luongianone

Kuzmenko - Petey - Mikheyev Hoglander/Beau - Miller - Boeser Podkolzin - Blueger - Garland Pearson/Hog - Aman - Joshua Hughes - (Cole?) Soucy - Hronek Cole - (Myers?/Bear?) I expect Hoggy and Pod to take a leap next year. Even if not a big one, enough to be the 3rd guy on a 2nd line or the 2nd guy on a 3rd line. Garly proved last year he can drive a 3rd line on his own. Having Blueger playing responsibly and another guy with snarl and a scoring touch should be great. Pearson being healthy is great and I hope he's as good as he was 2 years ago but creates a bit of a logjam along the wings. Ideally we give Beau and Garland ample opportunity to show they're good so we can trade at least one of them. Doubt anyone takes Pears either way. I hope Myers is moved and replaced with whoever - and we re-sign Bear on a 1 year prove-it deal. Having him on the 3rd pair would be elite. If we can get off the Myers money, I'd imagine we'd try to find a stay at home RD. Not sure who is possible..if at all, but Cole isn't a bad back-up plan since he can play both sides. If the SJS rumour for Myers has truth to it, that extra 6 Mill will be interesting when it comes to trading for a QH partner. Overall I'd be really happy with this lineup. Lethal on the PP, I think we would be GOOD on the PK with this personnel and coaching staff as well. Got some good puck possession guys for 5v5 and a defence that can get the puck out of their own zone. Definitely a step in the right direction and a team that can challenge for a playoff spot. By the time some of these contracts are up, we should have guys like Hirose, Willander, Lekkerimaki, Raty playing on cheap contracts. A lot needs to go well though so hope we keep adding to the depth!

Is this satire lol. We've been booty meat for the last 8 or so years. We have 1 win so far this year. We fired our coach last year after an abysmal start. We would quite literally be a better team with a brighter future if we rebuilt. In what world is being the laughing stock of the league "respectable". I'm not sure why some people are even scared of a "rebuild". This team has enough young pieces that they can turn it all the way around in 2-3 years.. Trade Miller, move Myers and Pearson or wait until their contracts are up. If we luck out and get a top 3 pick this year then... you're in business. You'll be able to compete while continuing to find d-men and building organizational depth. What's respectable to me is building a long-term winning organization. Going full send on a roster proven to be cheeks is dumb, not respectable.

I do agree that a Miller trade for a RHD would instantly make us a LOT better because of the forward depth we have and the inevitable improved PK. Even though our breakouts became better our D still needs to produce. Rathbone hopefully makes a successful leap because that will help a lot. OEL could possibly improve since this year should be more "normal" and "stable", but I'll never be a fan of having Myers as his partner because I think he holds him back immensely. We also know Myers can't work with Hughes (we've tried) and it's reasonable to assume he won't work with Rathbone. I don't think Myers is a bad d-man. I think he was best used when he was on the 3rd pair with a stay at home d-man and moved up a pair when we needed a goal. Unfortunately this team does not have that ability. For marked improvement in this team we need to find players that fit with each other. I think we've done that with most of our forward group, but there's a lot to be desired on the defensive end.

Your defence needs to do more than just prevent goals. Demko stood on his head A LOT and that explains our low goals allowed. Hughes/Schenn and OEL/Myers were fairly solid defensively, yes. The problem is the only consistent producer on those pairings offensively was Hughes. Your D needs to be able to get the puck out with control, and they need to produce. Our defence's inability to move the puck out effectively and keep control holds our forwards back and isn't playing to our forwards' strengths. We did okay at "punt and hunt" but our forwards are at their best when the pucks firmly on their stick giving them the ability to make plays. Now, the additions of Lazar and Mikheyev will help our punt-and-hunt strategy, but that doesn't mean our D still won't hold us back. Our 2nd pairing simply cannot only produce 47 points. Luke Schenn cannot out pace Myers for points and score more than him. Myers had 1 goal. ONE!!! Schenn had 5. It's the D's job to make the goalies job easier AND the forwards. It's why teams are built from the net out. We need to find Hughes a partner and we need to replace Myers with a more suitable partner. It's an extremely difficult job to do. This team is missing 2 top 4 RHD and also overall D depth. top 4 RHD are probably the most expensive commodity in the NHL outside of a 1C.

I wonder if this going to cause Canadian teams to think twice before picking an American player. It seems it's common that they don't wanna play here. I forgot which player but I remember one saying in an interview that Vancouver is often the only Canadian team that won't be on players' no-trade list because it's close to the border and the weather is decent. Feel bad for Calgary honestly. While it's nice to see a rival lose it's kinda telling how things can go for anyone, including us. It's going to be interesting to see how Matthews plays out in Toronto.

Yup. Captain doesn't always mean best player. Petey is the better player on both sides of the puck, but Bo is the guy we need to handle the media. Let Petey be sassy. Can't do that with the C.

He was barely played in the KHL. Once the team knew he was going to the NHL he essentially benched him. He put up good numbers in very limited time. Also played well internationally I believe.

Pod is looking like the perfect linemate for Bo. We should see where that goes. Bo isn't much of a passer and Pod loves to set up his linemates.. more please.

I agree with everything you say. I love Miller and everything that he brings. We have nowhere near enough "fire" on this team and him bringing it is huge. I also think he's a fantastic linemate for Petey. That's one way we'd be able to prolong his impact..playing with Petey. Also helps hide his defensive miscues. It's a risk either way, and we shouldn't trade him for anything less than a haul. But if there's a haul available, I take it and run.

I still think Miller is the trade we just have to make, along with those guys. Miller just is too risky to me. This is the best year of his career and I'd honestly be willing to bet he'll never reach these heights again. Trade him with his value at his peak and fill needs. It's the way to go. If we can't get Severson I hope we can still try for Marino. IMO he's the ideal partner for OEL. A juiced up Poolman.

I mean, it's not just Miller, he's just the most integral part to all this because he will get the most for us. If we do get Chytil and Schneider that makes us younger and makes our back end better. Not to mention money saved on the cap. The next step would be to find out who you can get more for - Boeser or Garland - and make a hockey deal there. Fill another need (probably defence, again, or a 3C - Severson was someone that was rumoured a ways back). Salary here would likely be matched. Then the task has to be to move Myers. Chances are you won't be able to she the full 6 mill, but being able to shed say half of it and take on a player the other team might not want would be a help. That frees up a spot on your back end and gives you cap space to make another trade, or sign a FA. Plus who knows - the player we get back might be a good impact one. JR and Allvin are known to find struggling players that need a change of scenery. I'm pretty sure that is what Allvin is going to try to do, it seems like the clear agenda when we gather all the rumours together. Next year will be a down year, make no mistake about it. It's going to be a year of trading and re-tooling. After next year we have some money coming off the books, and we'll have some contracts that'll be easier to move. The sad part is OEL will be ANOTHER year older and we risk him falling off a cliff. Although I think he has loads left in the tank and playing with Myers is holding him back immensely. It's clear our team cannot play structured hockey and that is the personnel we need to target. Get these guys on track and hold them accountable. After a few of those deals I could see our defence start to come together. The task then would be to increase team speed and tenacity. The #2 issue on this team IMO behind the defence. I have a feeling JR will try to sign Evan Rodrigues this offseason (Right handed centreman he is familiar with - ideal for our 3rd line, might not be too expensive). I believe in this teams top end talent. Petey is still so young. He's going to blossom into one of the best 2 way forces in the league, health permitting. I'm not the biggest Bo fan but he is a competent 2C for this team, and Hughes is a franchise d-man. He'd look even better if he had a legit top 4 partner that suits his play style. This team does have tradeable assets that can help re-tool this roster, and we wouldn't have to give up draft capital for that to happen. Of course we have no idea how other teams view our players and what is going to happen, but I'm hopeful because of JR's track record. Hughes Schneider OEL Severson Rathbone Dermott Schenn Burroughs Poolman That's a defence that can move the puck and skate. That'll help unlock your forwards potential as well. Year 1 task will be to re-tool the defence, year 2 will be to surround our offensive talent. It's also reasonable to expect Podkolzin/Hoglander to develop into fine players in that time on good deals. Rebuilding doesn't make sense to me when you have good young players on this roster. 1 year of tanking sure, build up your prospect pool again, but other than that I don't see it. Especially when you have Demko. That guy literally won't let you tank.

Oh, I agree. Petterson definitely should not have done that. Just saying good teams with good players have the IQ to also be prepared for scenarios like that. The problem starts with Petterson and should get 70-80% of the blame, but the other 4 guys on the ice shouldn't just be puck watching. They should be thinking of what they're going to do next, and it should come naturally to them.

I think what stood out to me this game was definitely the immaturity and lack of situational awareness. Obviously, Petey made a mistake. He coughed it up, but there were still what, 3 guys behind him? How does that turnover lead to a breakaway. You'll see later on that same power play OEL is playing the point. Canucks gain the zone but OEL backs up because he knows there's a chance that the Canucks may lose the puck. Canucks DID end up losing the puck and had OEL not backed up there would have been a breakaway the other way. I'm not advocating for OEL to be on PP1 over Hughes, but Hughes also needs to learn this aspect of the powerplay. At the end of the day you are the defensemen and should be the last line of defence before the goalie. Can't be getting burned like that, just like Petey can't be losing it like that.

It's very possible that Aqua could have stepped in and said no to trading Miller, but it's also very possible that we just didn't receive an offer we didn't think we could get at the draft. How often do you see playoff teams gut their roster for one player to make a run? If our ask was Schneider, 1st rounder + a roster player, then NYR will be more comfortable considering that in the offseason. They do that now they've weakened their backend, sacrificed their forward depth a bit and given up a first rounder. I wouldn't be able to say that the Rangers get BETTER with that deal. Now, in the offseason, you make that deal and find replacements for Schneider and your depth. It's a lot easier then. I still think JT is gone at the draft or afterwards. Signing him would be a shock to me and I don't think JR and Co. can build a good enough team around our stars considering our cap space. Now, if he can move Myers, Poolman, Dickinson, Pearson, maybe even OEL, then sure you sign JT. But you can't do that, so you trade JT.

I'm with you bro lol. We got a bunch of square pegs and round holes. I'm of the opinion the only way we remedy this is by trading JT for a haul and re tooling all of next year. I firmly believe that would set us up to be a damn good team for 4-5 years. It'll be up to management from there on out to keep it pushing. We don't even have a 3rd line. With Motte gone we don't even know if we have a 4th line. This team needs either Bo to bump down to be a solid 3C or we need to find a 3C. Then we gotta surround the wings. I'm hopeful that Hog and Pod can grow into that role in the next year. More confident in Pod doing so than Hog but seeing his work ethic I wouldn't rule him out either. The biggest failure from Jim that people don't see is that this is the FINISHED product of his vision. There was no way for him to make this team better. No cap space, no prospects, nothing. This is his team at their peak. So the only way to fix this is to move out probably about 15 mill in cap and accumulate assets that we can flip for underachieving players. We need to follow the FLA plan in how they were able to rescue Reinhart and Bennett. Get dudes like that for cheap and put them in positions to succeed. I'm not saying Dermott is that caliber of player but he is absolutely a step in the right direction. Excited and scared for this offseason at the same time.