Clearly we have struggled to score recently. Clearly we have needed another top 9 forward all season. And as we continue to scratch Miller and continue to wait on making a deal I am getting angry. We cannot score, so let's scratch Miller and play Glass, Stemp, and Fast over him. It is ridiculous what AV is doing on this one. It is the one thing that pisses me off with AV. Miller clearly has things to learn about being a two way player, and being responsible in his own zone, but you cannot tell me playing Glass, Stemp, and Fast over him is logical in anyway. When we have Hags/Moore/Fast on the 3rd line and Stemp/Hayes/Glass on the 4th line...YOU HAVE ISSUES. Wake up on that one AV. Play Miller on the 3rd line every game and stop the BS AV. We need the scoring. And BTW...he helps on the 2nd PP unit as well, you know the PP that has really struggled recently. We have needed a top 9 forward all season, yet Sather sits and waits. The trade DL is 30 days from today, March 2nd, and the time to strike is now. The team we have right now will lose in the 2nd round to the Isles. We need more forward depth. We need another top 9 forward. It has been crystal clear since the start of the season. Get off your lazy as* Sather and get something done. Don't make this a repeat of 2012. And we need more than just Santorelli. So don't add a player like that and be like okay away we go. We need a better top 9 than that OR we need to combine a Santorelli with a 4th line upgrade like getting Winnik as well. Sather has the pressure on him to get it done I believe. This team as is cannot win a cup. He knows it inside. We need more forward depth with some size, let's see if he can pull it off.
I get less angry as I get older. I'm so used to this crap by now. Sather will probably pull some deal out of his ass that nobody expects.
Very true...LOL. I also think Sather will do something, I just don't know if that something will be a good enough something, or some smaller move like adding Santorelli and saying okay we are good. That is the question to me.
Hunwick has been respectable but let's be honest, if they're really going to contend this spring they also need to upgrade that spot too. It may seem unnecessary but they do.
The team is top 4 in goals against every single season. Focus on the forwards. If you can upgrade the 6th dman spot AFTER you add the forward depth that is a 100000000000000% must, fine, but that is way down on the list of importance. Not sure why you don't see that. By far adding forward depth is much more important.
They can't afford to give any more 1st round picks away. The 2013 draft might end up saving them because perhaps three of those picks could end up being guys that would be taken in the first round if they did it over today. However, they need to re-stock the farm system.
And they traded for Hayes as well, a 1st round pick. I know your laser focus is 2, 3, 4 years down the road dump, and that is fine, we just have a different view and have for a long time. With Hank at 32. Nash now 30. Other important guys 30 or close to it, we need to win now...within the next 2 or 3 years. I am not worried about a 1st round pick in 2016 that will help us in 2018, I cannot be worried about that now...when Hank will be 35. We have two 2nd round picks this summer, deal one of them. Be smart about it for sure, I wouldn't deal the real top kids, Miller included, but I would deal some others. I would deal a future 1st if I had to. Who knows what picks will become. We have a good track record in the 3rd, 4th, 5th rounds, so having a middle to late 1st isn't the end all be all. At some point you need to throw caution to the wind. Sather and co have done a good job setting us up with some solid youth, now be smart and finish off this team.
Your view is sell everything to go for it now. It's stupid. The odds of going for it now moves ending up with a championship is incredibly low. Almost all teams fail doing that. Teams win more championships sucking for 5 years like the Islanders and Penguins and drafting in the top 5, 5 years in a row then they do making trades at the deadline. Those go for it now moves almost never work. St. Louis almost did but in the end, it didn't and it cost the Rangers 2 first round picks. You are always better off fixing your team in the draft than with FA's and trades. You can tinker at the deadline but ultimately, almost all big deadline moves are destined for failure. It can't be disputed.
Look at what you just said there dump, that is why your way has zero shot of working. You want to suck for 5 years and get a bunch of top 5 picks, okay choose that path. Your path to stockpile 1st round picks in the 20's is just not a winning one. When you are as close as we are the CLEAR path is to go all in for it SMARTLY. You always choose to ignore that part of my opinion. Going all in to me doesn't mean deal every 1st round pick. Doesn't mean deal all the good kids. It means deal one of the 2nd rounders we have. Maybe deal the 2016 1st rounder depending on the return. Deal Fast and McIlrath if the market is there. It does NOT mean deal Kreider, or Duclair, or Miller, or Buch. If doesn't mean deal every 1st round pick. The path you choose is the one that just has us tread water and be very good, but never the best team that is the fav to win a cup. Hank is 32 man, you have already started to question him, I don't but also know maybe he has 3 years left at this level...tops 4, this is the time. How many times has Hank been our savior over his career. After he drops his level where will we be? Stockpiling picks in the 20's won't help us win during Hank's prime. That is the opposite of what we should be doing IMO. Dealing for Hayes last year means we had a 1st round pick in this past draft even though we dealt a pick that was the 2nd to last of the 1st round, which is a crapshoot pick anyway. We have two 2nd's this draft. You always say man we are great at picking in later rounds, so why are you so hung up on this stockpile picks in the 20's stance? We have disagreed about this for years now. Maybe if we would have gone all in we would have a cup in 2012 or last year...who knows. And you saying most big DL moves fail is funny, of course they do because only ONE team can win a cup, so law of averages dictates most will fail. BUT I do know without finishing with a top 5 pick for a few years or without bold DL moves it is hard to win. Go look at the Hawks (a bunch of high picks) or the Kings (added Carter in 2012 and Gabby in 2014) for examples. We simply disagree. I don't have to knock you or be rude about it, it is okay to disagree and be civil about it, but we do disagree. I would smartly go all in now, unless we plan to stink for many years and stockpile top 5 picks. We have a lot of youth that will keep us decent for a while, now we need to be smart and go all in.
Chuck i realize getting a forward is most important but i think you're also downplaying the need for rounding out the D too. Who that might be i don't know, i thought Petry but he's RH so it may not be a fit.
No problem making moves to make a run. You don't sell your farm or future to do it. That's just stupid. You have to have a constant supply of prospects making your team in the cap era. If you don't, you'll have 5-6 good years and then 5 years where you f'n suck. If you don't have draft picks, those 5 years turn into a decade of sucking.
And we totally agree. Like I said you have to be smart about it. I don't recall saying sell your farm or future. I think I actually said you don't deal the top kids I mentioned. But I don't have a problem dealing one of our 2nd rounders. And I don't have an issue dealing the 2016 1st rounder, which will be a pick in the 20's unless we fall apart next season, for a very good return. As for the D, I downplay it because we do not need a dman to round out the D. I disagree with you. We are ALWAYS near the best in goals against, we don't need a dman. You want to tell me try and upgrade the 6th dman spot if we can cheaply, sure go for it. But no way would I spend chips that could help us improve the forwards for an upgrade at the 6th dman spot. We simply disagree on the need for D sc.
If they got someone of real use that maybe was even signed next year too i'd probably give up both 2nd's, considering ours and TB will both be low in the round. We have enough 2nd round types in the system to offset that so use the picks to get the guy you want. Problem is they're so close to the cap a roster player needs to go the other way.
I think where we disagree mainly dump is we are treading water right now. We are very good, but not the best or a clear SC fav when you name 3 or 4 teams. We also disagree because I don't view picks in the 20's as game changers. Sure you can get lucky there, but we are not talking about top 5 or even top 10 picks. I view what we gave up for MSL as very little pick wise considering it was pick 29, AND we get a 2nd rounder this year, AND we added Hayes which is like a 1st round pick. So I don't think you build SC winners with a bunch of picks in the 20's. Just my opinion.
Last comment on the D, could we get an upgrade from Hunwick to someone a little better in the 6 slot...sure. But you said it yourself sc, we don't have a lot of cap room. We don't have unlimited chips for trading. And we have a much bigger need at forward. So upgrading at the 6th D slot is low on my list of priorities. Sure go ahead and get someone if you can without taking up a lot of cap space, or using chips that can be used to get an extra top 9 forward (the MUCH bigger need), but I don't view it as a huge need. As far as 6th dmen go, Hunwick is fine IMO.
Hate to say it but look at Vancouver when they lost to Boston. That team was similar to the Rangers last year, good depth, good goalie, good defense, but they didn't win. Luongo was a top goalie for years and he lost. Not every great player is destined to win. Hank might never win one
Dump mellowing in his old age. It would be hilarious after all these years if we ever got together for a live round table discussion.
