Drag0nDan

Interesting to think - make the same deal with cozens instead of mittelstadt. Wonder how that would fit with players they have here right now.

Even watching loose pucks it seems like the pucks bouncing around in our zone directly onto the opponents sticks.

The bruins won 65 games and had a 3 game losing streak at one point in the season. You just can't let this keep going. A win gets the monkey off your back, but they need to play better across the board. Pucks need to start going in the net, the power play needs some urgency, and vets need to step up.

Hopefully we can avoid the slow 20-something game start that seems to plague this team in recent seasons.

Curious to see what the board thinks for this season outside of Buffalo in the playoff picture. Lots of player movement, as well as a number of coaching changes.

Which is fine to have it in your back pocket, but getting hurt in like october affected him pretty much the entire season.

I'd personally like to see him more active between the blue lines in 5x5, and tying up those high slot follow-ups that have given buffalo problems. The only time i like to attack a PP is if they have a guy like olofsson who can get swallowed up on the wall and doesn't have a ton of confidence. Which... teams did to us pretty consistently last year.

Yeah, blocking a shot on a PK IIRC which just seems like not the best use of his abilities.

yeah i didn't look so.. i'm good there. Seems like a waste of money.

He's clearly not completely washed if he's putting up ice time for playoff teams. At the same time... i know the effort level I'm going to get is pretty low so is this just weaponizing a little cap space?

Pretty much where I'm at... there shouldn't be much of a priority to keep him, or find him ice time. He can certainly earn it, but much of what i've seen is the same. He's played 200 NHL games, so it's not as if there isn't a sample size. He's not fast or quick, effort is there but he's not particularly effective in a checking role, not particularly effective on draws, doesn't kill penalties, and his shooting and shot selection is pretty terrible. Mittelstadt wasn't a great shooter, but other elements of his game improved, especially his ability to take the puck away and keep puck possession.

I guess it would have been a better explanation for the skinner buyout?

Quinn getting hurt opened up a spot for Benson as well.

Mono was the most annoying illness. You're contagious like the entire time you present symptoms, you're tired the entire time, and food tastes bad. Even once he's feeling better and well enough to work out and play, you have to keep him away from the locker room even longer.

Mitts never found the net enough for me to want to put him as a top 6 center (0 20-goal seasons in his career). Good player between the blue lines, i thought he was a proper back checker as a center, quick decisions in traffic. He was also one of the only guys who would skate the puck out of the zone with a level of consistency. But he wasn't particularly fleet of foot, and you don't usually get faster than you are at 25. Decent shooting percentage but 102 shots in 62 games is just... too low for a center in a top 6. Didn't hate the player, but to pay him 6M or whatever is tough when his points are going to be somewhat line dependent. I don't think McLeod is an upgrade, but I think he's what they're looking for in a 3rd line center - win draws, play in any situation if needed, take pucks away, etc.