gcom007

And...back. Think this team definitely misses Zadina and Fabbri more than anyone might’ve reasonably expected they would. Was surprising how different the team looked the last couple games. Will be an interesting s*** show tonight no doubt.

Are we doing spit takes?

How did they do it with Lids and Z? Wasn’t it a worst kept secret situation ending with them skating out of the tunnel being announced for the first time as captain or something? Vaguely remember that. Maybe Hasek too. Actually, maybe Hasek could be Jimmy’s personal pizza boy. I could see a hack montage to that on an FSD intermission segment.

What in the actual f*** is going on in this thread?

I’d put money on old f*** Flip not getting flipped (ugh) at the deadline. That’s the kind of deal everyone around here thinks should be made that never gets made because no one wants our old sub-middling clown show side acts for even late round picks. Gagner? Maybe. We’ll see how the year goes. Ryan? More likely if he has a good year but again, people get their hopes up about our “assets” and their “trade value” all the time only to be disappointed. There’s a reason most of these guys are on the worst team in the league at this stage in their careers.

Is there a no fighting clause in this contract?

Super smart pandemic or not for where we’re at, especially with the way our longer term deals have had a way of completely backfiring quite often lately.

Maltby will always be number 18 to me. That’s a number that should be in the rafters right next to Stevie. No Wing chirped like Maltby. Man I miss his energy.

Our Wings of last year could barely pass the puck to each other in a peewee practice drill. I can’t wait for us to actually have a transition game again. That’s the part of the “system” that in many ways made it almost unbearable for me to watch last year.

Time for rippin’ reps and gettin’ gains boys But yeah, I do think Yzerman completely resetting the strength and conditioning team was a big statement right from the get-go. The thing I can’t figure out is how Blashill fits into this. Yzerman’s been trimming fat unceremoniously now for a minute and has a roster setup currently with next to no one signed in a couple years; he’ll only have his signings at that point aside from Larkin I believe. The team he’ll ice next year is no doubt going to look a lot better and likely improve a good deal in the standings. And in a couple years we really ought to start being competitive again. So, as some have suggested, do we fire Blashill then and bring in a name when the team is ready? Doesn’t feel right if the team indeed improves as it no doubt inherently should no matter the coach. Seemed like if Yzerman was unhappy with Blashill, he’d make a move or have made a move at this point if only as a stopgap, as opposed to dragging Blashill through all the bad years until the team is actually ready and dumping him. Maybe this is Blashill’s “prove it” year now that he has a significantly upgraded roster in some regards at least. You’d also think he’d want his coach building the winning culture he’s trying to build right off the bat. That said, I’m starting to think Blashill may be in it for the long haul. He obviously won’t stick around if a great roster drastically underperforms, but at this point I think that Blashill will indeed get the chance to take this team to the promised land.

Serious on 3. Remember how many of us thought last year might be a lot better the way the season before ended? I think a lot of the ugly last year had to do with Hamblaster Howard letting in 3-4 goals in the first 10 minutes more than a few times. Just about any night Howard started last year lead to this team being setup to lose early on and I think that will mentally wear on a team over time. I’m not wholly blaming Howard as that’s hardly the whole story, but having Greiss and Bernier heading into next season is a major, major upgrade over last year. Between the additions and hopefully more guys stepping up, they’ll be a much better team. They could actually be legit sneaky good if all goes well. They need to get used to winning some games again and I do think that will help elevate the whole.

Man, that would just be so sad.

I think Fleury will happen in the next few days, but Bernier/anyone should likely be better than Bernier/worst-season version of Howard were last year. I’m not wildly concerned. Bernier stood pretty tall for us all things considered. Certainly not the guy who will take us to the promised land but he was our best player plenty of nights last year. Goaltending is really the least of my concerns for next year, especially given how weird the season is likely to look.

I have little doubt Fleury will be our goalie next year, it's just a matter of when Vegas budges on the 1st.