kipwinger

That's a good retort, and effective for winning a debate, but you and I both know that it comes down to what the coach prioritizes. Lalonde would rather NOBODY fill that role. Which is why nobody fills it. Same with Holl. He's not great, god knows, but if size and physicality were a priority he'd play over Maatta. I don't envy coaches, they've got a tough job. They have to figure out the right mixture of traits for every player and every team. It's okay that Kane is soft, and non competitive, and risky with the puck because he's scores a ton. It's okay that Chiarot gets lost in the defensive zone because he's good in transition and on the PK. It's alright that Ghost and Raymond are horrendous defensively because they're dynamic and good on the powerplay. Apparently Kostin's recipe of traits wasn't what Lalonde wanted or he'd have played more. But it's hard not to think that's a mistake when A) you see him playing well elsewhere (Edmonton and San Jose) and B) we get absolutely ragdolled every single time we play a physical team.

We should probably bring him back. God knows SY can never have too many small(ish) one dimensional 10G, 10A wingers on his team.

I don't think Kostin is "good", but he's plenty good enough to play on our 4th line so that we don't get physically humiliated by teams like Ottawa and Florida. That's what we acquired him to do, and then the coach just decided not to use him anymore. My point in mentioning his production in San Jose was both tongue-in-cheek, but also meant to show that he's not actually a bad player. I don't understand recognizing that we get pushed around, making moves to address it (Kostin, Fischer, Holl) and then not really using these guys. Kostin is averaging 3 more minutes of icetime in San Jose and not surprisingly he's scoring a little more. Obviously it's a small sample size, and he's not going to score .75 ppg. But let's say he scored .30 points per game (roughly his career average). That's 24 points. Over the course of his career he's also roughly had as many assists as goals, so that 24 points breaks down to 12G and 12A. Conversely, Robby Fabbri (for example) is on pace for 36 points (21G, 15A) this season. Now ask yourself which we need more, 9 extra goals/3 extra assists or the ability to fight back a little bit against the Tkachuks of the world?

Kostin has three points in three games for San Jose? Maybe Derek was the problem?

You mean the guy who’s scoring at a mediocre rate in the WHL right now?

I don’t think he plays center. As far as the other part I don’t know, I’m just repeating what I read.

I like you just the way you are.

A few weeks ago Corey Pronman of the Athletic linked the top guy, Collin Graf, to the Red Wings. He said we got close to signing him last year.

Seriously, if we don't find an actual 2C in the offseason I'm going to make "Free Dylan Larkin" t-shirts to wear to every game I attend next year. I cannot believe we've been looking for a 2C since we signed Stephen Weiss and we still don't have one.

Meh, I'd rather be arrogant than cynical. But that's just me.

Yeah, I definitely was into the analytics stuff hardcore for a while. I was wrong. I still don't like the Matt Rempe and Ryan Reeves of the league, and I think their staged fights are idiotic. But I'd gladly sacrifice 10-15 points per player to make sure that every guy on my team gives a sh*t and isn't a p*ssy.

Tom Wilson takes a roughing penalty 1:30 into the Caps game, just setting the tone. I'd kill for a guy like that on this team. And Joel Quenneville too.

Here's a thing about Derek Lalonde that drives me insane. Is he aware that he can use timeouts for more than just challenges? Like, ya know, when you're team gets scored on twice in 5 seconds and they look like they're gonna cry? Maybe take a timeout buddy.

Dekeyser: Alex Lyon has bailed this team out time and time again but you can't ask him to do that for 83 games. Yzerman: Wanna bet?

Wouldn't matter. Unless it's a "two way" center with 30 point upside Lalonde will have them in the press box. Look at his last two scratches, Walman and Sprong. Copp hasn't scored since last January and Chiarot is -85 this week, but Walman and Sprong are definitely the issue.

SY: See Drapes, the key to success is zigging when your opponents are zagging. Everybody thinks we need to get bigger and harder to play against after getting bent over by Ottawa last year right? So now's the perfect time to get WAY smaller and less hard to play against.

Steve Yzerman.

Here's another thing probably nobody knew about hockey: Who knew that a bunch of 5'11, 185 lb. wingers would have a hard time winning puck battles? Like, how could SY have known that wouldn't work? One day someone is going to come along and revolutionize the game by using big, powerful, fowards. I'm not sure what these "power forwards" will be called, but I think it'll really catch fire.

I like your optimism but I'm not even sure Debrincat will ever score again. Like, he may literally never score another goal in his career given his current level of play. The good news for him is that for a sizeable portion of the hockey world a missed/blocked shot is just as good as a goal.

Listen to Lalonde already making excuses for this team. "Nobody had us in the playoffs coming into the season". This f*cking guy. Between he and Yzerman I'm not sure anyone in charge is bothered at all that this team is imploding. "Good job guys. Cool your heels a while. Nobody expects you to win, least of all us, so why bother? You've already won in our books."

We've had a zillion powerplays that haven't led to jack squat and our broadcasters are out here talking about not getting any luck. He's a better backup than Howard. But Keating, Murph, and Osgood are the dream team.

Who new the center position was so important eh? Like, you can't really fault SY for not knowing that you need decent centers. NOBODY knew that. Literally nobody has ever said anything like "you need to be strong down the middle" or anything like that. How was Steve supposed to know that having Larkin and three guys who can't consistently score 40 points would be a recipe for disaster?

Debrincat has to be the least accurate “sniper” in the league.

What happened to Murph and why is Dekeyser and some chick doing the broadcast?

Yeah but I loved watching him go bananas because he’s a dog s*** skater and he couldn’t stop Helm from running him.