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First time all year I have seen Schlemko make that type of play in his own zone, don't try to turn this into something it isn't, Beaulieu would have had a dozen plays on that level of stupid under his belt by now.

I wonder how much crap Galchenyuk would be in if he was playing Center and made that same doosday drop pass...

That is all fine and dandy, but you seem to have completely forgotten how attrocious Emelin was playing for nearly a month during the back half of last season, you forget how unreliable and inconsistent Beaulieu was and always will be. The loss of those guys is insignificant, Alzner has been an even bigger disappointment than anticipated, which hasn't helped any original sentiments on the D before the season started. Even still, What Alzner is giving us is no worse than what Emelin gave us last season, Schlemko has shown himself to be a serviceable 3rd pair guy who is not as cringe worthy to watch as Beaulieu was some nights. The problem is, and has been the day it was decided, is that Markov is no longer part of this D, and he was a part of it last season. The supporting cast around Weber, Markov, and Petry is of little consequence in comparison to losing one of your top 3 Dmen, your top puck mover, and one of your top leaders. So we can dissect the I told You So's until we are all blue in the face, but the bottom line is, Markov being gone and nothing to show for it is the biggest hit this Blue line took, no amount of small upgrades to the supporting cast was going to properly make up for that loss, and the proof is in the pudding.

I literally can't explain how I feel when I look at this current line up, there are players playing too high up in the lines, players playing too far down, players playing center that should be wingers, players playing wing that should be centers. It is a big fist sized pillsbury dough, filled with laughter, sarcasm, confusion, frustration and sorrow, it might just be a new path to the darkside if you ask Yoda. I took a video of my initial reaction and it looked something like this...

I don't think anyone on this planet thought this D would be better, Heck even Bergevin was probably just spewing positive vibe B.S at the golf tournament. There was no denying Markov being gone and not properly replaced was going to cause its issues, and it has. Our best case scenario was a lateral change back there, no chance of getting better, and obviously we actually got worse.

Actual Footage of DON swatting aside criticism of Letting Radulov and Markov walk this summer and replacing them with 9 million in cap space.

Price does seem to have his mojo back since the injury, which at least looks better if he is going to the All-Star game. However it is next to impossible to recovery goalie stats when you spend 3 weeks sitting around an .880 SV%. His best case scenario is to finish the season with around .915 SV% if he continues to play well the rest of the year like he has been.

I mean, if you HAVE to send someone from each team, Price is the guy on this one, but it really does feel like no one from this team should be there.

DON, it isn't Markov's speed we are wanting, its his Eyes and his Brain that we are wanting, and that my friend, is something not one single player on this D can replace. His vision and smarts created offense on the rush, he created offense on the PP, he kept things simple with his positioning, but made quality plays with the puck almost every shift.You think the players don't notice when skating up the Neutral zone at a good speed the difference between when Markov was there feeding them outlet passes for 21 min a night, and what they are getting today? Besides, this Defense is not "Too Slow" it is actually too old school, it is out of date, and not flowing with the current NHL game. A guy like Markov, for as old as he is, still practiced a very new age style game, one that gets the job done in his own zone for the most part while complimenting his forward group, and driving offense. Make no mistake we can look blatantly at Radulov being removed from the top 6 and 9 million in cap space sitting there instead of an adequate replacement as a major contributing factor to these offensive woes . But Markov's loss has a very real and underrated effect on the overall offense generated by this forward group. His age and skating mean very little to me compared to his irreplaceable vision and skill, that even at 40 years old, no Dman on this team can do the way he did. Your presence is missed more and more each day General Markov

Imo, all UFAs must be shopped, and anyone over the age of 26 should be available for the right return. We have established a young group made up of Drouin, Galchenyuk, Gallagher, Lehkonen, Hudon, and Mete to move forward with. We have an Elite goalie who can back them up for years to come. Lets re-tool the players around them the best that we can and fill some very glaring holes in the process. Bergevin is likely not the man to put such a plan in motion, I just hope he doesn't botch anything for the next guy in the mean time

Yea, I mean once he got going this year there was major doubt in my mind he would make it to free agency anyway. Could have been a nice option though

If only we still had McDonaugh indstead of that ECF.

It was a 5 on 3..

I regret to inform you all, my suffering brothers, that I will not be attending the festivities of the 3rd period. 2 passes, right through our box, another tap in. No determination or real drive to kill the play, way too easy to play against this D, 5 on 5 or on the PK .

The Gift that keeps on giving, Joe Morrow. Surely Weber on one leg is still an upgrade..

If they fail on this 5 on 3...

It is a funeral home, we have been watching a team die for weeks now.

I love it Joe Morrow, stop skating during the last 10 feet after getting caught on a pinch just in time to have a front row seat for an easy tap in that was completely preventable with a few extra strides. * Slow Clap*

Dressing....lol

Not a chance, we are stuck with him for majority of his contract.

Not that it matters a whole lot but our dear friend Eklund has an E3 on St.Louis trying to get their hands on Pacioretty, and that MB is looking for a young Dman from them. I'd assume Parayko is the one out of the bunch based on Age, Ability, and Size that would garner the most interest on our part, however he is a RD, which doesn't help us find Weber a Partner. But as the old saying goes, you gotta take the best player available and create a plan after the fact, in this case, we could either place Petry on his opposite side to play with Weber and put Parayko on the 2nd pair. Or see how well Parayko does on his opposite side and make a decision on the matter after. Not that I put much stock in Eklund's reports, just speculating on what a Deal could materialize into if they are indeed trying to dance. In my estimation it would be Parayko + Prospects and Picks.

Damphousse and McGuire were some of the final candidates last time around, who knows if they are still on the hitlist. Julien Brisebois is an obvious candidate, we have had him here before, he is familiar with this Market, has done some great work in Tampa, he might just be the most logical choice as a replacement.

Which is insanely weird for a psychology oriented coach, he is supposed to have the expertise to tap into the way his players tick, their psyche, but it seems he can't get anyone to adhere to his unconventional coaching system for more than a season or so. He has taken promising players like Stone and Hoffman and turned them into shells, even currently watching his golden goose go through the same thing. It is like the noose is getting to tight, and slowly but surely his players are suffocating under his system. Either he lightens up and morphs his system into something more of a Hybrid between conventional and unconventional or he risks losing another NHL job after a short stint.

Correct, lets look at them as any other player, lets first remove the expectations we have preconceived for Sergachev because we drafted him as low as we did. Lets just look at him as any other 19 year old Dman, playing a role on a team. With that said, is Sergachev playing a role as big, and creating as big of an impact individually on his Team's Defence as guys like Ekblad and Werenski did at the same age? Those are the real Future Norris Guys, so before we start Thrusting the kid into that pack, while he is barely averaging 15min per night, lets evaluate his surroundings better, and see if they are not contributing to most of the early success he is having before propping him up on the golden chair and deeming the trade a disaster after a mere 3 months of hockey.

Don't forget that for his first 10 to 15 games, Sergachev was hardly even playin 15 min a night, and mostly playing on the PP, where he started accumulating points. That is not someone who has forced his way into anything, Tampa had something to prove as well, that this trade was good for them also, Drouin is a very talented player. The last thing they want to send as a message is they traded away their 3rd best forward, for a non roster player. He had to climb his way onto that second pair and the trust of his coach, because clearly based on his TOI early in the year he had none of that. Had he still been here and Drouin still there, Drouin would be considered part of their big 3, and Sergachev would have followed a similar path that Mete did, and also had nowhere near his current point totals. He wouldn't look like the player he does right now if he were part of this mess, and Drouin would likely have twice as many points as he does now playing on that top line and PP. That is very likely the hard truth imo, the results from both players today, are directly related to the fact they were traded for eachother and entered their new respective environments. Flip that around once more and the results would again be completely different looking in possibly very opposing ways. I don't think Sergachev would look like a future Norris winner to anyone if he played on this team, and I don't think Jonathan Drouin would have 5 goals right now if he played in Tampa.