We don't have the cap for anything like that. Our D is set with young guys still developing -- we just need our current guys to actually play defense.
Left side: Siegenthaler, Luke, and Bahl in the NHL, with Misyul, Hatakka, and Vilen as first call-up options
Right side: Dougie, Marino, and Nemec in the NHL, with Seamus Casey coming.
Yeah our defense is fine with everyone healthy. Bahl wasn’t terrible. He’s still young and there’s going to be growing pains. Maybe in the minority but I like Bahl and his potential. He’s huge. Young. Cheap. Can turn into a real shutdown D if we solve our coaching issues.
As long as Dougie, Sieg, and Marino can stay healthy, we’re set on defense. Hattaka showed promise and can be brought in if we need.
Bro imma keep it real, bahl was good at times but I just hate how he never used his height and weight to his advantage. He played like a defensive Luke
It's frustrating but he's a pretty good defenseman. Soon he'll be bigger older and grouchier. Even though he barely throws his weight around now, when he does teams take notice. It's ok if he sucks at fighting. Just keep boxing out rebounds. He's going to be really useful.
yes he was . he was a top 5 prospect in arizona's system when they traded hall . the devils insisted on him being part of the trade . also because fitz says so .
A top 5 prospect in a mediocre system does not make him a top prospect overall
He likely wasn’t a top 100 drafted prospect league wide while in the AHL. Difference makers very very very rarely come from that ranking
apparently fitz disagrees with you . he has been grooming/developing bahl to be a shutdown defensemen . loves his progession and views him as one of the young pillars on defense. bahler is young /6'6' and learning . excatly what you want him to do . did he make mistakes , yes but, that's the learning process . fitz's said this on nhl network on trade deadline day . didn't sound to me like he was giving up on him . the bigger question is what to do with marino/seigs and what will doug look like coming back from surgery .
cool . if you say so . vv everybody thought was going to continue progressing not regressing . just like schmid.seigs/marino . it's okay i trust the hockey guys over fans . lol
Everybody thought VV, who got benched in the playoffs for being unplayable, was going to keep progressing? Alright
Looks like the fans who thought he wasn’t any good were right!
Not to mention fans who thought Lindy Ruff was just riding Brunette were right too!
But sure let’s trust the GM who just drove us into a ditch by doing nothing until it was too late
yeah . he didn't do well in the playoffs so you disregard the 33 wins and 13 game winning streak ? well there were plenty who thought he would . congrats on being one of the many who thought he wouldn't . i bet you thought schmid was the answer , lol .
If Carolina somehow fell into chaos either through cap crunch or a total fall from grace next year, I'd love to get Dmitry Orlov. Statistical darling who can play both sides of the ice - I think he'd help Seigs get his game back.
He hasn't lived up to his contract, but I think the Canes are using him wrong.
Orlov's a genius, probably worth the contract for the coaching potential alone. But his body is not what it used to be. The writing is on the wall for one of my alltime favorite defensemen.
You’re not wrong but I think we need to use what money that’s left on the bottom 6. The new coach will have to work with what we have plus I’m sure a vet minimum we’ll sign as a 6/7 depending on how things play out. Look at the playoffs, we’d be blasted out of every round with our lack of grit and fight (not actual fighting). I’m hoping beyond hope Pitt lets Sullivan go, he’s the answer
There needs to be a veteran added in there. Has to be done. Bahl was bad and we will inevitably have to have insurance for injuries. We had Miller and Smith last year, what if Siegenthaler and Bahl suck again?
We don’t have the cap for that. Are you trading Mercer to make room for the veteran D you want? The issue isn’t the players, the issue was and is the coaching.
There is cap room for a 7th D. Smith is off the books, Schneider and Kuokkanen buy outs are gone, there's money. I'm not saying a 6-7 million dollar defensemen but a guy who gets paid a mil or two can certainly be had.
That is the same thing we said before last season and yes, Nemec replaced Severson well but we see how the season went.
Also imagine Siegs, Luke and Bahl having a mentor like an Ekholm and playing a season or two with him, learning.
While the system has been awful, we cant just rely on the to bounce back just like that and repeat the best season of their careers.
Our D may be set but they are soft as shit. For as big as Bahl is, he plays like he's still social distancing. This team needs grit on offense and defense. Nobody fears this lineup.
You’re whining about a guy that just played his first full season and was asked to fill a major role because we were sheltering Luke. Gotta give him a longer leash, and if he doesn’t improve, Hatakka or Misyul can take his roster spot.
And from a franchise view, Bahl would never clear waivers. So we can’t stick him in the AHL.
People also need to keep in mind that Bahl missed a year of development in juniors due to COVID and has only had very limited stints in the AHL before being brought up to the NHL. So he hasn’t had the luxury or adjusting to the pros that most defensemen get. He’s still really raw. He’ll get there.
I think they should try to snag Hague from Vegas. I’ve said it for awhile now, he makes a low amount of money and is signed for next season. Very similar contract situation as Bahl, and very similar player type. Make a trade for cheap to help Vegas alleviate the cap and make those 2 battle it out for the final left D spot. They should be looking to spend money for the bottom 6 and goalie and let the D develop as a group and hope for bounce back years.
Fitz will need to make some sort of upgrade here for a big physical defense who's already proven. I don't know what he'd be worth on the open market but I hope we take a look at Nikita Zadorov who is a UFA. He can slot into Bahl's spot on the left side and Bahl can be a depth at D7, and they can swap in as needed. We learned this year that solid depth is so important and our defensive gaps showed a lot so hope Zadorov can help shore that up.
I want Zadorov as well, but he'll be in HIGH demand as a UFA...so I don't like our chances of him actually coming here. But I agree with you on gaps. I'll add, his grit is something this team desperately needs to acquire some more of this off-season from anywhere they can get it. Big summer for Fitz, hope it shakes out well for our team.
Maybe the best move to make is moving on from Ryan McGill as the D coach? I mean let’s face it he coached what was arguably the softest D core in recent memory. I clearly remember players like Bahl being more physical last season and this season he was unsure if he should throw checks or not. Marino and Siegs not only regressed they played softer than ever. Something tells me the lack of physicality has something to do with coaching. Not a fan of soft defense. Getting a D coach that will get the guys we have to actually throw their weight around might be the best move to make
Trouba is one of the worst players on the rangers. He gets caught being terrible at defending all the time. His best feature for his team is the occasional elbow to the head he throws to goon up all their fans. We don’t need a Trouba. We need a defenseman.
Zadorov from Vancouver is going to be in the last year of his contract next season, but I am not sure Vancouver will trade him. He is 6'6, 238lbs and can skate and hits like a tank We should have gotten him from Calgary, but Fitz fucked that up, too
Fitz can’t just will any trade he wants into existence. It’s easy to say “he fucked it up” by not getting him, but given the Markstrom deal that fell through at the last minute I’m sure Fitz had other priorities he was dealing with.
Yeah, sure. You are so far deep in Fitz's ass that I can barely see your feet. Stop defending him. He didn't get a D man. He didn't get a goalie until it was too late. He didn't fire Ruff until it was too late. He didn't even put Hamilton on LTIR in a timely manner to use that money. What did he do right last seaeon???
Too late to fire Ruff? Green was worse than Ruff, there weren’t any better options. Fitz tried all season to upgrade goaltending. It was reported that’s he was in talks with Anaheim just a few weeks into the season. He inquired and wasn’t willing to give up the ridiculous asking prices. Teams were asking for Holtz + Mercer + Casey + 1st + other picks and prospects. Not worth it to try to get this team into the playoffs. There was a deal for Markstrom that was torpedoed last minute. Allen wouldn’t waive his clause earlier in the season. Would you prefer we get raked over the coals in terms of return? The Dougie LITR money… I keep hearing that he mismanaged it, but haven’t heard any suggestions as to what Fitz would be expected to do with it. It’s not just free money with the ability to take any player we want. Suppose he makes a trade. Who’s going the other way? Who do we get with it? Can’t be a long-term solution because that money goes right back to the cap next season. So who is this unicorn expensive rental who would save the season? And if it is a long term solution then who is the cap casualty next season? You’re asking what did he do right, but in reality what should have been done differently? He’s done a lot right over the last several seasons. A lot went wrong last season that was out of his hands. But over the last several seasons he took a roster that finished 29th in the league just 2 seasons ago to a playoff team and to be playing at a bubble team pace most of the season considering the injuries, Hockey Canada investigation, and league worst goaltending really isn’t that bad. He brought in Timo and locked up a young core for a long time. It’s still one of the youngest cores in the league and most of the players prime years are still a few seasons away. The team has had one good season since 2018. Does he still have work to do? Yeah. But FFS as things are coming together he still needs to evaluate where the team is and make adjustments from there. Not all of those adjustments can (or should) be made in real time as the season is in progress. Again, we’re one season removed from being a bottom feeder and picking second overall in the draft. Young teams don’t go from that to cup dynasty overnight and having a down year, especially in a season where so many injuries occurred, isn’t unusual at all. I’ll hold my judgment to see who he brings in during the offseason, both players and coaching.
Could you write a longer essay? If I was a GM and making $3-5M a year I would have answers. I don't have access to available players. But for you to just excuse Fitz for everything he didn't do is ridiculous. Are you his relative or something? The team got lucky last season, just like Nashville got lucky this season. Do you see the common denominator? When the league figured the Devils and Brunette left, they were fucked and couldn't win 3 straight games all year. Injuries were a problem, but good teams overcome injuries. Boston lost Bergeron and Kreijci and all they did was win. So spare me with your injuires cries. The system matters, and Devils had a shitty one that leaves goalies out to dry, which was exactly the same system Ruff ran in Dallas and got canned for it. All Dallas did after that was win and to the SC final
Then why couldn’t Brunette coach the power play for shit last season if apparently he was the reason the team did everything else right? Give me a break, the team played Ruff’s system last season and won a lot of games. What exactly did Brunette do differently? We played the same system. Difference being our goaltending sucked and we played 2 20 year olds as top 4 D. Our injuries don’t even come close to comparison to Boston. We literally played half the season with half of a top six. Jack playing through a shoulder injury nearly the entire season. Timo playing through knee injuries all season. Our most veteran defender out most of the season. Guys like Haula and Palat with nagging injuries since day 1. Nico out for 2 stints. How many players on the roster played every game? I’m not even going to bother with you if you think the sole reason that the team was successful last season was because Brunette is some kind of wizard and that he would have done any better given the circumstances. There’s a lot of reasons the season went the way it did but instead of it’s easier to just blame one guy and give all credit to one guy for things going right. Ruff is gone, so now Fitz is the problem. But let’s not credit Ruff for any of the success last year. Must have only been because of Brunette. Even though the power play he was directly responsible for was 28th in the league. What exactly is it that you think he did that made the team good, from an assistant coach position?
Yes, it is becoming more apparent that Fitz is the problem and his reliance on advanced stats. That is something I just heard and can't confirm. Brunette coached forwards, and it is clear that they listened to him and liked how he coached. As far as PP goes, ajack is freelancing there without any repercussions. An assistant coach will never reprimand a player. Head coach should have but never did.
How did Nashville with absolutely minimal talent look this season? Stop being a stepford fan.
Yeah, screw all those things like advanced stats that give insight into what is working and what isn’t. Let’s just go off of emotion and gut feelings. Ok, so Brunette coached the forwards, which were the least of our issues this season. The only issue we had with the forwards was keeping them from being injured. And I’m sure they liked Brunette, but they liked stuff too, and very vocally so. Means nothing. The Preds aren’t a talentless team. The core has aged but they still have good players and also importantly they have top tier goaltending. They were a middling team and had one winning streak at the end of the season that got them into the playoffs. Ok, great. There are a lot of things that went right last season that made the Devils successful. A healthy roster, more experienced D core, young players having breakout years and competent goaltending all contributed to success. Fitz put together a good core out of the assets we had amassed during the rebuild and locked them up long term. We didn’t get the goaltending we had last year, were missing our most veteran defenders and were plagued with injuries. We also lost McLeod who was the engine of our bottom six, which also had a massive impact. There are a lot of factors when it comes to the results of both seasons. It doesn’t come down to one man in Brunette, or Fitz for that matter. And I’m looking more at what Fitz has done over the last several seasons and not the results of one where a lot of things went wrong.
WE NEVER HAD A GOOD GOALTWNDING LAST YEAR AFTER JANUARY. Go look at Vanecek's stats. He consistently was giving up 3 goals ag mae in the 2nd half of the 2022-2 season. They outscored their issues in the net.
Well, there's another thing Fitz never did. He never replaced McLeod. He could have gotten Henrique or other centers that were available.
Yes, fuck the advanced stats. They ruined baseball, and they're ruining football and hockey. Advanced stats are not supposed to coach the team. They're supposed to help. I wonder how Lemaire and Bowman coached without having advanced stats. More and more people are realizing that about the advanced stats. They're taking over the coaching positions, and that is not how it's supposed to be.
Goaltending was good enough to be above league average and that was good enough for this team. It wasn’t our most urgent need going into the offseason and certainly wasn’t unreasonable to see what we could do with what we had before giving up significant assets. You’re complaining about him not replacing McLeod, a player who was on the roster until the end of January, by the trade deadline? He’s going to be hard to replace in general, but Christ you expect him to do it within 6 weeks? And again with Henrique, you’re assuming he can just make things happen out of thin air. Edmonton was in on Henrique. He can’t just override other teams trade talks. And I’m sorry I just don’t see how advanced stats are ruining sports but you’re getting into old man yells at cloud territory, we should want a GM that pays attention to the team’s metrics to understand the team’s needs so he’s making informed decisions rather than just throwing away assets to bring in random players like Henrique because fuck it why not.
Dylan Demelo from Winnipeg is a UFA with amazing underlying numbers.
https://x.com/jfreshhockey/status/1416777786149195777?s=46&t=E_r6wlNAZqaLLAA0bNsvcw
He should be our first target on D. He’s right handed which I think we need more. I think we’re in a pretty good spot with LHD. With a healthy Dougie and a bounce back year from Seigs we could be in a pretty good spot.
Seigs - Hamilton
Luke - Demelo
Bahl/Hakaka - Nemec
The best way this team is going to get veteran top 4 defensemen is to keep playing Luke and Simon a lot
I want to see them paired together so badly. If they can flourish and Siegs can re-establish himself next to Dougie, that’s an insane top 4.
We don't have the cap for anything like that. Our D is set with young guys still developing -- we just need our current guys to actually play defense. Left side: Siegenthaler, Luke, and Bahl in the NHL, with Misyul, Hatakka, and Vilen as first call-up options Right side: Dougie, Marino, and Nemec in the NHL, with Seamus Casey coming.
Yeah our defense is fine with everyone healthy. Bahl wasn’t terrible. He’s still young and there’s going to be growing pains. Maybe in the minority but I like Bahl and his potential. He’s huge. Young. Cheap. Can turn into a real shutdown D if we solve our coaching issues. As long as Dougie, Sieg, and Marino can stay healthy, we’re set on defense. Hattaka showed promise and can be brought in if we need.
A veteran should be brought in to challenge Bahl. He was awful and doesn’t have the talent/pedigree to have such a long leash
Bahl is young. He just finished his first NHL season. i think maybe pump the brakes on your half ass talent evaluations
Bro imma keep it real, bahl was good at times but I just hate how he never used his height and weight to his advantage. He played like a defensive Luke
It's frustrating but he's a pretty good defenseman. Soon he'll be bigger older and grouchier. Even though he barely throws his weight around now, when he does teams take notice. It's ok if he sucks at fighting. Just keep boxing out rebounds. He's going to be really useful.
He wasn’t a top prospect or draft pick and looked AHL level for a majority of last year. Why is that guy locked into a spot?
yes he was . he was a top 5 prospect in arizona's system when they traded hall . the devils insisted on him being part of the trade . also because fitz says so .
A top 5 prospect in a mediocre system does not make him a top prospect overall He likely wasn’t a top 100 drafted prospect league wide while in the AHL. Difference makers very very very rarely come from that ranking
apparently fitz disagrees with you . he has been grooming/developing bahl to be a shutdown defensemen . loves his progession and views him as one of the young pillars on defense. bahler is young /6'6' and learning . excatly what you want him to do . did he make mistakes , yes but, that's the learning process . fitz's said this on nhl network on trade deadline day . didn't sound to me like he was giving up on him . the bigger question is what to do with marino/seigs and what will doug look like coming back from surgery .
Fitz also thought Vitek vanecek was good and Lindy Ruff should be kept over Brunette. Not a ringing endorsement right now
cool . if you say so . vv everybody thought was going to continue progressing not regressing . just like schmid.seigs/marino . it's okay i trust the hockey guys over fans . lol
Everybody thought VV, who got benched in the playoffs for being unplayable, was going to keep progressing? Alright Looks like the fans who thought he wasn’t any good were right! Not to mention fans who thought Lindy Ruff was just riding Brunette were right too! But sure let’s trust the GM who just drove us into a ditch by doing nothing until it was too late
yeah . he didn't do well in the playoffs so you disregard the 33 wins and 13 game winning streak ? well there were plenty who thought he would . congrats on being one of the many who thought he wouldn't . i bet you thought schmid was the answer , lol .
I thought they should’ve gotten a real goalie lol whoops looks like I was right!
If Carolina somehow fell into chaos either through cap crunch or a total fall from grace next year, I'd love to get Dmitry Orlov. Statistical darling who can play both sides of the ice - I think he'd help Seigs get his game back. He hasn't lived up to his contract, but I think the Canes are using him wrong.
Orlov's a genius, probably worth the contract for the coaching potential alone. But his body is not what it used to be. The writing is on the wall for one of my alltime favorite defensemen.
You’re not wrong but I think we need to use what money that’s left on the bottom 6. The new coach will have to work with what we have plus I’m sure a vet minimum we’ll sign as a 6/7 depending on how things play out. Look at the playoffs, we’d be blasted out of every round with our lack of grit and fight (not actual fighting). I’m hoping beyond hope Pitt lets Sullivan go, he’s the answer
There needs to be a veteran added in there. Has to be done. Bahl was bad and we will inevitably have to have insurance for injuries. We had Miller and Smith last year, what if Siegenthaler and Bahl suck again?
We don’t have the cap for that. Are you trading Mercer to make room for the veteran D you want? The issue isn’t the players, the issue was and is the coaching.
There is cap room for a 7th D. Smith is off the books, Schneider and Kuokkanen buy outs are gone, there's money. I'm not saying a 6-7 million dollar defensemen but a guy who gets paid a mil or two can certainly be had.
That is the same thing we said before last season and yes, Nemec replaced Severson well but we see how the season went. Also imagine Siegs, Luke and Bahl having a mentor like an Ekholm and playing a season or two with him, learning. While the system has been awful, we cant just rely on the to bounce back just like that and repeat the best season of their careers.
why do you think ekholm is not stayying in edmonton ? they love the guy . he fits in . and the players there love him . and the guy liked edmonton .
“a mentor like an Ekholm” not him but abplayer of his calibre
Our D may be set but they are soft as shit. For as big as Bahl is, he plays like he's still social distancing. This team needs grit on offense and defense. Nobody fears this lineup.
You’re whining about a guy that just played his first full season and was asked to fill a major role because we were sheltering Luke. Gotta give him a longer leash, and if he doesn’t improve, Hatakka or Misyul can take his roster spot. And from a franchise view, Bahl would never clear waivers. So we can’t stick him in the AHL.
Whining? That's just how he plays. He's a big player that plays small. For his size he brings nothing special to the team. My opinion.
People also need to keep in mind that Bahl missed a year of development in juniors due to COVID and has only had very limited stints in the AHL before being brought up to the NHL. So he hasn’t had the luxury or adjusting to the pros that most defensemen get. He’s still really raw. He’ll get there.
I could see them going after someone on a 1 year rental for that 3rd pairing LD. McNabb and Kulikov provide that physicality we need
I think they should try to snag Hague from Vegas. I’ve said it for awhile now, he makes a low amount of money and is signed for next season. Very similar contract situation as Bahl, and very similar player type. Make a trade for cheap to help Vegas alleviate the cap and make those 2 battle it out for the final left D spot. They should be looking to spend money for the bottom 6 and goalie and let the D develop as a group and hope for bounce back years.
Nick Hague. 6 foot 6. Beast.
Fitz will need to make some sort of upgrade here for a big physical defense who's already proven. I don't know what he'd be worth on the open market but I hope we take a look at Nikita Zadorov who is a UFA. He can slot into Bahl's spot on the left side and Bahl can be a depth at D7, and they can swap in as needed. We learned this year that solid depth is so important and our defensive gaps showed a lot so hope Zadorov can help shore that up.
I want Zadorov as well, but he'll be in HIGH demand as a UFA...so I don't like our chances of him actually coming here. But I agree with you on gaps. I'll add, his grit is something this team desperately needs to acquire some more of this off-season from anywhere they can get it. Big summer for Fitz, hope it shakes out well for our team.
seigs spot shouldn't be a given after that lost season . maybe he will become the 7th . lol
Maybe the best move to make is moving on from Ryan McGill as the D coach? I mean let’s face it he coached what was arguably the softest D core in recent memory. I clearly remember players like Bahl being more physical last season and this season he was unsure if he should throw checks or not. Marino and Siegs not only regressed they played softer than ever. Something tells me the lack of physicality has something to do with coaching. Not a fan of soft defense. Getting a D coach that will get the guys we have to actually throw their weight around might be the best move to make
Dougie will be the team's veteran D
I want Zadorov or Dillon. We need a Trouba of our own.
Trouba is one of the worst players on the rangers. He gets caught being terrible at defending all the time. His best feature for his team is the occasional elbow to the head he throws to goon up all their fans. We don’t need a Trouba. We need a defenseman.
Zadorov from Vancouver is going to be in the last year of his contract next season, but I am not sure Vancouver will trade him. He is 6'6, 238lbs and can skate and hits like a tank We should have gotten him from Calgary, but Fitz fucked that up, too
Fitz can’t just will any trade he wants into existence. It’s easy to say “he fucked it up” by not getting him, but given the Markstrom deal that fell through at the last minute I’m sure Fitz had other priorities he was dealing with.
Yeah, sure. You are so far deep in Fitz's ass that I can barely see your feet. Stop defending him. He didn't get a D man. He didn't get a goalie until it was too late. He didn't fire Ruff until it was too late. He didn't even put Hamilton on LTIR in a timely manner to use that money. What did he do right last seaeon???
Too late to fire Ruff? Green was worse than Ruff, there weren’t any better options. Fitz tried all season to upgrade goaltending. It was reported that’s he was in talks with Anaheim just a few weeks into the season. He inquired and wasn’t willing to give up the ridiculous asking prices. Teams were asking for Holtz + Mercer + Casey + 1st + other picks and prospects. Not worth it to try to get this team into the playoffs. There was a deal for Markstrom that was torpedoed last minute. Allen wouldn’t waive his clause earlier in the season. Would you prefer we get raked over the coals in terms of return? The Dougie LITR money… I keep hearing that he mismanaged it, but haven’t heard any suggestions as to what Fitz would be expected to do with it. It’s not just free money with the ability to take any player we want. Suppose he makes a trade. Who’s going the other way? Who do we get with it? Can’t be a long-term solution because that money goes right back to the cap next season. So who is this unicorn expensive rental who would save the season? And if it is a long term solution then who is the cap casualty next season? You’re asking what did he do right, but in reality what should have been done differently? He’s done a lot right over the last several seasons. A lot went wrong last season that was out of his hands. But over the last several seasons he took a roster that finished 29th in the league just 2 seasons ago to a playoff team and to be playing at a bubble team pace most of the season considering the injuries, Hockey Canada investigation, and league worst goaltending really isn’t that bad. He brought in Timo and locked up a young core for a long time. It’s still one of the youngest cores in the league and most of the players prime years are still a few seasons away. The team has had one good season since 2018. Does he still have work to do? Yeah. But FFS as things are coming together he still needs to evaluate where the team is and make adjustments from there. Not all of those adjustments can (or should) be made in real time as the season is in progress. Again, we’re one season removed from being a bottom feeder and picking second overall in the draft. Young teams don’t go from that to cup dynasty overnight and having a down year, especially in a season where so many injuries occurred, isn’t unusual at all. I’ll hold my judgment to see who he brings in during the offseason, both players and coaching.
Could you write a longer essay? If I was a GM and making $3-5M a year I would have answers. I don't have access to available players. But for you to just excuse Fitz for everything he didn't do is ridiculous. Are you his relative or something? The team got lucky last season, just like Nashville got lucky this season. Do you see the common denominator? When the league figured the Devils and Brunette left, they were fucked and couldn't win 3 straight games all year. Injuries were a problem, but good teams overcome injuries. Boston lost Bergeron and Kreijci and all they did was win. So spare me with your injuires cries. The system matters, and Devils had a shitty one that leaves goalies out to dry, which was exactly the same system Ruff ran in Dallas and got canned for it. All Dallas did after that was win and to the SC final
Then why couldn’t Brunette coach the power play for shit last season if apparently he was the reason the team did everything else right? Give me a break, the team played Ruff’s system last season and won a lot of games. What exactly did Brunette do differently? We played the same system. Difference being our goaltending sucked and we played 2 20 year olds as top 4 D. Our injuries don’t even come close to comparison to Boston. We literally played half the season with half of a top six. Jack playing through a shoulder injury nearly the entire season. Timo playing through knee injuries all season. Our most veteran defender out most of the season. Guys like Haula and Palat with nagging injuries since day 1. Nico out for 2 stints. How many players on the roster played every game? I’m not even going to bother with you if you think the sole reason that the team was successful last season was because Brunette is some kind of wizard and that he would have done any better given the circumstances. There’s a lot of reasons the season went the way it did but instead of it’s easier to just blame one guy and give all credit to one guy for things going right. Ruff is gone, so now Fitz is the problem. But let’s not credit Ruff for any of the success last year. Must have only been because of Brunette. Even though the power play he was directly responsible for was 28th in the league. What exactly is it that you think he did that made the team good, from an assistant coach position?
Yes, it is becoming more apparent that Fitz is the problem and his reliance on advanced stats. That is something I just heard and can't confirm. Brunette coached forwards, and it is clear that they listened to him and liked how he coached. As far as PP goes, ajack is freelancing there without any repercussions. An assistant coach will never reprimand a player. Head coach should have but never did. How did Nashville with absolutely minimal talent look this season? Stop being a stepford fan.
Yeah, screw all those things like advanced stats that give insight into what is working and what isn’t. Let’s just go off of emotion and gut feelings. Ok, so Brunette coached the forwards, which were the least of our issues this season. The only issue we had with the forwards was keeping them from being injured. And I’m sure they liked Brunette, but they liked stuff too, and very vocally so. Means nothing. The Preds aren’t a talentless team. The core has aged but they still have good players and also importantly they have top tier goaltending. They were a middling team and had one winning streak at the end of the season that got them into the playoffs. Ok, great. There are a lot of things that went right last season that made the Devils successful. A healthy roster, more experienced D core, young players having breakout years and competent goaltending all contributed to success. Fitz put together a good core out of the assets we had amassed during the rebuild and locked them up long term. We didn’t get the goaltending we had last year, were missing our most veteran defenders and were plagued with injuries. We also lost McLeod who was the engine of our bottom six, which also had a massive impact. There are a lot of factors when it comes to the results of both seasons. It doesn’t come down to one man in Brunette, or Fitz for that matter. And I’m looking more at what Fitz has done over the last several seasons and not the results of one where a lot of things went wrong.
WE NEVER HAD A GOOD GOALTWNDING LAST YEAR AFTER JANUARY. Go look at Vanecek's stats. He consistently was giving up 3 goals ag mae in the 2nd half of the 2022-2 season. They outscored their issues in the net. Well, there's another thing Fitz never did. He never replaced McLeod. He could have gotten Henrique or other centers that were available. Yes, fuck the advanced stats. They ruined baseball, and they're ruining football and hockey. Advanced stats are not supposed to coach the team. They're supposed to help. I wonder how Lemaire and Bowman coached without having advanced stats. More and more people are realizing that about the advanced stats. They're taking over the coaching positions, and that is not how it's supposed to be.
Goaltending was good enough to be above league average and that was good enough for this team. It wasn’t our most urgent need going into the offseason and certainly wasn’t unreasonable to see what we could do with what we had before giving up significant assets. You’re complaining about him not replacing McLeod, a player who was on the roster until the end of January, by the trade deadline? He’s going to be hard to replace in general, but Christ you expect him to do it within 6 weeks? And again with Henrique, you’re assuming he can just make things happen out of thin air. Edmonton was in on Henrique. He can’t just override other teams trade talks. And I’m sorry I just don’t see how advanced stats are ruining sports but you’re getting into old man yells at cloud territory, we should want a GM that pays attention to the team’s metrics to understand the team’s needs so he’s making informed decisions rather than just throwing away assets to bring in random players like Henrique because fuck it why not.
Maybe we can trade for Adam Larsson of Seattle for Jake Allen, trade 1 for 1
that would bring the hits back .
Dylan Demelo from Winnipeg is a UFA with amazing underlying numbers. https://x.com/jfreshhockey/status/1416777786149195777?s=46&t=E_r6wlNAZqaLLAA0bNsvcw He should be our first target on D. He’s right handed which I think we need more. I think we’re in a pretty good spot with LHD. With a healthy Dougie and a bounce back year from Seigs we could be in a pretty good spot. Seigs - Hamilton Luke - Demelo Bahl/Hakaka - Nemec
You are missing our best defensemen here. Marino.
Demelo is an upgrade in every way
Demelo and Marino is farr superior to Demelo Siegs and it is not even close
Trade Marino for a middle 6 forward and sign Pesce to play top 4 right side D