I feel like something's missing

Me too

The thing that's missing is my will to live

I kinda get the feeling MDZ isn't gonna play opening night. DJ moved away from MDZ-Zaitsev very quickly (they were awful) and he was outside the top 3 pairs with practice lines. Chabot-Zub and Holden and Zaitsev are all confirmed to be part of that lineup, and Mete was paired with Zaitsev while J.Brown was with Holden.

Lineup has been fixed, based on your observations


I do find it a bit confounding that Pierre Dorion would sign MDZ to a multi-year extension and then DJ scratches him for opening night.

It's depressing to see Brännström not given a chance. Zaitsev, Holden, Brown...

Chabot-Zub
Brannstrom-Holden
Mete-Zaitsev
Del Zotto-Brown

This is the best possible defense with what we have. Not sure how long it'll take to realize it but last season I was SHOCKED that it took 9-10 games to include Artem Zub in the line up. Brannstrom too, but at least there was an excuse as he had covid coming back from Europe.



Nothing confounding... Dorion is still a bit out of his league as a GM. He was a pretty good scout though, but Bryan Murray's health kinda gave him this opportunity too fast. He should have been an AGM longer.

The 2 moves that shocked me right away last offseason was Stepan (for a 2nd instead of a camp dump?) and Balcers (why waive a guy that always looked like a NHL player?)

This season, not as outrageous but Del Zotto signing and Sanford acquisition were a bit puzzling to me. Plus not acquiring a decent/good RW and a decent/good RD

Stepan c0ck-blocked Logan Brown at the beginning of last season (and he was terrible) so on top of giving up a 2nd round pick, Logan Brown's value plummeted completely to the point that he was traded for a below average bottom-6 winger.

Will it be a similar story this season with Del Zotto and Brannstrom? His value is already going down... but yeah, Dorion doesn't seem to understand "asset management" at all.

that bottom 6 and entire d core is only going to bring us pain