nieder

I want to chime in on this and say that you both make some good points. However dts, I think for the team to be a half decent team like you predict, we need to (a) add at least one big piece to help our scoring in the offseason, whether than is RNH or Hyman or Eichel or whatever, I don't know (but there's no guarantees that we can sign a big name, or make a trade work with so many teams up against a flat cap), and (b) hope that our players manage to stay healthy. I don't know what it is about this team over the last 5 years but it seems like we have so many man games lost every single year. A defense of Lindholm-Manson, Fowler-Shat, Fleury-Drysdale looks good on paper, but Manson missed 21 games last season and 33 games this season. Lindholm was supposed to be back a month before the season ended but never returned, missing 38 games. Who knows what is going on there. When you're missing 2 of your top 4 guys that puts a pretty big dent in the back end, especially when the replacements are guys like Welinski and Larsson. That's not even getting into the forwards. We have to hope that Silf recovers well from his surgery. Then we have to hope that the kids continue to improve as expected (I don't have much doubt about Zegras and Drysdale, but guys like Terry are still a question mark for me). It just seems like a lot of hope. If everything goes right, we sign a decent free agent, Zegras becomes a bona fide #1C and Drysdale a top pair defenseman, young guys like Terry, Jones, Lundestrom and Comtois continue to improve, we perhaps add somebody else through the draft (or maybe Perreault is ready to play some NHL games next year), and we can stay healthy and vets like Silf and Lindholm return strongly from major injuries.....then yeah, this team could compete for a playoff spot. But it seems like everything would have to go right. In the end I feel like next season this team will be somewhere between a wildcard playoff team and a basement team. They should take a step forward, but I don't know if it will be enough to make them a playoff threat.

I've seen this argument a lot but I honestly think it is more about overworking him. Whenever he missed time this past season due to minor injuries and then came back, suddenly he looked refreshed and back to his old self again. But playing 12 games in a row gets him to the point where it looks like he isn't motivated anymore. Perhaps we should stop riding him into the ground to the point of injury and then maybe he wouldn't keep looking like that?

I don't really care if Eakins has been given a 'fair shot' or whatever to be honest. I know he didn't have a lot of talent to work with but he compounded our misery with stupid lineup decisions and a 'system' better suited to the 1990s. He's didn't have an NHL caliber roster but I also don't think he's an NHL caliber coach.

I like weird jerseys. But I also think that part of what makes those jerseys good is the fact they are only worn seldomly. If one of those jerseys were our regular uniform the team would look like a joke. I honestly prefer a boring jersey over a cartoon one. And keeping the wild wing logo and jerseys as a 3rd or retro jersey allows the team to sell both the new and the old designs, win win for them really. I also like the orange, makes sense due to the Orange County link. I don't think I am an old geezer with most things, for example I like the shootout and I like 3 on 3. But sorry but we are just never going to agree about the NBA jerseys. I will turn on the TV or watch Sportscenter or whatever and have no idea what teams are playing. The Lakers were playing in light blue a few weeks ago, I mean it is ridiculous. I would buy a Kings jersey before I buy 'The OC' Ducks jersey.

That was Martin Madden.

All I'm saying is that there seems to be this view that the fans unanimously want the old jerseys back, but I don't think this is true. It may be true amongst the younger demographic of fans. It's certainly true on Reddit but that is a site that skews younger.

I disagree with pretty much all of this. NBA jerseys are a joke. So many teams have jerseys that look nothing like their team's designs or color scheme. Like, what is your team identity? Then having stupid phrases on the front instead of team name/location like 'Rip City' instead of Portland? Completely stupid. It might be unanimous among young fans that the old school jerseys should come back but I doubt that is the case among fans that are 35+. There seems to be this nostalgia for the old jerseys among young fans that never experienced or have forgotten being the butt of every joke in the NHL while wearing those jerseys. Hell, there were even old school players that refused to sign with Anaheim because they were embarrassed to wear the jersey. There was massive support for changing the jerseys and name to get away from Disney back in 2005. I'm sure that support still runs deep with older fans who bring in a lot of dollars. I also have to think that with having the current jerseys plus selling 'retro' stuff the team gets more revenue from that than just going back to the old logo/jerseys.

I do find it funny that Boudreau got the blame for the game 7 losses instead of the players, but he doesn't get the credit for getting his teams to the game 7 situation in the first place? Now the team can't even sniff the playoffs. Obviously the roster is no longer as talented, but if you told me the team would make the playoffs and get to game 7 with Boudreau I'd be pretty happy to roll the dice with him in that situation.

Yes. Next tiebreaker is ROW which the Ducks win. So Buffalo would need to pass us in points in that scenario. However let's say Anaheim lose the final 3 games in regulation, and Buffalo wins 1 of their remaining 2 games in regulation. We would be equal on points but Buffalo would be ahead in the standings as they would have 1 more regulation win. It could happen.

Since we are likely picking top-4 and Lysell is probably going closer to #10 I think we can probably rule him out. More likely we take one of Powers, Beniers, Eklund, Hughes or Clarke. Since we already have some good looking defensemen in the pipeline I am guessing we probably want a forward, so most likely we take Beniers or Eklund. Though if we slip to 4th and those guys are gone I also like Guenther.

I doubt we get more than 2 points out of our final 4 games. If the Devils manage a win tonight and the Ducks lose, that should pretty well cement us into the #2 overall odds.

For those not on Twitter:

LMAO. Stand and applaud this.

I wonder if he will play again this season. He has been riding the pine while the team switches between Gibby and Stolarz.

This looks like the weakest draft class since 2012. So of course this year would be the year the Ducks win the lottery. It would be consistent with the luck they have had to date.

Devils were up 3-0 tonight on the Flyers, doing their best to throw the game away though. Flyers have already tied the game twice.

Yeah I can't see Anaheim getting 5 points out of the last 7 games. I could see them picking up a point or two against the Kings this week, but probably not much more than that. So they should finish below Columbus. The Devils are the one I am worried about, however they have 4 games left versus the Flyers who have been mediocre so hopefully they can get some wins against Philly. Really we want to finish bottom 2 if possible, as Seattle gets the third best odds so finishing 3rd worst essentially means you are actually finishing 4th worst. So, I'm cheering for Buffalo and New Jersey for the next 2 weeks.

It seems like the powerplay hasn't changed since the start of the season. Actually since about 3 seasons ago. They spend half of their time rimming passes around the boards. The only thing that changes is the personnel. Maybe they should actually try something different since the status quo isn't working.

Too bad the Devils and Blue Jackets are both in full tank and could easily finish below Anaheim at the rate they are going.

Looks good, but I assume we would lose at least one of our young players to Buffalo for Eichel and one player goes to Seattle.

Around 1 season less - so short term it is likely he can get back to pre-injury performance, long term he might deal with complications that could shorten his career. Makes me wonder why he tried to play through it for 2 seasons.

Sportsclubstats.com gives us a 0.004% chance of making the playoffs. If Anaheim goes 9-0 to end the season, the odds go up to 23.7%. Lol.

I don't really read those 'Power Ranking' things as they are pretty meaningless, but I would have thought the Devils would be at the bottom after losing 8 games in a row, all in regulation.

Two points on this. First, it might explain why he has looked so slow this season. But - the NHL.com article said he had been dealing with this for 2 years?! Wowsa - was he really just trying to avoid surgery as he didn't want to risk becoming another Kesler? If it's that serious can we ever expect him to be a regular contributor again? Also, would this deter Seattle from taking him if we left him exposed for the expansion draft? I have so many questions.

Getz is 19 points away from 1000. I have to think this is motivating factor for 1 more season as well.