17to85

Were we really losing because the rookie americans weren't good enough though? I thought you guys all liked to point to lack of veterans and NIs as the big problem? Too much blind hatred going on. Maybe too much blind love, eh? We've been over this before, I only bring it up when you guys go on your hate tangents. I am simply providing balance to the discussion.

It really is a shame it's such a nonstarter to even talk about changing things. It's a broken system and things could be so much better, but it's political suicide to even try.

Were we really losing because the rookie americans weren't good enough though? I thought you guys all liked to point to lack of veterans and NIs as the big problem? Too much blind hatred going on.

is it boring hockey because he coaches a boring way or was he coaching the only way he could because he didn't get much in the way of high end forwards?

Watching Swaggerville in 2012 was highly entertaining, watching staggerville last year was the exact opposite. A team playing good football is entertaining, a team with a defense that gets beat regularly is not entertaining. They're taking a big gamble with Etch, I hope it pays off but if it doesn't things will not be entertaining no matter what kind of whacky **** he tries to get them to play.

he is a 6'3 centre taken 2nd overall in a draft with some very very good players at the top end. Taken ahead of Jonathan Drouin, ahead of Seth Jones... the kid has everything you want in a centre, wingers don't get traded for guys like that, especially when the picks exchanged so heavily favour Winnipeg as well.

When the best forward he's had in Nashville is David Legwand making the playoffs is a pretty damned good accomplishment. Nashville with Trotz there was a goaltending and defenseman factory though, that's a lot to do with the coaching going on there.

It guarantees that his opponents will be 100% focussed on game day. Remember how every defender in the CFL wanted nothing more than to shut down Ricky Williams when he came up here? I see this working out the same way. Lots of motivation for players to step up and take the "star" down a peg.

To me it's rely too much on players knowing what all of their team mates are going to do. If it pays off then yeah it's good but you never have everyone on absolutely the same page like that and someone always thinks the game a little bit differently and it creates issues. I'd rather see some firm structure so that guys have an easier time adjusting to one another.

you don't like coaches who get a ton out of crappy rosters?

Florida might have to add another player, maybe a prospect like mike matheson or even a bottom 6 like quinton howden or drew shore. Shore i think would fit in nicely with the bottom 6 here. Is there room on the top 6 here for barkov?

No one is going to touch reserve issues. As soon as the idea of opening up the constitution comes around politicians run for the hills because it's too much work and going to piss off too many people.

Gretzky was traded for money cause Pocklington was broke, Roy demanded a trade to get away from a coach he didn't like... That's really the point here. You don't often see teams trading players unless the relationship between the two sours and that makes it hard to get full value cause the buyer is reluctant to give up a lot. This whole idea that they can just trade Kane for big value is a fallacy because like it or not he does have some question marks with his attitude and that would give the perception they're moving a problem player.

Players without issues rarely get traded these days, it's really ******* hard to make good hockey trades anymore, that's why I keep asking it.

If I recall Chretien used to love it when his opponents made fun of his face. He always said if they have to resort to that they got nothing else.

Well it's hard to say, the Oilers would love some more size on their wings and Kane provides that. I don't like the move from an Oilers standpoint in terms of straight up value because I think Eberle is a better player without the attitude question marks, but if they get desperate to add a bit more beef might be something that could come to pass.

just because they knew they'd lose players doesn't mean they're happy about it. You know a GM anywhere who is happy to lose players for nothing just so an opponent can get stronger? No I guarantee no one is going to be looking to help Ottawa after they lost people to an expansion draft.

If he's so good why are you trading him? Jets fans are just stupid. I've seen them turn up their noses at even the thought of Eberle for Kane. Despite the fact that Eberle out produces him consistently.

ok but then they're down a centre and a defenseman that they need to replace... That's not exactly a deep and stacked playoff team there, they got lots of issues of there own and dealing quantity doesn't seem like the best thing for them to do.

If he was named Brett Smith rather than Brett Cameron I guarantee no one would have batted an eye when he was cut.

which team is going to give you a top 6 forward + for a top 6 forward though? If you want 2 or 3 pieces for Kane they are going to be lesser pieces. The best you could hope to get for Kane is a one for one swap with a guy on a similar level who has worn out his welcome on another team.

Ok, but why do the Islanders do that? That's what people always forget when they come up with trade ideas, the other team needs a reason to do it too.

Except that it really wasn't. Burke was pretty hands off which was a problem many people had. The games where he did take a more active role the defense responded but instead he focussed on being just the head coach... not sure exactly what he did when he did that, but that's the official line. Except what? That it wasn't a disaster or that it wasn't overseen by Burke? I don't know about you, but if I was a Head Coach, and had a reputation as a defensive specialist, I would be heavily involved in fixing or helping fix the problem. The fact that he didn't doesn't make it less of a disaster. My point is last year's defence was a disaster, but nobody should declare this year's D or new DC anything yet. That it really wasn't overseen by Burke. Everything you say is correct, but Burke didn't get himself heavily involved. One of the reason he got his ass fired and why he's seen as one of the worst coaches the team has ever had. That's my point.

It's not the only problem but it's by far the biggest one. Too many players took a step back with Eakins for him to not be problem #1. Nah man, the problem is in Edmonton, you can fire coaches all you want, how many coaches tho need to be fired until you look at the players on the ice? Hall had a good year, point a game player, eberle had a down year but still, he had an ok year, yakupov suffered a little bit of sophomore jinx, longer season then last year also. Im not a huge oiler fan but its pretty obvious there biggest issue is they dont have any nhl d men really. Ferrence? he's a good bottom pairing guy but he aint a top 2 guy and thats what he played this season. Edmontons problem is they have drafted skilled forwards, smaller ones at that and rushed them. Their biggest issue is D by far, They cant play D. None of them can, They just arent a good defensive. Is this not the 3rd or 4th coach this team has had in the last few years? None of them coaches could get the job done, what that means is its not the coach, its the players. Edmonton should have taken Murray instead of Yakupov and should have let a few of their guys play in the minors first (RNH for sure, dudes so small its crazy) Coaches coach man, players play. 3 4 coaches the last 4 years have had the same results really. Eventually you gotta realize its not the coach, its the players. Well let me tell you why I say the coach is the biggest problem.... the PP in the previous 2 years was a huge weapon for that team, it won them enough games in the lockout season to move them up the standings... This season with the same players on it the thing sank to a point where not only were they not scoring on it they were giving up a ton of odd man rushes and scoring chances and goals the other way. Only thing that changed was the coach. Yakupov went from leading the team in goals as a rookie after improving all season to looking like he didn't have a clue how to play hockey. RNH his first 2 years looked like a guy with incredible hockey IQ and then this season looked absolutely lost on the ice. Coach praised him for how much he listened too... It's not that the roster is perfect, it isn't, but the amount of players who regressed under Eakins is too high to keep him. Kreuger may not have been a good coach, but he did more with less. Hell firing Tom Renney was the biggest mistake I think, but just because they've fired a bunch of coaches doesn't mean they've hired better ones. I disagree with your assessment that the Oilers can't play defense well enough, the big problem is they don't play enough offense. The only line that could keep the puck in the proper end of the rink was when they put Hall and Eberle and Nugent-Hopkins together, but the coach in his infinite wisdom only put them together at the end of the year. The rest of the time they could rush the puck up once but then it would get turned over and go back the other way. Any team would look bad defensively if you can't control the puck. People like to pretend they know what's going on by throwing out the nonsense they hear on tv but those guys don't watch enough things that aren't leafs to know what they're talking about anyway. Trust me on this, there are some things the roster needs to improve on, but the biggest issue for that team is that Dallas Eakins is a terrible coach.

The worst part is how the Dippers all brag about their record of balanced budgets... I have no interest in balancing the budget if it means jacking up the taxes every time you start spending more than you have.