They are not being blown out . They are on pace to have 20 to 25 points more than last year . Goals for are up , Goals against are down . They have lost 13 1 goal games, Lehner looks good already for not playing a full regular season game in a year, He has a long way to go yet. But we suck. Not going to happen overnight . We tore everything down the last two years and now we are trending up whether you want to acknowledge it or not.

Sorry you do not want to see it that way.
- Maximum Signal

You replace just Moulson with any productive player. Even Moulson from two years ago and that number shrinks. We would have 6-8 more points right now.

You replace just Moulson with any productive player. Even Moulson from two years ago and that number shrinks. We would have 6-8 more points right now.
- Buffalo--Sabres

For sure . Moulson declined way quicker than anyone thought . Send him to Rochester. If he does not clear waivers great! If he does maybe it lights a fire under him.

And they made the conference finals in Kane's second season (Toews third), and won the cup the following one.
- rmiethaner

Right with an entire team of good players. Not just two.

Who is our Ladd? Seabrook? Byfuglien? Hossa? Sharp?

Do we have anyone as good as Hjarlmasson in the pipeline?

Can we acquire a Brian Campbell in free agency?

We are more like the Kings, that made a few big trades that panned out. Hopefully our does

For sure . Moulson declined way quicker than anyone thought .
- Maximum Signal

Not me. Been calling him a scrub for a long time. Everyone on here called me a troll and defended him.

And they made the conference finals in Kane's second season (Toews third), and won the cup the following one.
- rmiethaner

Plus they had players like Hossa, Keith, Sharp, Seabrook, Soupy, Versteeg (ROY finalist),
etc...

Not me. Been calling him a scrub for a long time. Everyone on here called me a troll and defended him.
- Fattony1187

Lies...

Not me. Been calling him a scrub for a long time. Everyone on here called me a troll and defended him.
- Fattony1187

Well you were right congratulations . Murray had to spend Money . I wanted to give him 6 a year for three years. Not 5 for 5 . Then we would be done with him next year , he would be happy and the money that had to be spent was spent.

Right with an entire team of good players. Not just two.

Who is our Ladd? Seabrook? Byfuglien? Hossa? Sharp?

Do we have anyone as good as Hjarlmasson in the pipeline?

Can we acquire a Brian Campbell in free agency?

We are more like the Kings, that made a few big trades that panned out. Hopefully our does
- sbroads24

And what makes you think we are done acquiring players . Darcy stuck us with all sorts of stuff that Mr Murray had to purge first. With the cap going down or staying the same it will be a buyers market in Free Agency . And we have the cap room to buy and many others do not.

I want to be angry but really they're playing as many expected. Still figure them for 75-80 pts for the year. Just hope they pile up the wins on national TV.
- Sabresfan-365

they should be scoring more

d is better than expected

my 2 cents

they should be scoring more

d is better than expected

my 2 cents
- homiedclown

You are right . I am willing to take the good with the bad.

You are right . I am willing to take the good with the bad.
- Maximum Signal

risto taking a big step
bogo mixed bag, better lately
mccabe exceeding realistic expectations
weber playing decent
gorges much better than last year
coli ok
pysyk mixed bag
franson blah but not brutal

goalies fine


score a few (frank)ing goals

risto taking a big step
bogo mixed bag, better lately
mccabe exceeding realistic expectations
weber playing decent
gorges much better than last year
coli ok
pysyk mixed bag
franson blah but not brutal

goalies fine


score a few (frank)ing goals
- homiedclown

Get a shooting coach , like we all have suggested many times. Might help might not.

risto taking a big step
bogo mixed bag, better lately
mccabe exceeding realistic expectations
weber playing decent
gorges much better than last year
coli ok
pysyk mixed bag
franson blah but not brutal

goalies fine


score a few (frank)ing goals
- homiedclown

Kane
Moulson
Ennis

are the ones that need to nut up and score...
Kane is fun to watch but he's dumb as a box of rocks.

Edit: Ennis is just a mess.

Kane
Moulson
Ennis

are the ones that need to nut up and score...
Kane is fun to watch but he's dumb as a box of rocks.

Edit: Ennis is just a mess.
- jochfr

I think the problem is twofold. Last two years we had too many 4th line/AHL players on this team. Now we have too many 3rd line checking guys. Leads to less goals against but still no goals for. O'Riley, Eichel, Reinhart, Kane and McGinn being the exception.
We have five forwards with 10 goals or more. And 1 D with 8. The next highest guy is Gionta with 5. Kane has also played ten less games than everyone above him. His shot percentage might not be good but he does shoot more than anyone else.
Ennis has been a mess due to injury this year. He's played over twenty games less than everyone around him and when he has played its been after injury and trying to get his feet wet. I don't think he's been 100% all season...
Our main problem is secondary scoring. If you notice we won a few games recently due to getting it. I looked at about ten other teams in the NHL and all of them had similar numbers 4-6 people on average of scoring 10 or more goals on their team.
The difference? Most if not all of them had three or four guys with 6-9 goals as well.
The biggest difference is guys like Moulson, Gionta, Larsson, Foligno and Girgensons not scoring goals. They are all essentially playing the same role on this team.
Need to get rid of half of them and replace them with some offensive capable players to be a productive scoring team.

This is a strong post.

Moulson is doing exactly what Murray is paying him to do, that is keep Eichel out of trouble. If he gets Eichel through his first full season without letting his youthful exuberance become a problem then he has done his job and we will see what happens next year. I think Murray has a plan to roll players through the organization as the years go on, Gionta out/Fasching in, Georges out/ Guhle in, Moulson out/Bailey in, Lehner out/Peterson or Kasdorf in, you get my point. Chicago, there's that team again. Chicago has created the blue print on how to manage your franchise for the present and into the future, which is: don't get to attached to any one player because he could be gone at any moment. Ask Andrew Ladd, Brandon Saad and so on. They try to recognize the core and fill in around them. We are not close to finding the exact core, but we way closer than we were last year

When we first got Kane I was thinking james neal but more physical and he is neither I've never seen a player miss that many wide open nets and hit 5 goal post 's every game that might be a record

When we first got Kane I was thinking james neal but more physical and he is neither I've never seen a player miss that many wide open nets and hit 5 goal post 's every game that might be a record
- gerbe75pts

He still has ten goals in less than ten games played of what his teammates have done. He's not putting up Ovi numbers but he should have at least 25 goals by end of the season.

I feel for the few good posters who still waste their time here. The arguments are brutal.

We are still building... with what? A couple bottom six forward prospects and a second round dman.

Tim Murray said that rebuilds do not have to take years. He unloaded most of our picks and prospects for players that are supposed to make us better now.

If I have to hear one more time that we will improve 20 points over last year, I will vomit. We were trying to tank last year. We are currently a few points better than we were at this point last year, then we traded away everything and fielded an AHL team from the trade deadline to the end of the year. Am I really supposed to be impressed with an improvement over last year?

Basically we have to hope we are able to add through FA. And when that doesn't happen, and we are still bad in two years we will have new excuses and more incoherent arguments for why it isn't Murray's fault.

He still has ten goals in less than ten games played of what his teammates have done. He's not putting up Ovi numbers but he should have at least 25 goals by end of the season.
- bluengold12

You can't be giving him a pass he is definitely not living up to expectations. Why are you bringing ovi in this..

Kyle Palmieri, lee Stempniak are putting up way better numbers then him he should not get a pass he was supposed to ride shotgun with Jack now we definitely have to draft a winger because of him

When we first got Kane I was thinking james neal but more physical and he is neither I've never seen a player miss that many wide open nets and hit 5 goal post 's every game that might be a record
- gerbe75pts

25-30 goals a year, very physical and good special teams (pk)

that is what I expected


if he popped a few more goals (4) he would be where I thought at this point


he is not the problem, but he needs to pick it up a bit to be part of our solution

Evander Kane is 3rd in the NHL among forwards in ice time. He has 18 points.

Players production around the NHL with similar minutes

O'Reilly 40 points
Kopitar 40 points
Steen 42 points
P. Kane 72 points
Ovechkin 42 points
Giroux 37 points

His production is a major dissapointment. Anyone who thinks it's just bad luck isn't seeing the full picture

Lets face it. Murray said that a team could be turned around in two drafts, give him two drafts. But, this team is going to require more than two drafts, he's clearly going for draft three of a top five pick. If, he was serious about us being a bubble team this year and making a push for the playoffs, he would have made a move by now. He's got us right where he wants us, looking much improved but still in the basement, and I'm personally fine with that. I do think we need at least three drafts to fill all the holes. We need at least one top pair defensemen and at least one top six winger moving forward. Those vacancies will come from the draft, not free agency. This year is, and should be all about growth. Finish putting the team together with this years draft in our own house, restock the cupboards, and tweak the team with next years UFA's.

Evander Kane is 3rd in the NHL among forwards in ice time. He has 18 points.

Players production around the NHL with similar minutes

O'Reilly 40 points
Kopitar 40 points
Steen 42 points
P. Kane 72 points
Ovechkin 42 points
Giroux 37 points

His production is a major dissapointment. Anyone who thinks it's just bad luck isn't seeing the full picture
- sbroads24

He's also played 10 less games. Say he puts up minimum of 6 points in those ten games, thats 24 Pts. Not at that level but still not as bad.
If we think Kane is the reason this team is losing then you haven't been watching the same games... Look at the post I had earlier about secondary scoring.

Moulson is doing exactly what Murray is paying him to do, that is keep Eichel out of trouble. If he gets Eichel through his first full season without letting his youthful exuberance become a problem then he has done his job and we will see what happens next year. I think Murray has a plan to roll players through the organization as the years go on, Gionta out/Fasching in, Georges out/ Guhle in, Moulson out/Bailey in, Lehner out/Peterson or Kasdorf in, you get my point. Chicago, there's that team again. Chicago has created the blue print on how to manage your franchise for the present and into the future, which is: don't get to attached to any one player because he could be gone at any moment. Ask Andrew Ladd, Brandon Saad and so on. They try to recognize the core and fill in around them. We are not close to finding the exact core, but we way closer than we were last year
- macman9

Excellent analysis

Excellent analysis


- Maximum Signal

Hoping this is sarcasm....