Yikes Our entire team D sucks , not just the defensemen

WyoAgg10 said:

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Hell ya. Let's steal this one!

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Welp… I take full responsibility for this.

Hey Nil, our D still sucks. You wanna do something about that? (Like you should've done this offseason)

PK sucked but I also give Duchene a big ole F- tonight. Way too many times he crossed the line 1 on 3 and gave up breaks the other way.

Suter has been an awful signing.

Grapesoda2525 said:

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Suter has been an awful signing.

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So I looked up the stats for defensemen who have at least 350 minutes this season. Out of 213 D-men, these are where ours rank on Expected Goal Differential (not exactly sure what this means but it sounds like it would be a good measure):

5. Miro
28. Harley
42. Lundkvist
51. Suter
181. Lindell
197. Hakinpaa

I think you are spot on. The entire team D needs work and last night all of those break aways were not just due to the D men. The forwards turn the puck over at the blue line way too much.

Is anyone not renewing next year?

Anyone interested in Rasmus Ristolainen? Seeing he could be available by Philly. We'd almost assuredly have to have to part with Faksa and Hakanpaa to make some cap room. He's 29 and signed through his age 32 season making 5.1 on average, with next year being his most expensive year at 6.5. His salary the rest of the year would be probably be around 2-3 million.

Hmm. Good, big-body, right-handed defenseman. In a perfect world, I'd take him to replace Hakanpaa. He's a guy you can put in front of the net and he's going to keep pucks and people out. Intriguing name I hadn't really though of, but a definite upgrade.

But ultimately, IMO, I think he's too expensive and not what the team needs.

Harley needs a new deal this offseason, and you'd hope to bring back either Pavelski or Duchene. Then the following year, Johnston is going to get a massive deal. That cap hit for that long is a problem. Especially since you'll have a lot of money tied up into Heiskanen, Harley, and Lindell (Esa's contract is eating up way too much cap space).

And his game: He struggles to get the puck out of the defensive zone and is somewhat turnover prone. That, and he provides almost no offensive upside.

If we're looking at Philly, give me Sean Walker. Plays well on both ends of the ice, is also right handed, and only costs $2.65M.

FWAppraiser said:

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And his game: He struggles to get the puck out of the defensive zone and is somewhat turnover prone.

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Sounds like a perfect fit.

Benn's contract is up after next season as well. We do need to pay some guys soon, but we also have some serious contracts coming off the books soon.

Contracts are one reason I'd really like to see Stankoven and Bourque with the team sooner or later. Take advantage of them being on team friendly rookie/youth deals.

Would love to see Stankoven called up before the playoffs. If we trade a forward, it may just happen and I think ultimately will. Then call Bourque up as Black Ace for the playoffs. No way they're not both with the big club next season. They have nothing more to prove in Cedar Park. The cost savings of those 2 positions should give us a little bit of cap flexibility. Then add the cap going up next year.

Harley uncharacteristically let Suzuki in behind him, and Otter lets a shot in from distance (albeit an incredible shot).

And Harley totally redeems himself!

Bing bong

Well, we did call up Harley right before the playoffs last year so that is Nills MO. It is hard to mess with chemistry that is leading the hardest division in Hockey.

Alright, let's ice this *****

TF are we doing out there??

What a terrible pp

Worst double minor I've ever seen

0 for 6 on the PP. Unacceptable.

IT feels like it Is inevitable that the Habs tie it up here.

Phew !

Lindell and Hakanpaa are your main penalty killers on defense and they have both been struggling for about a month . No surprise their #'s are down . Stars will have to make a move …. But right handed defenseman don't grow on trees ( ones that can come in and eat up 18 - 22 minutes a night ).

I mentioned Ristolainen earlier, and while I don't think someone like him fixes our issues ultimately, I think that picking up someone like him allows us to have a true top four defenseman who can eat up time on the ice. One of the biggest issues with this team right now is that we really only have three legit defensemen you want to give ice time too (Miro, Harley and Lindell). Again I think Lindell is being absolutely dragged by who he's playing with.

But what having only three real defenseman does is it makes forming pairs and getting guys ice time super hard. Hanley played like 12 of the most useless minutes the other night, and Lundqvist usually plays around 12-14. If we got someone who could even be a top four option, it would push someone else down and give them less minutes on the ice and would limit them doing something stupid.

Don't forget about the little Mavericks, too