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Did you not understand my post. I'm talking about the Stanley cup in present day. We lack in scoring. Abdelkader and Helm got carried by Datsyuk's 97 points and Zetterberg's 92 points. You want AA to play defense when we don't even have good scorers.

I am speaking in general terms to those who have questioned his defensive game. He doesn't need to backcheck hard to become a corner stone guy and neither does Mantha as long as we have enough of other guys doing it. This past season speaks volumes about our offense. We need offense period. And honestly, he's not even that bad at backchecking. People are making him seem a lot worse than he is. He's used his speed to cause a ton of turnovers plenty of times in our D-zone. He can improve on his cycling and playmaking but so can Dylan Larkin. These guys are still young. I've got no issue with AA currently being a middle 6 winger or whatever it is. If he was 28 years old then it would be an issue. I think Dylan Larkin set the bar too high and people subconsciously use him as a comparable.

Great counter. Completely misses my point. Your entire squad doesn't need to be two-way forwards. It's a myth. Bruins had one of the most defensively minded hockey teams and aside from winning the cup a few years ago kept miserably failing year in and year out while projected to be a top contender. We need our forwards to score. If AA wants to run a breakaway play with Larkin then by all means let him. If he wants to pull a Hull and wait for a pass then by all means let him. He has the speed and acceleration for breakaways. THAT IS HIS STRENGTH.

Exactly my point. A few players like Anze Kopitar that took care of the two-way game much like Yzerman and Fedorov did in 2002 and Datsyuk and Zetterberg did in 2008. Meanwhile Hull put was left scoring goals as did Shanny. Franzen took care of the Avs in 08. Exactly why not everyone on this team needs to be a two-way forward. Larkin, Rasmussen, Helm, Abdelkader, Nielsen. Plenty of two-way forwards. Mantha, AA, and Zadina should be allowed to focus on offense at this point. Pittsburgh offense won 2 championships. FYI. They're defense was not nearly as good as their overall offense that season and even into the playoffs. They had the highest shot generation per game that season. Best shots per game state and middle of the pack in shots against per game in 2015/16. The whole "offense wins games, defense wins championships" is a myth and something coaches teach little kids or heard in movies lol. What's hilarious is you've exposed yourself in at least 3 posts now with your insults towards AA. He's had 1 actual NHL season and somehow you've already judged him. Wat is it that you said? "AA couldn't wear their jock straps. And this team now isnt very good. When AA is scoring 50 goals a season and 500+ for his career and the team is contending, he can float whenever he wants. But it will NEVER happen." Then you go to a middle ground and say "well i thin AA does have potential". Make up your mind. You're flip flopping more than your boy Trump has the last 3 years. AA hater alert. At least guys like Dabura simply want him to get better and think he has the potential for it. You're here saying s*** like "will NEVER happen". Cool.

I'm just excited to have a future potential top 6 of: Mantha-Larkin-Zadina AA-Rasmussen-Svechnikov Barring trades or if we could actually get Jack Hughes. Jurco and Smith never had the electrifying game as AA has. Not a good comparison.

I don't even have that big of an issue with Blash. He actually gives AA decent minutes now. Some people in the boards act like AA is worse than he actually is. From what I'm seeing this contract 3 million per year x2 speaks volumes about what the org thinks of AA's potential.

No. Everyone HAS to be a two-way player. Lets emulate exactly how 2008 team was even though we have zero offense.

And the right way is two-way hockey for everyone? That's stupid. Stubborn mentality is what will cost us playoff and cup runs.

I forgot the racist righties drop out of school and forget their numbers. It's 2. Like number 2. Same number as when you poop in the lawn.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/former-nhl-goaltender-ray-emery-dead-35-drowning-accident/ Sad news out of Hamilton this morning. Apparently Emery was swimming with friends around 6:00am this morning, dove in and never resurfaced. Thoughts are with his friends and family.

“We can’t play like that if we want to win games,” Zetterberg said. “There’s too much poke-and-hope by a lot of players. If you want to be a solid, good player in this league and if you want to win something, you have to learn to play the right way. Poke-and-hope might get you 25, 30 goals, but you’ll never win anything.” Because guys like Helm and Abby may offer less offensively, but they "play the right way." That will get you more playing time regardless of who the Coach is.