I will never, ever endorse tanking and I have zero respect for people that do. The last thing I want is to have a team full of Brian Rolston's. Losing will never be alright with me and purposely losing makes me lose all respect for that team.
I just don't see how you can build a strong competitive team with a loser's attitude that if you won't make the playoffs, you rather lose and finish off with a better pick. I mean it just seems like a loser psychology and as long as you think like that, there's just no way to build a strong team confidence. And let's fact it people, the game is 100% played between the ears, I mean litteraly any team in the NHL can win the Stanley Cup every season. Players can just become really good in a matter of days if it starts ''clicking''. As much as we may like to think our team is so bad, it's technically possible (not likely, but still possible) this same exact team could of finished off the season first in the NHL if a single little detail would of went differently at some point of time. I know it's kind of abstract to think about but the main idea behind what I'm trying to say is that the way the team is playing right now COULD POTENTIALLY BE the way they play for the rest of their careers and players like Okposo and Bailey could suddenly become 80 point players ''out of the blue''.
All in all, I say you want to try to spark up that confidence within the players to make them see they have the potential to become the best team in the league if they always play well (which is ironically the truth)
This sounds like our offseason strategy for the past 5 seasons or so.
And without a Streit/Okposo type injury to use as a crutch like last year, I'm guessing this is going to be the crap we're fed this summer. Get your season tickets now, we might accidentally click next year!
its very simple, the higher you pick, the better player you can get. Winning is meaningless now. Do i want them to play hard, competitive hockey? yes. but im not gonna lie, murray would be much better than trouba...
and to all you who say oh well winnning 5 games at the end of the season means something...get a grip....half these guys wont even be here next year....what the hell did our 5 game winning streak earlier in the year mean? jack squat, thats what.
Enough with this losing crap. I want this team to be competitive all of the time and learn how to win. When the Isles do become good I don't want to hear about how they tanked year after year to become good.
When the Isles do become good I don't want to hear about how they tanked year after year to become good.
ButButBut that's like what people say Pittsburgh and Chicago did.
Again, if you want the team to be competitive, then the GM has to put the formula for success together on paper, then the coach has to push the right buttons along the way.
Those who are in the uniform will usually spend their time over 60 minutes doing what they can to win.
Obviously all fail sometimes and many just aren't good enough (yet) to have much of a say in the matter.
Nobody - not even those who think winning at a time when it does nothing for the team in the standings is an unnecessary thing to do in light of the draft system as it is - is advocating that the players themselves go out and lose on purpose.
Even if the isles win all 6 remaining games it does not matter. Winning is a culture created by winning meaningful games
As was posted earlier the winning culture is created in camp, we saw last year how those late wins really carried over into this season.
Winning is also a culture cultivated by a management who shows that they are committed to a winning team no matter what. Does anyone really think winning the next six will make a UFA take the isles seriously this offseason? I don't think so.
Why would players buy into a winning attitude when they have not been given the horses to make it possible?
No matter how many they win at the end, this season has been a dissapointment, I'm rooting for them to lose all six only because it may force Wang and snow to rethink who is behind the bench and what they have to do to improve the talent.
Snow cannot bring back all the guys from this season, add a couple of rookies and expect this team to compete. Once management proves they want to win, the players will follow.
I'm sorry, winning now means **** all for next season. If the players decide they don't want to show up for 20% of the games next year like they did this year it matters not what they did lsat year. How many ****ing times did we hear that this year? 'we just showed up flat'. **** this, winning does not breed winning in this organization..
I will never, ever endorse tanking and I have zero respect for people that do. The last thing I want is to have a team full of Brian Rolston's. Losing will never be alright with me and purposely losing makes me lose all respect for that team.
Purposely losing? I don't recall anyone saying anything about that. I know I never did. I actually said that I expect the players to try their best. What I DID say was that it was best for the team to get the best pick possible...period. I fully expect the players to play their hearts out. Hopefully, they taste some success and the team gets the best pick possible. Don't tell me those goals are mutually exclusive. They aren't. The players can improve...Okposo can learn how to be a winner...Bailey can continue to progress as an NHL forward...others can grow...but we need talent. Unless someone knows something I don't, real NHL players in their prime have not wanted to come here.
UFAs won't sign with tanking team. Win at all costs at every level.
Has anyone accused the Islanders of tanking the last five seasons or so? I didn't think so. Now, given that we have not tanked any of the recent seasons and no one is suggesting the players will tank this season, how many of the top free agents have wanted to sign with us? Answer=none. They want to play with good teams...teams with talent. Before you suggest they want to play with winning teams, you are correct, but those teams have talent. Now, we can debate how you get there, but few would argue that talent wins. OK, so how do you get talent? You can sign it (we have not been able to do so), you can trade for it (see previous answer), or you can draft and develop it. No matter how many guys point to Datsyuk and guys like him who were drafted late or others like Richards or Parise who were drafted in the middle of the first or later, the higher you draft, the MORE LIKELY you are to draft a stud. We need studs. End of story.
Purposely losing? I don't recall anyone saying anything about that. I know I never did. I actually said that I expect the players to try their best. What I DID say was that it was best for the team to get the best pick possible...period. I fully expect the players to play their hearts out. Hopefully, they taste some success and the team gets the best pick possible. Don't tell me those goals are mutually exclusive. They aren't. The players can improve...Okposo can learn how to be a winner...Bailey can continue to progress as an NHL forward...others can grow...but we need talent. Unless someone knows something I don't, real NHL players in their prime have not wanted to come here.
Call it what you want, tanking, purposely losing or wanting to lose. personally, its all the same to me. I don't want to watch a lossing team just so we can get a higher pick. I can't believe there are so many people that say they wouldn't mind if we lost in order to get a higher pick. It just doesn't make sense to me.
This sounds like our offseason strategy for the past 5 seasons or so.
And without a Streit/Okposo type injury to use as a crutch like last year, I'm guessing this is going to be the crap we're fed this summer. Get your season tickets now, we might accidentally click next year!
Call it what you want, tanking, purposely losing or wanting to lose. personally, its all the same to me. I don't want to watch a lossing team just so we can get a higher pick. I can't believe there are so many people that say they wouldn't mind if we lost in order to get a higher pick. It just doesn't make sense to me.
You are confusing what you and I want with the team tanking. A team tanks when it purposely loses. I actually would prefer the Islanders to win; I just also want the teams around them to win. Even more than winning, I want players to develop. Where I think you and I differ is that I don't think winning any of these last games helps players develop. I think what helps them develop is them playing like winners by scoring and making positive plays. I want that, too...I just would prefer if the team was able to do that and still get a high pick. It is a fine line to be sure. I wish I had the energy to watch future threads to see if you will be one of the guys pissing and moaning about who we draft 9th. I wonder if you'll still have the same positive attitude when whomever we draft is a dud and the guy drafted two in front of him turns into a star. Some will point out that you can always say something like that (see Nino vs. Skinner comparisons), but there are often players that are much more highly touted...and they tend to get drafted earlier in the draft. That is my point.
As I've stated a few times, 3 wins in the last 6 games all but guarantees us that we'll not be in the lottery.
Even then, the best we could do is move up one slot.
Looking at this draft though, I do think it's going to be a bit difficult being a team picking top three. Thus, it'd be great to be picking 4th, just in case there is a surprise or two within the first three.
Every team that misses the playoffs is in the lottery. Just want to make sure that's clear. (Not that you don't understand that.) We could finish 6th worst and still jump to 2nd. It still would be a possibility.
I hate this time of year when moving down becomes moving up.
Last lottery, the Devils finished with the 8th worst record and jumped us to go to 4th which dropped us down one position to 5th last season. Who is to say we're not the lucky ones this season? Or what if we finish with the 4th pick prior to the lottery, and another team jumps us again? Nothing is guaranteed until the balls bounce where they may.
Too many people in this thread are also only focusing on what we may be "missing out on" and not what the players may be gaining by winning games. A win that is meaningless in the goal of making the playoffs isn't necessarily meaningless for the players on the team. Also, and I know our chances are minuscule at best, we still haven't been mathematically eliminated.
(Even with Washington winning tonight. We're still not eliminated. However, one more point from the Caps and we're out. 2 points from Buffalo and we're out. Still, there's no "e" next to the Islanders yet.)
Josh Bailey had a 5 point night. Kyle Okposo hit 20 goals. What do those things mean to those players and their confidence heading into next season? What does it make them feel when it comes time to train?
Also, don't some of you know from competitive sports what it feels like to lose? Losing sucks. Losing a big game and coming back stronger is one thing. Losing so much as a team that you feel like your team will never win anything no matter what you do is something else entirely.
And again, since it keeps being ignored, we did not finish last season on a strong note.
I completely understand people hoping the teams around us keep pace in order to keep our positioning high. I don't understand anyone who cheers a loss because they're not thinking about what negative effects losing has on the very important players who are already on the squad. It also requires one to equally ignore what positives the players on the squad may get out of winning. Not in the simplistic way of winning begets winning (which is really often does), but in that individual members of the team gain positives from winning hockey games.
During the season people *****ed at Bailey about his confidence. I always argued that he never had two legitimate linemates for any length of the time, but not scoring for a long period does bring an offensive player down. It's important that a player like Bailey "feels like he can score", same for Okposo and a lot of our players not named John Tavares who is one of the few who "knows he can score."
The current team is incrementally better than last year's squad. It has been all season long. Next year's team, assuming we get no friggin' help, will continue to be incrementally better. There just won't be the exponential jump that we deserve and we may be reducing our chances at hitting the highest peak of performance.
We're still getting a very good pick in this draft. It just may be a player that needs more time to develop and won't help immediately. The less help we gain immediately, the better we'll be drafting next season. However, the internal improvement of our current squad is more important than who we pick in any given draft. We have many players on this squad that are going to be here for the next few years. Do not neglect what losing or not performing does to them. Do not neglect what it means to them to have a "winning" record.
...and again, these games mattered for the Penguins and they lost them. It's not like we're playing a last place team and seeing who can lose the best between us. We've sucked so badly against our division, it's also important that the players on this squad know they have a chance at beating some of them. (Even if our top line continues to do poor against most of them and our staff is too dumb to recognize why.)
Between this and the rest of my posts in this thread, I've said everything I possibly could on the matter. Understanding the benefits of winning and the detriments of losing will never e as easy as seeing "what we lost in terms of draft position". So people will always say that "we lost out on so and so", but never fully think about what would have been required to get to that point.
If it's a shootout on the last day of the season, then by all means we could easily have this discussion. However, the team isn't eliminated yet. I want them to be eliminated by another team winning more, not because they lost a game because they had no hope. I want that the help drive them for next year. I want them to feel like they "just missed it" instead of feeling like they're one of the 5 worst teams in the league. It matters, whether some believe me or not.
You are confusing what you and I want with the team tanking. A team tanks when it purposely loses. I actually would prefer the Islanders to win; I just also want the teams around them to win. Even more than winning, I want players to develop. Where I think you and I differ is that I don't think winning any of these last games helps players develop. I think what helps them develop is them playing like winners by scoring and making positive plays. I want that, too...I just would prefer if the team was able to do that and still get a high pick. It is a fine line to be sure. I wish I had the energy to watch future threads to see if you will be one of the guys pissing and moaning about who we draft 9th. I wonder if you'll still have the same positive attitude when whomever we draft is a dud and the guy drafted two in front of him turns into a star. Some will point out that you can always say something like that (see Nino vs. Skinner comparisons), but there are often players that are much more highly touted...and they tend to get drafted earlier in the draft. That is my point.
What if we finish with a winning record? Does that not send an image of a brighter future to players who may be considering coming here to play? What if JT finishes top-10 in points? What if our 2nd line seems like they're legitimate and a forward who wishes to come here thinks they can push them either further forward?
Everything matters. Drafting high up matters, but winning also matters for the players already on this team and how free agents may perceive the team when deciding their futures.
I can't criticize your opinion Mitch. But just to clarify one item, this season is a loser, and incredibly disappointing, no matter how many wins they finish with from here on in. Next year will be the same without significant improvements atdefense and forward. I see that as completely separate from the draft slot this year. Win, lose, it makes no difference. Same as last year's great second half was meaningless except in denying us Larsson.
We were denied Larsson because a team that finished worse than us who won a bunch of "meaningless" games after they were far out of the playoffs jumped us in the lottery. The Devils went from 8th to 4th.
Perhaps, even in that kind of season they made their own luck?
We have 3 expiring contracts on defense. Who knows what our defense is going to look like. We have an important contract expiring at forward. Who knows if PAP stays or goes? If he goes, what does he get replaced with?
This team will be incrementally better next year even if the status quo is kept. I have no doubt in my mind. The trickle up effect will keep moving forward. Having said that, we're not built well to face most of the teams in our division and that's a problem. However, we have players with plus physical attributes that will slowly make their way here to help remedy that problem.
Until I see how parts swap in and out, I'm more worried about the players who are here than the players we're going to replace them with. That includes future draftees and free agents. Because of that, these games are not meaningless.
We were denied Larsson because a team that finished worse than us who won a bunch of "meaningless" games after they were far out of the playoffs jumped us in the lottery. The Devils went from 8th to 4th.
Perhaps, even in that kind of season they made their own luck?
We have 3 expiring contracts on defense. Who knows what our defense is going to look like. We have an important contract expiring at forward. Who knows if PAP stays or goes? If he goes, what does he get replaced with?
This team will be incrementally better next year even if the status quo is kept. I have no doubt in my mind. The trickle up effect will keep moving forward. Having said that, we're not built well to face most of the teams in our division and that's a problem. However, we have players with plus physical attributes that will slowly make their way here to help remedy that problem.
Until I see how parts swap in and out, I'm more worried about the players who are here than the players we're going to replace them with. That includes future draftees and free agents. Because of that, these games are not meaningless.
OK, now I've beaten this **** to death.
,
Mitch
Yet the bad losses are meaningless? You can't pick one ten game stretch as meaningful while ignoring the other bad ten games prior. It is all part of the same pie. I find it far more meaningful, and in a bad way, that they stuck out when the games actually mattered, and not that long ago. Now they are only playing "Not to be last in the league." If you want to make an argument for giving it your all, that should have happened when they were still in the mix a month ago.
IMO, all of this is pointless though. Show me the same general team next year and maybe they improve by 5 points over this one. Maybe. It is just as likely to get worse if they hire 3 replacements worse than Staios, Eaton, and Jurcina.
Yeah, I am still laughing, but I've also added crying and glue sniffing to the mix. We're winning some meaningless games right now. Again. Yay. All they're doing right now is padding stats and screwing up our draft position.
Teams don't 'learn' to win when the pressure's off and the games don't matter in Mar/Apr. You 'learn' to win in Dec/Jan/Feb when the games still mean something (how'd we do in those this year?!). This team had a nice run after the pressure was off last year? How did that translate this season? Anybody want to argue that those wins last year were important and that the kids dropped the loser mentality and learned how to win?!
When Chuckles opens up the wallet and brings in some legitimate veteran talent to compliment the kids, then I'll get excited. Until then, he's just a cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, dickless, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey ****! Hallelujah! Holy ****! Where's the Tylenol?
Yet the bad losses are meaningless? You can't pick one ten game stretch as meaningful while ignoring the other bad ten games prior. It is all part of the same pie. I find it far more meaningful, and in a bad way, that they stuck out when the games actually mattered, and not that long ago. Now they are only playing "Not to be last in the league." If you want to make an argument for giving it your all, that should have happened when they were still in the mix a month ago.
IMO, all of this is pointless though. Show me the same general team next year and maybe they improve by 5 points over this one. Maybe. It is just as likely to get worse if they hire 3 replacements worse than Staios, Eaton, and Jurcina.
I've made my points in this thread. They've been consistently glossed over.
I'm arguing that every game is meaningful. Yes, some are more meaningful than others. No, I'm not making excuses for past losses when the team was closer to contention. When you create your own arguments, they're easy to argue against. The part I bolded in your message is doing that.
I'm arguing against some here that think that these games are meaningless. They're not meaningless. Players develop habits for the future and learn how to play the game in every single game. Player development is generally additive, but there are also games where a player can take a large leap forward or backward and the same goes for the team as a whole. We have a plethora of young players who are developing and every game offers a chance for them to "get it" on top of being a drop in the bucket of their experience.
I also tried to show how we didn't end the season on a high note last season. Far from it. That consistently has been ignored.
I tried to show how the potentially negative impact of losing these last games on the players who are still here playing them is being ignored by myopically focusing on draft positioning. I'm arguing that the potential positives of winning them, are also being ignored. The positives and negatives I'm discussing are the impacts on the players on the team. It's harder to see these positives and negatives because they're not as clearcut and easy to measure as "what we're losing" in terms of draft positioning.
This is an extremely young team. The only way they're going to learn is by going through the entirety of the process. Since we're not giving them the advantage of having veterans to rely on who have been there before, we're going to suffer through every bump and bruise along the way. Neither of us agree with this, but I'm not going to ignore the little things because we're going about it all in the wrong way.
I can't say this enough, getting a high pick comes at a cost to the current team. If Crosby and Malkin had to start off with 3 years of losing each, do the Penguins become the same team? (They only had to suffer through ONE year with a losing record.) It's dangerous to have your young players suffer through too many years of losing.
It would seem that it would have been acceptable to most people that this team laid down and died once it seemed statistically unlikely that they would make the playoffs. There are some here who think it would be "good for the team" and I'm here to disagree.
Even though it's the "new .500", do you think that these players wouldn't get a boost from finishing with a "winning" record? From seeing actual progress even though they fell short? For knowing that they have to raise the bar just a bit higher to get in to the playoffs?
My posts are not hoping for the status quo or somehow a ringing endorsement of management. My posts in this thread are simply pointing out that there is something lost from "gaining draft position".
I've made my points in this thread. They've been consistently glossed over.
I'm arguing that every game is meaningful. Yes, some are more meaningful than others. No, I'm not making excuses for past losses when the team was closer to contention. When you create your own arguments, they're easy to argue against. The part I bolded in your message is doing that.
I'm arguing against some here that think that these games are meaningless. They're not meaningless. Players develop habits for the future and learn how to play the game in every single game. Player development is generally additive, but there are also games where a player can take a large leap forward or backward and the same goes for the team as a whole. We have a plethora of young players who are developing and every game offers a chance for them to "get it" on top of being a drop in the bucket of their experience.
I also tried to show how we didn't end the season on a high note last season. Far from it. That consistently has been ignored.
I tried to show how the potentially negative impact of losing these last games on the players who are still here playing them is being ignored by myopically focusing on draft positioning. I'm arguing that the potential positives of winning them, are also being ignored. The positives and negatives I'm discussing are the impacts on the players on the team. It's harder to see these positives and negatives because they're not as clearcut and easy to measure as "what we're losing" in terms of draft positioning.
This is an extremely young team. The only way they're going to learn is by going through the entirety of the process. Since we're not giving them the advantage of having veterans to rely on who have been there before, we're going to suffer through every bump and bruise along the way. Neither of us agree with this, but I'm not going to ignore the little things because we're going about it all in the wrong way.
I can't say this enough, getting a high pick comes at a cost to the current team. If Crosby and Malkin had to start off with 3 years of losing each, do the Penguins become the same team? (They only had to suffer through ONE year with a losing record.) It's dangerous to have your young players suffer through too many years of losing.
It would seem that it would have been acceptable to most people that this team laid down and died once it seemed statistically unlikely that they would make the playoffs. There are some here who think it would be "good for the team" and I'm here to disagree.
Even though it's the "new .500", do you think that these players wouldn't get a boost from finishing with a "winning" record? From seeing actual progress even though they fell short? For knowing that they have to raise the bar just a bit higher to get in to the playoffs?
My posts are not hoping for the status quo or somehow a ringing endorsement of management. My posts in this thread are simply pointing out that there is something lost from "gaining draft position".
,
Mitch
First off Mitch, I am not suggesting the team lay down and die. The concept itself is ludicrous. The players will continue to give whatever it is they choose to give each night, and it will have nothing to ever do with draft position. You mention creating an argument to argue against, here is an example of that as well. What the team, the organization could do, is use this period to experiment with the lines. I believe you have said as much as well. Mix things up enough and you will get losses.
The wins right now are meaningless, much much more meaningless than if Wang simply coughed up a real payroll and surrounded the kids with real veteran talent as opposed to the crap they have had to endure, as opposed to learn from. I proffer that would have 100 times more bearing on their development then this pittance of remaining games. They can lose out the rest of the way, and next year's point totals will have next to nothing to do with those games, and everything to do with whom they add in the summer.
Or don't add.
Meanwhile we are losing out on a shot at one of the two ready to play next year prospects. We are also playing our way out of a meaningful defenseman set to join in a short term. We are losing out on a significant upgrade for Tavares' wing. Flatly, the "sucks" part of that trumps whatever infinitesimal gain winning these few remaining games adds. They finished last season with a strong second half. It meant nothing to this year as they fell on their face again, early again. I would also refrain from talking about this team, and the Pens with Gino and Crosby. We have precisely one franchise player in Tavares. The rest are not on that level. Maybe Hamonic with more seasoning, but that's a longer development path.
I have no issue with people who want the win. During the game I want the win. Before and after I want the loss, because it is the only chance to add either a stud on the blueline, or a stud next to John. I would gladly sacrifice the final games for one of those creatures.
First off Mitch, I am not suggesting the team lay down and die. The concept itself is ludicrous. The players will continue to give whatever it is they choose to give each night, and it will have nothing to ever do with draft position. You mention creating an argument to argue against, here is an example of that as well. What the team, the organization could do, is use this period to experiment with the lines. I believe you have said as much as well. Mix things up enough and you will get losses.
The wins right now are meaningless, much much more meaningless than if Wang simply coughed up a real payroll and surrounded the kids with real veteran talent as opposed to the crap they have had to endure, as opposed to learn from. I proffer that would have 100 times more bearing on their development then this pittance of remaining games. They can lose out the rest of the way, and next year's point totals will have next to nothing to do with those games, and everything to do with whom they add in the summer.
Or don't add.
Meanwhile we are losing out on a shot at one of the two ready to play next year prospects. We are also playing our way out of a meaningful defenseman set to join in a short term. We are losing out on a significant upgrade for Tavares' wing. Flatly, the "sucks" part of that trumps whatever infinitesimal gain winning these few remaining games adds. They finished last season with a strong second half. It meant nothing to this year as they fell on their face again, early again. I would also refrain from talking about this team, and the Pens with Gino and Crosby. We have precisely one franchise player in Tavares. The rest are not on that level. Maybe Hamonic with more seasoning, but that's a longer development path.
I have no issue with people who want the win. During the game I want the win. Before and after I want the loss, because it is the only chance to add either a stud on the blueline, or a stud next to John. I would gladly sacrifice the final games for one of those creatures.
You say the games are meaningless. I'm stressing that they're not. I've suggested the reasons why throughout this thread. You simply stating that they're meaningless does not make them so.
The reason why I bring up the players playing the games is not over whether or not they're going to try hard or not. That is not the argument that I'm creating so I can knock it down.
First off, understand that our chances of being guaranteed to pick in the top-2 left a long time ago and went to the BJs. Our chance of a top-3 pick being guaranteed is not very good as of the moment.
Second off, and I'm asking this honestly, do you understand what my argument truly is?
I'm stating that there is a downside to drafting high..
My reasoning for bringing the Penguins into this debate is to show how little losing their top players had to go through. I want to point out that this is important and that losing is a negative. The big difference with us is that many important pieces are already on our club and that makes these games even more important.
When you say that you hope for a loss after the game, the assumption here is that you believe that losing to gain draft position is worth it in order to gain that draft position. After the game, as a fan of this team, you're alluding to the negative result not mattering.
My whole argument through this entire process, especially because we're not relatively close to being guaranteed a top-2 pick, is that the downside of drafting high and not winning hockey games is being summarily ignored throughout this thread.
Josh Bailey's 5 point night? This team finishing a few games over .500? A few more players hitting the 20 goal mark?
How are these things not seen as positives for the future? How are we so easily ignoring the potential benefits of these results on the players who are on the team? Would losing the last 6 games not have had potential for a negative effect on these players?
I'm not talking about losing a shootout on the last day of the season. I'm talking about how this team is still mathematically in contention and decided not to lay over and die and whether (or not) they may be gaining positives for the future. The recent results are a positive to me. That positive has to be weighed against the positive of drafting high. The negative of losing in order to gain higher draft position, also has to be weighed versus the positive of drafting higher.
Now, if someone wants to go ahead and make that argument, then they're welcome to. However, understand that it's an easy argument to make because where we draft is easily measured. Positive effects that result from winning hockey games late in a season for the members of our club is not so easily measured. Negative effects of losing hockey games is not easily measured at that time.
I'm all for experimenting in order to improve things that aren't currently working. I'm all for experimenting with anything that may see a future benefit once we're officially eliminated.
Our top line hasn't scored a goal against Pittsburgh all year. I would have been fine with altering it for these last two games. If the new second line is clicking, then I would have left those players alone in my rearrangement.
This team's ineffectiveness against teams in our division is the largest reason why we're not in the playoffs. A lot of that actually has to do with our top line and how we match up against divisional rivals. Winning games against a team like Pittsburgh is that much more important for me because of the divisional relationship. I also hope the coaching/management staff sees how ineffective our top line has been against most teams in our division and that guides future decisions. The Rangers are the only team in our division that our top line has truly excelled against.
OK, I can barely see, so I hope this finally sets everything straight. If not, then I guess we'll just agree to disagree on the importance of what is currently happening in terms of how it has an effect on individuals of this team.
This sounds like our offseason strategy for the past 5 seasons or so. 
,
