Lancer wrote: ↑Mon Nov 04, 2024 10:20 am
It could be worse. Look at the Preds and Avs. Both should turn their ship around eventually, but imagine cheering for them right now?
That's another "perspective" -- imagine you are fan of those clubs.
For the Preds, I think it would be easy to write a "perspectives" post that says "don't panic." They've had mediocre goaltending from a consistently decent goaltender and have been quote unlucky turning shots into goals. They aren't going to shoot at 7.5% going forward. They aren't going to have a sub 90 save percentage. The ice isn't as tilted as the record, and their special teams have been good; its just adjusting the 5 on 5 play. You have some good/great players who are off to slow starts, but they should pick it up unless they hit a cliff (and that's always a concern when you add older guys -- at some point, there's no more juice.)
For the Avalanche, my finger would be closer to the panic button. They haven't beaten a team this year that made the playoffs last year. They've been bleeding depth for years and its catching up -- exposed further by the injuries they knew about (Landeskog), the suspension they can't really plan around (Nichuskin), and injuries to two guys who might provide a little bit secondary scoring/playmaking (Drouin, Colton). In one way, knowing some of these players will be back is a positive, but in others, its a sign of fragility.
Their best players are playing great -- they can't expect to get more from Mackinnon, Makar, or Rantanen. Their primary support players are playing well, too (Middlestadt, Colton (before the injury)). But the defense has weakened, and the depth and goaltending parts that are sucking are the parts they knew might suck. All of this looks like deepening cracks that appeared after the cup win, instead of new fissures to be patched. The Avalanche went from no commitments outside the core to lots of commitments, and that has reduced flexibility considerably. With Mackinnon, Makar, and Rantanen, anything's possible. But its just feels like this year is a test of that proposition....