K-9

Good points all, but I’m not referring to the mistakes Dahlin makes when he gets outmuscled. That’s gonna happen from time to time and we have to wait until he acquires “man strength” when he matures physically. I’m looking more at his unforced errors. He appears to be pressing too much at the moment. And I hope, as @plenzmd1 mentioned above, that his confidence hasn’t been shaken. But he looks almost timid at times, afraid to make a mistake. But unlike recent previous head coaches, I have full confidence that Kreuger knows what he’s doing.

I think we found our newest and bestest buddy and big toe of TBD!

Yep, the Ducks, like Columbus, imposed their strength once they found their legs late in the first. Before that, we were skating circles around them, but they wore us down physically and that led to all those bad passes and giveaways. Ullmark was hung out to dry much of the evening. Speaking of giveaways, Risto made several mind numbingly stupid plays last night. But I’m actually more concerned with Dahlin at this point. He hasn’t had a good, clean defensive game all season and he sucked again defensively last night. Another big team tonight. While I don’t think the Kings are as good, they are similar to the Ducks in the size department. I suspect they will borrow a page from Anaheim and seek to muscle us off the puck and jump on our D to force mistakes down low. Looking forward to seeing their response.

Awesome CB and second only to Fred Biletnikoff in the use of stickum.

Talk about falling apart. Up two zip, now down 3-2. Perhaps they've been reading their press clippings and just thought they could coast after going up 2-0? The Duck started slowly and the Sabres were skating circles around a much slower team, but Anaheim started asserting their size and strength and we don't have an answer at the moment. Nice response by Reinhart after Olofsson got boarded.

Ducks have owned the game since their disallowed goal on the offside. Need this PP. Well, so much for that.

Taylor Hall scares nobody? I was only looking at it from purely a talent for talent standpoint. I get that there would be a huge risk involved given Hall’s pending FA status. Helluva player though.

Taylor Hall for Risto would be overwhelmingly in our favor.

No thanks. What top prospect did you have in mind?

I’d be happy to take Taylor Hall of your hands. He’s got a good history with Krueger. Dahlin is off limits, so which of our D men do you want instead?

I get the need to expose Rosen to as many learning opportunities as possible, but I can understand why they’d sit him this week against this defense and in this hostile environment at this stage. There’s a fine line between development and ruination.

Yep. Slant, crosser, and go routes. No routes requiring sudden stops or changes of direction. And double move routes are out if the question. He may not be a one trick pony, but he’s a pony with one trick that has a few variations. That said, his unique combination of size, strength, and speed make that one trick a challenge to defend. Especially with an accurate QB like Wilson at the helm.

He’s no DK Metcalf, but he’ll do.

I thought the Mitts line had its best game of the year against the Stars, including the opener vs. Pittsburgh.

Yeah, but is he as good as first ballot HOF lock, DK Metcalf?

Very dominant. And we are just one monster edge rusher from being totally dominant.

Fair enough. But is 81-0-1 too much to ask?

While I think it’s less of sending a message than it is to protect a still physically immature player who can be a defensive liability at times as a result, I can’t agree more with the concept of holding players accountable. GREAT point about tipping your hat to the Panthers. The other teams have good players, too, and it’s a lot less stressful to give them credit than it is to make it about how much we suck. Although, I’m still a little miffed we aren’t gonna go 82-0 like I thought.

Yep. McD does a lot of hybrid coverage stuff and, fortunately, he has players with the requisite football IQ needed to quickly recognize opposing route concepts and patterns in order to excel at his schemes. We are just not an easy team to pass against and haven’t been for a while now.

No. Just his usual game with a few D hiccups and several brilliant, little plays that tend to go unnoticed. I think his biggest challenge is physical strength at the moment. Which lends itself to fatigue more readily and I can see why Krueger would want to protect him a bit. But you raised a good point about removing Dahlin’s offensive ability from the lineup, which makes it easier for teams to defend us. And I HATE going Alamo mode!

Agree entirely. I’m interested in seeing how Dahlin responds. As is Krueger, I imagine. This is a fair point as well, though.

With very few exceptions, the NFL has become a running back by committee league. Unless it’s a Barkley or similar type of player that can lend himself to all roles in this age of sub packages and situational football, the days of the “workhouse”, “bell cow” running back are over. And Gore is the last guy I’m worrying about. He’s a pro’s pro and that 4 minute offense to end the game vs. the Titans certainly showed that once again. If injuries suddenly should make us thin at RB, it’s the easiest position to fill off the street. Marcus Murphy is only a phone call away.

Christ! When will it stop!

Nice to know that on a night when our scorers don’t show up and playing against a good team that has owned you for a while, that our lunch pail muckers can help get this team a win. Other than the shootout, Eichel played like ass. Barkov has pretty much owned him since he came into the league. That said, it was a good hockey game, hard fought on both ends by both teams.

Since Montour is a RHD, my guess is that Joki would be the odd man out assuming Risto is still here.