Very solid post ......... agree with all of it

I'm perplexed at the guys that have taken MAJOR steps back this year though. Boges, Pysk, Moulson to name a couple .... struggling what to make of it.
- fastek

Part of just has to do with figuring out how to play together with so many new guys, and in a new system

Some of these guys are probably so frustrated, that the mental part of the game is affecting their on ice play
Bogosian comes to mind here

Others are struggling to figure out what thief role is, like Girgensons & Pysyk

The reason I'm not so worried about the guys u mentioned (besides Moulson, he's got another year here tops IMO)...
Is bc we've seen the talent in those guys (+ Ennis) throughout their careers

Given time... These guys will get a better grip on their roles & be able to get comfortable
All these young guys will continue improving
And we'll get better as a team

Next year,
I think we make a big leap & contend for a playoff spot

FYI

No one gives a crap about Jack Eichel
- TheGame316

That's just bad manners

I'm guessing by your location you're a Canucks fan...
Why the hell didn't they sell some guys off?
I'd have been going crazy seeing nothing happen at the deadline to bring in picks &/or young talent!

That's just bad manners

I'm guessing by your location you're a Canucks fan...
Why the hell didn't they sell some guys off?
I'd have been going crazy seeing nothing happen at the deadline to bring in picks &/or young talent!
- jdfitz77

They don't call him Dim Jim for nothing

Not really a Canucks fan, follow the team because it's impossible not to - Annoying bandwagon homer fans ruin being a fan of a home market team

Leafs are really laying the blueprint for how to pull off a rebuild. They have only really been "tanking" for about a year and a half and already fans are super excited watching their youth play, even though they don't and won't have the results for a while - just look at all the contracts they managed to move

throw in the warchest of draft picks they've acquired and they are onto something good

The "rebuild on the fly" was already tried and failed (ironically, In Toronto)

If the Nucks had a do-over and I was GM

I'd have tanked last year and ended up with a Top 5 (drafted Marner/Hanafin)

Traded Vrbata at the deadline, after a career year

Traded the Sedins last off season, probably to the same team. retained 50% on both and take back a bad contract would have given them tremendous value, (1st and a top prospect for each of them)

Did what Toronto did, sign value UFA's flip them for picks and do what I needed to to move on from the Burrows, Higgins, Hamhuis, Millers, Edler, etc

The prospect pool could have easily looked like this

Horvat
Virtanen
McCann
Marner or Hanafin (or possibly McDavid/Eichel) - 2015 1st
2016 1st (Top 5 pick)
2 top prospects in the Sedin trade
2016 and 2017 first in Sedin Trade
2017 Canucks pick would likely have been a Top 5 pick

This isn't even factoring in what could have been potentially picked up in Vrbata/Hamhuis/Edler trades, as well as the UFA type flipping that Toronto did

then throw in a ton of capspace we'd have in the 2017 off season for Free Agents

Thats a lot more to get excited about for a 2018 season then what is going to be happening in the next few years around here

They don't call him Dim Jim for nothing

Not really a Canucks fan, follow the team because it's impossible not to - Annoying bandwagon homer fans ruin being a fan of a home market team

Leafs are really laying the blueprint for how to pull off a rebuild. They have only really been "tanking" for about a year and a half and already fans are super excited watching their youth play, even though they don't and won't have the results for a while - just look at all the contracts they managed to move

throw in the warchest of draft picks they've acquired and they are onto something good

The "rebuild on the fly" was already tried and failed (ironically, In Toronto)
- TheGame316

I think they should try & move the Sedins in the offseason & just start over
Too bad they didn't beat Boston a couple years ago. Looks like they missed their chance.

Leafs are gonna have another couple rough seasons, but I agree that they're doing it the right way
Would've like to see them get a better return for Kessel & Phaneuf, although I guess just getting rid of Phaneuf's contract was a win
I'm wondering in the new talent they've acquired & will continue to acquire is on the same timeline as Bernier, JVR & a few other guys you'd like to still have around. Questions if those guys wanna wait around though?

I think my Sabres are moving in the right direction.
With most of our young talent in the NHL now, we've just gotta let them grow into a "team"
Getting Stamkos wouldn't hurt!
Hahaha

If the Nucks had a do-over and I was GM

I'd have tanked last year and ended up with a Top 5 (drafted Marner/Hanafin)

Traded Vrbata at the deadline, after a career year

Traded the Sedins last off season, probably to the same team. retained 50% on both and take back a bad contract would have given them tremendous value, (1st and a top prospect for each of them)

Did what Toronto did, sign value UFA's flip them for picks and do what I needed to to move on from the Burrows, Higgins, Hamhuis, Millers, Edler, etc

The prospect pool could have easily looked like this

Horvat
Virtanen
McCann
Marner or Hanafin (or possibly McDavid/Eichel) - 2015 1st
2016 1st (Top 5 pick)
2 top prospects in the Sedin trade
2016 and 2017 first in Sedin Trade
2017 Canucks pick would likely have been a Top 5 pick

This isn't even factoring in what could have been potentially picked up in Vrbata/Hamhuis/Edler trades, as well as the UFA type flipping that Toronto did

then throw in a ton of capspace we'd have in the 2017 off season for Free Agents

Thats a lot more to get excited about for a 2018 season then what is going to be happening in the next few years around here
- TheGame316

What Vancouver is about to go through reminds me of Calgary the last few years they had Iginla
It's gonna be a rough couple years
They should start to "tear down" ASAP
Longer they wait to do that,
The longer a rebuild will take

I think they should try & move the Sedins in the offseason & just start over
Too bad they didn't beat Boston a couple years ago. Looks like they missed their chance.

Leafs are gonna have another couple rough seasons, but I agree that they're doing it the right way
Would've like to see them get a better return for Kessel & Phaneuf, although I guess just getting rid of Phaneuf's contract was a win
I'm wondering in the new talent they've acquired & will continue to acquire is on the same timeline as Bernier, JVR & a few other guys you'd like to still have around. Questions if those guys wanna wait around though?

I think my Sabres are moving in the right direction.
With most of our young talent in the NHL now, we've just gotta let them grow into a "team"
Getting Stamkos wouldn't hurt!
Hahaha
- jdfitz77

I hate what the Sabres did with the Kane trade, He's not a guy you want on your team, and I would have been tempted to wait for O'Reilly to go to FA than give up assets for him, since you ended up paying him top $$$ anyways - He's the perfect #2 Center on any team

Feels like you sort of undid a couple of years of good drafting by trading those picks and prospects for no real reason

What Vancouver is about to go through reminds me of Calgary the last few years they had Iginla
It's gonna be a rough couple years
They should start to "tear down" ASAP
Longer they wait to do that,
The longer a rebuild will take
- jdfitz77

Yep, Rip it off like a Bandaid

If your not first, you're last...

The second you know the window is closing, tear it down and start opening the next one, it's when your current players will have the highest value and make the process that much faster

I hate what the Sabres did with the Kane trade, He's not a guy you want on your team, and I would have been tempted to wait for O'Reilly to go to FA than give up assets for him, since you ended up paying him top $$$ anyways - He's the perfect #2 Center on any team

Feels like you sort of undid a couple of years of good drafting by trading those picks and prospects for no real reason
- TheGame316

I actually like Kane...
He's been good in the room from all reports
Obv, the NBA all star game was a dumb move, but he's pretty much been a stand up guy besides that


I couldn't be happier with O'Reilly

Might seem like we gave up a lot on those trades...
But we literally had acquired sooooo many picks from when we tore it all down, we had to trade some of these guys away

According to hockeysfuture.com rankings,
We still have 18... Yes, 18... Forwards in our system with top9 or better grades
Obviously not all of them will work out,
But I just brought that up to illustrate just how many prospects we've got right now
And we've got 21 picks I think in the next 2 drafts as well
I'd expect us to continue to package assets in trades
And id say we'll prob "overpay" in them again...
Just bc we literally have assets to burn

A guy I've liked for a while now that I'd like to see us take a shot at getting this offseason is Tom Wilson from the Caps

Both Burakovsky & Kuznetzov are RFAs after next year & gonna get big raises
Maybe if Wilson has a good playoffs, he'll want more than the Caps will pay & we can steal him away from them?

We will get (15-18) more points the rest of the way IMO. Not good ......
- fastek

We've scored four goals in our last four games, with one being an empty net. We keep that up we'll be lucky to get 5-8 points the rest of the way.

Pure (frank)ing horsepoop. That's about it. Can't wait to move on from McWho(frank)ingCares

Yeah, in a playoff rush, let's show two of the worse teams in the league. Way to get yourself fired.

I hate what the Sabres did with the Kane trade, He's not a guy you want on your team, and I would have been tempted to wait for O'Reilly to go to FA than give up assets for him, since you ended up paying him top $$$ anyways - He's the perfect #2 Center on any team

Feels like you sort of undid a couple of years of good drafting by trading those picks and prospects for no real reason
- TheGame316

The reality is Buffalo was close to the cap floor and had a bunch of moves that they needed to make. we needed a player that had a big enough salary to cover and was not gonna effect our tank. Kane was injured and had that kind of salary. If we fall below cap floor we forfeit our 1st and if we would have gotten 3 more points buffalo might not have been able to pick eichel. Moving a late 1st is not that big of a deal when we had 2 more first and 3 2nds. Also lemieux refused to sign with us. Giving the situation its an acceptable deal. On paper winnipeg got alot.

With ROR out, mcginn traded, and ennis still out Im not at all concerned that we will win enough games to take us out of the bottom 5. We can't score and other than the top line we really don't players that can put the puck in the net

nobody beats the wiz


- homiedclown

Love it. But I was going for.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bEa2TWyxso

The caps-pens game was really good...and wasnt the sabres-oilers the NHL.tv free game of the night?

Re-post from yesterday (minor changes)

I would not target Stamkos this off season. Focus my efforts to build a complete lineup.

Offer a 2017 2nd to NYR for the rights to Kreider.
2016 first for Lindholm
Moulson ($1.1MM Retained) and a 6th for a pick
Pysyk Foligno Larsson for Drouin
Ennis and a 2nd for Brodin
Bogosian(hold 150K) for Yakupov

Sign Lindholm to a 3 year $15MM bridge deal
Sign Kreider to a 5 year $25MM deal
Risto gets a 4 year $21MM deal
Girgensons gets a 3 year $8.25MM deal

Kane - ROR - Reinhart
Kreider - Eichel - Drouin
Yak - Girgensons - Gionta
Deslauries - COR - Bailey


Risto - Lindholm
McCabe - Brodin
Franson - Gorges

Lehner
Backup


Total Celery ~ $60MM




Waits for the masses []

I'm officially joining the "fire Disco Dan" bandwagon...

..I can't remember who said it last night, but they were right...Rolston could have gotten more effort outta this team

I am sick of watching this franchise pack it in year after year...have some (frank)in respect for the fans and atleast try and win

For you golfers out there. I think it's mostly Leafs and fans caught on film.

After watching this team all year, I have to say the rebuild is going to be longer then I thought. Even if they add a free agent or 2, their prospects don't look that great. This team can't score. Why?

The "casual fan" doesn't know McDavid and Eichel, but does know that Crosby guy and the Ovechkin guy, which is why they put that on the national broadcase. After McDavid and Eichel start winning hardware continually and become household names, I'm sure NBC will be glad to show them.

The "casual fan" doesn't know McDavid and Eichel, but does know that Crosby guy and the Ovechkin guy, which is why they put that on the national broadcase. After McDavid and Eichel start winning hardware continually and become household names, I'm sure NBC will be glad to show them.
- jmatchett383

The Flyers have won what again ? because they are on NBC a lot also.

The Flyers have won what again ? because they are on NBC a lot also.
- SABRES 89

Yes, because they have one of the biggest fan bases in the NHL. More than that, they have a lot of people who hate them, which means people will tune in to see them lose.

NBC doesn't care about "showcasing talent." NBC cares about getting viewers to make money.

I hate what the Sabres did with the Kane trade, He's not a guy you want on your team, and I would have been tempted to wait for O'Reilly to go to FA than give up assets for him, since you ended up paying him top $$$ anyways - He's the perfect #2 Center on any team

Feels like you sort of undid a couple of years of good drafting by trading those picks and prospects for no real reason
- TheGame316

He wasn't making it to free agency.

If we didn't put up the assets to get him, another team was going to.