Future

To be fair, I don't think they're up to anything. I just think the timing is stupid lol

Which is why I specifically said two of the four lol

Yea, I'm sure it's temporary. I can't imagine they're going to go 40 games with Lias playing 8:00 between Smith/McKegg. Though, honestly, if they're committed to keeping the centers at center and not putting the skill guys on the 4th line, idk what the solution is. If you don't move two of chytil, Lias, Howden, Strome to wing, the math just doesn't work.

yea - they've got this year and maybe 1 more of having a shot. Their prospect pool is virtually non-existent, and their NHL defense corps is....really bad. I won't count them out yet - because Sid and Malkin are Sid and Malkin - but they're trending down.

I just don't get why make that trade now and not...in July. Waiting would make sense if this was a contender who had an injury or something, but Ottawa is none of that. I find it hard to believe this deal - or something similar - wasn't available months ago. Did they really hold out to get a 4th instead of a 5th, or to retain $750k instead of $1m?

Good. Fuck the Pens. I hope they finish 9th from now until the end of time.

Possible - but lines 2-4 can't score any less than they are right now lol. There's not much falling off to do, though I agree with your point. But, say you start 14-6-0 (28 points). You can go 28-24-10 (66) the rest of the way and hit 94 points being a sub .500 team for 3/4 of the season. 94 certainly doesn't mean you're in, but it gets you to a point where you're in the conversation, even if your play has dropped significantly from the good start. Especially in a conference where there are ~10 teams who all have significant flaws too.

Going to nitpick "mid-six," because those things are what you want in bottom-6 Cs. Top-6 Cs have to be able to make plays. Doing all the things that a solid 3c does will probably be good for his career, but that will make him very expendable to this organization, unless he's making vet min, or close to, after this year.

To be honest I don't reallly understand why Howden is the 3c and Lias the 4c right now. I like Howden, but I don't see much in terms of offensive ability. I get that they're trying to develop both as centers, but putting one on the wing and letting them play on a grinding line together - maybe with Lemieux - makes a lot of sense to me. The three, together, should be strong on the cycle and forecheck.

Agreed. They're a seriously flawed team, but one great scoring line, a good PP, and good goaltending can get you ~95 points to sneak in. Plus, this team should get better as the year goes on, with all the young players. If you can steal points in the first 15-20 games and get some improvement from Hajek/Fox, it's not impossible.

Yea - and it's even worse since November is ridiculous. 15 games in 29 nights 3 back-to-backs 3 4 games in three nights They also play the day before and after Thanksgiving, and the following Saturday. Idk how common that is or isn't, but to play Wed, Fri, Sat, when you need to travel on Thursday, is pretty shitty.

It's too early in the season for the FO thing to matter. Historically, he hasn't been good. It's not like he's going to stay at 60% all year.

He was trash but was no worse than a handful of other forwards.

You don't want that, but by then (say 23-24 season) I think they're rebuilding anyways, unless they're going to re-sign all of these guys well into their 30s as well. Tarasenko - 31 Schwartz - 31 Perron - 35 Pietro - 33 Parayko - 30

This is a pretty high AAV given the years, but I don't think there should be much consequence to it.

He is the captain of this team, whether they choose to put the C on him or not.

That whole top-6 is. WPG is about the worst team to play an opener against, with the talent in the top-6 and the way they forecheck. Rangers looked jittery with the puck more than anything else.

He did it a whole bunch in the back half of last year too.

Pionk has more points than Trouba.

The problem isn't the structure really, it's just that neither is particularly good. Carp doesn't seem to know how to write anything of substance, and Shayna is so substance-heavy that it's boring.

+1 on Breakaway It's shocking to me how bad The Athletic's Rangers page is.

Lol really, I don't remember that. It's the exact opposite of Torts, who was "you don't coach the result"

Interesting to see Hajek with Trouba, but would rather see Skjei with Fox, if that's the case.

It's on likelihood to win a Vezina....