Maniwaki Canuck

Completely agree and do not want Barrie, like at all. Could be something to do with his dad, who f'd up the community I live in outside of Victoria, but more likely it's just his game. We need D who can defend, period. Stetcher is better at that, and a good match with Edler, which allows us to play Myers on the 3rd pairing: our best look on D. We need to keep Stetcher even if it means losing him after the season. A rental if you will. If there's a trade involving him that strengthens our D well then fine, but I don't see it as very likely, and would rather have someone who really wants to be here giving it his all on a last dance with the team through the playoffs.

Couldn't have picked a worse game to miss than this one. I fricken hate the Bruins and love to watch them suffer. But let's make this about us. When we bring our A game we can make anyone look bad. Guys like Miller and Motte do it all the time. If the rest join in, we're very hard to stop. JB was totally right to give the team a vote of confidence with the Toffoli trade. I like our chances in the playoffs. Not just making them, but advancing in them.

Hope Green's been drilling d-zone coverage into these guys at practice. Earlier in the season we weren't so bad at it. Beyond that, let's come at these guys with speed and wear them out.

Good idea. Should be Bettman-proof since scouts, special advisors, etc. aren't under the CBA. But the league is so corrupt, you never know.

makes sense

He'll be back. Not a lot of luck with injuries in his career so far. But he's a gamer and keeps learning so no need to worry.

Wow, the play in question didn't look that bad. Just goes to show you don't ever know. Let him go back to spend time with his Dad while he's on the mend.

So you're proposing something like Petterson, Bo, Gaudette and Madden as our centres in a couple of years? I can't see a bottom 6 with Gaudette and Madden as the Cs. It looks pretty unbalanced from a size and style of play point of view. There's a reason why cheap, big, strong, defensively-oriented 4Cs are a thing. It's true that we don't have one in the system now, but they don't all cost what we paid Beagle. Agreed, though, that it makes no sense to expend his and Sutter's salaries for the roles they play and that Podz and Hogs should be keepers.

I like this trade, but of course there's risk like always. Toffoli absolutely solidifies our top 6 and sends the message that we're all in on the playoffs this year. That is a vote of confidence in the season we've been having and will be good for the team's morale. If we can sign him long-term, better still. It's not out of the question but will probably mean moving Erikson, something already in the cards if we're re-signing Markstrom. So get ready to see another good asset go out the door to make that happen. Personally, I'm good with that. Madden is a valuable prospect with no clear path onto the roster any time soon. Maybe it would have been better to spend these assets on a defenseman but those deals are incredibly hard to make. I'm sure Benning looked into it. The fact is we have a good prospect pipeline and a good young team so there isn't going to be room for everyone in the years ahead. It makes sense to do moves like this one under those circumstances. If this ends up anything at all like the Miller deal, we'll get over the cost quickly enough. If not, I still like the sense of urgency to stack our lineup while Petterson and Hughes are still on entry-level deals.

Wow, somehow managed to get on with my day but I still spent a lot of time on here and couldn't quite get last night out of my head. What a great event, and what great people.

For sure. I think Markstrom is mentally stronger than Luongo was, more of a battler. Every day that we don't re-sign him, the price is going up! The chance to keep it under 6 million is probably gone. But sometimes you have to pay for what you get.

Can't recall exactly: I was shuttling back and forth between various streamings of the game and ceremony which are not available now. But he did single out Green and Brackett for praise and was silent about everyone else.

That, combined with Linden's warm kudos for Green, does amount to a telling data point about what happened. Not the whole story, but very suggestive.

This is another area where Miller has been a great influence on the team. Him and Markstrom feel like our real emotional leaders, and they're both wonderfully scrappy. The Sedin thing is great and all, but the telltale sign that we're going in a different direction is that someone like Petey pushes back.

I wonder if the pushback comes on Green's orders or from the guys themselves. Hoping it's the latter. To me it looks pretty spontaneous and in the moment. We don't need a goon (much as I'll always love Gino), just a bunch of guys who will do what Gaudette did last night and play with a pack mentality. A little more of that will go a long way, and I think we're getting there.

Clear win

Don't look now but they cut off his legs!

One of these things is not like the others.

Not the way we'd like to win but it shows the difference between a team that can finish their chances and one that can't. Yeah, Marky was lights out and we were outplayed, but Chicago just can't score and never completely broke our coverage down the way we did to them. Beyond Kane, they don't have any real offensive talent. Shot and possession metrics are great but goals win games. Nice to win for the twins and for Marky to get a shutout. He's got to be a Vezina candidate.

On board with those who gave props to MacEwan and Bailey. When our forecheck is working, we are extremely good. When it isn't, we tend to get dominated. These guys made it work. The game is so much about putting pressure on the opponent and breaking their systems down. If you're not doing it, chances are the opponent is doing it to you.

Yeah, sorry about that. Fire Green, trade Boesser, strip Bo of the C. Am I doing it right?

I hate losing to Calgary at least as much as the next person and didn't like the lack of pushback either. But that's not why we lost. They had tons of jump tonight and kept the pressure on. Give them some credit: they took it to us.

Beat by their 3rd line.

That's right Marky, go full Billy Smith on his a$$!

People need to chill out here. Yeah, Calgary pushed back, it happens. Then so did we. That's how the game works. We'll see who wants it more but there's no shame in how we played that period.