-line center who had good analytics...but it still doesn't make up for his lack of foot-speed, lack of scoring and less than averaged faceoff percentage (48.2) and even worse d-zone faceoff percentage (45.8) - Michael Pachla
It's fine if you want to completely ignore how good his defensive acumen was and is 5v5, but you'll absolutely notice the difference when he's gone. Especially if you plug Asplund there and give him similar heavy defensive zone usage.
Maroon and Simmonds will have much more success with Larsson as their center over Asplund, and if Larsson cost $2M or less, not bringing him back, assuming he wants to be here, would be foolish.
