General Hockey Talk - Injuries, signings, factoids + other news from around the league

I think they need to fire Sutter as a starter. He's a weird guy and doesn't seem to be the best communicator.

Generally though, Calgary had a brutal off-season. They got a good haul for Tkachuk but those extensions were made emotionally after Gaudreau left. The terms are too much and too long. Same with the Kadri signing - emotional and not well thought-out. They have a few good pieces in their pipeline so they should be able to turn things around but they're a tween team and need to decide on a direction this off-season

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:I think they need to fire Sutter as a starter. He's a weird guy and doesn't seem to be the best communicator.

Generally though, Calgary had a brutal off-season. They got a good haul for Tkachuk but those extensions were made emotionally after Gaudreau left. The terms are too much and too long. Same with  the Kadri signing - emotional and not well thought-out. They have a few good pieces in their pipeline so they should be able to turn things around but they're a tween team and need to decide on a direction this off-season

Expectations led them down that path. Loosing Gaudreau was unforeseen even tho they should have. In the position they are and their market, they were forced to stay competitive but they at best managed to stay sideways when they needed to get better.
They barely have any cap space to make improvements.
They’ll need to be very creative going forward and I only see them being able to do so via the trade route.

They should try and take a few steps back for a year or two in order to get better. They still have a few contracts with one year left after this year that they should try to move for good young prospects or young NHL players. That’s the only way forward IMO.

If I was them, I’d be putting Taney, Hanafin, Toffoli, Backlund and possibly Lindholm (if they can get something very good in exchange).
Zadorov also but I doubt they’d get much for him.
Money wise, they’re all good value. There should be plenty of interest in them.

Worst possible outcome tonight in the pens NYI game. Everyone gets points

Flo The Action wrote:Worst possible outcome tonight in the pens NYI game. Everyone gets points

Since we have games in hand on the Isles the worst possible would have been Pens in OT/SO. As it went, we gained 1 point on the Penguins. We also gained 2 on the Sabres. What is going on there? Officially only Tuch is injured so why was Andy scratched? Assuming it was to give a vet a full night off why was Comrie left in for all 10 goals?

Have a look at the remaining games for the Sens, the pens and the isles.

We definitely have the tougher matchups coming up.

Flo The Action wrote:Have a look at the remaining games for the Sens, the pens and the isles.

We definitely have the tougher matchups coming up.

The good news is we play better against the better teams.

Honestly, though, I have given up hope this year. They came close, for a while. Maybe for the players that feeling of being close will be worth something next season, but as a fan I almost wish they weren't 3 points back with games in hand only to blow it with losses to non-playoff teams.

wprager wrote:Honestly, though, I have given up hope this year.  They came close, for a while.  Maybe for the players that feeling of being close will be worth something next season, but as a fan I almost wish they weren't 3 points back with games in hand only to blow it with losses to non-playoff teams.

Meh even if they don’t make it, it’s still a positive building lock which most great teams go through. Playoffs were always a long shot this season.

Hate to say it, but I'm looking at the draft lottery odds. Currently Sens can only win 2nd overall. They would need to drop another spot to have a chance at Bedard.

This year was a huge step forward. Sign Formenton (cheap - no arb) healthy Norris and all of a sudden the top nine is much better. Full year of Chych, another offseason for Pinto and Sanderson + a goalie and all of a sudden we're in the thick of things.

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:This year was a huge step forward. Sign Formenton (cheap - no arb) healthy Norris and all of a sudden the top nine is much better. Full year of Chych, another offseason for Pinto and Sanderson + a goalie and all of a sudden we're in the thick of things.

Gonna need that formenton. Maybe another top 9 forward too.
Definitely need a goalie above all.

It was a huge step forward on the personnel/budget side of things. Without Melnyk holding on to the purse strings they are close to $80M (some of it is buy outs/retained salary) and they brought in DeBrincat, Giroux, Talbot and Chychrun -- all in the same "season" (I include the off-season).

But we still have a very small hockey operations team (I fully expect that to change but it has not yet) and we still have the same coaching staff we've had for the last 4 years -- and we all know where this team has been the last four years).

On ice we are still 23rd in shots against per game and 19th in goals against per game. There are still far too many 2m+ shifts in the defensive zone, the forwards are too often leaving the d-zone too early and appear lost when playing in their own end. They have a much better roster (even with Norris out pretty much all year long) but are still playing very poor defensive hockey.

I don't see them making the next step without a better system (and I have no faith left that DJ somehow will magically come up with one after 4 years of this).

Winnipeg is a hot mess right now. They're going to be a very busy team this off-season.

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:Winnipeg is a hot mess right now. They're going to be a very busy team this off-season.

They need to trade some problems out of that dressing room.
They could get some very good returns on them too.

Matt Murray injured again. I lost track of how many teams he's been out this year. At least 4 or 5...

He's only started 26 games (vs. 37 for Samsonov). It's his third stint on the IR this season.

He was out of action on 5 occasions last year.

So the Chicago wolves of the AHL are going to not be associated to any NHL teams next season.
Im really questioning the logic of this move.
Of course it means that when your NHL team doesn’t have many prospects you’re left more or less on your own but what are the chances of an AHL team being able to attract key FA on its team if they don’t stand a chance of proving they can make it to a parent club? You also have no access to a pipeline.

Does someone care to argue the rational?