*Buzzsaw*

Putin is not a Nazi Party member... he has no need to be. He is Crimeboss of the Putin Mafia... which runs the entire Russian State and which does damage around the world. (not just Ukraine) For example, his private Army, the Wagner Group, (Prigozhin is just his flunky) is directly supporting Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the leader of the so-called Rapid Reaction Forces which recently started a Civil War in Sudan. The reason Wagner Group supports Dagalo is that Dagalo grants concessions to Wagner to pillage the gold resources in Sudan... Wagner mines gold using slave labour... gold which is shipped back to Russia, converted to hard currency and which finances the Wagner Group and Putin's war on Ukraine. Wagner Group is all over Sub Saharan Africa collaborating with Dictatorships to pillage their countries.

Chicago had three first round picks last year, now this year they get Bedard. Although they were lucky in getting Bedard, drafting high over the last few years was no accident... Chicago's management has been focused on a complete rebuild for two years now. They are a franchise who look at the facts objectively and plan around logic. They are making no attempts to acquire high profile players for next season... will probably sign some 1 year contracts with veterans who will be placeholders/temporary CAP minimum who will be moved aside for the prospects who will be ready in 2-3 years. No long term deals will be considered... they are in rebuild, not a retool. Expectations are they will be unlikely to make the playoffs in 2023/2024, but the Wirtz family is completely ok with this... no panic, and their knowledgeable fans are quite happy to watch the rebuild go ahead, knowing the process will likely deliver another dynasty. By having unloaded Kane, and with the retirement of Toews, they have shed a huge amount of CAP... leaving them plenty of room to acquire high end free agent talent when they need to. Chicago fans went through this same process back in 2006/2007, when they were at the bottom of the league, then had first the 3rd overall pick, (acquiring Toews) and the next year, the first overall. (acquiring Kane) From that experience, they understand there is a method for building a winner... which involves a realisation some years will be write offs. I don't see anything like that kind of systematic planning in the Canucks organization... there was no effort to try to find value from the Sedins when the team was clearly trending down... and this year, when it was clearly apparent through a number of circumstances the team would not make the playoffs, there was no effort to maximize our draft opportunities. As long as short term planning dominates this team's approach, a real chance at a Cup will be limited.

Elias Pettersson was picked 5th overall. And he wasn't considered a low odds prospect... he was a high scoring, highly rated prospect. You wouldn't hear me complaining if the Canucks were picking 5th... they'd get a good player with that draft position this year. But we are NOT picking 5th, we are picking 11th... way out of the top 5 and way out of a chance of a really high impact prospect. Yeah, we might get a decent second liner if we are lucky, although with that position more likely bottom six. We were in the 6th position when they fired Boudreau and hired Tocchet... and started the futile drive for the playoffs which could never succeed. If this ownership and management group had a little patience, and foresight, the team might have had a really decent chance at a quality player. The season was already a write-off when they pulled the chair out from under Boudreau... why did it matter so much to have a winning record the last 20 games?

And you know what? All those idiots who were applauding our useless drive for the playoffs will now disparage those of us who pointed out how counterproductive it was. Level of stupidity of management matched by the gullibility of certain segments of the fan base.

So what you are saying is Canuck management should focus on acquiring mediocre players because getting the elite ones is a poor guarantee of winning? I guess we are on the right track then.

Oh yeah... I would not be surprised in the least if in the distant future it slips out that the 2023 Lottery was fixed. Chicago's Wirtz family is one of the long established power centers of the NHL, and the owner can get Bettman on the phone any time he wiggles his little finger.

Congratulations to Management and Coach Tocchet for their brilliant drive for the playoffs at the last moment in the season. (even though the team could never get there) Now the Canucks have reaped the reward for just missing a playoff slot by receiving a draft position which will provide them with a 11th rate prospect. Yes, the Canucks will not have a chance at the elite top 5 group of prospects, but that is completely unimportant when you consider they won lots of (meaningless) games at season end. Although the Chicago Black Hawks will be drafting Connor Bedard, (yes, he will sign there... one of his Uncle's was a Hawk) and will have a chance to build a Cup Winning dynasty in the same way they did after they signed Patrick Kane, again, that is clearly unimportant when you consider the Canucks have the bragging rights to say they had a much better record than the Hawks over the last 20 games of the 2023 season. Every Canuck fan is now satisfied to know the team is in good hands and the drive for mediocrity continues.

Oilers showed some serious immaturity in this game. Lots of stupid plays... unnecessary penalties. Kane was up to his usual shenanigans and even Draisaitl tried some cheap shots on Pietrangelo... who is one of the classiest defensemen in the league. I think they thought they could repeat what they pulled off in game 2... but Vegas is not a bunch of patsies... they are a very good, very dangerous team. I believe the Oilers can beat Vegas, but they will need to put the egos aside. Also saw very little drive or attempt to take charge of the game... until it was too late. Oilers need to look in the mirror and ask themselves if they are really ready to show some discipline and make the required sacrifices.

They won't get any takers.

Why are the Leafs losing this series? Well, besides the fact they don't have a strong enough group of D-men, the key fact is their best players are not stepping up. Marner, Mathews, Nylander and Tavares are not leading by example and scoring goals and driving the offense. None of them has scored a goal yet in the series. Mathews and Nylander had 40 goals each in the regular season, Tavares had 36 and Marner had 30 goals. Where is their production? Just not good enough.

Not surprised. But then, NJ came back in the NYR series... so we will see.

Edmonton just showed why they much better than Toronto. Sure Mathews and Marner are excellent players, stars in the league. But they are not superstars who can change a whole series on their own. With McDavid and Draisaitl, the Oilers have two superstars, either of whom can take control of a series. When they are both going, it is impossible to stop them. And the Oilers D is better overall than the Leafs. Sure Morgan Reilly is probably the best overall D-man when you compare the rosters of both teams, but after him the Leafs back end just don't cut it. (yeah we all love Schenner, but he's not top pairing material) Oilers have a good solid big corps of blueliners who play physical... and Evan Bouchard, although he can't skate, is a heck of a Powerplay Quarterback. Skinner is the equal of Samsonov... and in fact seems less prone to panicking when things are going badly. Combine that with the fact the Oiler forwards are getting better at backchecking and you have a competitive team vs any in the league. Oiler played a perfect game vs Vegas tonight, they hemmed the Knights in the own end and never let up the pressure. I doubt Vegas will let that happen again, but I also think it is the Oilers year and they will be going to the Conference finals. (barring McDavid or Draisaitl getting injured)

Of course they got picks in the expansion draft... but no NHL team exposed their top guys or their top prospects. Seattle did their homework, they carefully selected guys who had potential and who their coaches could work with. Lets consider Jamie Oleksiak. He was traded for a 4th round pick to Dallas in 2019... compare that price with what the Canucks paid for some of our vaunted D-men. Stars decided he wasn't worth protecting. And now he is a big part of the Seattle defense. Adam Larssen was left un-protected by the Oilers... they considered him a bust. Seattle snapped him up. 33 points this season. Much better defensive play. I could go on.

Another series Canucks management should be watching closely. Seattle will probably not prevail, but the reason they are doing so well is their D. Oleksiak: 6'7" 255 Soucy: 6'5" 211 Larssen: 6'3" 208 Borgen: 6'3" 205 Dunn: 6'0" 203 Schultz: 6'2" 188 None of them under six feet. All but one 200 lbs or over. Most of them with great reach. Most with their share of truculence. Most of them are contributors offensively... Dunn had 64 points including 14 goals. Larssen over 30 points, So did Schulz. Oleksiak had 9 goals and 16 assists. How is it that Seattle can find this quality of D-men and the Canucks are floundering in their efforts???

I hope Canucks management is watching this series closely. This is what happens when you build your team around offense... and say "We'll outscore them... Let defense take care of itself". If Toronto was managed correctly, they would have traded Nylander a long time ago and replaced him with a decent top 4 D-man. They are paying more for their top six forward group than Edmonton is... just makes no sense. Why pick up O'Reilly at the trade deadline instead of a decent D-man? Yeah O'Reilly is a defensive forward... but a D-Forward does not replace a high level dedicated D-man. Once you get past Reilly, the rest of the D Corps is 2nd rate. Yeah, we all love Schenn, but he is a 5/6... the pairing he played when he was on Tampa's Cup team. The other thing is this Leafs team is a complacent entitled team... Mathews/Marner/Nylander think they deserve to win. Tavares is a gamer, but he is past his best days. O'Reilly is also a fighter, but again, he is past his best. I don't see the grit and fire from the Leafs top three. The other factor is while Samsonov is playing decently... he is not an A level goalie. But of course, when you are the Leafs and paying so much for your top six, you have no money for a goalie. All I can say is that Dumb-A$$'s plan is rapidly going down the toilet and he is probably already looking for an exit strategy.

A lot of people look at his somewhat unimpressive stats in Russia and forget one important factor. The ice surface in Russia is much bigger... International size rinks. Big defenders like Tryamkin get a real multiplier in effectiveness when they play on a smaller ice surface. Suddenly the area they have to cover is much smaller, and disadvantages with a big D-man's ability to turn are reduced... because there is so much less ice room to get around them... they don't have to turn. Tryamkin can position himself 10 feet from the boards and still be close to hit a player who is trying to get past him. His stick and arm reach is 12 feet. And Tryamkin is not slow in a straight line... he is actually a very good skater... both forwards and backwards. If he can work with Gonchar and the rest of the coaching staff on his gap, then he will be effective. And all the questions about where he would slot into the lineup don't even calculate how big a factor he would be in terms of intimidation and keeping the opposition from mis-behaving around Hughes and Pettersson.... without a physical presence, every playoff team will take cheap shots at both our stars... plus Demko. With Tryamkin around suddenly the would be tough guys are looking over their shoulders and wondering how it will feel to get beat down by a 6'7" 265 lb monster. Remember what happened to Jamie Benn... he thought he could fight Tryamkin, and then found out that was a very bad idea... and to make matters worse, got an injury as a result which ruined a good part of the rest of his season. Just wrestling with a monster like Tryamkin can lead to pulled muscles, strained backs, etc... imagine if he falls on you and lands on your leg. NHL players know all this, that is why Chara got very few takers over his career and got away with his nastiness without any real penalty.

Don't get the hate vs McJesus. Yeah he is a little entitled... so was Gretzky... so was Lafleur... so was Bobby Hull. He is clearly a great player with amazing skills... and he teams up with Draisaitl ... they work well together. Both of them would be less effective without the other. Anyway, to get back to the matter at hand... the Oilers do need to start working on Team defense or this series will be over. So, yes, McDavid AND Draisaitl both need to back check better... along with ALL the rest of the Oiler forward group. I thought Skinner had a good game... and played better than Brassoit... but he isn't good enough to single-handedly backstop the team. Oilers D is improved over last year, but they are still not anywhere near the best in the league. (which Vegas are) So it means only a focus on team defense is going to give the Oilers the wins they need to advance.

You are right Vegas has a better defense... what I meant was the OIler D is much better this year than last... and that improvement combined with Skinner and the Oiler advantage in forwards should put them over the top.

Oilers are not going win this by being loosey-goosey with their forwards' defensive coverage. They have to backcheck. Because Vegas breaks out as well as any team in the league and they have good speed. Pietrangelo and Theodore can send breakout passes that transition the game in a split second... Vegas will feast on the Oiler D if they can outnumber them on the rush. Another Edmonton problem: To this point I am seeing a lot of individual efforts by the Oiler players at even strength and not a lot of effective passing on the even strength rush. Their PP was better, but right now Vegas is passing the puck a lot better. Edmonton was one of the better teams in the league in their ability to rush with the puck and distribute it, but right now they are not getting it done. They have to get their passing game going. And they need to shoot more... not wait for the perfect opportunity... they are not getting enough shots.

Miller is going nowhere for the next two years minimum. Every team in the NHL knows you need two high quality centers to go anywhere in the league. After Pettersson and Miller the Canucks do not have anyone who comes close to being a #1 or #2 quality centerman. If the Canucks somehow end up with a draft pick that gives them a high quality center, then you could see Miller on the block in a couple years.

You misunderstand... the NHL wants Sutherland and company to do what they are doing. They want the Leafs to have an advantage... they are already pissed that the mean nothing market Panthers eliminated the established key market Bruins... whose owners have direct access to whine in Bettman's ear 24/7

No big surprise to see the result. If Toronto wants to win the series they have to do a number of things. - Play a puck control game... they need to prevent the Panthers from getting a chance to make a rush or get the puck into the Leafs zone. That means no shooting the puck in when you need to change... you hold onto it and let the next group of forwards come out and get the puck. They can't alternate rushes back and forth with the Panthers. - Be more deliberate in their zone entries... they need to take the puck in under control. The Leafs are a really dangerous team when they establish their cycle game in the opponent's zone. Again, they do not want to do what they did in the first game, which is go back and forth and trade chances with the Panthers. The Panthers have a better goaltender and a better D... they can deal with the Leafs attacks better than the slower, less capable Leafs D can deal with the two big Panther lines. - They need to shoot more... stop waiting for the perfect setup. The playoffs are all about greasy goals and rebound goals. The Leafs big offensive guys need to take the puck to the net... the only one who was doing that was Tavares... Mathews was not, neither was Marner, neither was Nylander... Nylander had one opportunity in the 2nd when he had a clear path to the net, he turned away and passed the puck back to the blue line. In the third he had his breakaway, but there was no support. The Leafs have more offensive talent than the Panthers. They need to take advantage of that and play the game in the Panthers' end. I am not sure the Leafs can adapt... but they need to do the above if they want to have a chance.

Nope.

The one thing which could turn the series in Toronto's favour is the PP. They have such offensive skill there if it got hot and the Panthers started taking too many penalties, the Leafs could feast. Paul Maurice needs to lay down the law to his team and make sure they don't get stupid.

Leafs are a fast team... no question. But the Panthers are both BIG and FAST... that is why their forecheck is so nasty. Barkov the most underrated player in the league.