Dabura

Bump cuz Nash is a Ranger.

Gan Dirardi.

And Dan Girardi.

Sorry, wasn't necessarily saying anyone in this thread is saying "Holland can do no wrong." Also, I realize I'm really sounding like a broken record, pretty much saying the same thing in every post now, and it actually kind of annoys me, so I can't imagine it's a whole lot of fun for anyone else. I'm not angry or seething or calling for Holland's head or anything like that. (Well, maybe a little angry and seething.) Point being, it's all good.

Get Ryan. Get him now.

I'll die a little inside, I think.

Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Filppula, Franzen, Samuelsson, Brunner, Nyquist. Do you think we have enough European "skill players" in our top-6?

The regular season means nothing. We always do well and have no problem scoring a ton of goals - then the postseason comes around and, whoa, suddenly we can't score to save our lives. We're built for regular season dominance. We're not built for a deep postseason run. Right now, the team is basically the same as it was a few months ago. We know what we're getting with Sammy. Brunner has never played a shift in the NHL. This scoring unit will be neutralized by a bigger, stronger, younger, D-oriented team. It has no teeth. Ian White is our #2 defenseman. There's no reason why that should be the case. Yes - Holland should've been better prepared for Nick's departure. People keep saying the summer is still young and Holland still has a wealth of options. What are these options? Certainly most must be potential trades, and yet so many people seem opposed to trading any roster places. (Flip had zero goals against the Preds. Franzen had one, and it was a fluke.)

Agreed.

Instead of what I would've done, how about what I'd like to see? And that is: a more balanced, well-rounded, "dynamic" team - one that can, of course, play the puck-possession game, but can also change things up if that system falters. We have skill. With the puck. When we have the puck. Beyond that, we're vanilla. We're not big. We're not physical. We're not nasty. We're not fast. We're not young. We can't punish on the forecheck. We can't play lockdown D. Our goalie is good, but we can't expect him to win games for us. Our special teams aren't spectacular. All of which is to say: disrupt our system, and we fall apart. We have no fallback plan, no other looks we can throw the opposition. No other hats to wear. "You say it like it's so simple, disrupting our system." It is. Take away our time and space. Rush us. Take the body to us, hitting a man at every opportunity. Crash, bang, punish, wear down. Block shots. Box us out to the tops of the circles when we're on the forecheck. Shut down Datsyuk (he'll be battling an injury that has him at 75%, at best), shut down Zetterberg (ditto. Moreover, he's got a bad back; he can only take so much punishment.) We've seen it done before. We saw it done again just a few months ago. "We lost because of some unlucky bounces. Sometimes the puck luck just isn't there." Look at the final scores of each game. It was a low-scoring, grinding, D-centric series. That's not us, that's not the game we like to play. We were forced to play the Predators' game. Defeat was, in retrospect, pretty much guaranteed - because, again: throw a wrench in our system and everything goes to s***. We need new dimensions, new ingredients, new possibilities. Take our top-6, for example - it's basically six different versions of the same player. How about a power-forward, a guy who will crash and bang and drive to the net, a guy who won't be boxed out to the perimeter? (Nash, Ryan, Doan, Hartnell, Lucic, et al.) We need a shot in the arm, new bood. Something to be excited about. We need to sign big UFAs and/or trade. Drafting? Unless we plan on tanking (or trading), we're not drafting high. And while, yes, we've found some gems in later rounds, that was when we were ahead of the curve. Now every team looks at Europe, digs for diamonds. blahhhh

We lost in five games in the first round. The Kings won the Cup. Just saying.

This isn't a panic thread. Why does anything critical or objective or just non-"Holland can do no wrong" have to be panicking or "hating"?

Our scorers couldn't score to save their lives. Our bottom-6 was, by Babcock's own admission, a hugely weak link. Our blue line blew, our team defense sucked. Our top-6 remains extremely one-dimensional. It's six kinda-sorty-gritty Euros who play a mostly non-physical, skill-centric, playmaker's game. They're going to get boxed out to the perimeter in the o-zone. They're going to pass about 300 more times than they should, then ultimately settle for a shot into the goalie's chest. And Sammy will push someone from behind after the whistle, and O Sweet Lord, is this not the most dynamic, dangerous scoring unit you have ever seen? So many looks they can throw you. So many ways they can hurt you. Bottom-6 - I like the Tootoo signing. I like Helm as the third pivot, Bert and Cleary as his wingers. I don't think we've really imporved all that much. Are we significantly bigger? Stronger? Faster? Nastier? Do we boast more legitimate secondary scoring threats? Are we stronger defensively? D - We lost Stuart and Lidstrom. Even with them in the lineup, our D was terrible. So far, Helm is our biggest acquisition.

I love this "even if we do nothing, we're fine" attitude. Stupid, arrogant.

Such is the power of bulls***.

LOST Ken Holland's Balls IF FOUND PLEASE CALL

I like our team. We kicked the tires. Darren Helm is our big acquisition; remember, he wasn't available to us when we faced the Predators. We have to think long-term, big picture. We can't just go out and add a couple big names, that's the reality of the cap era and parity. We only have so much spending money. Danny Cleary. Certainly we have gotten bigger, tougher, younger, faster - and there's still a whole lot of time left and a wealth of options. The CBA means we're not going to see any more big deals. (Shae Weber does not exist; he is a hoax.) We like to think of our power play as our enforcer. Youth. You can't win the Cup ever year.

We couldn't score against Nashville. Our bottom-6 blew on every front. We've added Samuelsson, Tootoo, Brunner. If Holland is content with our forward unit, he is a lousy bum.

Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Filppula, Franzen, Samuelsson, Brunner. That's our top-6, give or take.

Parity.

Where was that well-balanced attack against the Predators? Some are spoiled, true. But some are just realistic. Christ, guys, this is more or less the same team (minus Stuart and Lidstrom) that lost in five games to the Predators just a few months ago.

Guess Holland really wowed him.

Now we just have to land Girardi. Kronwall - Girardi Quincey - White Ericsson - Smith Kindl Christmas.

It's decent enough, I suppose.