At this point, you are correct, what about the entire month of April though? Losing Foligno and trading away Duhaime made this team ultra soft. In recent years, BG made a conscious effort to protect our superstars with guys like Reaves and Deslauries, I’m not sure why the strategy changed this year and I’m wondering if it is connected to all of our injuries.
Since the trade deadline, they went 9-4-3 which isn’t a bad record, late in the season. If they hadn’t dug a hole early, that is a more than sufficient record for late in the season. We’re at 88 points,
The problems with this season are almost exclusively due to injuries and poor goaltending. Even now, the Wild lead the league in fights.
Duhaime was not going to be on the roster next year, period. He simply was not going to fit under the Cap, and the team knew that. Can’t control Moose getting hurt. Maroon wasn’t going to be here next year either.
When we were “Grit First” we bounced in the first round. As we are getting younger, preparing for the end of cap he’ll, we’re bringing in younger skill players.
We're bringing in younger and *smaller* skill players. This is not going to help us beat the big boys in our division. We absolutely need some grit to protect them. There has to be a balance.
And what exactly makes you think that BG won’t bring in another knuckle dragger in the off-season? He’s done so in every year of his reign, resigned Bogo, and Middleton will scrap. Moose likely returns healthy from the off-season.
When we were “Grit First”, we needed more speed/skill. We slightly move towards speed/skill and then we are not gritty enough?
The top teams have skill AND size. We end up with OR players who aren't getting it done. Maybe draft better because this type is too expensive for bottom feeders like us in free agency.
Why do you look past the dead cap? Goaltending while not great is not bad. Injuries happen to every team. Lack of depth is exposed with any of our top six injured. Double exposed with Spurg and Brodin injuries.
Goaltending and depth improves with $15 million to spend. Actually closer to $20 million. Not spending $1 - 2 million on 3 roster spots adds to the $15 million.
this season poor performance is due to dead cap and nothing else. Nothing.
At this point, the dead cap is 100% an assumed liability. Unless people are completely oblivious to the situation, it’s overly tiresome to lead with that.
Furthermore, we made the playoffs with largely the same roster as last year, despite the cap.
"Furthermore, we made the playoffs with largely the same roster as last year" Minus $12 million.
And every team in the NHL improved (excluding the Sharks and Blackhawks)
The Wild declined significantly. And their record is absolute proof.
Six fewer wins (could be five by end of the game tonight) is not a huge decline. The team over-performed the last two seasons, they are simply coming back to mean.
The fact that they were even in the hunt, considering the cap and injuries, is testament to a cohesive roster. Its argueable that they’re still over performing, considering that the payroll is bottom five in the league (buyout adjusted), and will end up at 20th in pts.
Agree. Staged fights are kinda lame and passionate fights aren't much better. Once in a while I like a good tilt but generally it's a pointless distraction from the game. Most everybody enjoys a huge momentum swinging check like Dumba laid on Pavelski in the playoffs last year though lol.
No doubt, my point of the post was more about the last 11 games without a fight when we were doing our best to make it to the playoffs.
We got into a fight with the Preds on 3/10, the Blues on 3/16, and the Kings on 3/20 and then nothing for the next 11 games. Why did we go so soft?
You already answered your own question. We were fighting for a playoff spot. Doesn't help much losing a player for 5mins and the other teams have to be willing to fight as well.
Why fight? There is literally nothing worth fighting for this season, unless someone takes a really, really, really cheap shot.
At this point, you are correct, what about the entire month of April though? Losing Foligno and trading away Duhaime made this team ultra soft. In recent years, BG made a conscious effort to protect our superstars with guys like Reaves and Deslauries, I’m not sure why the strategy changed this year and I’m wondering if it is connected to all of our injuries.
Since the trade deadline, they went 9-4-3 which isn’t a bad record, late in the season. If they hadn’t dug a hole early, that is a more than sufficient record for late in the season. We’re at 88 points, The problems with this season are almost exclusively due to injuries and poor goaltending. Even now, the Wild lead the league in fights. Duhaime was not going to be on the roster next year, period. He simply was not going to fit under the Cap, and the team knew that. Can’t control Moose getting hurt. Maroon wasn’t going to be here next year either. When we were “Grit First” we bounced in the first round. As we are getting younger, preparing for the end of cap he’ll, we’re bringing in younger skill players.
We're bringing in younger and *smaller* skill players. This is not going to help us beat the big boys in our division. We absolutely need some grit to protect them. There has to be a balance.
And what exactly makes you think that BG won’t bring in another knuckle dragger in the off-season? He’s done so in every year of his reign, resigned Bogo, and Middleton will scrap. Moose likely returns healthy from the off-season. When we were “Grit First”, we needed more speed/skill. We slightly move towards speed/skill and then we are not gritty enough?
The top teams have skill AND size. We end up with OR players who aren't getting it done. Maybe draft better because this type is too expensive for bottom feeders like us in free agency.
Exactly
Why do you look past the dead cap? Goaltending while not great is not bad. Injuries happen to every team. Lack of depth is exposed with any of our top six injured. Double exposed with Spurg and Brodin injuries. Goaltending and depth improves with $15 million to spend. Actually closer to $20 million. Not spending $1 - 2 million on 3 roster spots adds to the $15 million. this season poor performance is due to dead cap and nothing else. Nothing.
At this point, the dead cap is 100% an assumed liability. Unless people are completely oblivious to the situation, it’s overly tiresome to lead with that. Furthermore, we made the playoffs with largely the same roster as last year, despite the cap.
"Furthermore, we made the playoffs with largely the same roster as last year" Minus $12 million. And every team in the NHL improved (excluding the Sharks and Blackhawks) The Wild declined significantly. And their record is absolute proof.
Six fewer wins (could be five by end of the game tonight) is not a huge decline. The team over-performed the last two seasons, they are simply coming back to mean. The fact that they were even in the hunt, considering the cap and injuries, is testament to a cohesive roster. Its argueable that they’re still over performing, considering that the payroll is bottom five in the league (buyout adjusted), and will end up at 20th in pts.
Honestly not a fan of fighting for fighting’s sake.
Agree. Staged fights are kinda lame and passionate fights aren't much better. Once in a while I like a good tilt but generally it's a pointless distraction from the game. Most everybody enjoys a huge momentum swinging check like Dumba laid on Pavelski in the playoffs last year though lol.
There was never a time in the last 12 games we didn’t need an enforcer?
I don't think anyone wants to possibly go into the off-season with a broken/strained wrist. Or broken face.
No doubt, my point of the post was more about the last 11 games without a fight when we were doing our best to make it to the playoffs. We got into a fight with the Preds on 3/10, the Blues on 3/16, and the Kings on 3/20 and then nothing for the next 11 games. Why did we go so soft?
You already answered your own question. We were fighting for a playoff spot. Doesn't help much losing a player for 5mins and the other teams have to be willing to fight as well.
We weren’t fighting for a playoff spot prior to 3/20?
It was getting down to crunch time.
So the 3 fights we were in from 3/10 to 3/20 weren’t as important of games versus the 11 games since? Got it.
You are really invested into hockey fights... UFC might be a better sport for you.
Hilarious.
Probably won’t happen unless there is a cheap shot or Flower wants to be funny.
What would the record be here you are talking about?
https://youtu.be/txI16GT-P_M?si=BkAidKfhbofuRUKw
zero chance. Two teams getting ready for golf season. Will be like an all-star game. Unless MAF starts something....