Matt Ross: Close Up Shop

DUM DEE DUM DUM

I must say everything went South last season when Quenneville was forced out of a job by Bettman.

15-6 ? That will be tough. I keep thinking to myself when will this team wake up? How is this team not in a playoff spot? The trade? Coaching? It seems to defy logic. Twenty one games yikes

15-6 ? That will be tough. I keep thinking to myself when will this team wake up? How is this team not in a playoff spot? The trade? Coaching? It seems to defy logic. Twenty one games yikes

They’ll keep Gudas, and re-sign him, too.
Everyone else can go for the little they would bring, if they so choose. I think they’ll ride it out til the bitter end.

I miss Q’s team
Mo just.... I don’t even know what to say. Dammit
Zito’s big blunder
I was surprised (what!? who?!....... WHY?!!?) he was even hired, nothing has made feel any better about it, yet. Honestly, was the last name I expected to hear
While I’ve never been much for listening to coach’s interviews/press conferences, I’m already tired of hearing him speak....I wonder, it almost seems the players already have gotten there, too.
“Playoffs! this crap is gonna work in the plAYOffs!!” “We’re gonna play plAYOfff style hockey so we’re ready when the plAYOffs start...” yada yada yada just stfu

They’ll keep Gudas, and re-sign him, too.
Everyone else can go for the little they would bring, if they so choose. I think they’ll ride it out til the bitter end.

I miss Q’s team
Mo just.... I don’t even know what to say. Dammit
Zito’s big blunder
I was surprised (what!? who?!....... WHY?!!?) he was even hired, nothing has made feel any better about it, yet. Honestly, was the last name I expected to hear
While I’ve never been much for listening to coach’s interviews/press conferences, I’m already tired of hearing him speak....I wonder, it almost seems the players already have gotten there, too.
“Playoffs! this crap is gonna work in the plAYOffs!!” “We’re gonna play plAYOfff style hockey so we’re ready when the plAYOffs start...” yada yada yada just stfu
- Ratsreign

Humm, interesting.

Also, I think I "Reported" your post b/c I kept clicking on the wrong button (it's right beside the Reply button). I never got any type of prompt (it just scrolled to the bottom of the screen) so I clicked it a few time before I realized it was the wrong button

They’ll keep Gudas, and re-sign him, too.
Everyone else can go for the little they would bring, if they so choose. I think they’ll ride it out til the bitter end.

I miss Q’s team
Mo just.... I don’t even know what to say. Dammit
Zito’s big blunder
I was surprised (what!? who?!....... WHY?!!?) he was even hired, nothing has made feel any better about it, yet. Honestly, was the last name I expected to hear
While I’ve never been much for listening to coach’s interviews/press conferences, I’m already tired of hearing him speak....I wonder, it almost seems the players already have gotten there, too.
“Playoffs! this crap is gonna work in the plAYOffs!!” “We’re gonna play plAYOfff style hockey so we’re ready when the plAYOffs start...” yada yada yada just stfu
- Ratsreign

Man…I just don’t know, either.

I was fine with the Maurice hiring. I honestly thought the dynamic would change up a bit for the better. I thought the Cats wouldn’t be blowing teams out of the water, but instead, the overall team defense would tighten up and they would be tougher and winning tougher games.

I was way wrong.

These guys seem to be on different pages and just generally “off.”

Man…I just don’t know, either.

I was fine with the Maurice hiring. I honestly thought the dynamic would change up a bit for the better. I thought the Cats wouldn’t be blowing teams out of the water, but instead, the overall team defense would tighten up and they would be tougher and winning tougher games.

I was way wrong.

These guys seem to be on different pages and just generally “off.”
- Matt Ross

Holy smokes Matt! You could have changed the team to the Flames & posted for us as well. Even worse is we have several core pieces with 1 year left & then they are UFA's, like Tofolli, Lindholm, Hanafin, Zadorov, Kyllington, Tanev to name the ones that would get the type of returns we have been seeing lately. Forget Lewis, Lucic etc.

But noooo we wont do fck all. & then next year Markstrom plays like a Vezina finalist again instead of a .86 sv % sieve & all these guys have career years & by next TDL we are so solid in a playoff spot...we cant sell now gotta go for it. I feel your guys pain

Holy smokes Matt! You could have changed the team to the Flames & posted for us as well. Even worse is we have several core pieces with 1 year left & then they are UFA's, like Tofolli, Lindholm, Hanafin, Zadorov, Kyllington, Tanev to name the ones that would get the type of returns we have been seeing lately. Forget Lewis, Lucic etc.

But noooo we wont do fck all. & then next year Markstrom plays like a Vezina finalist again instead of a .86 sv % sieve & all these guys have career years & by next TDL we are so solid in a playoff spot...we cant sell now gotta go for it. I feel your guys pain
- Kevin R

To quote Milhouse:

“So this is what it feels like when doves cry…”

Haha.

So where do we go from here? It would be best if you started redrafting prospects and quit signing overpriced free agents. Gudas, Tkachuk, Lomberg, Verhaeghe and Mountour are keepers. Zito did good there, but trading away first draft picks for short term rentals was a big mistake.

Is it just me or is it time to move on from Barkov and Ekblad?

They are both overrated

Not so fast... Ek has us in WC2 in his standings predictions. I'm sure that's based on actual science and not the eye test.

I have no problem speaking on behalf of Panthers fans everywhere. How do you go from a 122-point juggernaut to a 86-point pace disaster in one season? Paul Maurice.

Selling players is the focus of TDL season. The real question for the Panthers is--will there be a year 2 of PoMo playoff hockey or not? Will Zito admit his monumental mistake and correct it asap or put in for another Titanic-like season?

Because the answer to that question determines who you sell. The Staals are PoMo boys. If it's up to him, they're not going anywhere and the fast, but highly talented ones will be on the chopping block. If we want to go back to last year's style with a new, hopefully competent and proven winning head coach, the Staals, Cousins, and White will be auctioned off. If Gudas wants to stay with FLA, I think he survives the TDL season.

Most likely, Zito will be paralyzed by indecision between another year of failed playoff hockey or a return to highly-successful fast hockey. So in the end, he'll do nothing and allow PoMo's destruction to continue to the end of the season where Mr Viola will probably make the call.

Do you mean we will have to watch twenty-one games of meaningless hockey? Molehead will be telling Goldie that the players are playing for their jobs as we have heard so many years before.

Can we just cancel the rest of the season now for the Panthers? They don't even have any promising prospect in the minors to watch. Heponiemi, Denisenko and Serron Noel are all a bust.

Personally, I don't think the Staal brothers have played badly for cheap fill-ins. It the injury prone, soft Ekblad and Barkov who have let the team down. The Hockey News had an article that was entitled Bashful Barkov. What does that tell you? And he the captain of our team, ha!

Holy smokes Matt! You could have changed the team to the Flames & posted for us as well. Even worse is we have several core pieces with 1 year left & then they are UFA's, like Tofolli, Lindholm, Hanafin, Zadorov, Kyllington, Tanev to name the ones that would get the type of returns we have been seeing lately. Forget Lewis, Lucic etc.

But noooo we wont do fck all. & then next year Markstrom plays like a Vezina finalist again instead of a .86 sv % sieve & all these guys have career years & by next TDL we are so solid in a playoff spot...we cant sell now gotta go for it. I feel your guys pain
- Kevin R

That’s funny, many times I’ve read a Flames fan commenting on how their season is going this year and have thought the same thing...
“You could’ve just changed the team’s name...”

Man…I just don’t know, either.

I was fine with the Maurice hiring. I honestly thought the dynamic would change up a bit for the better. I thought the Cats wouldn’t be blowing teams out of the water, but instead, the overall team defense would tighten up and they would be tougher and winning tougher games.

I was way wrong.

These guys seem to be on different pages and just generally “off.”
- Matt Ross

The former has happened
still waiting on the latter hey mo!

I may be wrong, but during their best little run in January, it almost seemed like mo turned them loose a bit more. Think I even caught myself thinking “This is more like it!” a few times. Maybe it was just an illusion, but that has gone away now.

Not so fast... Ek has us in WC2 in his standings predictions. I'm sure that's based on actual science and not the eye test.

I have no problem speaking on behalf of Panthers fans everywhere. How do you go from a 122-point juggernaut to a 86-point pace disaster in one season? Paul Maurice.

Selling players is the focus of TDL season. The real question for the Panthers is--will there be a year 2 of PoMo playoff hockey or not? Will Zito admit his monumental mistake and correct it asap or put in for another Titanic-like season?

Because the answer to that question determines who you sell. The Staals are PoMo boys. If it's up to him, they're not going anywhere and the fast, but highly talented ones will be on the chopping block. If we want to go back to last year's style with a new, hopefully competent and proven winning head coach, the Staals, Cousins, and White will be auctioned off. If Gudas wants to stay with FLA, I think he survives the TDL season.

Most likely, Zito will be paralyzed by indecision between another year of failed playoff hockey or a return to highly-successful fast hockey. So in the end, he'll do nothing and allow PoMo's destruction to continue to the end of the season where Mr Viola will probably make the call.
- JimboCoppertone

One of the reasons (or so I thought) for the changes after the Islanders series was Mr Viola wanted to win and challenge for Cups, but he didn’t want a “boring” 2-1 type team. He wanted a winning team playing an exciting style that would put more butts in the seats. He had it with Q’s team
This is probably why Mo’s hiring surprised (disappointed, even) me so much, it seemed like a reversal of that direction.

Your never going to win with that bandaid Barkov. He is a proven injury prone super star that always lets you down. I also think you got the wrong coach. Is this an old folks home now or what. Identity crisis for sure.

First game out of all star break was the latest matchup, Panthers really spanked the Lightning.

FL w/out Barkov and Bennett struggled to score against Buffalo.
Lightning got crushed in their last game

Panthers still w/out Barkov and Bennett
Angry Lightning

Oooh boy

I hope Casey Fitzgerald plays with an edge. They're going to need it against Tampa Bay goons.

One of the reasons (or so I thought) for the changes after the Islanders series was Mr Viola wanted to win and challenge for Cups, but he didn’t want a “boring” 2-1 type team. He wanted a winning team playing an exciting style that would put more butts in the seats. He had it with Q’s team
This is probably why Mo’s hiring surprised (disappointed, even) me so much, it seemed like a reversal of that direction.
- Ratsreign

Mr Viola cares more about his horses than his hockey team

The Rangers are loaded now that they got Kane. That will make for some unhappy players that now have to sit. The Panthers only get existing players at the trade deadline that are on the IR and cannot wait till the season is over so they can go to the beach. Is it me or do the Panthers seem more interested in selling retro sweaters and sweater designed by artists than playing play off hockey. Have fun on your yacht with your retro sweater.