TarHeelFlyer

You know at the time I didn't have a problem with it, but that was some other assumptions being made which don't look like they are working out. At the time: I was assuming that Hartnell/Giroux/Voracek was actually going to be our first line. That hasn't worked in any way shape or form. I was assuming that Schenn could actually make the transition to 2nd line LW. That hasn't happened. A line of Schenn/Vinnie/Simmonds was supposed to be a competent 2nd line. That hasn't worked out. Now that none of that has happened it looks REALLY bad, and I mean REALLY bad. Schenn must be at center in order to be what it is we want him to develop into. Vinnie isn't effective at the wing either. What does that mean? At this point, yes this signing would be a mistake.

I think the problem with Bryz is that in addition to his fragile mental status, it is all about him. If the goal is scored it is his fault and he focuses on bringing that attention onto himself. He has ZERO relationship with any of his teammates and it turns out his teammates in Phoenix pegged him exactly right.

Couts led the team in TOI last night with 23:33. The next closest player was Coburn with 22:13.

I'm not going to argue that he is a spring chicken or really young, but on a 2 year contract he could be a great asset as a stop-gap type deal. Here is a guy who is 34 years of age, but still leads his team in ATOI and is 10th in the league in scoring for defenseman. He also leads his team in +/-. We need an offensive defenseman, and is as close as is out there on the UFA market.

Guys who are UFA who I would at least look at adding to our group are somewhat limited. Guys to consider would be: Andrei Markov Ron Hainsey Dion Phaneuf Andrew MacDonald

Acquiring a guy like Myers comes down to cost for me. If they take Meszaros off our hands...I would consider it. That is a high contract this year only for a high longer contract. If they offset the salary this year by keeping back some of that money it could potentially work for us.

I am not saying he isn't struggling offensively, but his defensive game is getting back to the kid we saw at age 18. He is 20 years old. Go back and look at Henrik Sedin's first year in the league at the age of 20. 9 goals over the course of the year. 1 goal in 30 games while playing mostly on the 3rd line. Now, the all time leading scorer of the Canucks. Let's be a little patient with the kid.

I think that depends upon your definition of struggle. Offensively I think it is clear he is struggling, but I think Berube has gotten him back to finding his shutdown game with the hope that his offense then comes along. Personally, his line generated some good chances last night, but overall I think he still needs to work on his offensive game.

We do NOT miss Briere. We miss most the guys who produced last year....producing this year. Voracek, Giroux, and Simmonds were are leading scorers last year....they have a combined 2 goals in 39 games between them. That is HORRIBLE! If they can get it together and get the atrocious PP actually scoring, I honestly like our team.

From the "leadership" perspective, we more than replaced Briere's loss by adding Vinnie. Production wise, we more than replaced him. The problems we have are more than just the loss of one guy. We have issues because guys came in unprepared for the year.

I'm not sure I would put Couturier in that group which is in trouble. Against the Isles he led the forwards in ice time. At even strength he was 3rd among forwards, but was only about 20 seconds behind both Voracek and B. Schenn. The lowest minutes for defenseman at ES was not Schenn, but Timonen. I think you are seeing Berube giving the young guys responsibility.

My only issue with Coburn is that sometimes he does STUPID crap that ends up in our goal. A couple of games ago, what was the deal with that pass through the middle. Just dumb. If he keeps away from those and skates...he is fine.

I honestly think the most major issue with this team right now is PP hockey. We had 11 minutes of PP time last night and couldn't score. We are next to last in PP %. We have scored 3 PP goals and overall are 3 For 37 or we score on 8% of our PP opportunities. 3 for 37? That is HORRIBLE! Last year we were 3rd overall at 21.6%. At last year's percentage this team would have 5 more goals. Now I know that isn't alot, but should those goals have happened against Carolina, Phoenix and Vancouver, we could be looking at a team which was 5-4 not 2-7.

Yeah, I think in all honesty, we may need to pay someone to take him off our hands.

I haven't figured that out yet. I think he needs to be gone honestly. He is part of a culture that needs to be out. If we finish the month 1-10 or 1 for the month of October, changes are going to have to take place. They just will. It can't continue like that.