ChiLla

I've never felt the trade was a disaster, it's just that MB acquired another LW without any real need and traded away the only legit LHD prospect we had in the system. I didn't like Drouin at center at all last season, but Drouin/Domi do look great together this year (I've only been watching the condensed games in the last two weeks, so I don't have full insight) and he's producing really well. That said, some degree of regression is almost to be expected from younger players in their second year (sophomore slump and whatnot). I still think Sergachev is a legit top four guy, which is extremely valuable. He may not be a real No1 guy but I do think he would look amazing with Shea Weber. Too bad we'll never find out.

Yeah, The Athletic had a (paywalled) article about it too. Tocchet blamed it on Galchenyuk missing camp and not being able to learn his system properly, so they want to make it a little easier for him. You're right though, it does sound all too familiar. The trade looks amazing right now, Domi has performed above and beyond expectations while Galchenyuk, despite his talent, seems to be having a bit of a hard time in the desert. We still should have gotten another pick in the deal, but let's give MB some credit even if it's early. Good job, dude! (feels weird saying that )

Pacioretty heating up a little, with 4G and 2A in the last 6 games inlcuding the OT winner last night.

Yeah, we'd look pretty bad without Petry on the back end but if there was a way to get Nylander for him, I'd definitely go for it and then think about rebuilding our D.

Fun fact: Darren Dietz sits just behind the top of the scoring race amongst defenders in the KHL with 26 points in 25 games. https://en.khl.ru/stat/players/671/defenses/

We‘ve already seen the best of him and it‘s been amazing. He‘s not going to surprise anyone who has actually payed attention to what he‘s capable of though so yes, based on that perspective, he‘s effectively done. That doesn’t mean he‘s not a great goalie though, I still think he‘ll rebound.

Not sure how that's hypocrisy. He's had a great career and was always a class act in Montreal, one of the few bright lights on pretty bad teams to boot. People can be grateful for that and still criticize MB's decision to resign him. He's just not the same player anymore, his offense has completely evaporated and while he's still responsible enough defensively to play in a limited bottom six role, it makes absolutely no sense for a rebuilding/retooling team to use him this way.

Yeah, Price and Weber are here to stay. Those two are our stars with a combined Cap hit of ~$20M. One is heavily underperforming, while the other hasn't played a game in the NHL for almost a full calendar year. Let's hope that both can bounce back.

Probably gonna skip this one, really looking forward to Pacioretty's return on Saturday though.

That's quite the image

I agree on Benn but even though Shaw has played well for stretches, he's not a ~$4M dollar player in my opinion. Cap Friendly lists 19 comparable forwards with a Cap hit between 3.5M-4.5M in the age group of 24-29 years. Not sure how accurate the data is but if I had the chance to pick one of those guys, Shaw would probably be really low on the list: Click.

Sign Tavares? Oh wait...

I wouldn't mind that at all. Hudon hasn't really done anything on the top line and giving Kotkaniemi two responsible wingers may work well. The third line looks fine and the fourth is still much better than any other variation that includes Deslauriers. Too bad Scherbak seems to be pretty much a non-factor in the AHL so far, putting up some points would have been good for his confidence before returning to the big league.

Drouin is starting to frustrate me a little, he needs to find a better way of maximizing his incredibly talent IMO. He's got an all-world skillset but needs to start using his tools efficiently (and consistently). More often than not, he seems to be making the wrong decision and tries to do it all by himself, instead of making use of his teammates. Special Teams are still bad. I can understand that the guys are a little tired in a back-to-back game but scoring after the double-minor or on that 5-on-3 would have probably sealed the deal last night. The PP isn't working, and with Armia likely out for a while, changes to the first wave are inevitable. I'd still try to use Kotkaniemi a little more, not as a net presence but more like a shooting threat.

Interesting referee decisions last night. I thought Price was strong in the first ~30 mins, he looked rock solid and stoned the Rangers on several occasions. He didn't make the saves at the end though, and unfortunately that's what we expect from a 10M$ player. Terrible defence is the reason we lost this game, and the uninspired play by Drouin and Hudon surely didn't help. Consistency seems to remain an issue for both of them.