Joined: Feb. 2023
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Long winded response here. It's too early for me to make any decisions about our lineup for next year.
Firstly, what are you expecting from ABB? He's been in a slow transition to the NHL over the last few years, he has shown potential. We've kept him this long, no reason to just bail on him now. Also, Eyssimont is very good defensively, I'm not sure what games you're watching.
Motte I agree with, but again it's too early to pencil him into next year's lineup, even if he is a league minimum level veteran.
While Stamkos has struggled at points 5v5 this year, I won't get too deep into him. He's still the face of the franchise. You have to bring him back. He still brings immeasurable value to the team in a multitude of ways.
Won't comment on Seeler or Toffoli.
Perbix has had his struggles this year. He has the tools, but his confidence and motivation is being affected by the overall team, leadership, and coaching being unfocused, undisciplined, and down right lazy. I believe this has serious effect on his mentality, especially defensively.
I think you can pick apart the rest of Hedman, Sergachev, and Cernak, but I won't. They also have the tools and the track record, it's just a matter of the teams mentality right now. And right now we're seeing it falter.
Kucherov, agreed. Absolutely zero focus on defense. It's a trickle down effect though. He doesn't care about defense and the rest of the team follows suit.
Hagel agree. He brings it more than most nearly every night.
Cirelli just needs to find offensive confidence.
Paul honestly idk what the deal is. Looks phenomenal one game and then invisible the next. Still overall he's in the positive tho.
Eyssimont completely agree. Cooper is completely stonewalling him, for whatever reason, and it's hindering the team. He has legitimate top 6 talent and if he played with Point and Kucherov, or Stamkos and had a more regular role up the lineup, I guarantee he would produce even more than he already does being shuffled all over the place.
Jeannot has played better than last year but I agree he needs to bring more to the table with his overall game. He needs to have a bigger offensive impact and needs to be a solid defensive option.
Vasy who knows. There's many ways you can look at his play this year so I'll leave that alone.
Sheary. Absolutely. He has been invisible so far for us. Something needs to change for him to find his game or place on the team. Not quite sure what that is yet. As far as trading him, pretty unlikely that it happens unless he doesn't score a single point between now and the deadline and is a downright liability. Even then I doubt he gets moved.
Agree about the lefties on offense. However can't see Nashville trading Sissons. He's a great veteran for them, even tho this is a good package for him. Would be nice to have Sissons, but I'd much rather keep this package, EG is a great prospect.
As far as my thoughts on the team. I don't think this roster is as horrible as fans and people are making it seem. Sure there are weaknesses or areas we could upgrade. But overall I think there's plenty enough here to work with and be competitive in the playoffs.
The real issue with the team is overall focus, discipline for a complete 200 foot game, effort, and complete buy in. For me it's still too early to hit a panic button. Leadership and Coaching needs to get their mentality in order if we are to do anything with this season. I still think we make the playoffs, even if we continue to be as middling as we have been. We'll probably catch a streak and that'll give us enough of a push to get in. But in total, the team just needs to get it's head on straight. I like our odds to compete in the east if that happens.
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