kipwinger

Agreed. I really like that line. They play really really hard minutes against the best the opposition has to offer. The fact that they add a little offense too shows just how good those guys have been.

Chychrun is pretty good. He was also overrated around NHL circles forever based on his physical tools. I posted a comparison between he and Hronek right around the trade deadline last season and their careers are remarkably similar (at that time). But he was often treated by media types like he was the next big thing. He wasn't. In reality he was the next Cam Fowler.

Greaaaaaaat game from the boys so far.

Hit the post twice so far in the 3rd. Looking good right now.

Excellent effort by Rasmussen on Fabbri’s goal.

He also got benched (again) the other night by his coach for half-assed play. Second time this season that's happened. SY dodged a huge bullet not bringing this guy back on a long term deal.

Good news. I thought it was his hip for sure when you look at the hit he took against the boards right before the backcheck.

That's what Lalonde said during his post game interview, and that's where media got that story. But if you go back and look at the two plays in question both of them involved his hip so I'm not terribly optimistic.

I don't think they've given any updates. I think he's done for a while.

Yeah definitely, but I think they're getting back to where they were. Last night's game was as good as they've played all season long. Other than dumb penalties handing TO the momentum in the 1st I don't have any complaints.

It was a big confidence game. After their crazy travel, to come in without much prep time to be a divisional rival on the road is huge. Especially when you're chasing them in the standings. To do so by completely manhandling them in the 3rd period is enough to make any group of guys feel pretty good.

I'm still feeling good about that game last night. That's the closest we've looked to early season form in quite a while. We were all over them in the 3rd period and competing HARD on pucks. To do it without Walman and Kostin in the lineup is even more encouraging considering how much they typically contribute to possession. Hats off to Reimer as well. He still scares me in net but he was solid enough to get the win last night and that's all you need from your backup. I was seriously questioning Lalonde's decision to start Lyon and Saturday and Reimer on Sunday but it all worked out well enough. Can't say enough about what a big win that was. Yes it was important in the standings but it was WAY MORE important for the guys to play correctly against a top team and see the results. That should drive home the fact that when we're skating and we're aggressive on pucks we can compete with the big boys.

That was a hell of a win! Played absolutely great too. Won every board battle and every 50/50 puck. Toronto does not like the lumber.

Great period for the PK and we are getting chances at even strength. Reimer looked sharp too. Hope it’s easy going for him the rest of the night.

I agree he makes too much money.

Sure. I want Seider to score 60 points this season and Veleno to score 20 goals too. But I wouldn't give either of them a "D-" grade just because those things are unlikely. I'd like to see more offensive out of Rasmussen too, but the rest of his game is impactful enough that I'd argue the OP's grade is too low. This is fair, but not really what I meant. I guess I'm saying that most teams can afford to have one guy on the defense that's not the best defender in the world but is good at other things. Coaches tend to just shelter these guys on the 3rd pair. I wouldn't mind if that guy was Chiarot in Detroit. Trouble is that we've got Gostisbehere already occupying that space, so Chiarot really can't be as sheltered as he needs to be to mitigate his obvious defensive issues.

Ken Holland drafting the dude too high 7 years ago affects his mid-season grade in 2024 how?

This is a huge confidence game for the boys. We're coming off a very solid effort against Edmonton that we could have won but managed to get a point out of. If we follow that up tonight with a win against the Kings that gives us a ton of momentum coming into tomorrow night's game against Toronto (which is a must-win). This stretch of games might decide our season. If we can take 50% of the points available over the next 6 games I think we're sitting pretty considering this is the hardest stretch on our schedule for the remainder of the year. This would be a huge game for guys like Seider and Raymond to step up and take over. LGW!!!

I don't agree with this assessment at all. Kasper is 19 years old, has points in 5 of his last 6, and since taking over roles in the PP and PK the Griffins have won 5 of their last 7 games. Lombardi too has big roles on both special teams and has seen his using climbing at the same time the team has been on a roll. Kasper has gotten consistently better but missed a full offseason rehabbing from the injury (same injury that is still affecting Rasmussen) AND is learning the North American style game, in a very tough pro league, at a position with the most responsibilities. He's not Lucas Raymond, he was never going to make the team at 19 years old because he's a center and he had a very serious injury. That doesn't mean he's not going to be really good. Lombardi's "issue" is simply that he's undersized and is going to need time to put strength on (think of him like Berggren or Gus Nyquist). Probably won't be an NHL regular until he's 22/23 but when he does he's be a consistent offensive threat.

I don't think Chiarot sucks. I think he's just a bigger, stronger, meaner version of Gostisbehere. It's not Chiarot's fault that Lalonde seems to think he's a decent defender and asks him to try and shut down top talent. If he were a 3rd pair rover/puck mover with good 5on5 scoring (like he already has) I'd love him. Instead they seem to think he's Jake Walman and can defend well too. Put him on the 3rd line with someone who defends well and can skate (Albert Johansson?) and watch him thrive. Just don't play him in the defensive zone.

Almost all of Rasmussen's shifts start in the defensive zone. Anybody with that usage (Luke Glendening?) will have s***ty possession numbers. Conversely guys who start in the ozone all have better than anticipated possession stats. This is why Rasmussen's numbers suck and Gostisbehere's (for example) are good. "Hey Ras, you're up again. Hop out there for this defensive zone draw against Connor McDavid, and would it be too much to ask you to win possession against the best line in hockey, skate the puck 200 ft. down the ice and get a shot on goal? It's help your possession stats a ton."

I agree that we hoped for a breakout (I sure did), but in hindsight I don't think we considered the extent to which his knee injury affected his offseason prep. But I don't agree that he's been "blah". The only thing he's not doing for the team right now is scoring at a top six level, and even then he's on track to score nearly 20 goals as a bottom six winger, defensive specialist, and penalty killer. IMO Rasmussen is the victim of the age old false perception by fans that a player's value is determined by scoring more than anything else. A guy who scores 60 points and does nothing else well IS NOT worth more to your team than a guy that scores 45-50 points but wins faceoffs, plays on special teams, and can be trusted defensively.

It's being reported that Lyon and Reimer will each split a game this weekend. Given that we're only 3 points behind Toronto in the standings, it makes sense to me that Lyon would get the start tomorrow against them and Reimer would go tonight. Will be interesting to see how Lalonde handles this.

I don't really understand the Rasmussen grade. He plays amongst the hardest minutes on the team, is a key part of one of the top PK units in the NHL (something that's actively winning games for us), can be trusted late in games, has more blocked shots than any other forward on the team, is fourth on the team in hits, and has as many goals as Compher and Perron (one fewer than Sprong). I get that ideally he'd look like he did last season (before blowing out his knee) but this is a useful player, eating hard minutes, and contributing to wins. I'd give him a "B" for playing his role well but regressing a bit offensively.

Call up Albert Johansson immediately. Rather can concede the empty net goal on an Icehog breakaway he took a penalty and made the refs award it. He doesn't want to win, he hates to lose.