OT Stars Hockey

[WilltheThrill]

Nice total meltdown loss. The wheels have officially come off.

Screw it. I say we tank hardcore and draft the next Sidney Crosby, Conor McDavid. Best player to enter the draft since Sid. I can endure 1 awful season if it brings us a top-5 overall player in the NHL. A Seguin-Benn-McDavid trio would be insane. Then we can address the D and G issues through trades or free agent signings.

 

[Bmurph]

Nice total meltdown loss. The wheels have officially come off.

Screw it. I say we tank hardcore and draft the next Sidney Crosby, Conor McDavid. Best player to enter the draft since Sid. I can endure 1 awful season if it brings us a top-5 overall player in the NHL. A Seguin-Benn-McDavid trio would be insane. Then we can address the D and G issues through trades or free agent signings.

Wont have to tank hardcore, if the goaltending sucks this bad they will just get beat every night and not have to try to lose.

 

[WilltheThrill]

Wow, I haven't seen Razor that pissed and just at a complete loss in a post game wrap up, probably ever.
He was so animated and just beside himself. For those who didn't see it, he basically said that even he can't understand it but things have come unravelled in all facets. He said when that happens, it's up to the goalie to clean up the messes and carry the team and that Lehtonen and Lindback have utterly failed them. Ludwig said he sees that the defensive zone is an absolute mess, with a combination of poor defensemen and goalies not playing well because they don't trust their teammates. The defensemen have no confidence in the goalie and the goalie has no confidence in the d-men.

I'd say both Razor and Luddy are spot-on.

 

[ESPN Refugee]

Wow, I haven't seen Razor that pissed and just at a complete loss in a post game wrap up, probably ever.
He was so animated and just beside himself. For those who didn't see it, he basically said that even he can't understand it but things have come unravelled in all facets. He said when that happens, it's up to the goalie to clean up the messes and carry the team and that Lehtonen and Lindback have utterly failed them. Ludwig said he sees that the defensive zone is an absolute mess, with a combination of poor defensemen and goalies not playing well because they don't trust their teammates. The defensemen have no confidence in the goalie and the goalie has no confidence in the d-men.

I'd say both Razor and Luddy are spot-on.

Saw the game and that was depressing as shit. They're both right..this team is baffling but mainly defense and goaltending have played like shit pretty much all season long with the exception of Daley. I just wonder if this will get any better any time soon. Thinking maybe new blood is needed on that blue line with clear heads so just do some addition by subtraction. Not sure how you do that but there's gotta be something out there in the form of a trade where new guys can come in and try to provide some sort of spark that won't require a "big" or "blockbuster" trade.

 

[ESPN Refugee]

 

[ESPN Refugee]

 

[WilltheThrill]

Please, oh please let this happen.

I've seen this kid play in person and he is the real deal. He's still raw on the defensive side of things, so there's definitely going to be some Goligoski and Jordie-esque moments where he blows an assignment or turns over the puck. But this dude has tons of offensive skill. He moves the puck and shoots it like a forward... maybe the best the Stars have seen in that regard since Zubov (note: I'm not suggesting he's anywhere as good as Zubov, just that his offensive skill set is the best in that regard since Zubov).

I can't wait until Klingberg, Nemeth, Oleksiak, and Honka have all fully matured and are just killing it on the blue line.

 

[ESPN Refugee]

Gonchar to Montreal for Travis Moen.

 

[WilltheThrill]

Gonchar to Montreal for Travis Moen.

Yep. So we added a 4th line grit player and shed $2.8M off the books for this season (Gonchar's 4.6 minus Moen's 1.8 Million).

This year it's a win, just because it frees up 2.8 Million to spend at the trade deadline (assuming we're buyers at that point).

Next season though I would rather have had Gonchar's expiring contract totally off the books and have that 4.6 Million to spend rather than pay Moen 1.8 Million for another season.

So for this season, we gain 2.8M, we gain by ridding ourselves of Gonchar's poor play, but we lose the extra depth on D.

Good, I guess.

 

[WilltheThrill]

Down 2-0 and looking like loss #8 in a row.

Tank. I'm not even kidding. If there were EVER a season to finish dead last, this is it. Connor McDavid is the prize. We're talking Tim Duncan-level tank-so-you-can-set-up-your-team-as-a-dynasty-for-a-decade type of strategy here. McDavid is by all accounts the best player to come along since Sidney Crosby and some say even better. The dude is a freak of nature. He's averaging over 2 points per game in the OHL, a notoriously tough league to put up major scoring. Nathan MacKinnon, the Avs phenom, put up an average of just over 1 point per game in the OHL, just to show you how special of a talent McDavid is.

Tank. Tank hard. I can endure one horrifically bad season if it means a decade of dominance. Draft the next Great One and then put all of your free agent and trade resources into adding 1-2 great defensemen to go along with Klingberg, Oleksiak, Nemeth, Dillon, and Honka. Boom! Cup contenders. That simple.

 

[ESPN Refugee]

Down 2-0 and looking like loss #8 in a row.

Tank. I'm not even kidding. If there were EVER a season to finish dead last, this is it. Connor McDavid is the prize. We're talking Tim Duncan-level tank-so-you-can-set-up-your-team-as-a-dynasty-for-a-decade type of strategy here. McDavid is by all accounts the best player to come along since Sidney Crosby and some say even better. The dude is a freak of nature. He's averaging over 2 points per game in the OHL, a notoriously tough league to put up major scoring. Nathan MacKinnon, the Avs phenom, put up an average of just over 1 point per game in the OHL, just to show you how special of a talent McDavid is.

Tank. Tank hard. I can endure one horrifically bad season if it means a decade of dominance. Draft the next Great One and then put all of your free agent and trade resources into adding 1-2 great defensemen to go along with Klingberg, Oleksiak, Nemeth, Dillon, and Honka. Boom! Cup contenders. That simple.

Tyler Seguin read your post and got pissed.

 

[Nightcrawler]

Down 2-0 and looking like loss #8 in a row.

Tank. I'm not even kidding. If there were EVER a season to finish dead last, this is it. Connor McDavid is the prize. We're talking Tim Duncan-level tank-so-you-can-set-up-your-team-as-a-dynasty-for-a-decade type of strategy here. McDavid is by all accounts the best player to come along since Sidney Crosby and some say even better. The dude is a freak of nature. He's averaging over 2 points per game in the OHL, a notoriously tough league to put up major scoring. Nathan MacKinnon, the Avs phenom, put up an average of just over 1 point per game in the OHL, just to show you how special of a talent McDavid is.

Tank. Tank hard. I can endure one horrifically bad season if it means a decade of dominance. Draft the next Great One and then put all of your free agent and trade resources into adding 1-2 great defensemen to go along with Klingberg, Oleksiak, Nemeth, Dillon, and Honka. Boom! Cup contenders. That simple.

What about goal tending?

 

[WilltheThrill]

What about goal tending?

Kari's better than he's showed so far this season and Jack Campbell will be ready next year too.

 

[WilltheThrill]

Tyler Seguin read your post and got pissed.

Haha, yeah. Either be great or tank. Pick one.

All I know is that whatever team gets McDavid will have the NHL's best player on their roster in the not-too-distant future at a huge bargain for at least a few seasons.

 

[WilltheThrill]

Klingberg has looked really good in his first game. He's made some very nice offensive plays, unafraid to join the rush and connecting on some pretty passes. He plays very poised and patient with the puck.

 

[WilltheThrill]

So they go ahead with 4 minutes left, immediately give up the tying goal 1 minute later, get called for a weak penalty, Kari finally comes up with the unbelievable save, and Garbutt scores the team's first shorthanded goal on a breakaway with 1:30 to play for the win.

I give up trying to figure out this team.

 

[ESPN Refugee]

Down 2-0 and looking like loss #8 in a row.

Tank. I'm not even kidding. If there were EVER a season to finish dead last, this is it. Connor McDavid is the prize. We're talking Tim Duncan-level tank-so-you-can-set-up-your-team-as-a-dynasty-for-a-decade type of strategy here. McDavid is by all accounts the best player to come along since Sidney Crosby and some say even better. The dude is a freak of nature. He's averaging over 2 points per game in the OHL, a notoriously tough league to put up major scoring. Nathan MacKinnon, the Avs phenom, put up an average of just over 1 point per game in the OHL, just to show you how special of a talent McDavid is.

Tank. Tank hard. I can endure one horrifically bad season if it means a decade of dominance. Draft the next Great One and then put all of your free agent and trade resources into adding 1-2 great defensemen to go along with Klingberg, Oleksiak, Nemeth, Dillon, and Honka. Boom! Cup contenders. That simple.

Regarding tanking sometimes it doesn't always work out. If you develop that mentality then it could create a culture of losing within the other players. There's just too much talent on this team to be this bad(I think). I've heard that both McDavid and Eichel are the real deal and whichever teams land any of those two are set.

 

[ESPN Refugee]

So they go ahead with 4 minutes left, immediately give up the tying goal 1 minute later, get called for a weak penalty, Kari finally comes up with the unbelievable save, and Garbutt scores the team's first shorthanded goal on a breakaway with 1:30 to play for the win.

I give up trying to figure out this team.

A great win since they got out of the losing streak but their problems are still there. I was about to go nuts when they gave up the game tying goal. Kari was pretty damn good last night and I'm happy to see Garbutt get that goal. Hopefully that triggers him into playing like he did last season and make that 3rd line even more scary and dynamic.

 

[Bmurph]

Nice goal Spezza, on the pass from Tyler after the first 2nd goal is disallowed. 2-0 lead after all, now play 3 full periods please

 

[WilltheThrill]

Kari Lehtonen just made the save of the year... easily the best save he's made all year and I can't imagine there have been any better by any other NHL goalies this year either. To say he robbed Jaret Stoll is an understatement. If you didn't see it, I highly recommend watching it on NHL.com. This is the Kari we've been missing all season.