Gawdzukes

Exactly. It's way too simplistic to just look at a players counting stats. Look at our season last year. Top half of the league in goals for. We had no problem ripping off 5 or 6 goals in a game but we could not for the life of us keep the puck out of our net. As you say there is so much more to hockey than points, like board play, pk, and defence. A player like Garland scores less than a point a game. He's maybe involved in one shift a game where we actually score a goal. What is he doing for the other 14 minutes is the issue.

I actually don't mind smaller players. Cliff Ronning is one of my favorite players all time. But yeah, unfortunately being small is a disadvantage like being slow. I simply don't like Garland's style at all though. He holds the puck and dicks around with it in the corners too much, and then finally takes super bad angle shots all the time. It makes it hard for his teammates to read and react and I simply find him ineffective overall. If he's not in a top 6 role he's not a good defender for a third line either role imo, and 3 different coaches have bounced him around the lineup. He's not a horrible player but in my mind paying him $5 mil to bounce around the line-up, even if he's putting up points is not a good use of cap space. Blame the coaches lol. It would also be different if we had a couple bruisers in the top 6 to balance the line-up. Similarly I don't like Gadjovich's game at all and I find MacEwan, and Bailey even worse. It doesn't mean I don't like big players. or hockey. I'm sure you have a player or two on the team you don't regard as highly the others yourself. Do you not? Like I said I don't care about stats and whether 50 points is a second liner or not. For me production is not production and definitely not how you decide who plays and who stays and goes. I don't let that dictate how I see the game, He's currently the worst contract we got. His money would be better spent elsewhere imho. I think I agree sir but I'am too busy bowing to your empties. It is Sunday after all. Thank you IBatch. Loved me some Ronning. Don't like to admit it but Gaudreau has some of that sublime skillset as a little player too. Can't touch the guy out there without compromising the back of your net. Also couldn't agree more on Gourde. He is awesome and a big reason TB won the cup. Brian Bradley was a player I used to like too. I think he was quite a bit smaller than 5'10". The "I don't like small players thing isn't true at all" Like you said he'd be better off on a different team. Or, if our coaches used him to set up a killer scoring line, like Ronning, I would be way more copacetic. One thing that stands out for me is that Garland is always initiating contact with bigger players (everybody lol). If he played a more cerebral game like Ronning or Gaudreau and didn't get caught up in the boards all the time, I think he'd be far more effective as well. I've said it before. I find it very admirable that he's such a battler, but unfortunately it detracts from his game as a smaller player.

I totally agree. I personally don't care what the stats say, the game is played on the ice. He's not a second line guy on any of my teams and I surely don't want him on the third line as a $5 mil dollar sub 5'8" winger who doesn't penalty kill. You could have a guy playing on the third line for a fraction of the cost and pay a real quality second liner 6-7 million.

Jurmo has more drive and determination in his left nut than Trynotkin has in his whole body.

Greedy mofos No, but that's essentially the hold up. Aquilini could easily afford it but why when you can make the people pay for it?

I hear ya but in my 40+ years of playing and watching I think I've only seen a team sneak in once or twice because the entire set of competition shit the bed and drastically fell off the face of a cliff. They all have a tonne of but what ifs too. These are all hardcore athletes we're talking about here, and they are all as desperate to make it as we are. What you're doing reminds me of what coaches would do when we made the final and had little chance of winning. Compliment all of your players, tell them the opposition sucks, and instill a sense of false confidence that has them come out flying to beat all odds. I personally am pretty happy being in a position that can hopefully compete for a playoff spot. You can think we're a shoe in if it makes you feel happier about the year but I don't think it's as realistic as my assessment, which seems to align with the majority. By all means though I have no problem with you buying your playoff tickets tomorrow.

Drance is a fool (my contract says I must state this every time I see his name). Haha just joking but you make a good point. I think sometimes the smaller things can lead to greater success. The PK was so deflating that being solid there can lead to more confidence and pride all around. Add that to a more stable defence and consistent third line and everything starts to work a little bit better. It then gives the top 6 better starting positions. Maybe that's the push we need to get roiling? That chemistry you mention starts with things like banding together to kill off penalties. I'm definitely way more positive and hopeful then I have been in 6 years.

Me too! I loved Tocchet as a player, even though I hated the Flyers. Played every single second, played the game the right way, tougher than nails, ornery, and could score too. What's not to like? I also love what he has done in Vancouver and the things he's said and done. Exactly the type of tough love coach, fair, who is focused on player relationships, that I completely respect, and would go to the wall for. Some people are critical of the gambling thing which I think is ridiculous. If only everyone in pro sports and on this board had their worst moments recorded for all to see I think we'd find that RT looks pretty favorable or no worse than anyone else. All he did was skirt around the law which was bullshit to begin with and now is perfectly legal with all sorts of famous people benefitting from it. It's like when I argued with my mom for 20 years about smoking weed and now I'm her best friend's edibles (health problems) dealer. Anyways, go Rick go, you have my seal of approval.

No it isn't, you're right it's going to be a slugfest. In my mind we've shored up the D, and brought in a couple bottom 6 centers, which was sorely needed. The biggest question now is can we find the gumption to dig deep and make our team hard to play against in the trenches. Obviously RT saw this as well and it's been his mantra since he got here. For me that's going to determine our fate. Will our top 6 players, besides Petterson, find the will and dedication to out battle the other teams top 6. Miller and his leadership would go along way with the others to help accomplish this. We have the skill ... do we have the heart?

You are a super optimistic guy which is cool but you should temper that with reality too. VGK ... Cream of the Comference Calgary moved Toffoli but they still finished 10 points ahead of us, and had a down year. They could easily be better ... new coach too. Edmonton finished 26 points ahead of us, regardless of the PP LAK made some major moves and look to be on the rise (my biggest upward mover), only goaltending is a question, but is solvable. SJS ... we'll see lol, could take some points off teams. ANA ... will be strong soon but probably not this year SEA ... very well rounded, well coached, lunchbox team (like CAR) they should be strong again. VAN ... finished 12 points out ... remade d core and 2 middling bottom 6 centers. lost 31 goal center. Correction: We are competing with VGK, EDM, LAK, SEA, CGY It's possible but usually when I see people trying to downgrade others to make themselves better it's more of an indication of hopeful thinking than a reflection of reality. I think the top 3 are going to be out of reach and we'd be awfully lucky to grab a wildcard.

Yup, we made some really nice and absolutely necessary moves. Whether that's enough is a completely different question. One of my biggest fears is we've once again made so many changes. We all know it takes players awhile to acclimate to new teams. Does this mean we get off to a crap start again? I hope not. Also, besides the playoff teams from last year St. Louis isn't going to roll over and die like some people here hope, neither is Nashville, Winnipeg, or Calgary. Realistically the odds are we finish just outside the playoffs unless we get some major improvement from within, or our new players are great compliments to what we had. Hoping for the best and at least competitive entertaining hockey down the stretch.

This is such a good post. The people hating on Bo should be ashamed of themselves. He went from a third line projection to being Captain at 24 of a complete shi!t hockey team. He never complained, always faced the media, and always played hard. He became a very solid 2C, top face-off performer, eventually scoring 30* goals and netting us a haul at the deadline. It's not his fault that he isn't more skilled, or that we drafted him 9th overall, or that our team was absolute rubbish for years, or that some fans picked on Miller. It seems like nothing more than a piss fest from salty Miller fans. Hating on Bo is like hating Bambi ffs ... lol.

Roy or no Roy, Sakic is easily one of the greatest players of all time. In my top 3 favorite players. He could just get it done in any kind of game. Unstoppable.

2019 - 72 points 2020 - 55 points 2021 - 68 points 2022 - 59 points They've been sucking for 3 years, collecting draft picks, and getting rid of any player worth anything. McCabe, Kane, Dach, DeBrincat, Hagel, all for picks with nothing coming back for 3 years now. That is a rebuild plain and simple. Did you notice their roster last year. What exactly were they retooling around? Like I said now that they have a generational talent they may pull out of it sooner than initially planned but they were definitely rebuilding. https://www.secondcityhockey.com/chicago-blackhawks-2022-2023-nhl-season-preview-rebuild-tanking-projections-analysis-commentary/ https://www.nbcsportschicago.com/nhl/chicago-blackhawks/why-hawks-had-to-make-a-big-shift-to-jumpstart-rebuild/327329/ Everyone under the sun knew they were rebuilding, including the fans to whom they sent a letter. https://www.nhl.com/news/chicago-blackhawks-issue-letter-to-fans/c-319488298 lol I'd say case closed.

It's absurd isn't it? Like all those draft picks they've been stockpiling for two years had nothing to do with rebuilding, or the exodus of all their good players without replacement. I wouldn't be surprised if Bedard accelerates their plan but c'mon man! lol

lol call it what you want. It's a rebuild by every definition in my books. No wonder you say they never work when you make up your own definitions. I honestly don't really care about silly labels though. Whatever it is it is they're doing it and I like their course of action. They've reached rock bottom, ditched every one of their decent players for draft picks, didn't re-up their aging stars and are rebuilding the entire team from the bottom up. It's so delusional I can't even take this seriously. What on earth would they have to do to move to a rebuild in your mind? Trade Berard for picks? I don't know that I've ever seen a better example of a classic definition rebuild in my entire life.

Yup, I couldn't care less if the results are there. Winning hockey is fun. I like watching grinding hockey because it's real and dependable. Boudreau certainly didn't hold people accountable. Whether or not that was an issue in Van it's been his m.o. since he started coaching. Give the best players all the rope they want and don't ever criticize them. We saw that a lot with Miller. Instead of calling him out on his bs he always doubled down and defended him. Thankfully no more of that imo. Great point regarding playoff hockey.

It's hilarious that anyone would claim otherwise. Arguing just to argue at that point. In reality 95% of plans fail in the NHL. Trying to label everything is silly.

Some people are blind to the truth at times. It's very possible that package gets us closer to a Cup than Miller does in 3 years time. Can't say for sure at this point in time.

You're proposals are always severely favoring us. lol exactly, it's not even junk it's manure Not happening in a million years

Yup. We do have a bunch of money coming off so that is a very good thing. Finally the bs redundant myriad of crap negative contracts we've been mired in for half a decade are all finally almost done. Pearson, Luongo capture, Spooner, Beau, Boeser, Myers, OEL, Poolman, Ferland, King Louie, etc.. It's not hard to see why we haven't been competitive when you look at all the wasted cap space and resources. Yowch! However, an even slate (besides OEL + Garland) is finally on the horizon!!! I think we'll be able to address the defence since we have Hughes and Hronek to build on, plus Soucy and a couple of very good prospects on the horizon. The hardest part will be finding a couple of two way impact wingers to go along with Petey, Kuz, Mik, and Miller. We have Lekk but he doesn't really fill what we're looking for. Really hope Klimovich, Hogs, Pods, and Raty, are able to fill a couple roles as that will go along way to freeing up resources for those impact wingers we will need. I would be very happy if we got 2/3 of a third line, and/or a top 6 winger out of that group.

I tend to agree with your timeline in theory but I think our management will really be looking at the next year or two after this one. I think our 2024 1st will be on the table and could even get traded as a rental for the playoffs. I'd prefer to build but I think we're going to be going for it again. I like Soucy too. He's a good fit. After this season and Cole's contract is over we'll need 3 dmen. One could be Willander, and one could be D-Petey. That's really hoping for the ultimate best though. I could see us using the 2024 first on another good dman. While that's going on we somehow need to fill the forwards with more versatile forwards. At least two top 6 forwards who can win battles against other teams top lines. Who knows how Boeser will play out. Besides Mikeyhev and Kuz that leaves us at least 1-2 impact guys. We still need a long-term 3C (maybe Raty), and we need to flesh out the bottom 6 with more size and compete. A lot of moving parts there. I agree a 3-4 year timeline is far more realistic but we'll see how they approach it.

We have some decent components. The next two years will be the determining factor. We need to complete the defence and totally ramp up the forwards with two way guys that can play physical. It's a tall task I hope Allvin and Co can pull off.

If this team is hungry the nutritionist isn't doing his job.