Anyone who went to that game should get a refund, just a disgusting no-show. I'm not going to get too deep into each play because frankly I could write a Moby Dick length tome about each one.
To a man, that was disappointing. Except for you Daniel Sprong/Cotter/Glass and maybe you Erik Haula. And you Seamus.
Everyone else: coffee is for closers, and you don't get any. From the drop of the puck they just didn't have it, disconnected, lazy, sloppy. Luke and Pesce were atrocious. Bratt was awful. Didn't see Nico. Palat would've been -5 in my beer league, Noesen looked slow. Timo and Mercer were ok in the first, but gave up. I'm old and out of shape and could've dog-walked Dillon and Dumoulin tonight. The 20 million dollar man was bad. Markstrom was screened, got tons of bad bounces but he couldn't stop shit either. Truly remarkable that the entire team didn't show.
I did really like Sprong's game, probably the only bright spot. You can see his confidence growing, and could be an interesting add for next year on a cheap prove-it deal. A guy desperately trying to stay in the league is a valuable piece, and you can see him actively working on his defensive game in real time, which has been the narrative about him. We desperately needed an offensive play driver in the bottom six, he has good speed. He has a knack for finding soft spots in the offensive zone, has underrated vision (see his assist on Noesen's goal) and he pulls the trigger from everywhere, and has a variety of shot types that play well in our offense, and creates a ton of rebounds. That 4th line is the best one we have had all season.
So, what now? You burn the tape, don't even watch it and consider it a blip on the radar. It sucks we couldn't get over that psychological hump of 4 games in a row, but we are 3-1 and in our last 4. And I take that every time.
I had been talking about re-creating Jack and Dougie in the aggregate, and to an extent Nico/Timo/Bratt have up front and Luke has on D. I looked at goals per game for the forwards and points per game for the D:
Jack/Timo/Nico/Bratt total goals per game through 3/2: (1.4)
Timo/Nico/Bratt goals per game since 3/2: (1.4)
Luke/Dougie PPG until 3/4: 1.1
Luke PPG since 3/4: 1.1
This isn't to say we are better without Jack or DOugie, far from it. What I am saying is with Jack up front and these guys performing at this level we COULD be an offensive juggernaut. But we need them to play like this, together, all the time. Same can be said about Dougie and Luke, our D group has been one of the worst offensive groups in the league all season, and need more production from them next season.
So, speaking of Sprong possibly coming back and not to get ahead of myself but here is where we stand for next season.
10 Forwards under contract: $49,750,000
5 Defense under contract: $25,900,000
2 Goalies (Daws and Marky): 4,938,000
Total Cap hit: $80,588,000
2025-2026 Salary Cap: 95,500,000
Total Cap Space: $14,913,000
Not bad eh? We have a core under good deals. Tatar, Bastian, Dowling, and Lazar I assume will not be re-signed.
But it gets tight quickly based on some needs:
Luke Extension: 8x$8,500,000
Total Cap Space: $6,413,000
Gritsyuk ELC: est. 1x$1,000,000
Total Cap Space: $5,413,000
Glass extension: est. 3x$3,000,000
Total Cap Space: $2,413,000
Sprong extension: est. $1,000,000
Total Cap Space: $1,413,000
That is typically what Fitz leaves for "flexibility." So something is going to have to give with Palat and/or Haula and MacDermid to free up money if this forward corps is going to be addressed in a Nemec deal. And it pains me to say, but even Dougie could be a valuable piece to trade.
After the season I'll get into some trade targets that won't happen. I think that's it, didn't really feel like talking about the game, so got totally sidetracked. Good times, welcome to the mind of a mad scientist.
Enjoy golf, Valiquette!
LGD
