I think with the way last year ended everyone expected us to make the playoffs this year. It's pretty clear that we are still playing just as well as last year, I think everyone forgets how bad our second periods were. This is still a very young team with some good players on the rise and we have a long window to capitalize on that. It seems that the problem might not be us, but that the division is that much more challenging this year. Combine all of this with how bad we were two years ago, how bad the coaching was two years ago, and take a deep breath. Everyone needs to relax and take it a game at a time. Expectations are high but we aren't that team yet.
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As of this morning, Dom still has us projected to finish with 90.7 points. He projects a lot of these metro teams to fall off hard too.
He’s usually annoyingly pretty close.
We would be fighting for a wildcard spot in the West, tied with Kraken, Kings & Sharks.
In the East we’re 5 points out and last in the conference.
But I want to be angry! Very sound logic. I think it’s mostly the way we are losing games that hurts. The third period collapses are just really tough to take.
The problem is we haven’t taken a step forward whereas multiple Eastern Conference teams have. Islanders, Flyers, Rangers, and Penguins have all leapt us just in the Metro alone
I can see the frameworks of a great team and where would we be if we didn’t collapse so often in the third. I love this team and didn’t realize we were so close to last year’s stats.
Where would we be without the blown leads and turtling? The coaching is failing this team
Except, they shouldn’t have 42 points. They should have over 50 points!
Why would this indicate to you that we should chill out? The conference moved on and we got left in the dust? Again? But this isn’t a bad thing? Come on. Expect SOMETHING.
Its all in the manner we are losing. Really. The 3rd period collapses are hard to take. We tutrle when we should be playing offense.
We WILL work through this. We have good young players. We can score, we can skate hard, and be physical. Jet is doing a good job. I think Dean needs to change his 3rd period strategy… doubt that will happen though.
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So your fine with another mediocre team that misses the playoffs again?
I would say our on ice product looks worse than our record, so those that really watch every game are increasingly frustrated with the product. We are so far last in goal dif in the third period it isn’t funny. Our defense and pk are still terrible, like always. We are frustrated that there hasn’t been any coaching changes to address this, among other things of course.
Some say “odd” some say “complete bullshit”
Meanwhile the west is playing floor hockey
I dont understand the logic. We haven’t improved. That’s a huge issue for a team that’s multiple years into a “re-tool” and didn’t really collect a high draft pick last year either.
The fact that the metro is tighter and the eastern conference is more competitive doesn’t make this season better, it arguably makes it worse. Werenski has 2 more season left, if we aren’t a playoff team next we year and a legitimate contender the year after, he isn’t resigning.
Our prospect pipeline has mostly been drained without much legitimate NHL talent sitting in Cleveland anymore to develop. Svozil is probably the only one with a shot. Smith will be around, and maybe Lindstrom if he ever actually recovers… Dumais is also a big maybe.
This was a season we should have taken a step forward and we haven’t
Last year was an anomaly with an unusually low points threshold for the playoffs. We needed to get noticeably better than last year to contend and we’ve stayed the same. This franchise has been “1-2 years away from the playoffs” for five years now. Time to actually do something.
Yknow. Context is key thank you
It’s less of where we are at and more of *how* we got here. The turtling and OT losses are the concerning part.
You think in 25 seasons there would be a few easy playoff qualifications and a deep playoff run or two. Alas……
How many blown 3rd period leads last year?
Last year, our goaltending sucked ass. Now they’re playing pretty decent/well. Why did the rest of the team regress to match?
Does this even account for the relative strength of schedule through half the season last year vs this year?
Also, and try to keep up with this one, ***we’re last in the East***. That means either a total black swan event has happened with in-conference vs out-of-conference games across the league, or *every single team below us got better while we stagnated and congratulated ourselves on not being a lottery team while missing the playoffs again.*
Anything other than anger and disappointment at this team is loser mentality.
All the OT gives points to the opposition making the division tighter. Not only do we need regulation wins for the standings tie breakers but to stop giving the opposition a point.
Edit: downvoting me doesn’t change the reality that the rules say we need regulation wins. The idea of NHL .500 is wrong bc we use points percentage. To be average we actually need a higher number points percentage.
I expected this team to make the playoffs because that’s what the Dean and the front office told us to expect. When is the window for this team? Seems like every single year it’s 1-2 years away.
we should be several games ahead of where are now if we didn’t give up multiple goal leads
We’ve blown upwards of ten leads and we are ten points back of 1st in the conference. You do the math.
Nah, the standard should at a minimum be continuous improvement. You’re fine to accept mediocrity in perpetuity, but it’s not for me.
Holy fuck. You can’t make this shit up.
Here is your “but guysssss” post of the week.