Article: The Wild Are Slipping Down the Central Division Rankings

[IllicitFive]

29 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

argh i understand that he walks and we get nothing! that was sarcasm my friend. i been saying given the state of things - he will surely walk and we will start thinking about shipping him out starting this very year (to save us from same Gabby situation), but this is worse! much worse! this is a guy that we could have prioritized, optimize his skill, give him help and showed him that we matter NOW. let me tell you he will not waste his prime years being patient in MN or to be the next mentor for the young underachievers. Kaprizov is a TOP 5 player and will have a chance soon to dictate where he plays. teams would drool over him. what do we do to help our cause? did we give him a C? did we trade for a proven player that would help him NOW? did we show him that we matter? after failing to make the playoffs, we are in the even deeper shit hole. But you think that is fine per course? This is NOT how you manage situation surrounding a player with that much importance to your franchise. to follow same blueprint as one does with expansion team or rebuilding team is not what needed. instead we continue with same path, and pile up middle picks that may or may not be good. notice - GOOD not GREAT. none of them are great. so while you applaude the GM and the scout for picking the next GOOD defender or the next GOOD 2nd pair winger, i'll be a little less incline to do that - because this is done at the expense of Kaprizov. That is the bottom line. We cannot predict what he will do, but to put yourself in the worse situation and not do a single F#cking thing to address the most important priority is insane. Billy and the entire group of his moronic goons should have been fired by now, but same old same old. Let's wait and see - grit buy in OUR guys. F#ck man - i don't care whose guys they are, i just care to see winners. 

fine for your Qs - 

What team has Makar, Orr, Fox and Borque? Your Nhl 24 team? That was sarcasm again. I will refrain from doing that again. But its been a theme that people have been over hyping our prospects for some time now, so let's pump the breaks a bit. Maybe until they play a little? Let's not compare any of our D prospects to proven future hall of famers. 

So yes Fire Billy. Hire ME. I am brilliant. 🍻

And the players you wanted to surround Kap with, while filling a roster and staying under the cap? What would ME have done so different in your mind? From the stuff you post pretty hard to know what's sarcasm and what's not. All of it seems to be under the same nonsense category of "the wild are a trash organization" that you type every time. 

[OldDutchChip]

19 minutes ago, IllicitFive said:

And the players you wanted to surround Kap with, while filling a roster and staying under the cap? What would ME have done so different in your mind? From the stuff you post pretty hard to know what's sarcasm and what's not. All of it seems to be under the same nonsense category of "the wild are a trash organization" that you type every time. 

there are ways to navigate any situation as shown by Kings dealing away an anchor. you just have to give up something to get something. we did nothing. nothing. there is no sarcasm here - just reality. 

nice job quoting me saying "wild are a trash organization" when i have never said that. cheers! you are brilliant. 

[IllicitFive]

8 hours ago, OldDutchChip said:

there are ways to navigate any situation as shown by Kings dealing away an anchor. you just have to give up something to get something. we did nothing. nothing. there is no sarcasm here - just reality. 

nice job quoting me saying "wild are a trash organization" when i have never said that. cheers! you are brilliant. 

Yet you keep ducking answering the question. What ways, if so easy then show and explain. And just giving a summary of your works with the quote, a paraphrase if you will. I couldn't find the Kings with 15 mil in a cap hit. So I will make it easy for you, remove Kopitar and Fiala, together its almost 15 mil. Think they got a cup winning team now? Didn't last year with them.

So lets try this again since you wont answer. What moves should they have made. What moves do YOU want them to make. Who to drop, who to sign/trade for? Since all you have to do is "you just have to give up something to get something" you should be able to lay it out easily and quit avoiding an actual answer, instead of your incessant complaining.

[OldDutchChip]

4 hours ago, IllicitFive said:

Yet you keep ducking answering the question. What ways, if so easy then show and explain. And just giving a summary of your works with the quote, a paraphrase if you will. I couldn't find the Kings with 15 mil in a cap hit. So I will make it easy for you, remove Kopitar and Fiala, together its almost 15 mil. Think they got a cup winning team now? Didn't last year with them.

So lets try this again since you wont answer. What moves should they have made. What moves do YOU want them to make. Who to drop, who to sign/trade for? Since all you have to do is "you just have to give up something to get something" you should be able to lay it out easily and quit avoiding an actual answer, instead of your incessant complaining.

i forgot that Parise was our Kopitar and Suter was our Fiala. make sense when comparing. I was more thinking Parise was our washed up 4th liner and Suter was over hyped, not too physical, goon, that could be easily replaced and was by Middleton. If Parise was in fact a Kopitar then yes, it would be hard - but the that is another variable to the pie - the issue is not just the cap hit, the issue is the player. Would you stop crying if Parise was still on the team and the cap hit was only half the size? But then Parise would do as much benefit to the success of the team as you would. So the player that you loose in the cap hell matters too. I'll let you think this through a bit. 

Fine an example if you need it - 

• Give Captaincy to Kaprizov
• Discuss future plans with Spurgeon, get his list of teams
• Identify players that could help (Tuch, Tkachuk B, Buch, Guentzel, Marchy, Zegras) - each situation is different but you lay out the plan and begin execution
• Along with Spurgeon you need assets. Your assets are (i) current prospects (ii) current and future picks) (iii) young assets that have yet to diminish in value (Rossi)
• For trading - you create a desirable package and go after -- Tuch, Tkachuk, Zegras
• For signing - you do NOT sign Middleton and Trenin and instead use it on Marchy. You may even be able to trade or loose MJ which would mean enough to perhaps get Geuntzel

Does that help? 

Edited July 14 by OldDutchChip

[IllicitFive]

25 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

i forgot that Parise was our Kopitar and Suter was our Fiala. make sense when comparing. I was more thinking Parise was our washed up 4th liner and Suter was over hyped, not too physical, goon, that could be easily replaced and was by Middleton. If Parise was in fact a Kopitar then yes, it would be hard - but the that is another variable to the pie - the issue is not just the cap hit, the issue is the player. Would you stop crying if Parise was still on the team and the cap hit was only half the size? But then Parise would do as much benefit to the success of the team as you would. So the player that you loose in the cap hell matters too. I'll let you think this through a bit. 

Fine an example if you need it - 

• Give Captaincy to Kaprizov
• Discuss future plans with Spurgeon, get his list of teams
• Identify players that could help (Tuch, Tkachuk B, Buch, Guentzel, Marchy, Zegras) - each situation is different but you lay out the plan and begin execution
• Along with Spurgeon you need assets. Your assets are (i) current prospects (ii) current and future picks) (iii) young assets that have yet to diminish in value (Rossi)
• For trading - you create a desirable package and go after -- Tuch, Tkachuk, Zegras
• For signing - you do NOT sign Middleton and Trenin and instead use it on Marchy. You may even be able to trade or loose MJ which would mean enough to perhaps get Geuntzel

Does that help? 

Ok I you clearly cant follow a basic straight line thought. The comparison was cap space, you know that thing you use to pay players. Start off with the close to 15 mil dead cap, thats just fact. Math is hard so we can hold hands. When you have 15 mil dead cap, that is unusable money that you could use to sign players the caliber of Kopitar and Fiala. The release was a move that needed to be made but you have to navigate the repercussions. Pretty simple concept I believe even you can understand. 

Here are the salaries

Tuch 4.75 mil - Also need to be traded for.

Tkatchuk B. 8.2 mil- Also needs to be traded for

Buch - 8 mil - Need to trade for

Guentz - 9 mil

Zegras  - 5.75 - Going to probably need a bigger contract.

Now spurge does have 8 mil hit and mids is 4 so can get tuch and zegras, but now you have 2 open spots on defense you didn't address and again 0 cap space. I will assume you mean J Marchy here who is at 5.5. Well he can replace one of the other 2 but defense is now gutted fully. Trading MJ sounds great, would you take him if another team? I wouldn't so looks like more assests being lost there to unload the contract. You also want to trade for big name players using picks and young guys. Well congrats you have completely gutted the best young talent we have that may turn out to be contributors for a team that has 4 defenders. Well done, you are right, so much smarter than everyone else. Thanks for playing. Play stupid games win stupid prizes I guess. Clearly you have no idea what you are talking about in general. Good for me and anyone else who cares to know going forward.

[mnfaninnc]

21 hours ago, OldDutchChip said:

wild are guaranteed bottom  3 place in their division, perhaps as i pointed out before - they will battle for last place. anyone who is predicting 100+ season is a moron. we are bringing the same goal tending tandem this year. the same horrible pair of goal tenders that yielded below 900 saving percentage. and given that we only have 1.5 lines that can play offense, our goalies will be tested often, so yeah.....

I simply can't accept this and fully disagree. 2 seasons ago we had a pretty good roster and success in the regular season. Playoffs, not so much. But last season we had a lot of injuries and they especially piled up by position at one time which happens but is odd. 

Your analysis is only 1 year deep, and accordingly the goalie tandem sucks because of last year's sv%. I don't think that Fleury will get much better, he may be worse, but Goose should get to .910 in a bounce back year. It's not the .930, but it's also not the .898 either. 

For this team to be successful, down $15m in cap, they will need better than average health, and not have compiled injuries taking out depth at 1 position. They will also need for their guys to hit at cap value or a little above. This is not a big ask. We're not talking career years, we're talking above average. Finally, we need the kids in the lineup to light it up. This is where the risk comes in and as ODC is normal to say- they haven't done anything yet at this level. 

So, what would this look like? Starting from the goalie, he needs to perform like a $4.5m cap 'tender. We need big years out of Faber and Chisholm, and we need above cap years from Brodin (probably defensively), Bogosian, Middleton, and Spurgeon. And, it would be great to minimize the use of Merrill.

From the forwards, Ogie, Dino, Rossi need to kill it. Zuccarello needs to perform better that a $4.2m player. The bottom 6 need to perform (defensively) better than their salaries. Boldy needs to have a $9m season. Health will be important.

A couple of more items are needed: Fix the PK (this is where we make up points ground) and do better in the dot. 

These are very obtainable goals and will put us in the upper 90s in points. Stolen points was the way we got to 100 points the 2 previous years. Last year, points were stolen from us, especially down the stretch coughing up 3rd period leads. This also is a key to getting us in the upper 90s. 

All is not lost here, it doesn't need to be negative. But, if this team comes out and plays similar to last season and deals with the injuries the same way, yeah, the negative outcome is most likely.

[mnfaninnc]

14 hours ago, OldDutchChip said:

jared is 34 i believe so he is getting up there, add to that uncertainty that comes with big injury and other aging benefits - that means he is likely a geezer now

This right here is a correct take. It's not just that Spurgeon is 34, it's that he had 2 major surgeries and is playing at 163. You may not like it, but competitive large players are going to test and see just how good that surgery was. 

Personally, I don't think we're going to get the same Spurgeon back, and it's kind of a shame. I anticipate we will have Spurgeon on LTIR plenty of the rest of this contract and he will come back more a shell of himself. I hope I am wrong.

[OldDutchChip]

12 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

I simply can't accept this and fully disagree. 2 seasons ago we had a pretty good roster and success in the regular season. Playoffs, not so much. But last season we had a lot of injuries and they especially piled up by position at one time which happens but is odd. 

Your analysis is only 1 year deep, and accordingly the goalie tandem sucks because of last year's sv%. I don't think that Fleury will get much better, he may be worse, but Goose should get to .910 in a bounce back year. It's not the .930, but it's also not the .898 either. 

For this team to be successful, down $15m in cap, they will need better than average health, and not have compiled injuries taking out depth at 1 position. They will also need for their guys to hit at cap value or a little above. This is not a big ask. We're not talking career years, we're talking above average. Finally, we need the kids in the lineup to light it up. This is where the risk comes in and as ODC is normal to say- they haven't done anything yet at this level. 

So, what would this look like? Starting from the goalie, he needs to perform like a $4.5m cap 'tender. We need big years out of Faber and Chisholm, and we need above cap years from Brodin (probably defensively), Bogosian, Middleton, and Spurgeon. And, it would be great to minimize the use of Merrill.

From the forwards, Ogie, Dino, Rossi need to kill it. Zuccarello needs to perform better that a $4.2m player. The bottom 6 need to perform (defensively) better than their salaries. Boldy needs to have a $9m season. Health will be important.

A couple of more items are needed: Fix the PK (this is where we make up points ground) and do better in the dot. 

These are very obtainable goals and will put us in the upper 90s in points. Stolen points was the way we got to 100 points the 2 previous years. Last year, points were stolen from us, especially down the stretch coughing up 3rd period leads. This also is a key to getting us in the upper 90s. 

All is not lost here, it doesn't need to be negative. But, if this team comes out and plays similar to last season and deals with the injuries the same way, yeah, the negative outcome is most likely.

I simply can't accept this and fully disagree. 2 seasons ago we had a pretty good roster and success in the regular season. you don't have to accept it or even agree with it, but its a fact. there are a lot of unknowns and over hyping for this season. our goalie tandem is the worse one we EVER had and one injury to the big three (Ek, Kap, Boldy) and we immediately become THE worst team in the league. So yeah if all breaks right then maybe we can go for that 2nd wild card, if there are some hiccups - then we plummet

[OldDutchChip]

42 minutes ago, IllicitFive said:

Ok I you clearly cant follow a basic straight line thought. The comparison was cap space, you know that thing you use to pay players. Start off with the close to 15 mil dead cap, thats just fact. Math is hard so we can hold hands. When you have 15 mil dead cap, that is unusable money that you could use to sign players the caliber of Kopitar and Fiala. The release was a move that needed to be made but you have to navigate the repercussions. Pretty simple concept I believe even you can understand. 

Here are the salaries

Tuch 4.75 mil - Also need to be traded for.

Tkatchuk B. 8.2 mil- Also needs to be traded for

Buch - 8 mil - Need to trade for

Guentz - 9 mil

Zegras  - 5.75 - Going to probably need a bigger contract.

Now spurge does have 8 mil hit and mids is 4 so can get tuch and zegras, but now you have 2 open spots on defense you didn't address and again 0 cap space. I will assume you mean J Marchy here who is at 5.5. Well he can replace one of the other 2 but defense is now gutted fully. Trading MJ sounds great, would you take him if another team? I wouldn't so looks like more assests being lost there to unload the contract. You also want to trade for big name players using picks and young guys. Well congrats you have completely gutted the best young talent we have that may turn out to be contributors for a team that has 4 defenders. Well done, you are right, so much smarter than everyone else. Thanks for playing. Play stupid games win stupid prizes I guess. Clearly you have no idea what you are talking about in general. Good for me and anyone else who cares to know going forward.

you clearly cant follow a basic straight line thought

Math is hard so we can hold hands

Pretty simple concept I believe even you can understand

Play stupid games win stupid prizes I guess. Clearly you have no idea what you are talking about in general. Good for me and anyone else who cares to know going forward.

GO F#CK OFF GENIUS 🍻 or learn to read, analyze, and only then comment. it'll help you in life too. 

[Will D. Ness]

6 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

So yeah if all breaks right then maybe we can go for that 2nd wild card, if there are some hiccups - then we plummet

That pretty much sums it up.  I guess you are an optimist.  😀

[mnfaninnc]

1 hour ago, OldDutchChip said:

Fine an example if you need it - 

• Give Captaincy to Kaprizov
• Discuss future plans with Spurgeon, get his list of teams
• Identify players that could help (Tuch, Tkachuk B, Buch, Guentzel, Marchy, Zegras) - each situation is different but you lay out the plan and begin execution
• Along with Spurgeon you need assets. Your assets are (i) current prospects (ii) current and future picks) (iii) young assets that have yet to diminish in value (Rossi)
• For trading - you create a desirable package and go after -- Tuch, Tkachuk, Zegras
• For signing - you do NOT sign Middleton and Trenin and instead use it on Marchy. You may even be able to trade or loose MJ which would mean enough to perhaps get Geuntzel

Ok, if I'm reading this right, you are going down a step path where not everything can be done, but the priority is on the upper dot. So, you would 1st need to figure out Spurgeon and his contract. I think the identifying players that can help already happened and they were just too expensive or the other team wouldn't even listen (B. Tkachuk). 

Marchessault was the only free agent option after everything cleared. Could Guerin have been in on that? Maybe, but he would eventually have to waive Johansson and Gaudreau and not sign Trenin. For what we really needed, was Trenin or Marchessault the better fit? I would say Trenin might be with the caveat of Heinzy knowing him, and him knowing the new system. 

Would Marchessault have had chemistry with a line? You could have tried the minions line with Marchy-Rossi-Zuccy. I think that is unknown. Also, would you have to sign Marchy for too long? That is a definite possibility! Leipold is not a guy with the same payroll drive as the Vegas owner. He doesn't bury a lot on LTIR. In fact, he's used to only having to pay the basement when the cap suggests he's spending all the way to the ceiling.

I am in on Tuch completely, and perhaps we can still make that happen. He is a missing piece that would really help out line 2. I would make Yurov untouchable, same with Buium and The Wall. Who else do you like? They might take Heidt, and I think that's a fair deal, we probably have to add some draft capital or another lower prospect. Hunt might also be that guy. Do they have a large bodied defensive prospect in Buffalo, or could you pry Mattias Samuelsson loose? To me, that would be a blockbuster.

[OldDutchChip]

3 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

Ok, if I'm reading this right, you are going down a step path where not everything can be done, but the priority is on the upper dot. So, you would 1st need to figure out Spurgeon and his contract. I think the identifying players that can help already happened and they were just too expensive or the other team wouldn't even listen (B. Tkachuk). 

Marchessault was the only free agent option after everything cleared. Could Guerin have been in on that? Maybe, but he would eventually have to waive Johansson and Gaudreau and not sign Trenin. For what we really needed, was Trenin or Marchessault the better fit? I would say Trenin might be with the caveat of Heinzy knowing him, and him knowing the new system. 

Would Marchessault have had chemistry with a line? You could have tried the minions line with Marchy-Rossi-Zuccy. I think that is unknown. Also, would you have to sign Marchy for too long? That is a definite possibility! Leipold is not a guy with the same payroll drive as the Vegas owner. He doesn't bury a lot on LTIR. In fact, he's used to only having to pay the basement when the cap suggests he's spending all the way to the ceiling.

I am in on Tuch completely, and perhaps we can still make that happen. He is a missing piece that would really help out line 2. I would make Yurov untouchable, same with Buium and The Wall. Who else do you like? They might take Heidt, and I think that's a fair deal, we probably have to add some draft capital or another lower prospect. Hunt might also be that guy. Do they have a large bodied defensive prospect in Buffalo, or could you pry Mattias Samuelsson loose? To me, that would be a blockbuster.

right so each had their own path perhaps but those are some names i would at least try to go for. Marchy was a free agent and perhaps needed a bit more to entice him to join us, but i think he would make for an amazing trip with EK and Kap. 

Tuch would also be wonderful addition. 

Guentzel is expensive but thats where you can actually use some out of norm thinking which may require a spurge "dump" for minimal take back and we need to potentially sweeten it up with a pick. 

overall it was doable, it just wasn't even tried. Your targets are great too, but it would require a smart GM with progressive, aggressive and agile thinking - Billy is none of that, hence we are stuck with Trenin, similar extensions (midds) and no change to Goalie tandem (remember - worse in the league and MAF is now 54?)

[mnfaninnc]

16 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

So yeah if all breaks right then maybe we can go for that 2nd wild card, if there are some hiccups - then we plummet

This is the definition of competitive. Competitive is within a playoff seeding with 5 games to play. That is exactly what Guerin promised us through the dead cap years. A Competitive team. A competitive team is somewhere between 13-17 in NHL rank. 

So, if injuries happen, or if our goalie tandem impersonates Swiss cheese, yeah, we're in trouble. It did work for 3 years, however!

[mnfaninnc]

2 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

no change to Goalie tandem (remember - worse in the league and MAF is now 54?)

His shoulders are slumping, he now stands 5'2".

[OldDutchChip]

1 minute ago, mnfaninnc said:

This is the definition of competitive. Competitive is within a playoff seeding with 5 games to play. That is exactly what Guerin promised us through the dead cap years. A Competitive team. A competitive team is somewhere between 13-17 in NHL rank. 

So, if injuries happen, or if our goalie tandem impersonates Swiss cheese, yeah, we're in trouble. It did work for 3 years, however!

unfortunately i feel like we are below 17th this season. but maybe a miracle run happens. 🍻

[FredJohnson]

The Wild Are Slipping Down the Central Division Rankings

Whose rankings?

We WAY outperformed our talent 2 years ago. That set up the front office and national media for the letdown last year. 

[IllicitFive]

32 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

you clearly cant follow a basic straight line thought

Math is hard so we can hold hands

Pretty simple concept I believe even you can understand

Play stupid games win stupid prizes I guess. Clearly you have no idea what you are talking about in general. Good for me and anyone else who cares to know going forward.

GO F#CK OFF GENIUS 🍻 or learn to read, analyze, and only then comment. it'll help you in life too. 

Haha name calling all you got left? Pretty sure my math is sound and following your plans you created a team of 4 defenders and 0 cap and all your best future assets gone. My brother in christ you'd be disaster as a GM. Break out a calculator and add some numbers, take a breath, and try again. Big numbers but it's only addition and subtraction, I have faith in you rubbing two synapses together to make maybe 1 coherent thought. Well maybe not, but you can try it. Couldn't show where, by numbers and current contracts, I am wrong here so resort to telling me that. Haha I hear the circus music but look like you showed up in clown makeup early. 

[FredJohnson]

On 7/13/2024 at 12:21 PM, Will D. Ness said:

Secondary scoring is TBD.

Special teams is TBD.

Neither can be any worse, am I right?? We'll improve those and lose in the 1st round to one of the teams that plays in the Western finals.

[OldDutchChip]

22 hours ago, IllicitFive said:

Haha name calling all you got left? Pretty sure my math is sound and following your plans you created a team of 4 defenders and 0 cap and all your best future assets gone. My brother in christ you'd be disaster as a GM. Break out a calculator and add some numbers, take a breath, and try again. Big numbers but it's only addition and subtraction, I have faith in you rubbing two synapses together to make maybe 1 coherent thought. Well maybe not, but you can try it. Couldn't show where, by numbers and current contracts, I am wrong here so resort to telling me that. Haha I hear the circus music but look like you showed up in clown makeup early. 

i think you were a bit fiesty first buddy. so again go [FLY A KITE]. 

Edited July 15 by Tony Abbott
Heated Language

[IllicitFive]

4 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

i think you were a bit fiesty first buddy. so again go F#ck off. 

Grow up kid (based on how you seem to handle yourself, mentally anyway) I greet idiocy and pure complaining with feistiness because there is nothing there to respect. I call it like I see it, and gave you every opportunity to prove yourself, but couldn't rise to that occasion. 

[OldDutchChip]

6 minutes ago, IllicitFive said:

Grow up kid (based on how you seem to handle yourself, mentally anyway) I greet idiocy and pure complaining with feistiness because there is nothing there to respect. I call it like I see it, and gave you every opportunity to prove yourself, but couldn't rise to that occasion. 

i appreciate it father. again go F#ck yourself. 

[LittleBallofHate]

This is what I keep thinking, we can't afford to bring in a big-$$, big-name... Well, we could, but most scenarios lead to a rental d/t cap space. Hard pass on that. I liked Tuch alot, but overpaying to get him back would torch me personally, regardless of which regime idiotically sent him packing as an insurance-piece.

& for every Vegas example (a team that got exceptional benefits for expansion) there are probably 5 teams that don't fair so well with that strategy, odds are not in your favor if you want the Wild to copycat them.

[TheGoosesAreLooses]

On 7/13/2024 at 11:21 AM, Will D. Ness said:

Coaching should be implemented better and outside of Zucc and Fleury, we don't have any aging talent in decline.

Foligno? Gaudreau? Bogosian? Merill? Spurg? Brodin? Mojo?

All these guys are over 30 and should be expected to decline. Not saying none of them will bounce back this year just saying that the typical trend is for a regressive decline after 30. Expecting these players to have their best seasons or match them is a losing bet.

[IllicitFive]

10 minutes ago, TheGoosesAreLooses said:

Foligno? Gaudreau? Bogosian? Merill? Spurg? Brodin? Mojo?

All these guys are over 30 and should be expected to decline. Not saying none of them will bounce back this year just saying that the typical trend is for a regressive decline after 30. Expecting these players to have their best seasons or match them is a losing bet.

While they may not have their best seasons or match them I think the hope is a progression back to the mean. With the injuries that everyone but Bogo, Merill, and Mojo had, I think its fair to hope that they won't have that again this year and hopefully be more productive. Hopefully as they decline, which I am hoping is slower than last years injury mess may show. I believe most can agree the best option would be young guys coming in, earning a spot in the NHL, and pushing some of these aging guys down the line up to 3rd and 4th line roles. A 4th line a Moose, Gaudreau and TBD doesn't seem to bad. Less minutes, can play physical, and not expected to add as much offensively. 

[OldDutchChip]

23 minutes ago, IllicitFive said:

While they may not have their best seasons or match them I think the hope is a progression back to the mean. With the injuries that everyone but Bogo, Merill, and Mojo had, I think its fair to hope that they won't have that again this year and hopefully be more productive. Hopefully as they decline, which I am hoping is slower than last years injury mess may show. I believe most can agree the best option would be young guys coming in, earning a spot in the NHL, and pushing some of these aging guys down the line up to 3rd and 4th line roles. A 4th line a Moose, Gaudreau and TBD doesn't seem to bad. Less minutes, can play physical, and not expected to add as much offensively. 

Genius is back! Oh let's see what he has for us kids - 

• progression to the mean - for who? for the team for a specific player or for this group? assuming its these guys -> Foligno? Gaudreau? Bogosian? Merill? Spurg? Brodin? Mojo? What is the "mean" for them? please tell us what is the mean for Bogosian? is that being one of the worse Defenders in history? what is the mean for Merill haha seriously what is it? or Gaudreau 😜? or maybe expand on what you meant re Spurge? you know he was injured so it wasn't a down year due to performance, it was injury that limited his play, so maybe expand how the injuries + age may contribute to his return to you mysterious mean or perhaps failure to return to that mean? Brodin had an off year or did you just list him by accident? i thought he was good? but ok. Mojo's mean is what exactly - i think he is as consistent as he always been for us? You are surprising me with a lot of noise without substance! i thought better of you papa
• Guadreau playing 4th line because he is physical? do you actually watch the game or just pick the players at random and assign them to a role? maybe try Guadreau with Kap next? seems like something you would suggest!

🍻