dat's sick

Goalies drop pucks sometimes. It happens. Bad break and for some reason Ottawa always manages to find ways to get those kinds of breaks against us. We simply need to be better the rest of the game. Spend some time in their zone.

Franzen is money lately. Whole team looks slow though. Making Sammy and Cleary look like they're positively standing still out there. Gotta get those legs going.

That was a pretty soft penalty, Zibanejad went down fast as heck. Smith's been great lately.

Both teams looked nervous and unfocused. I expect a better 2nd from both teams.

He has looked better the last little while. Nothing amazing but showing he's not hopeless. I really want to see him together with one/both of Z and Nyquist. Gotta get him going and then hopefully he can lock down the 2nd line C spot.

Alfie on the 3rd, bump Abby to the 4th, Miller is also in, meaning Cleary and Sammy are OUT. Can't split up the Franzen-Z-Nyq line. If we get Weiss+Datsyuk going we would have 3 scoring lines. The alternative is putting Z and D back and letting either Weiss or Helm center the 2nd line and hope it clicks half as well as it's done with Z.

What don't you understand ? Cleary and Sammy are on the 4th line. They're only playing because of injuries. If Pav and Bert return this weekend it'll be Cleary and Sammy out of the lineup, bank on it. I think Danny boy is close to being waived. Things are as they should.

Tatar is everywhere! Don't know what people see in him!!

Smith is out there, stop scaring me!

Yeah I love his constant hustle and how much he WANTS the puck all the time. He makes rookie mistakes, but like you say he makes up for it. Look at that goal, freakin' falls down, gets up and keeps going! How awesome is that to see.

Awful last couple of minutes. Wow, couldn't clear the zone to save our lives. At least they didn't get any big chances. Great period otherwise though. Everyone looked like they were hustling. But the 4th line...wow. Terrible. Come on Weiss, I know you have no help...but get something done..

Yes that's absolutely the issue with our defense and we desperately need someone to grab that #4 spot. Kindl looked like he might do it last year, but he has regressed. Smith started out horribly, but has actually looked great the last couple of games and one just has to hope he can keep it up and improve step by step on the defensive side. When everyone's healthy I say go with Dekeyser-Smith as 2nd pair. If Smith goes back to being awful I'll keep lobbying for Almqvist being a Red Wing sooner rather than later just because we need that PMD.

This would be a perfect game for Weiss to step up, but I'm not expecting him to do much on that line. Quincey-Smith 2nd pairing is OUCH. Hoping Monster has another good game. Pretty big test for a Datsyuk/Dekeyser-less team, I'd be very positively surprised with a win.

If we're lucky we can get him to a relatively cheap 4-6 year deal, one of those that seem like total steals at the end of them. Not so sure. He may very likely be hitting his prime right now. The next 2-4 years could be the best hockey he plays in his career. Making it a 4 year deal could mean we have to give him a raise just as he's starting to decline. Ideally you don't want to have to re-sign a player right when he's at his career peak, if you can avoid it.

No complaints here. 5-6 years was ideal term imo, and the money is very reasonable. He'll be a key guy looking at the d-men we have in the pipeline. Ericsson is steady and reliable and a great partner to Smith/Sproul/Almqvist.

I know he's small but he's used to playing against guys bigger and stronger than him. He's been in the SHL and also on Team Sweden. He'll probably be able to fill out a bit during this season and in the offseason, and unless we're giving up on him I say bring him in to the team, let Z mentor him and teach him how to become as strong as him.

I'll be so disappointed if Andersson is still on the team. Jarnkrok needs to be on the team. Jurco should probably get a good long look, depending on how he does the rest of the year without Nyquist. Almqvist, please. Even if we did sign a FA d-man, I'll take Almqvist over Kindl or Lashoff. Maybe Oullet too. I could see Alfie re-signing. He's clearly still good enough and a good fit on the team so I see a chance. Bert is also a possible re-sign. I hope not, but it could happen. Because he works well with Z and D Holland could deem him valuable enough. I have a hard time seeing Mantha step right into the NHL. Maybe if he completely kills it at camp. All in all there's potential for a very, very fun roster. We'll see what Holland does though, I mean are there really much in terms of FAs out there? Long way to go, I still potential in this year's team to be something very good.

Imo a pretty solid road-game considering it was a back-to-back. Not great by any means but Gustavsson was great when he needed to be, the PP was good and we didn't really give them more than 1 goal. That's what we gotta keep doing, not giving 2-3 easy goals to every team. If they have to fight for it themselves we'll beat these bad teams easily. Tatar, Smith and Nyquist have been 3 of our best players these 2 games. Alfie was really good tonight too.

Tatar playing in the last 2 minutes? Get it done Tommy.

Ouch at Sammy's leg. Dislike the guy but looked like it hurt.

Almqvist's issue is size/strenght. That's about it. I wish we could be patient with him but we need a guy like him right now. He played 2 NHL games and scored 1 goal already. Oullet is the safer choice to bring up, but Almqvist's skillset is just so sorely lacking in our D. Next to Ericsson or Dekeyser I think he'll be able to do great things.

Yeah we're way too spread thin. Tatar on one line, Weiss on one, Alfie on another. How about Tatar-Weiss-Alfie? How about Tatar and Nyquist together and moving Alfie up to Z? Of course we'll be nothing but sadness in the bottom 6 if we load up the top 6.

Almqvist, Almqvist, Almvqvist. He will make up for any defensive lapses with his PP ability and offensive instincts.

Well we look tired and apart from a few guys, uninspired. Tatar, Weiss, Alfie and 1 or 2 other guys have their legs, the rest not so much. Gotta play the fresh guys more in the 3rd. He simply has terrible offensive instincts for a guy that's supposed to have offensive upside. Always waits too long with his shots. He had stretch last year where he seemed to figure it out and got shots through constantly but now he's back to thinking he has all day to set up his shots.

Damn, Tatar wanted that puck Andy! ...Jarnkrok would have made that pass..