PerreaultForever

Adams is technically in charge but I am sure Ruff's suggestions are acted upon to the best of his ability. So in a way, I think Ruff is in charge. Ruff wanted Skinner gone and a tougher bottom 6. Whether he demanded that as a condition of signing or he just asked for it I don't know, but I am sure he wanted it.

That's what I'm saying. AHL is a tough league, especially come playoff time. Lots of hacks and thugs in it. The roster should be better balanced much like they are trying to do with the NHL team. The 2 teams should in many ways mirror each other.

Ovi is more than a Putin supporter he has campaigned with/for him in the past. He's a poster boy for Vlad. Best buds. But it's hockey, so these things tend to get ignored don't they. Ask Hasek how he feels about it.

It's not a good mix in my opinion. Too young and talented. I suppose it was inevitable with all our draft picks. Have to put them somewhere.

Oh I don't hate it, I just don't think it's a huge upgrade and until I see him do something I feel we overpaid drastically for a fringe player. Now if he's crashing and banging and making a difference I might change my mind but his NHL resume is pretty small.

Of course, but Pegula has been in our Front Office way too long.

Looks like a new summer troll invasion has started.

Probably, although we've been at it longer so we actually should be better but none of them have achieved what their fanbases want. I suspect the expectation in Ottawa and Detroit is higher as a whole. Detroit expected to be Tampa by now and they are not as pumped about Stevie Y as they were when he first got there. Ottawa idk, they shoot themselves in the foot a lot. Constantly trying to make big moves, but most of them fail miserably.

No, it's I'm right until PROVEN wrong. 13 years of futility with off season hope and promises and disappointments every year. The bar is so low for this fanbase people are actually excited about Beck Malentsyn ffs.

Here's the list for that article on ranking your front office (got it off the Bruins site). Not surprising the cup winner is at the top. Toronto fans not so happy 🙂 The list: 1. Florida 2. Dallas 3. Tampa Bay 4. Utah 5. Vancouver 6. Montreal 7. New Jersey 8. Carolina 9. Colorado 10. Nashville 11. Vegas 12. Chicago 13. San Jose 14. Boston 15. Washington 16. Anaheim 17. New York Rangers 18. Calgary 19. Winnipeg 20. Philadelphia 21. Detroit 22. Ottawa 23. St Louis 24. Minnesota 25. Edmonton 26. Buffalo 27. Seattle 28. Columbus 29. Pittsburgh 30. Toronto 31. Los Angeles 32. New York Islanders

I still say 26th is about right. Until they make the playoffs no way should they be much higher than that.

I think there's a lag that's true, but would you really put them up to 8th now? That 8th last year was way too high and based on some sort of crazy optimism that wasn't really warranted. I mean on the Bruins site they're arguing that their 14th place ranking is too high because they haven't won the cup in over a decade. 8th for a team that hasn't been in the playoffs in 13 years was crazy and 26th seems far more reasonable.

That isn't nearly sufficient. In addition we need several young players to step up and be more than they've been. We need Ruff to create a proper team defensive system and we need the players to buy in to it. We need at least one of the goalies to play top level consistent goaltending. We need to be more physical and able to handle physicality better. We need new leadership to emerge and gel. The team has to start hating to lose for real and start working their ***** off on a nightly basis. Our top scorers have to be top scorers again and we need to beat division opponents in regulation and make home ice an actual advantage not a liability. It's a lot, but it's all possible. Will it happen? No idea.

No, I don't think so. There was a lot of optimism last year because of being a point out the year before. They blew it though with their stand still development path so pessimism crept in. There's an optimism bump now because of Ruff's hiring and the small moves they made but I think a lot of people are in the "show me" mood like I am. After 13 years anything above 30 is generous.

I think he might try to trade Krebs.

Without getting into details on those players attributes, he always had a mix of players though. There were other guys there to get the dirty jobs done so to speak. I personally don't think the changes we have made are adequate, BUT, the roster is assembled and constructed more like it should be finally and it looks more like a Ruff type team already without even playing. How the forwards will play D is perhaps more important than the actual D itself. So for me the biggest question this year is can these young talented forwards be offensive threats AND play good D at the same time. This is what Ruff will want. Have to wait and see if they can or will do it.

It's summer so I don't want to get into a long argument about who is good or not good as a D man but to the bolded lines, to the first, you sound like Housley and Granato. Hasn't worked so far, don't think it'll work now. Can't see Ruff having that philosophy. To the second, your question, I really don't know as the Samuelsson question is real, I've never cared for Jokiharju, and I'm really unsure on Byram or where Power will be in his development. Having said that, I think Clifton will be better under Ruff. More like he was in Boston and Dahlin will be Dahlin so that brings up the issue of ice time and deployment. I would actually like to see Ruff try Power-Dahlin as the top pairing but again, it depends on where Power is. Otherwise Samuelsson-Dahlin but Byram-Power doesn't really work for me so I just don't know. I still think we have too many of the softer puck movers and not enough of the tough defenders but we will see what Ruff can get out of them.

I don't see a pairing of Byram/Dahlin working. That the pairing you want up against opponent's number one lines? If so you better hope they get it out quick and spend a lot of time in the O zone because they will be a disaster in their own end. A lot depends on Samuelsson staying healthy and Power taking a step or two forward. Those two things are essential.

That figures. Virtanen went over there after his "issues". Russians don't care about sexual assault apparently. Putin probably just thinks it makes them manly.

Well the Nevada Gaming Commission was apparently investigating him so maybe there is some fire to go with the smoke and not "total BS". The league hasn't done a great job with this sort of stuff but maybe they've decided to change and crack down a little. Not saying that's good, but maybe they feel the leaks and advance info are getting out of hand and he's the first to fall or the scapegoat.

That's a good question. many of us have certainly been talking about it for quite a while. Now this might be wish fulfillment but I firmly believe that Pegula has in a way finally given up on some of his ideas and has relented into turning the key decisions over to the people actually hired to make them. I think Ruff is in charge.

Nope. Like everybody above. I certainly hope we are building a different kind of team and skinner out Laine in would just turn us into a true laughing stock of the league.

I still think UPL sharing the load with a decent veteran and one more full year in Rochester for Levi would be the better plan but this is at least better than Adams first few years.

AI still has a lot of learning to do. It thinks Peyton Krebs is a dynamic signing for the New York Rangers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p8Lzh_La2o&t=125s

I don't count it because young players have fewer options. When UFAs sign here it can mean more. Even if they are only role players. The more guys on the roster that already know how to play that way the better and it'll make it easier for Ruff to get the rest to buy in.