Compete Level

captain wrote: ↑Tue May 05, 2026 6:10 pm Some observations:
-Top six minutes need to be limited during the regular season. We can't play these guys 24-25 mins a night in the regular season and expect them to be ready to elevate in the playoffs.
-Bottom six sucked during the regular season but our depth actually came through in the playoffs (Kapanen, Dickinson and Podkolzin leading goal scorers). Mac-T was on with Bob Stauffer saying he would trade our bottom six for any other bottom six in the league, it was that bad. Frederic is not an NHL player at this point, they're going to have to figure something out there.
-Team defense was really good after the Olympics but fell apart in the playoffs. I can't really pin it on any one player, but bad habits of forwards flying the zone early, centre not supporting, and too many stretch passes cost us the series.
-Goaltending was bad but not the reason we lost. I don't know how they fix this before McDavid's a UFA again.
-We got killed on special teams.

What I think we need to do in the offseason
-Consider Bruce Cassidy as Head Coach - Why did the team stop playing to the system in game 1 of the playoffs? What is the plan for getting more out of his bottom six? Limiting 97/29 minutes - why is McDavid on the PK anyway? How is the team addressing special teams deficiencies? I don't think it's a good practice to change the coach again but Knob needs to have damn good answers and a plan to keep his job IMO.
-Re-sign Kapanen, Murphy and Dickinson. Kapanen is a gamer who works with Drai/Podkolzin. Murphy was better than described and was really effective in the playoffs, actually fit reasonably well with Nurse. Dickinson is our best 3C since McLeod, brought toughness, defense and some clutch scoring.
-Walk away from Ingram and find someone better to compete with Jarry for starts. Ingram was a good story but the results weren't good enough. Could we get Filip Gustavsson out of Minnesota?
-Explore options on Nuge - RNH is not a top six forward anymore, he is a drag on McDavid and barely contributes any offence. Can he turn himself into a third line defensive forward and PK specialist - aka our next Henrique? What does the trade market for him look like? Would St Louis consider a swap of RNH and Kyrou?
-Explore a Nurse move. He wasn't even bad this playoffs but it's time, I just don't think the mix is right with him involved. With the rising cap, I suspect they can move him and even get something useful back, the issue is in the NMC for one more season.

The team has some cap space but with Frederic/Jarry/Campbell's dead money, and the Nurse deal, I don't know how they're going to be able to get significantly better in the next 2 years. RNH might be a decent trade chip to get cheaper, younger, faster and better.

So you're basically going into next year with this sort of configuration, which is the same as what we saw in the playoffs, barring any sort of trade involving Nurse/RNH:

Skill Line 1: Savoie - McDavid - Hyman
Skill Line 2: Podkolzin - Draisaitl - Kapanen
Shutdown Line: RNH - Dickinson - UFA with speed, physicality and defensive acumen. Kevin Stenlund?
Energy/Physical Line: Frederic - Samanski - Dach

Janmark as 13F, Howard as first call-up for top six injury. Hutson/Clattenberg also call-up options.

Ekholm - Bouchard
Nurse - Murphy
Walman - Emberson

Gustavsson
Jarry