Lappy!
I'm pulling for Schenn punching Terry Murray in camp.
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I can't sit here and think that DL is done in the D department. There are plenty of players available out there. Skoula, Mara, Schubert, Lilja,Colaiacovo,Mitchell,Pothier, etc are all serviceable veteran dmen. If there aren't any further moves made, then this team is going to struggle defensively.
The only thing about this offseason that makes sense to me is that DL and TM expect to have a number of rookies make an impact. That may mean Voynov, Hickey, Martinez, Muzzin, Clifford and maybe more may all get hard looks to make the team. Obviously not all will make the team, but it seems more will make it that we think. I would agree that Schenn is a lock to make the team unless he gets hurt.
In essence, this team is a MAJOR question mark. They could do better than last season if things really fall into place, or they could miss the playoffs. The best part of this is that Bernier is clearly ready to play a role, and if your good between the pipes, that can make up for a lot of mediocre in front of you.
My only side comment is regarding our defense.
I think that a hard working young, unseasoned defenseman is going to be far more effective than an old slow or poor decision making defenseman.
If you are a kid coming into the league, getting your first shot, and your coach says "just worry about keeping the puck out of our net" your gonna go out and do your best every night, you will make mistakes but not of the Jones variety. I think thats all you need to improve from last year - no obvious bonehead turnovers.
Pretty much any D prospect we have is going to be safer than Randy Jones and perhaps the last 20 games played by Sean Old'onnel.
I have a lot of respect for Odie but he fell apart down the stretch, I blame age and you can't fault someone for that.
I think a lot of us forget the pedigree of defensemen we have in the system, these guys are top notch in all skillsets compared to the people they would hypothetically replace. A guy like Deslauriers or Martinez or Hickey skates circles around Randy Jones.
Its a base skill set that is arms above the current talent we have in those boxes.
One last thing.
You can't get NHL experience unless you play in the NHL... The more you store them away the more they stay stagnant, some kids are pretty close to "ready", giving a kid a 20 game look when he is ready will net you positive result. Forcing the hand of management to pick up another Gauthier or Jones is a bad idea and I don't expect to see a "filler". We have a team that can make the playoffs with Randy Jones and Sean Odonell minor upgrades or even kids that can do the jobs they did would put us back in the playoffs and get the kids in the NHL. I think we will be pleasantly surprised this season.
I agree with those who say that adding veteran hole pluggers is not time sensitive. Sure it could be the difference between a first round exit and a second round exit, but...
This is a season where the core needs to expand again.
Going any further in the playoffs seems 50/50 at best, but if you get 3 or 4 more blue chip kids graduated into full time NHL players, that's going to be a lot more important over the next 5 years. It's going to look like a step backwards, but it needs to happen. This team is not yet in "add the final piece" status, no matter how fun the playoffs were, and notwithstanding that they took a run at a once in a lifetime sniper.
Many will say that Frolov and O'Sullivan were not core players on this team. You could debate that, although they are sort of, well... gone. There is no debate about Williams, Smyth, Ponikarovsky, etc. These are guys that make the core better, but they are not part of the core. The core is not big enough yet, if anything it's gotten smaller.
Question 1 is who will show up at camp and not be denied.
Question 2 is who will be available 3 weeks into the season if the kids take a collective dump.
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Originally Posted by GoldJet 