The Greek

It's really weird. It's ok to have some schadenfreude, but not at the expense of a guy who represents your team. What has he really done that makes people hate him so much? The guy had a terrible season, sure. But he responded by getting in excellent shape and playing at an all star level until he got injured. He then lost his starting job to a third stringer. If anything, the guy deserves pity.

Hilarious

I never understood the decision to stick with the same lineup. This is pretty much the same game, just with different puck luck.

Sleepwalker is not wrong. Chewing on coca leaf is no more stimulating than drinking coffee. Powdered cocaine is obviously stronger than caffeine, but the danger really comes from the adulterants, not the stimulating effects. Pure powdered cocaine is no more dangerous than any of the thousands of legal stimulants available in stores. Either way, even if one is exponentially more dangerous, it's downright silly that we try to control what people put in their bodies. It is the very definition of a victimless crime. Edit: powdered caffeine has recently been approved for human consumption, and it is way stronger than what you find in coffee, so the comparison is actually pretty apt.

Took the words right out of my mouth.

It hasn't been fun for a while.

23 straight playoff appearances, four stanly cups, six conference championships, several hall of famers, and we make threads like this. I'm going to say no. I forgot: great ownership who spends to the cap, is building a new arena (with our help), and constantly has events showing fan appreciation.

I would prefer to let him bring his stock back up, then we could trade him at next year's deadline.

I agree about Howard. As for Mrazek, it depends on your definition of "huge." If you subtract the games in which he's been pulled, his stats are unreal, which leads me to conclude that it is lack of consistency that is holding him back.

You can't say that. When howard was at the stage of his career that Mrazek is at now, it wasn't even clear that Howard would be an nhl starter. Although I think Howard Is underrated, Mrazek's ceiling is higher now than Howard's ever was. Mrazek's only real issue is consistency. If he takes care of that, he'll be a top 5 goalie.

C'mon, that's not fair. First, shootouts are a terrible indicator of a goalie's ability. Second, the kid has showed numerous times that he has tons of talent. Mrazek has already stolen several games/points, and done so with a relatively small sample size. The only reason I've been hesitant to anoint him #1 is because he has trouble with consistency, as do most rookies.

Then grimes drops the mic and walks off stage; spot on. May I add: make it more of a competition between Howard and Mrazek. As a goalie, the relationship between the members of a tandem is one of respectful competition. Neither are playing well on a consistent basis. What do we have to lose by rotating goalies?

Be careful to not hurt your back while carrying that cross.

Like clockwork

You do realize his dad died. If this is a result of his poor preperation, I'd say babs has a damn good excuse.

This is getting ridiculous. How does everyone focus on the goalie, and not the five guys in front of him?

It's almost as if we struggle regardless of who's in net.

THIS. LW is far from the only one who does it. It seems that many people would rather be right than for the team to do well. Moreover, the vitriol Howard faces is so unnecessary. People take such great pleasure in watching him struggle just so they can say "told you so." It's really messed up when you think about it. They seem to take such pleasure in watching harm befall his career. This by no means absolves the overzealous Howard supporters who do the same thing every time Mrazek has a bad game. If people like this really cared about the wings, they'd realize that it's in their best interest for the wings to have two capable goaltenders. Those who dogged Howard last year were silent when he was playing at an all star level. Since he's been back from injury, they have been all too eager to claim vindication.

Anyone saying that either Howard or Mrazek should be the unequivocal starter is wrong. At this point, I really think the best approach is to rotate only after losses. When the playoffs start we could either maintain this kind of rotation or, if one plays markedly better than the other over the next nine games, then he should start. With the way our tandem has been playing, we really have nothing to lose.

Before getting injured, Howard was playing well enough to be mentioned in vezina discussions and included in the all star game. He should get a chance to get back to that level. With that being said, with Howard's play of late, he should not be guaranteed a majority of the starts, nor should he be the guaranteed starter in the playoffs. i think it would be interesting to only alternate goalies after losses.

Did you say he was serviceable when not injured?

I was going to say it wasn't a necessarily negative comment, but then I saw the source.

Where does he slide in?

If you read Kukla's korner, trades like this one are the reason babs can't wait to get out of town. 😏

I'm not sure that's accurate, with regard to Jarnkrok. It seemed to pretty much come out of nowhere. Either way, it's not worth dwelling over. I haven't seen anything from Jarnkrok that makes me feel like we're really going to miss him.