The Big Picture
In reality, and this sucks, this is supposed to be THE year for us. Imagine if Gomez, Drury and Redden-signings would have been the real deal. If Redden would have been Chara, if Gomez would have scored 85 pts and Drury 40+30. Then we would have had great depth thanks to our kids, and a scoring punch. Then we would have been a contender this season.
Well tough luck, they all sucked. Now we are in a dangerous phase, there is a risk that we can be caught at a level were we are too good to improve but still not good enough to contend.
We now need to make like 3-4 helluva good moves, or moves that we already have made needs to turn out to be helluva good moves. I mean if Kreider turns out to be a 35 goal scorer and Zucc a 30+45 type of player, along with a successful signing of a player like a Brad Richards, then we could still challenge like Pittsburg. But we need to be aware that its going to take a couple of Staal& Hank type of steals really to take a step and become a contender. Pittsburg is going to be a helluva team next season most likely... Scary thought.
Personel -The Good
We all know who they are. Staal taking another step. Sauer and McD. Step getting into the league. Boyle improving, hopefully more then his pricetag though. Zucc getting his feet wet in a pretty good fashion.
-The Bad Michael Del Zotto's season was a disaster. Definitely on par with if Stepan would end up in the AHL next season. MDZ was put on the PP point, despite not being ready for it. And kept there. That ruined his confidence. He can definitely still recover, but we can't screw around with him next season too, this time we need to put him in a perfect environment.
Gabby clearly could not get it done with Christensen and co for long parts of the season, but everyone else worked well together so he was kept in that environment all year. In hindsight, that was a very questionable move...
The Coach
I see him as a skipper who takes very good care of his ship, but you gotta question the direction he is sailing it.
To make a long story short, Torts developed his philosophy in the trapping era. During that time you could not make any misstakes in the neutral zone. But loaded teams still needed a way to take advantage of their firepower. So teams like Colorado, Dallas and co developed a system were you played extremely simple hockey before you got through the neutralzone and below the hashmarks. And thats how we play today. We start to attack when we get below the hashmarks. Before that out game is developed to not make any misstakes.
Looking around the league in the PO's for example, thats completely opposite of how all other team plays. They take risks and takes the puck to the net from the redline and in. All teams have been drilled and have set plays to attack and be creative from the time they get the puck in their own end. D's move the puck D to D to find openings, a pass i made up ice and D's are challenged with speed at the blueline.
As opposed to us who sends a slapper pass up to the redline were some one re-directs it into the attacking zone. We have no plays to open up things for a skilled player like Gabby.
1. Overcame lots of injuries to key personnel, and a way below par scoring season from it's superstar to claw it's way into the playoffs kicking and screaming.
2. Girardi lead entire league in blocked shots
3. Lundqvist was among top 5 goalies in the NHL
4. Callahan and Dubinsky each firmly planted themselves as team's go-to point producers and leaders despite injury plagues season
5. AA had an excellent development season. High hopes will be pinned on him next year, but he showed that he's much more of a capable highly skilled two way center than a Kvasha/Antropov.
6. Staal logged massive minutes all against top units, mostly opposite top wingers, and the NYR had one of the best goal differentials in the entire league.
7. Boyle, Prust, Fedotenko gave us the exact type of lunch-pail play PLUS production a team needs to be successful.
coachingC+
1. The only lines to ever find effective chemistry and remain together for any stretch was our Pack line, and our 3rd line. If you're not getting production from your top player, imho you need to change the dynamic or the concept. Neither really happened and we rollercoastered all season in the G's department
2. McD, Sauer integrated into line-up seamlessly, and both logged big minutes for us the whole way.
3. PP was abysmal. No creativity, and when it was blatantly apparent we didn't have the playmakers to run a creative PP, only a small experiment putting Staal in the high slot was ever tried and then scrapped.
4. PK was great all season, but I guess that belong in the team category. I mean all PK's play exactly the same, kind of comes down to heart, skill, and vision.
5. Dealt with a ton of players coming in and out of the line-up, and the team kept a positive vision and adhered to a team first concept. Had our most successful stretch right down the wire final 20 games or so to get into the playoffs.
6. Eminger and Avery were head and shoulders more effective then anyone that Tortorella kept insisting on replacing them with.
ManagementD
1. 8 years into the rebuild and we haven't produced a 1c or #1 PMD yet.
2. big ticket item, shiny toy, fell flat on his face. with reports coming out that he'll play for Slovakia, he obviously wasn't injured. Our one trick pony had no tricks this season.
3. the 2 season additions of Wolski and McCabe were meaningless. Wolski's contract is hilarious compared to his production, and will need to be moved or bought out. McCabe will no way be retained.
4. McD, Sauer, and Stepan all made the jump to Broadway and each looked promising. Stepan and McD still need their skills to grow into their talent, and Sauer was already a beast for us.
5. 2 of the 3 offseason acquisitions were a Torts target for benching and healthy scratching (Frolov, Eminger), while Fedetenko had a stellar season as a contributing role player.
Anyone expecting more out of this squad is delusional. Anyone that isn't happy with what the kids put out is the same.
While I didn't agree with the coaching decisions Torts and Sully made at time - particularly the use of Gabby on the PP and putting him on what looked like his off-wing constantly, I have to believe they know a lot more than I do about their own players. The fact that they got so much production all throughout the line-up was not only a testament to the drive of the players, but hats off to the coaches for putting them in a position to succeed and exceed expectations.
The sophomore slump collapse of MDZ and the failure of a season by Gaborik were disappointing, but I'm not ready to give up on either. Especially not a 20-year old defenseman.
IMO, It's really only the top six forwards that need a bit of tweaking and while I'm not going to say we'll be a contender quite as soon as next season - if we land Richards and he lives up to expectations, who's to say they can't do damage in the post-season?
They exceeded my expectations for the season and played very entertaining hockey unlike in years past. I also believe this was a great experience for the younger guys on this team and will make them stronger in the long run.
I expect them to be better next year because of this past one.
1. Overcame lots of injuries to key personnel, and a way below par scoring season from it's superstar to claw it's way into the playoffs kicking and screaming.
2. Girardi lead entire league in blocked shots
3. Lundqvist was among top 5 goalies in the NHL
4. Callahan and Dubinsky each firmly planted themselves as team's go-to point producers and leaders despite injury plagues season
5. AA had an excellent development season. High hopes will be pinned on him next year, but he showed that he's much more of a capable highly skilled two way center than a Kvasha/Antropov.
6. Staal logged massive minutes all against top units, mostly opposite top wingers, and the NYR had one of the best goal differentials in the entire league.
7. Boyle, Prust, Fedotenko gave us the exact type of lunch-pail play PLUS production a team needs to be successful.
coachingC+
1. The only lines to ever find effective chemistry and remain together for any stretch was our Pack line, and our 3rd line. If you're not getting production from your top player, imho you need to change the dynamic or the concept. Neither really happened and we rollercoastered all season in the G's department
2. McD, Sauer integrated into line-up seamlessly, and both logged big minutes for us the whole way.
3. PP was abysmal. No creativity, and when it was blatantly apparent we didn't have the playmakers to run a creative PP, only a small experiment putting Staal in the high slot was ever tried and then scrapped.
4. PK was great all season, but I guess that belong in the team category. I mean all PK's play exactly the same, kind of comes down to heart, skill, and vision.
5. Dealt with a ton of players coming in and out of the line-up, and the team kept a positive vision and adhered to a team first concept. Had our most successful stretch right down the wire final 20 games or so to get into the playoffs.
6. Eminger and Avery were head and shoulders more effective then anyone that Tortorella kept insisting on replacing them with.
ManagementD
1. 8 years into the rebuild and we haven't produced a 1c or #1 PMD yet.
2. big ticket item, shiny toy, fell flat on his face. with reports coming out that he'll play for Slovakia, he obviously wasn't injured. Our one trick pony had no tricks this season.
3. the 2 season additions of Wolski and McCabe were meaningless. Wolski's contract is hilarious compared to his production, and will need to be moved or bought out. McCabe will no way be retained.
4. McD, Sauer, and Stepan all made the jump to Broadway and each looked promising. Stepan and McD still need their skills to grow into their talent, and Sauer was already a beast for us.
5. 2 of the 3 offseason acquisitions were a Torts target for benching and healthy scratching (Frolov, Eminger), while Fedetenko had a stellar season as a contributing role player.
OVERALL C+
Well put overall, though I'd bump the overall to a B- or so, really just splitting hairs though.
I love Anisimov as an Antropov-like player, 55-60 points, with better skating and D. If Stepan progresses offensively and we get Richards, maybe Anisimov becomes a high value trade piece down the line, but we'll see about that.
Management showed that taking calculated risks is the way to go when you're filling out the depth of your roster. I think Sather knew he got away with the Kotalik deal, and signing Frolov for only one year at a reasonable price was still the right move at the time to me. It didn't work out, but it doesn't kill us going forward. Same goes for the Wolski deal, Rozi became expendable with the emergence of our young D, and we took a chance on a younger player with offensive skill. His cap hit isn't great, but his buyout # is low.
In the end, there's still a lot of if's going forward, namely Redden/Drury. I know it's easy to say "Who would walk away from $5 Mill?" But Drury's decline + the money he's made already makes it very possible in my mind. Same goes for Redden, he's made plenty of money, he got to take the F-U $6.5 mill this year while playing in Hartford, now he looks to go overseas who maybe sign somewhere else for cheaper.
If we somehow magically got rid of both of those, Richards becomes pretty much a lock, and with a few other pieces I think we become a serious contender in the East next season.
BTW if we do, wow the Atlantic will be stacked with Philly, Pitt presumably with Sid/Geno back, the resurgent Devils (if they can bottle up their second half + a healthy Parise), and us.
B . The scariest thing I wonder about is how much the other teams will improve in the Summer months . We all think our Blueline improved with Sauer & McD this season but look at Washington who added Alzner and the other kid...name escapes me at the moment ? Buffalo has added Gregnani and Myers over 2 seasons...right there you have 2 pair that are better than our 2 IMO with more upside . We might have a hard time improving our grade next season with just the addition of Richards . Gaborik is a question mark going forward and very hard to count on given his past History of performance . Atlanta has a lot of nice pieces that could fit into place awful fast as do the Isles . Add Brad Richards onto the Leaf team and they will be battling hard for that final spot...making the post season is a long way off for us for next year and it might be actually harder to accomplish given what is happening with the other teams . I really think Toronto will go hard after Richards and we won't be the only team in that race . Richards would make Kessel a 50 goal scorer IMO .
I also forgot to add the Devils in the playoff race for next season...and they have to be considered after what was accomplished there without Parise .
