Darius

Hirsch was getting better till that awkward escapade

I saw him at the liquor Store once. He had a bottle of baby duck in his hands. He’s about 6’5” …

That’s why you keep Burroughs in the lineup green

I like this Burroughs kid

How is it possible all our top guys look terrible

Sometimes Hirsch is right

I haven’t been this scared of our pk in years

Someone give that guy some fiber

Well it’s a little better than sitting through them introducing the whole coiler organization , down to the parking attendants

Khaira is playing on Chicagos second line!

This is a good game for our top guys to step up and dominate. Chicago isnt overly physical, and like to play an open game where they trade chances. We need our top horses to show up here.

theres a current thread over at HFBOARDS about Lafreniere that resembles this thread. Apparently Lafreniere has been a bit underwhelming, not the top tier gold plated prospect some NY fans expected for a #1 overall. I think EP has been fine, yes his current pay invites more scrutiny. But as I mentioned before to me he proved a lot during that playoff run where he put up 18 points in 17 games. The other team was always gunning for him during that run and he performed very well - better playoff performance than a lot of other young stars around the league at his age.

Point taken, regarding the pay. But i think if EP (and the team) continues to underwhelm this season he would have been blasted no matter what his pay is just because he is the #1c and a high draft pick. Surely "the holdout" for the big contract wont alleviate the criticism ...i agree. The Sedins were hammered by the fans and media in their first few years, i can only imagine how much worse it would have been if they were getting paid near the top.... My whole point of bringing up the sedins is that a young highly skilled player can improve...we have examples of that in our own organization.

I think he will be fine. Right now he is trying to do too much, trying to stick handle through 4 guys etc. No training camp plus a revolving door of wingers doesnt help,. Where I judge him, and why i still have a lot of faith, was his playoff performance. 18 points in 17 games when the games really counted and the opposition was really playing him tough. It shows what he is capable of. Do you guys remember the Sedins' first years? Getting shoved around, tripping over the blue line....some fans wanted to run them out of town....lets have some patience here.

My biggest gripe with the coaching staff, and this goes back further than this year, is the passive defensive system they seem to play. At first I thought "maybe its the players that are not equipped to win puck battles or play physically in the dzone". But we have basically swapped out all the D, other than Myers, and the D still looks the same, As soon as the other team gets puck possession in our end all 5 guys seemingly collapse into a box and basically hand over the perimeter of the D zone to the other team. They have all the time in the world to move the puck around. Even Hirsch (love him or hate him i think he is honest) called it out last night - the other team is given way too much time and space. I suspect they think they can eliminate high percentage /danger plays by playing in this configuration by allowing a bunch of perimeter shots that a NHL goalie can stop - its why we are seemingly always outshot. And the first unit powerplay - everyone knows they are setting up petey for the shot. the other team knows if you pressure EP to the wall or put pressure on hughes they will likely lose the puck. You have miller making low percentage decisions. Change it up maybe? Put 2 dmen on the point, put EP in the slot? What they are doing doesnt seem to work and you would expect a good coach to adjust.