kipwinger

I'm nervous about this one. The team from the first 20-25 games would use the win against Los Angeles as a confidence boost and come out flying tonight. But the team from all of December might get down a goal or two and fall apart. Plus, after this game the schedule only gets harder with Edmonton, Los Angles (again), Toronto, Florida, coming up. I sure hope we look at the last half of that LA game as a blueprint and start getting things figured out. When we play fast and direct we can dominate, when we try to be cute we get pinned in our zone and our defense gets exposed. Also, not sure if Kostin is back tonight or not but he owes Gudas one so keep an eye on that.

I agree that Tavares takes a huge paycut, but the math still doesn't really work for them. Every penny they save on a Tavares deal is going to pay Nylander (and then Marner the year after). So they've still got the same four forwards taking up the same percentage of their cap. Yeah, letting him walk would be a disaster. The time to trade him was a year ago. They needed a hockey trade for a similarly talented, similarly aged, defenseman. I don't know what they do now. They almost HAVE to let Tavares walk completely after next season. Put all that money toward defense and goaltending and look for someone cheaper and/or a young guy on a low end deal to pair with one of the elite guys. Hope Marner/Nylander can drag a loser 2C to a Cup win the way Kane did with Chicago all those years.

Whelp, with that Nylander extension Toronto has basically f*cked themselves for a good long while. They already have no money for defense or goaltending and starting next year they'll have even less. AND they'll need to give Marner and Tavares extensions (or replace them). Marner will make AT LEAST as much as Nylander just got, and Tavares will either have to take a really big discount or else he'll walk and they'll have to find another center that's as good as he is. Either way they'll still have all the same holes and their lineup and less money to fill them. This makes my heart feel happy and full.

All in all I'm happy with the win to be sure. I keep hoping that we're going to come out and look like we did during the first part of the season and I think that's unrealistic in the short term. In order for us to play that fast, aggressive, freewheeling style of game you have to have a ton of faith in your goalie. I think Lyon is slowly earning that trust from the team, but given how things have played out this year I think it's going to take a minute. I also think the team is missing Kostin pretty bad. I realize that seems silly because he's a depth winger, but he was a consistent part of the lineup in the early part of the season and his physicality really dragged the rest of the team into the fight. If, for example, he goes out there in the first period last night and beats the sh*t out of Gudas (it's coming) then I think the rest of their team chills out on the rough stuff, and the rest of our team plays a little taller than they are.

I don't think we looked abysmal or anything, but I definitely didn't like the whole effort. There were parts of the 1st and 3rd periods where Lyon kept us from a worse fate. That said, there were parts of the 1st where it seemed like we were ringing shots of their post every other rush so maybe it evens out. I still don't think we played fast enough, but it was a step in the right direction. And to be fair Anaheim isn't really THAT bad of a team. They made Toronto work their asses off a few nights ago as well.

The Kings are sagging right now, would be a great time for our boys to luck into one. A win tonight would be huge for our confidence.

Rasmussen with 3 points (2 goals) in the last 5 games, and he's a key part of a penalty kill that's been perfect in the last 20 powerplays against. He's not scoring like we'd hoped after how he finished last season but I'm happy to see him contributing to wins in other ways as well. Living up to their reputation as the most "f*ckable" team in the league, take a look at goaltender Alex Lyon. Glad to know he'll have a great second career as a fragrance model for Christian Dior. That's a good looking dude.

Whelp, it wasn't pretty but it still counts. At this point all wins are big wins, but going 3-0 on the road is huge for this team right now.

Anaheim is trying to goon it up and I really wish anybody on our team would respond to it.

I f*cking hate Trevor Zegras and I hope someone crosschecks him in the teeth. The little crybaby pouty face he does when he’s begging for a call makes me want to puke.

2023 started with a bang and ended with a whimper for the boys in red. Fortunately they're coming off an emotional win that they really needed and they've shown they can beat the Bruins when they play correctly. A win here would be huge and could be a turning point for this team. The 3rd divisional seed in the Atlantic is still very much up for grabs and now is the time to get dialed in. No significant injuries, no significant excuses. It's a new season baby. LGW!

I can’t believe we have the record we do. We start games like s*** and finish worse.

Jesus Christ

I was never a Smith fan, but he definitely doesn't play scared and he's the exact type guy to teach Bedard that he's not in Kansas anymore. These young finesse players need to know that they're not playing 16 year olds anymore. They're playing adult men with careers, million of dollars, and pride on the line. Those kinds of guys are not going to let up on you, ever. Welcome to the NHL kid.

Berggren (2), Mazur, Johansson, Lombardi, Kasper, and Sodorblom with points for the Griffs tonight. Wallstedt is playing well but the Wild are just falling off a cliff due to injuries (sound familiar?) and GR is all over them.

So as I've mentioned, I watch a lot of Griffins games. One thing that sticks out about AHL broadcasts is just how DUMB career AHL players sound during their interviews. I really think that explains those guys that dominate in the AHL but suck in the NHL. I think they're just way too dumb to play NHL systems correctly.

I wanted Trocheck at the time to fill the 2C role. Hard to say whether he had any interest or not, but he's a Michigan guy too. My concern with Copp was that he didn't really ever play center very much in Winnipeg and he'd only had one decent offensive season (his contract year) prior to free agency. We expected too much out of him and are paying him for his best (and only) good season. And by "we" I mean Steve Yzerman is paying a guy 5.6 million dollars for 4 seasons to play a role he's not any good at.

Good point. What would we do without him?

Weren't you also a big proponent of signing Copp as a 2C before SY did it?

That was a beating. The Wild are one of the better teams in the AHL and GR just stomped them. Cossa looked really solid. He's now beaten Askarov and Wallstedt in head to head matchups in the last month. Those guys (and Spencer Knight) were the top goalie picks in the last five years and it's good to see Cossa playing as well as his high-end peers.

Whelp, the Griffins are up 2-0 now. Tuomisto with a nice shot. He’s really coming around now that he’s healthy.

That’s basically what’s going on so far.

Speaking of which, Cossa vs. Wallstedt head to head tonight in the Griffins game. 0-0 in the first. Wallstedt has been getting peppered and has stood tall. Cossa hasn’t had as much to do but did have to face a powerplay.

Trey Augustine was the man today. I REALLY hope he grows just a little bit more.

I'm not sure it's an either/or scenario. There's only so much Lalonde can do when he's got three goalies who aren't any good and 5 of his 7 defensemen that don't defend well. This is particularly an SY issue because he explicitly hired Lalonde to improve the team defense and then gave him nothing to work with in that particular respect. Lalonde deserves criticism for his line combos, powerplay "strategy" (or lack thereof), and reluctance to recognize when something isn't working and adapt. But I don't blame him for the defense and the goaltending. SY has given Lalonde TWO decent defenders (Seider and Walman) and Lalonde plays them a zillion minutes a night against the toughest competition in the league. What else can he do?