tucson83

i mean like seriously what is going to take for av haters to understand that it's the players? like does this team have to go to buffalo territory for anyone to wake up?

av haters will bring out the champagne, i will bring this out it when it does nothing:

i really think everyone has to take a deep breath and try to look at the positives instead of negatives because everyone was expecting that this year was a cup or bust, i didnt, to be honest with you, i expected this team to be 500 team at best because there's too many problems from the defenseman and the forwards. chuck started by fixing the d last offseason and fixing carter hart and that's been better this year than last year, that's a positive and now this offseason, chuck will focus on forwards and try to upgrade the offense. you cant fix the whole team in one offseason not on a flat cap. it worked in 07 because we alot of cap and picks to move to improve the roster. i think the front office knew this wasnt going to take one offseason to fix this, that's why they are not making moves. now they want to see how bad forwards are. that's probably why they didnt make any huge moves to the forwards, they want to see what they have before they start retooling the forwards which is probably going to happen at the deadline and the offseason not now though. not many teams are going to let go players right now. firing coaches and gms arent going to do anything either, you dont want to be the buffalo sabres of changing out gms and coaches every couple of years and expect cup results, you have to have a plan and stick with it because you dont want to bring in another gm that has a different way of building and that will screw things up more especially the chemistry on the roster. im saying we have to be patient or else we make the wrong moves firing this guy and that guy and we end up like the buffalo sabres of suckage for 15 years. that's why the wild were never bad because they had a plan and they stuck with it. heck maybe we will be better next year if you at least give a chuck a chance.

the biggest problem with hextall is he never moved up in the draft, he always kept trading down and taking projects. if hextall took his head out of his butt and traded up to get talent instead of projects maybe this team would be better.

and we are not going against bad goalies either, it's probably the reason why are struggling especially with these teams we are playing against. i mean if we were playing against some bad goalies, i think maybe we would probably be scoring more goals that's where our goal scoring talent comes in, if we cant beat these great goalies no matter what we do then it's a talent problem because we will not survive a seven game playoff series against these goalies if we cant score goals.

ok this may seem impossible but stick with me would this lineup win a cup forsberg, hertl, tarasenko keller, miller, boeser or cam laughton, hayes, kessel moroon carter ritchie provy, letang york, ellis zamula, sustr hart, backup

dont care, anyone accept hart can go as long it gets us talent to build this team on. right now, we have none and fans have to wake up or it will the phillies 2.0 because they cant let go of their own players for talented players. it's going to kill us eventually if the front office doesnt do something at the trade deadline and in the offseason.

im going to throw this pipedream lineup what do you think forsberg, hertl, tarasenko?

this grit and grind style is the reason why this team is bad, it's not working anymore, you look at the kings and islanders they are grit and grind teams and they are falling apart. it's not the gms are bad, it's the styles that arent working anymore. more teams are taking skill over grit. until we have more skill players, we arent going to be successful.

good point.

fans dont point what's wrong with this roster, i am our transition d is terrible, they dont know how to get pucks out of zone, they keep soft passing instead of flicking them out of zone, that's not coaching, ellis can do that but he's injuried, our centers cant win draws, they cant get the pucks of zone right either, they stand around dont defend, that's not coaching either. i'll tell you what we need, we need two great centers that know how to win draws, know how to pucks out of zone, defend and score, we dont have that. our d is mess, i mean name one defender on there that's great at puck possession and handling. i dont see it, we have have to restructure this whole d core accept ellis that knows how to get pucks out of the zone the right way, that's the problem, i think cam york can probably do it if he's ready, ellis can do it but provy, risto, braun, sanheim, yandle? heck no and that's a big problem. that's why im saying changing coaches wont fix this, restructuring the whole team will. get rid of the expensive wingers, sign scrap heap cheap wingers that can hit and shoot and trade the current wingers and some d for good centers like a hertl and jt miller cant trust hayes because of injuries, trade some prospects and picks for and sign some d that's good at puck possession and puck movement, we are lacking that. if we somehow do that, we can turn this around, keep the same roster with a different coach will not change anything.

they need a hertl and jt miller now.

we just dont have the difference makers, that's why you see so much passing because no one knows who will make a play, i mean if you had a crosby and malkin on a first and second line, it would make a huge difference because they know who will make the plays, we just dont have that.

i think our success over the years has alot to do with what positions this team values over the years meaning when it comes to experience. goaltending, defense, center positions, we never went away from that, heck that's why the blues were won a cup, tampa won two cups, it's about controlling the middle of the ice, if you have inexperience players in these positions, it's going to be a blood bath, exhibit a: last year's short season team, didnt get centers, defense, we were a laughing stock. this year, we get centers and defense, goaltending, we are a much better team. i think if we get another defenseman and a center at the trade deadline, i think we can go far in the playoffs.

more snipers would be nice

calgary is good team, they have a good goalie, they have good defensive forwards, you are acting like this team is going to score 5 or 6 goals a game against good teams, it's not happening sorry. tampa isnt going to be easy either, they are a good defensive team and vasily is fantastic, im expecting a low scoring game. we were shooting over 40 shots on markstrum and we couldnt beat him. it's just how it is, if you dont like boring defensive hockey then dont watch it.

that's why im saying if.

this is what im predicting if the flyers dont make the playoffs, i do see alot of vet wingers getting moved including cam i think he has alot of value to get some good prospects back, im not sure they are going to move giroux or he's going to walk in fa or retire. i dont see him coming back, he's not the same player, i think they are going to move tk and a dman maybe sanheim for a center for maybe larkin and hertl depending on who's out there because of the health of hayes. to replace sanheim i think they are going to trade for another star d man. i dont think they are going to rush york in the top 4, i think he will start out in in third pairing and depending if braun wants to stay here or retire. he will play with braun. as far as coaches it really depends on who's out there if mike sullivan gets canned from pittsburgh, i see them canned av and bringing him in. he's a complete upgrade from av. there's going to be alot of changes if they dont make the playoffs.

at some point you got to stop pointing fingers at the coaching staff and just accept the fact that this team isnt good enough because changing coaches has done nothing, fletch is doing everything he can to get this team into a contention, at some point the players from last year have to step up, if not then there's nothing you can do about accept, just trade players for better talent. talent level on this team can only get them as far as they can go., it doesnt matter what coaches you fire and bring in, it's not going to change anything.

what frustrates me is that we get rid of every coach and they go elsewhere and they are successful like i dont understand how that says that coaches are bad and the players arent? to be honest with you, if av goes to vegas or tampa for example, where there's talent he will be successful. i dont think it matters who comes here, it would be the same issues because of the talent level on this roster.

i hear ya, i want to win a cup as badly as anyone on here but we just dont have the depth to compete for one. i think the players that fletch wanted probably didnt want to come here which is why you got to have a good farm system so you dont have to rely on outside help. fletch had to rely on scrap players on our depth lines because his picks arent ready yet. i cant blame fletch for this at all, he's been dealt with a very bad hand in this. like i said if hextall hit on players especially on d and not have to go out and get ellis and risto, i think it would make fletchers job so much easier.

hate to say it but you are not going to win cup if you dont hit on players aka hextall's picks. i think this team competing for a cup is going to depend if fletcher's picks are major hits.

im sorry i wasnt referring to you, i was just talking about anti av crowd in general, it's like it gets so tiring of this coach is bad and that coach is bad like they have to get their heads out of their butts and look the roster instead of looking at one guy and this is not the season to be firing av because there's no one good out there and from the way fletch operates he's not going to settle for a rookie. of course if there's a coach that gets fired from a great team like coach q, absolutely i would settle for that guy.

and if these same players from last year dont play well, then there's no other way around it but to get rid of those players too. everything comes down to those players, tk, hart, giroux, jvr lindblom, they have to step up or we are not making the playoffs. i understand the hate for av for some but here's the other issue, who do you go with? there's not many good names out there and going with lappy isnt a good idea either, one thing you dont want to do is go with an unproven rookie or sign kruger, unless there's a complete upgrade, i dont see how av gets fired.

would eric staal be a good fit? both av and fletch connections.