kipwinger

In this house we have a tradition. The night before the season starts we watch hockey movies all night long. First up tonight…Mystery Alaska. Thank god hockey is back in my life.

Really solid road game tonight. Fourth line has looked good.

Couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season. But with all the good things that I’m seeing on the ice there are a couple things I’d like to see them clean up. First, the defense fails to clear the puck…a lot. We create a lot more offensive zone time for the opposition than they rightfully deserve based on their own play. Failed cleats will kill us when games matter against good teams. Second, our second line hasn’t been working like it was in the preseason. I’m not sure what you do there. I don’t like MBN with Debrincat because they’re both shooters. We need a top six that creates matchup problems for the opposition. Right now that’s not happening. Those are my two biggest issues so far.

Turns out Larkin is pretty damn good when he doesn’t have to drag a team full of losers around the ice.

That was probably our best opening period of the season.

That was an exceptional win last night. You don’t blow out the Panthers. Any win against them is going to be a grind, and that’s exactly what we did. The defense turned the puck over a lot in the first period and they need to clean that up, but they got better after that and we won the 2nd and 3rd. Finnie and MBN were quite good. At some point this season I’d like to see them with Kasper and Dcat with Larkin and Raymond. Maybe give Kane a bit of a break at 5on5 during the middle of the season. I also thought Ras/JVR/Sodorblom were really good last night as well. Had some really excellent shifts in the offensive zone and controlled the puck. I’m really liking this team so far, even with the obvious issues on the blue line.

Really good 2nd period there from the boys. The first was pretty ugly but look like we tightened things up in the 2nd. Especially the sloppy turnovers by the defense corps.

Good work on the GDT Leftie, well done. Curious to see what the lineup looks like tonight. Not sure I love the idea of Mason Appleton on the first line but I’m pretty positive McLellan knows better than I do.

Good road win there by the boys. Sloppy but still got the 2 points.

Hat trick for Mazur in Game 1 of the AHL season. 3 assist night for Lombardi in Game 2 of the AHL season. Hat trick for Kiiskinen the other night. 5 point night for Buchelnikov last week. Max Plante also has 6 points in 4 games. Our farm system is still SO loaded.

Sodorblom is just too slow. He can’t effectively forecheck and he can’t really score in transition, both of which are hallmarks of McLellan’s system. At times during the preseason I liked his cycle game with Ras/Copp/Appleton but he’s too limited in too many other ways.

Id like to see Mazur in the Sodorblom/Berggren spot. I think he’d fit well with Ras and Appleton (both of whom I liked in the preseason). Totally agree on defense, I’d like to see Aljo and Chiarot flip flopped when it makes sense (low leverage situations at first) until Johansson grows into the job. I’d also never move JBD out of the lineup. He’s a good defender and I really liked his skating last night. He and Chiarot on the 3rd pair wouldn’t be so bad.

What a big win. After stinking up the joint on opening night it’s huge to come back against a top team and spank them. We were far from perfect tonight but I really liked what I saw from lines 1-3 and the defense. The fourth line has no identity. Sodorblom is too slow and Berggren is a bad fit stylistically. If JVR doesn’t work out call up Mazur.

Really liking JBD so far tonight.

Our forward lines look pretty decent but that 3rd defensive pair is getting beat up.

Is Hamonic -3 tonight? Woof.

Bets on who gets the first goal? I’ve had Debrincat on the brain all day long.

I think that spot is up for grabs as the season plays out. Every reason to believe Johansson can play his way onto the top pair if he takes a step this season.

Next up, The Mighty Ducks

Bold Prediction #2: Toronto will make the playoffs as a Wild Card after struggling without Marner.

Bold prediction: Edvinsson is an all-star and the pair of him and JBD becomes one of the best even strength defensive pairs in the conference.

I thought ASP looked really good tonight tho. He’s been playing conservatively it seems because he had a lot of razzle dazzle with the puck tonight. He’s gonna be a good one.

I really hope Compher starts out hot and pumps up that trade value a little bit. I think he's a genuinely good trade piece. His contract is a little bit of an issue, but he's going to be attractive to some team with Cup aspirations that's a little weak in their middle six. I fully expect Florida would be interested, given Barkov's injury. But also teams like Toronto and Carolina in the East and Dallas or Vegas in the West. After watching them in camp and the pre-season I genuinely think MBN-Danielson-Finnie/Lombardi/Mazur would be a qualitative improvement over any combination of Compher, Berggren, Sodorblom, or JVR. Trade Compher (plus whatever else) for help on defense and roll with a sheltered "kid line" as the 3rd line. Do what Tampa did with Kucherov, Palat, and Johnson en route to cup final when they were all super young and on the same line.

He'll let Chiarot go to free agency, and Ben will sign in a depth role for a contender. He wants a Cup I'm sure. Meanwhile, Stevie will be happy to have the cap savings and all parties will part amicably.

No way, that's Holland Era trauma speaking. He'll be 34 and he'll get the Petry treatment. Yzerman has shown he's willing to let guys like Gostisbehere, Perron, Maatta, and Walman go. He's not keeping Chiarot.