kipwinger

I'm not really sure Derek is overachieving. I'd expect a team with Larkin, Debrincat, Kane, Raymond, Seider, and 4,000 double digit scorers to be competing for the Wild Card. Especially when their 3rd string goalie was on a two month heater. I think there are very real reasons to criticize Lalonde for the late season collapse. And really s***ty reasons to blame him for it too. But I definitely don't get the impression that he's being targeted because he's got Dave Lewis syndrome and doesn't fit the typical square jawed, masculine, hockey guy archetype. I think he's being targeted because his team had a 10 point cushion and then fell apart, he won't play offensive players because of their turnovers but doesn't have the same rules for guys like Petry or Copp, the powerplay has fallen completely off the map and he keeps trotting out the same exact squads, he seems totally unwilling to call a timeout and stop the bleeding when his team starts slow or gets scored on twice in 30 seconds, He plays Austin Czarnik on a line with Patrick Kane while benching Joe Veleno, etc. etc. etc.

I understand what you're driving at, and if it were all false bravado I'd agree. But guys who have played under Torts routinely mention that he's tough but fair, demands accountability, and has the team well prepared to play. He's busting Sean Couturier's ass because Couturier has been absolute garbage this season. And Torts HAS gotten his team ready to play. They've been in the playoff picture all season long after the entire hockey world predicted they'd be one of the worse teams in the Eastern Conference based on their roster.

Agreed. If you need to be coddled you should play for a different team. If Dylan Larkin can spend a decade getting the sh*t beaten out of him surrounded by team after team of losers the least you can do is suck it up when your coach says you had a sh*t game. Didn't seem to hurt Benn and Seguin too much when Jim Lites called them out publicly a couple years ago.

Any number of Presidents (including Jackson, Grant, Eisenhower, etc.) were notable for their toughness and even-handed conviction. DJT is absolutely not one of them.

Not even close. Torts is to coaching what Teddy Roosevelt was to the Presidency. Accountability and discipline aren't even in DJT's vocabulary.

100% Being a weirdo sadist is obviously not going to bring the best out of your team or your players. The Jon Coopers and Al Arbours of the world won a hell of a lot more than Babs or Keenan did. But setting a high standard and holding players accountable (publicly and privately) is a totally different thing. We've got players that won't consistently execute tape to tape passes and Derek's out here talking about the "positive" takeaways from games we're losing badly. Meanwhile Torts scratched (and cut the ice time of) his captain because Couturier doesn't understand the assignment. And dear god what I wouldn't give to have a coach that makes his players finish their checks.

Does Lalonde think that he gets money back at the end of the season for every timeout he doesn't call?

There is no team in the league that passes worse than we do.

NVM

Petry might have saved the game there. Jesus what a nightmare that shift was.

It is absolutely inexcusable that Patrick Kane's center right now is Austin Czarnik.

My guess is that Cossa is going to look a lot more like Demko or Markstrom than Vasilevsky, Price, Roy, or Fleury.

I'm fine with a 9 game stint. I mean "pump the brakes" in terms of how good people think he is RIGHT NOW because of his play so far in the AHL. There's still a really big jump from the AHL to the NHL, especially for goalies. People shouldn't conclude he's "ready" because of what he's doing right now. He's still got a lot of learning to do.

Yall should pump the brakes on Cossa a bit. He's learning how to play his position correctly and he's getting rewarded for it. But that doesn't mean he's done learning. Up to this point he's been able to get by on size and athleticism. That doesn't work in pro hockey. So he's in the process of moving along his developmental curve. And while he looks good right now, don't mistake that for being "NHL ready" because he's not. He's get torn up by NHL shooters right now. He's still young, let him keep learning how to play correctly and develop his skill. Throw him to the wolves now, just because he's been good in the AHL, and you'd regret is. Same with Kasper.

Quenneville or bust.

Danielson: B+ ASP: A+ Augustine: A Gibson: B+ Finnie: B (the caveat here is that his team was baaaaaad. So I should probably give him an "A" for what he had to work with despite his numbers only being okay). Finnie also looked pretty good for the Griffins the other night too. Everyone else sucked or didn't play (Dower Nilsson, Brady Cleveland).

Alex Debrincat turns the puck over CONSTANTLY.

You're pretty needy tonight eh? You should try Wellbutrin if you're jonesing for dopamine that bad.

He was really really solid. As he hits his stride he's going to be a two way force. He shut down a zone entry when he pinched Brock Nelson (who I love and respect) on the boards, won the puck battle, and turned the play up ice. Nelson is a really big, strong, dude and Edvinsson gobbled him up. I'm an expensive date big guy.

Okay, lets get Larkin the hatty.

We need to win a damn faceoff here.

She could still get it.

For a moment consider how hard it's going to be to score on Edvinsson as he hits his prime. He's bigger and stronger than you, skates on his edges as well as you, and his reach allows him to cover half the ice.

Impossible with our 6'6 overlords Rasmussen and Edvinsson having monster games.

If Lalonde breaks up the Ras-Copp-Fischer line again I'll kill him with a sword.