Anybodyhome

Oilers v. Canes: Bunting

Canada can do this, US can request home games, but the Canes get sent on the road the first 2 weeks every season because of a fugging fair?

Rags and B's both lost tonight.

Yep- total pick. Taylor Kelce scores.

That's Taylor Kelce to you. No worries, looks like the Chiefs will get all the help they need from the refs, despite missing a few calls.

Kelce comes across in motion as a blocker on the jet sweep, wraps both arms around the d-end right in front of the ref.... no call

Mahomes is becoming the next Tom Brady acting like an entitled, whiny bitch chirping at the refs for a call every snap.

When Anderson is on net, I'm good. Raanta, I'm about 67%. Kochetkov is maybe 50%. Any chance Raanta gets the call every game except the back-to-backs?

Took our 2 guys to the dog park for a couple hours- plenty of friends there. Baked a strawberry rhubarb pie while the Pittsburgh - Cleveland games was on. Plotted the wiring diagram and timer placement for the Griswold house my wife is striving for. Gave zero fugs about a Panther game.

The officials were their usual selectively blind selves last night. Missed more than a couple penalty calls, icings on Pittsburgh.

Lots of Pens fans in attendance tonite, although I was not able to determine which mobile home park in Alamance County they came from. We should have skated circles around those geriatric fugs. Take a look at the ages of their top 2 lines.... Good win. And, as for the dickhead Pens fans doing 90 weaving thru traffic and almost causing an accident on 64 in your 30 year old dented up Lincoln- fug each and every one of you. Go back to playing video games in your Mom's basement and stop making out with your cousin.

Just think what this line could be capable of with an experienced center. As long as Drury is in the middle, Bunting and Noesen are wasted talent. Both of these guys are good for 50 points in the right situation.

If the effort is to evaluate the strengths, then the assumption has been made they are there to be evaluated. I haven't made that assumption.

You're right. How can changes be made to suit the "strengths" of the QB when those "strengths" have yet to be identified, realized or put on display?

I see what you did there.

It doesn't make sense because Skjei, as I've said before, has no career history of playing on his off side. Although I'm sure he has done so, as evidenced by the Orlov experiment, how much of his offensive game is lost on his off side? Look at the Pesce - Skjei pairing. Skjei is the guy who will jump up long before Pesce will. And I would hazard a guess that watching back any of the games when Orlov and Skjei were on the ice together that Skjei stayed back and rarely, if ever, had a shot on goal from the right side.

But the stats don't explain how 2 lefties are on the ice together when they typically don't play their off side. 11 of the first 15 games of the season on the road and not having last change greatly effects who is on the ice at any given stoppage. I would venture to say that despite the ice time they've enjoyed together thus far, it's not been intentional. Especially given the fact Skjei has absolutely zero career history of playing his off side.

Yeah, neither of them have ever played on their off-side (they're both lefties). Slavin - Burns Orlov - Pesce Chatty/TDA - Skjei

You guys need to read my (lengthy) post on this very subject in the Canes Flyers thread from earlier this morning.

There are plenty of issues with this team right now. And, believe it or not, more than a few of us on this board saw them all coming before the season started. 1. July signing of Orlov. Needed to fill the roster with the UFA departures of Ghost, DeHaan, Gardiner and LaJoie. But the guy's getting paid $2.5 more than Slavin and his ice time is with the 3rd pair? He's only played a full season 3 times during his 11 year career and, imagine this, those were the seasons he exceeded 25 points. I'm not sure what the thought process here was, but it caused more problems than it solved. The D is extremely suspect at best and there should never have been any expectations for offensive production. 2. July signing of Tony DeAngelo. As if the Orlov signing didn't create more problems than it solved, the Canes thought they could resuscitate TDA from life supports after he was all but fired from the Flyers last season. I get it, he was good his last go-round in Carolina, but rarely do things go well when trying to rekindle an old affair. We all saw it coming and what happened next wasn't a surprise to me- I won't speak for anyone else. The defensive pairings are a nightmare after Slavin and Burns. Sure, Pesce and Skjei will be their usual, consistent selves. But let's not forget, the Canes tried to move Pesce because, lo and behold, TDA, Chatty, Pesce and Skjei are all UFAs after the season. The Canes may be able to retain the services of 2 of these guys- preferably Skjei and Chatfield. Chatfield and Orlov do not skate well together. Chatty is playing exceptionally well this season, but RBA continues to pair him in difficult situations on his off side with Orlov or covering for the defensive liability that TDA can be. At least Chatfield has a history and on-ice knowledge and experience of playing with TDA. Anyway, just as much of us called in a few months ago, it's certainly playing out as we thought it would. With respect to the forwards, it's this easy- find out what's working with your top 2 lines and stop juggling every other game. Regardless, here are the issues: 1. Svech should continue to have his minutes limited and not be on the top line. Not until February or so. Let him get a few goals and get his knee up to game strength. He's not fully there yet. 2. Jarvis is always better on the second line with KK and he seems to play a lot better at center, at least from what I've seen. So maybe put him on the 4th line C. 3. Drury does not fit on this roster. Both Noesen and Fast are playing well, but would be a lot more productive with Jarvis or KK at center. Drury needs to be traded (can he play on the wing?). My lines would be: Bunting - Aho - Teravainen Svech - KK - Necas Marty - Staal - Fast Noesen - Drury (or ?) - Jarvis The team is a mess right now. More talent on the roster than they've had for the last 3 seasons and playing like an average team, getting beat by average teams. I would submit for your consideration that both Orlov and Drury are both trade deadline moves, if not before. But Orlov will be a difficult trade given the disparity between his salary and his productivity, unless he has a major breakthrough. And, do you really want to get into the goalies? Not me. I don't trust either of them. Zero consistency in either of their games. On one game, no-shows the next. No expectations for these guys- just hope for the best whoever shows up in the crease that night.

Checking out guys. I'll catch the highlights on YouTube if they come back and somehow win.

Listless, uninspired, sloppy.

Sloppy tonight. No set offense. Looks like street hockey.

Guy has shown me nothing. At this point, he's not even trade bait.

Because Orlov and Chatty are not a good pair and Orlov is getting a lot more money than Chatty. I can only guess that RBA is still waiting for Orlov to figure it out.