Quote (GSG @ Apr 18 2019 10:39am)
I'm leery to make drastic changes; we are still a young team and getting our first experience in the playoffs. You look at guys like Eberle this year who went from the playoff donkey in Edmonton to having a great playoffs this year.
We absolutely need to move on from Neal and Brodie though if we can. Brodie has been plagued by turnovers and that inconsistency is just impossible to play with. Neal has been absolute shit and in this series even worse. I don't even know how he scored 20 in the NHL the last 8 years or whatever, I rarely see him get into good shooting positions, turn pucks over, ANYTHING out of him would be a miracle. I feel like this contract is a boat anchor we're gonna have to deal with.
Smith I think will be gone, Calgary likely wont offer him more than a 1-2 year deal. I hope he sticks around because having a guy that can raise his intensity to this level for the playoffs is a massive attribute for a goalie.
My biggest concern for this team is that top line and them going ice cold. The last 2 months has been absolutely brutal from them and frankly it's the biggest difference in this series right now. Backlund had an absolutely terrible game last night, no denying that but frankly Colorado is loading up one line. We need to make them pay when the other 3 are on the ice, which we simply arent doing. Asking a line to completely shut down 29/92/96 is impossible, they are 3 elite players and they are going to get their chances.
I agree, I don't want to blow it up or anything, but Neal has to go, and Brodie's simply been replaced by good rookies. I don't know what to think about Smith... if he stays or he goes, I'm fine either way I guess. Does 4 game redeem a shitty year or two? Maybe if the team can get their shit together, old Smith can be our Thomas next year.
Treliving is a wizard when he trades, but he's gotta stop signing free agents... Brouwer, Jagr, Neal.
Top line has to get their shit together. I think it's the Tampa syndrome, where we were so good in the regular season that we took the pedal off the gas for the past 10 or so games, and it shows.