Solinar

if it is about the new practice facility, you are not reading the room! But, where the rich are involved, I can see calling a massive presser while we're 2-5-2 to announce, oh boy, maybe the boys will start seeing results from a practice in someplace different!

Oh boy, is there a big trade we aren't seeing? There are a few teams under performing right now, and a couple of surprises that could use some bolstering. I doubt we're firing our coach after the message was delivered that it was the players next on the cutting block. C'mon boys, lets have some fun!

Oh man, I had forgotten Schmidt!! What a waste, as he'd be a total stud on our backend now with the coaching we have in place. Frustrating part of being where we're at with the cap situation we have. We should be picking at other teams and feasting on their lack of ability to work in a constrained cap era, but instead, we said, hey, solidarity, we're here too, but not good! I do like the Ethan Bear trade, do think he'll be a good addition. Time will tell whether or not that move is good for the long term, or just more short term plastering over the cracks, caused by cracks in the foundation. Would have liked to grab one of Tampa's spare rhd to kind of see what happens. I really hope that the TDL and next summer will see some player movement as the cap goes up. I'm not as down on the team as some others. There are some good pieces, but I'm torn between just consistently being a mediocre team, and tearing it down and building up a long term healthy franchise, built from proper drafting and player development that is always able to field a next man up mentality. Short term me goes, plaster over those cracks! I want to see us struggle to the playoff line. Long term me goes, build this franchise up properly, and we'll have years of success. JR did manage to plaster over those cracks and kick that can down the road in Pittsburgh. He rolled with a solid forward lineup and serviceable if underwhelming D- core with a stud back there. I kind of see that picture being put in place here, while they revamp player development. So, working on the now, and with an eye to the future. It is just so hard to trust them after decades of...words but not solid actions. I have tickets to the LA and Vegas games next month, so here's hoping I have something to watch, as I'm betting my money on success?

By the way, the only people I truly believe that I'd want to have on my team in 3 years, are Pettersson, Demko, Hughes, Podkholzin, and possibly Horvat. Garland, Pearson, Mikheyev, Boesser, OEL, Myers, the bottom six by and large, and our plethora of 7th dmen are largely expendable. Build up their value, play them like you love them, but trade them as soon as you can. Of the prospects, like Hoglander, but not attached. Rathbone, he's intriguing, but can he gain that next step? He's not an option to be bottom pairing, so either he's top 4 or out. We don't have RHD prospects to write home about. EP 2.0...intriguing. Klimovich...intriguing. Intriguing doesn't mean I won't trade them. Just means, I place some interim value on what they could bring, so that puts an eye towards what I'd want in return. And stop paying to get rid of people, instead of building value and using our 3 slots of salary retention. Use them wisely, but I'm not afraid to use them, as were previous administrations. It is an effective weapon, use it. Same with offer sheets. A weapon not used, isn't actually there.

I'm going to be clinical and surgical. There, to my mind, is just no easy and sure way forward at this point. You have 2 routes, hopefully retool, and get lucky, or tear it down to what you would consider to be essentials, and gain enough to justify the pain, and build outwards. That means, possibly giving up on a couple of fan favourites for significant return. And pushing that window back farther than we'd ever want.....again. I believe that we are 3 years of pain, 2 years of middling, and contending after that point, IF we do things wisely, and get lucky. That means swallowing the results and trying to lay a foundation, right here, right now. You identify not only the people you want to draft, the prospects you think others aren't going to have room for, but who you can trade to come trade deadline, and what you're going to have to do to make those trades...trades that happen. Aka, do something that we rarely do, which is actually build value on middling assets by putting them in the best position to succeed....on paper, while swallowing the results in the Loss column. You want to have control of the game plan, you better be able to take the pain. Next comes identifying what you want to have your team play like, and be. That is something that Benning just couldn't ever do. He was one with jigsaw pieces from 8 different puzzles trying to hammer together a checker board. Hence we have a team full of pieces, and not a team that is actually cohesive, that has a play style and more importantly, an identity. We're slow, but not heavy, we're skill but not enough push thru. We have tenacity but not the size to make it ...meaningful. I'm not one that goes on the 'need big size to win,' must be able to punch concussions into cement blocks. I like speed, skill, but paired with attitude, and tenacity. Want to win....but HATE to lose. Would go out there and skate thru that big brick wall to bring home the goal. In my mind, it isn't 'always' size that is important, because I see Myers and go, hey, fans, I know he's big, but he's not the big you think he is, because he doesn't play that heavy game effectively. Gudbranson was much the same. I call that chasing 'Chara'. Tryamkin fit in that mould. You're chasing a vision of what you want, without being able to properly process what the piece or player in front of you is away from your vision of what you'd wish for instead. Take the 'desire' out of the picture, and start to properly evaluate players and fit it into the vision of what you want the team to be. And be consistent. Now that I've rambled, I'll get back to the major question, which is, how do you retool the RHD. I don't believe there is a trade out there that I would bite on, unless I could get Burns, Pietrangelo, Doughty, or Ekblad. I mean, you deliver me one of those 4 guys, and preferably with the team retaining, and us not giving up more than let's say, a major prospect and pick, you're making me have some shivers. That being said, you don't usually get access to those guys, you don't want to pay for them, and by the time you can get them, you probably don't want them as they're broken. So, we draft and keep our eyes open. We restock the cupboards so we operate from a position of strength and can either luck out and cultivate, or have the assets on hand to make the necessary surgical trade. Benning blew our timeline to pieces as he went out the door, trying to shortcut on trades that didn't deliver. OEL and Garland became the hill he died on, and he queued us to 3 lost seasons at least because of it. He didn't have patience, had 1 year to wait it out (contracts to Beagle, Eriksson, and Roussel) and would have had the cap room to actually pool off the necessary moves to take advantage of the current financial crunch. Here's hoping that Allvin has the necessary stones to not do the same, will trade from our forward depth later on in the season to recoup and redirect our team, and that we'll see an onus on....acquiring more picks as we move forward. That, and actual results from our player development side, as only Demko has truly graduated from it, as our other young talent succeeds by largely skipping it.

I'm sorry, it feels like we are doubling down on another OEL style trade at that point. We would be buying high on a defenseman that is overpriced, locked into that overpriced contract long term, and is on the decline. Everything about it says 'buyer beware' to me. A few years ago, before he was in Chicago, I would have completely agreed with you. I liked him from his draft year, and couldn't understand why he fell to Nashville, and thought Nashville was making a mistake trading him to CBJ. But, watching him play, he just isn't a stud, 9million dollar defenseman. If he was 6, I'd say giver, but he's basically the cost of 2 out of 3 players on our rightside, and doesn't move the needle. That being said, I'm more than willing to be wrong, and I'd make that trade to edmonton in a heartbeat

We are going to have to probably play out this season with....what we have. The trick is to adapt and try play the best possible game that this team is structured for. And...well, we're probably going to lose, more than we wish. But, to establish competitiveness, and push back. Go down to the room, and go, I'm not trading any of you, you're not getting a saviour, you're not getting out, and you have to figure it out together. I see players quitting on each other, I see players quitting on the coaching, and I see players quitting on what we need to do, day in and day out, to win. They got the last management group fired (that management group was out of touch and terrible, so, kudos), got their last coach fired because they went out and meh'd, and are working on trying to do the same here. That isn't accountability, that is a one trick pony doing the same thing trying to get different results. Enough. You want out, you play better so we can do it. You want to prove that you aren't the problem, time to show it. Time to feel the pain! Use it, and go out there and give it back to the other team.

I agree. Please don't handcuff us with more salary dead ends. We are going to have to gamble a bit, but hopefully, with some insight. Identify the player you want, and be able to swallow the price. And know who you don't want or can't afford the cost of. Make a freaking list!!! Then start going out there and checking it off. We need to deconstruct the roster, and put players in that are 'for the moment', 'possibles', and backbone purchases. And that last one, is probably going to be more from the draft/develop side than not. I would also like some skilled players that would be willing to go thru a wall to win, HATE to lose, and possibly in the murderous quotient from the competitive standard.... But you can't have too many of those, or the room goes ruthless.

The problem I have, is that we seem to have management teams that are always chasing what has worked in the past, and fans that are much the same. We need vision, we need guts, and we need a tangible success rate in doing something that this team hasn't done in 52 effing years. We need to be able to trade, draft, develop, and STICK to a freaking gameplan. Throwing it back in the fans faces that we can't stomach a rebuild, or that we can't support the team? Well, we're still here, after 10 years of pain during a 'retool', 52 years without a cup, and a bunch of those years just being a plain old garbage fire and basically a joke, come on, who's kidding who? The trick with this team is indeed, that it isn't at its core, a bad team, per se. The problem is, that it is the result of an idiot, JB, recognizing individuals but not being able to get a team that can actually play together. Knowing that you need role players, grit and 'intangibles' (btw, those effing intangibles don't count for me unless there is an actual benefit to them), but overpaying them to the point that you handcuff your team so you can't supplement your core people with the talent they need to improve has been a problem. There is also holding on to an asset so long that you either double down on it as it is expiring in value, or you get rid of it too soon, and sell low. Now, if we kept expectations realistic, and really wanted to work on a long term plan, we'd call off our stupid pursuit of the playoffs, focus on playing the best hockey we can with the players we have, throw money into drafting and development and try steal people from Nashville for 'defense' development, keep Ian Clark as happy as possible, and work on skill and development for our minor league forwards. Then, you look at this team, identify whom you want to keep for 2 years, 5 years, 7 years, and look to build value of all, but most importantly, up the value of those you clearly have assigned the jettison button to. Then you trade them, even if you have to retain salary. We have 3 slots, just effing use them for Christ's sake. Myers at 4 million might get you at least the trade and something... You aren't going to fleece anyone at this point, because they have anchors for you instead of help. Put your ego aside, and focus on the long term plan and eat it. If you can't, you aren't the person for the job. Then make sure you clearly communicate what you need to, and by god, actually show some savvy and show the results. Back to the main question at hand, Yes to a rebuild. Sell everyone but Pettersson, Hughes, and Demko....but be willing to walk away from either of them if someone stupidly offers you a package that makes you say yes. Everyone else is expendable to the goal of building a stronger and long lasting organization. And you don't sell a first or 2nd anymore till you have a team that justifies the return and the loss of the pick.

Trade miller for a d-man, nope, signed him for 7 years. Now watching him be on the ice for every F*&*ing goal against. Watch Horvat just....be there. Cool. Watch our collection of 7th d-men just...struggle. You wearing your struggies boys!!?? Yep, check. Giving up the lead in 3 straight, and just pass to nowhere, blow our special teams, just get out competed, out wanted...have our best players show up for moments and fade. God, give us mercy. We aren't even going to be in it for Bedard. What a master class sh(t show this is.

Pearson Miller Podkholzin Garland Pettersson Mikayev Kuzmenko Horvat Boesser Lockwood Lazar Dickenson Hoglander down to the AHL as he needs minutes and is waiver exempt, Dakota Joshua riding pine Hughes Schenn OEL Myers Rathbone Dermott Burroughs as the extra D, because, well I like the way he plays, hits, and his overall feistiness. Tenacity....ah, Truculence, that's the word. Demko Martin Lock it in and send it off, as it'll probably show up at some point during the season, till they throw the lines in the blenders because, damn, You can really mix and match with this roster. I'm hoping we get some solid synergy but I can see people double shifting, combinations of centers and a winger, depending on what we need during each and every game. This is the kind of lineup you'd have fun with not just on the club, but in NHL23

The problem with a lot of people is that there is a very polarized view of how you get to be a contender. One view is that you're hot garbage, trade everything not nailed down, use a plethora of picks that you of course hit on, and bam, 4 years of pain for 4 years of contention. The other way is to consistently grow your team, thru the trials and tribulations of being on decline, to the ascent, to culmination of the goal. You knowingly judge your players/prospects well, you trade those that don't fit for picks and players that do, you hit on more than your first round picks, you have player development that culminates on your team able to produce surprise players, as well as replace players that you do trade, and you consistently hit more than you miss. You don't get handcuffed with bad contracts, you don't keep players that aren't part of the plan so long that they don't have value, you don't over/under value players, and you are constantly on the hunt for reclaims for undrafted/overseas players. We aren't going to tank with the team we have now. Now it is to either do the process of building it up, or, you have to very accurately diagnose who you can part with, to make up for the disadvantages facing the current roster. I'm thinking a lot of people would rather us blow it up, but I'm kind of curious to see if they can build it instead.

Of all the things that one could pick apart about the team, Demko for 5x5 is where you choose to land? The guy is a difference maker, a star, and Edmonton and Toronto would lick their chops if we were stupid enough to put him on the trade market. But you know, we'd have to attach a 2nd or a first and trade for future considerations for a team to deign to pick him up, I guess. Jesus, let the summer end, people are bored.

I'd take a flyer on this guy for the bottom 6 with some upside. I wouldn't pay a lot or give much in term, but 2x2 wouldn't hurt my feels too much. For what he could potentially bring given the right circumstances, could look like a steal, and if its a bust, isn't that hard to get rid of or bury.

It seems to be that his offensive ceiling isn't that high, and the compensatory pick is worth more than the prospect at the moment. A mid round 2nd pick isn't a bad return for a prospect you don't feel confident in projecting more time, energy, and cash into. Restart, and try do better on the next one. And this draft is going to be somewhat deep, so, maybe they have someone already in mind.

There should be a few teams in on Gibson, and the price shouldn't be that expensive, considering a couple of down years, and the overall cap hit. Anaheim isn't in the competing window, showed they have a bright future, and aren't as far behind the eightball in a rebuild mode. A goalie would have to be coming back to ..I don't know, play goal I would assume, and they'd want a legit piece to add to their club as well as a pick. Edmonton and Toronto, being canadian markets in need of a goaltender would be a no brainer, but I think there could be some interesting moves by some other teams involved. A goaltender of that calibre would be of interest to Buffalo and New Jersey, for example. Both want to be more competitive and both have question marks in goal, with Buffalo only having one signed goaltender, and that's Bishop....oof. Wherever he goes, I do hope that it is out east, because I sure as hell won't miss him shutting us out so many times. The guy is a canuck killer over his career, and any sign that we don't have to face him, is a good one.

Interesting that he's a former first rounder and that Minnesota gets a compensatory pick at 56.

https://www.prohockeyrumors.com/2022/05/minnesota-wild-not-expected-to-sign-filip-johansson.html

Free prospect, and more depth/talent for Abbotsford. If he comes in and shines under the new player development system, you cheer. If he comes in and falls flat, didn't cost us anything but money for the privilege. Right age range, and could probably show more than he has, given the right support.

As a fan of his work, particularly running the defense, I'm 100% supportive of offering him an assistant coach position behind our bench. I remember when he had 5 nobodies and Erhoff during one particularly bad injury riddled month. They didn't miss a beat, and we still looked like a contending team. His work in Tampa, his work in Dallas, all show that he can run the D like nobodies business. Whatever he puts in their kool-aid, it definitely works.

I do like Lyubushkin, and replacing Myers with him for the price would be amazing. I would look at him not so much for his offense, but to bring the same sort of stabilizing and physical play we get from Schenn. We have high octane left D, but what we need is that solid mix of defensive responsibility, stay at homeness that would free up some of the risk taking necessary for us to really push it to the next level. Much as Karlson had Methot in Ottawa, we're looking for Methot style players to play with Hughes, OEL, and Rathbone. Myers playing that kind of role, kind of neuters his offense, his defense doesn't exactly make it worthwhile, and it affects how his defensive partner contributes, as we saw with OEL's numbers. While they were 'respectable', I do believe that he was playing more defensively because of whom he had to work with, than we would like, giving the calibre of skill on our d-corps overall. But we need points. Goals from all quarters. I once read that you need 7 guys over 20 goals for a stanley cup contender, and that you need a mix of 60 points from your top pairing, 40-50 from your 2nd, and 20-30 from your 3rd pairing. You want ppg top line, 50-60 pts across the board from your 2nd, 30-40 pt players on your 3rd, and 20 point players on your fourth line. Now, I know that may seem somewhat improbable, and you're always going to have a mix, but you have something to aim for. Our top 2 lines got it done basically point wise, but our contribution from the 3rd and 4th lines are anemic. Hughes basically covered the top pairing point spread by himself, and the 2nd pairing was a drop off. OEL with 29 and Myers with 18. That is not getting it done. get them both in the 40 point range, and we're basically talking the difference between getting into the playoffs and where we are right now. Schenn and Hunt both put up 17 points, in 66 and 50 games respectively, which would have put them up above the 20 point threshhold over a full season. So, we have to get a few more points from the top 2 pairings, emphasis on right side, or greatly expand the contribution from the left to make up for it. So in a long winded kind of way, we know what we need, we know what we can move away from, and we know what our target is, and where to hold it accountable through the season. Trading out Myers should be a focus, and hopefully trading some our valuable forwards should bring in the RD we need, but the key is speed, physicality and most importantly SKILL and identity. We have to target who we want to be, how we're going to play, and whom can be sacrificed to achieve that identity. I think moving away from some our our RHD, such as Myers specifically, while keeping schenn, and pushing down Poolman/Burroughs is the goal this off season.

If we could move away from Myers 6 million, we could probably have a shot at Manson, PK Subban, Schultz out of washington. There is Stecher that could be had on a reasonable contract. None of those guys are going to cost a ton, and could provide value while getting us to a point where we could move them for assets as we have replacements in the system...

Love Rutherford's analysis of the team and have a lot more faith in this management group in its foundational approach to what needs to be done, and its ability to recognize our weaknesses/strengths in a way that allows for a long term plan to develop. One poster here put it correctly. JB tended to shift with the moment, which led to him constructing a roster that was of pieces with no real thought to how it would all work together. Basically, throwing sh#t at a wall, and hoping something would stick. We aren't big, we aren't skilled, we aren't fast, we aren't defensive, and we aren't offensive. Cool! We lack team identity, and that is because, we don't have the players to establish one. We are a hodge podge of ideas with no structure. We need to once again, be patient. After nearly a decade, the patience is wearing thin. We need to draft, develop, and astutely trade players, and can't get stuck in long term contracts for more value than the player is ever going to be worth, just to have that player because we love that player, in that he has big skates, can really cross check, and can't really play hockey to a degree that he'll move the needle. We can't get stuck on size, when it really needs to be the ability to play the game, as the player is now, not how we'd dream that player to be, if only we could realize that dream thru that player. Virtanen is going to be a playoff performing power forward. Gudbranson and Myers are going to make it impossible to get to the net because of their size and grit, and general all around ability to project a force field around the crease. At least it seems that the people involved in managing actually have the ability to accurately assess a player. As for what we do moving forward, we do have some trade chips, we do have some contracts that are moveable despite what Alf seems to think of Pearson, most of which doesn't exactly lineup with the actual player, but probably more along the lines of him wishing we had traded him instead of signing him for more. I could see Miller, Myers, Pearson, and one of either Garland/Boesser moving in the off-season, tho I wouldn't say all of those players are on the move. I could also see us nibbling around the edges and not making trades till in season. I'd love to trade Miller/Myers to the leafs for Marner Myers to EDM after Calgary man handles them. We have options, so not really getting that feeling that we are stuck with no ability to move other than slicing off a valuable asset that'll make the team worse instead of better. Regardless, I actually look forward to seeing what the management group does this season with a sense of almost anticipation, rather than a sense of wariness. It is a good time to be a fan, and remember, that when our window should be opening, a lot of other teams windows should be closing. Take heart, and enjoy the next 6 weeks!

If he could round out to form, and stop making some of the confusing reads/outlet passes, that'd be great. Considering what a weakness our right side was reported to be, and the defense as a whole does have some worrisome aspects, they sure have been pulling up their socks under Boudreau. Does Demko bail their asses out, and would it be nice not to have to so desperately rely on our goaltending, yes, but at least we have that to fall back on. I do wish we'd be a little bit more aggressive instead of collapsing to the slot all the time and letting the opposing team pass along the boards at will. But we need to get some team speed. And skill. But at least we're trending in the right direction for the moment, and hopefully management can actually get some players with that element to their game.

Hey, wonderful time to be a fan right now. We're 3 points out, our goaltending is awesome, and even tho we sit in the purgatory of will they/won't they bubble team, competing for the real party, it is exciting. We have the playoff race, the team to watch, the possibility of trades of consequence, or all quiet on the western front as we try to scratch, claw, bite our way into playoff relevance. We have a #1 D, the chaos Giraffe has been tamed and OEL has made him into a defending defensemen. We start getting some consistent production from Pods and Hogs, would go a long way to making our team look like something special with a chip on its shoulder. Now if only we could defenseman whisper Hamonic back into some semblance of 'calm the eff down' mode....