10 Things to Ramble About - @ Vegas Golden Knights
1. The Stars beat a good team and got the full two points. That's not nothing at this point.
2. The Stars sorta controlled most of the game. Sorta.
3. After reading Tiffin's article yesterday, I have a sickly feeling Jim Nill is going to make a deal at the deadline to acquire either Luke Schenn or Logan Stanley from the Winnipeg Jets. They are both right-handed defenseman who have a lot of meat on their tall, heavy bones. Just the sort of pick up Jimmy seems to like at the trade deadline.
Please, no. Not sorta no. For real. Please. Just no.
4. .Mavrik Bourque looked like he thought he belonged in the NHL tonight. I hope he keeps thinking that.
5. More Trade Deadline News:
Evander Kane = No! Gawd, no! Please don't. Put the pipe down and just walk away.
6. A lot of people seem to be upset about Jamie Benn being on this team still. I thought I was maybe an out of the loop until I looked at the Stars' points per 60 at 5v5. He is currently third! on the team. He is not the Jamie of old, certainly, but nothing disposable just yet. I say they keep him, for now.
7. The Team USA and Bill Guerin roster-selection bashing trope is getting old.
Having said that, keeping Cole Caufield off the American team with 3-on-3 overtime being a thing at the Olympics, and Jason Robertson off the team with shootouts being a thing at the Olympics is, well...
f#$&ing bonkers.
8. Looking at P/60 for the Stars brought up other questions. Maybe not answers but serious questions. Mikko Rantanen and Jason Robertson are both top 15 in NHL scoring this year. Pretty good, right?
The problem is that, at 5v5, Rantanen is ranked 44th and Jason Robertson is 56th in the league at points per per 60 minutes. That doesn't bode well for the playoffs where penalties are called much less often.
You know the power play has been doing too much heavy lifting for the Stars this season when the Lightning's Anthony Cirelli ranks ahead of Robertson at P/60 when 5v5.
9. I know not everyone loves Mark Stone but he's not getting enough credit for what he's done this year so far. He had an early injury and after 30-plus games games he ranks 4th in points per 60 minutes played. The only ones ahead of him are Nikita Kucherov, Nathan MacKinnon, and Connor McDavid. Honestly, wow!
10. Letting a three-goal lead slip away is kinda not great. Beating Vegas is kinda great.
Benn is just fine at his current very team friendly contract. I was *not* a fan of him at 8m a year. At 1m, 4th line, he's fine, bordering on great. Happy to have him. Hope Seguin takes a similar deal and Benn survives long enough to see a cup.
I've been pondering the 5v5 scoring rates for a while now, and I still don't know how deep to dig on them. Certainly Benn has found ways to still contribute (though he hadn't found the scoresheet since *last month* before last night), and his pass to Bourque last night is a great example of the skill that will always be there for a player of his caliber.
I kind of think he's actually better on a third line than a fourth line at this point, just because his vestigial scoring talent is a big part of his upside at this point in his career. If he's not playing with anyone who can capitalize on that, I'm not sure how much of a contributor he can really be.
I’ll take the win against that team in their building any day of the week and twice on Sunday. First game I can ever remember Mavrik Bourque looking like a second line forward. Another flash of what he could be. We need to see it much more consistently. I’m still not sold on him. Not even close.
That was an ugly third period. But I'm extremely happy for Borque! I hope he stays with it and continues to show off his skill and scoring ability. I could see a line in the future with Borque and Johnston, or Borque centering his own line. Really awesome to see him get 2 goals.
The only thing missing was for either #4 or 96 to accidentally have a toe pick send them into Stones knees and end his season. Don’t really want to see him injured, but if he is in the way of a falling player with no where to go, KARMA. .
Olympian Jack Eichel can't score a shootout goal. Non-Olympian Jason Robertson can't NOT score a shootout goal. A big part of me wants team USA to not make the medal rounds simply because they can't win in a shootout. And then salt in the wound, let Robo be the Conn Smythe of this year's playoffs en route to thr Cup win!
I’m glad you’ve picked up on my coping mechanism, Robert, of immersing myself in other teams’ doomsaying to offset doubt spirals over the Stars. The Maple Leafs are good for something, let me tell you!
Well, it’s also just more fun to talk about teams’ ineptitude than to hammer all the same concerns into the ground here. We try to be fair around here.
10 Things to Ramble About - @ Vegas Golden Knights
1. The Stars beat a good team and got the full two points. That's not nothing at this point.
2. The Stars sorta controlled most of the game. Sorta.
3. After reading Tiffin's article yesterday, I have a sickly feeling Jim Nill is going to make a deal at the deadline to acquire either Luke Schenn or Logan Stanley from the Winnipeg Jets. They are both right-handed defenseman who have a lot of meat on their tall, heavy bones. Just the sort of pick up Jimmy seems to like at the trade deadline.
Please, no. Not sorta no. For real. Please. Just no.
4. .Mavrik Bourque looked like he thought he belonged in the NHL tonight. I hope he keeps thinking that.
5. More Trade Deadline News:
Evander Kane = No! Gawd, no! Please don't. Put the pipe down and just walk away.
6. A lot of people seem to be upset about Jamie Benn being on this team still. I thought I was maybe an out of the loop until I looked at the Stars' points per 60 at 5v5. He is currently third! on the team. He is not the Jamie of old, certainly, but nothing disposable just yet. I say they keep him, for now.
7. The Team USA and Bill Guerin roster-selection bashing trope is getting old.
Having said that, keeping Cole Caufield off the American team with 3-on-3 overtime being a thing at the Olympics, and Jason Robertson off the team with shootouts being a thing at the Olympics is, well...
f#$&ing bonkers.
8. Looking at P/60 for the Stars brought up other questions. Maybe not answers but serious questions. Mikko Rantanen and Jason Robertson are both top 15 in NHL scoring this year. Pretty good, right?
The problem is that, at 5v5, Rantanen is ranked 44th and Jason Robertson is 56th in the league at points per per 60 minutes. That doesn't bode well for the playoffs where penalties are called much less often.
You know the power play has been doing too much heavy lifting for the Stars this season when the Lightning's Anthony Cirelli ranks ahead of Robertson at P/60 when 5v5.
9. I know not everyone loves Mark Stone but he's not getting enough credit for what he's done this year so far. He had an early injury and after 30-plus games games he ranks 4th in points per 60 minutes played. The only ones ahead of him are Nikita Kucherov, Nathan MacKinnon, and Connor McDavid. Honestly, wow!
10. Letting a three-goal lead slip away is kinda not great. Beating Vegas is kinda great.
Kinda always.
I wouldn’t worry about the Moose’s even strength scoring during the playoffs. He has a very good track record.
Benn is just fine at his current very team friendly contract. I was *not* a fan of him at 8m a year. At 1m, 4th line, he's fine, bordering on great. Happy to have him. Hope Seguin takes a similar deal and Benn survives long enough to see a cup.
I've been pondering the 5v5 scoring rates for a while now, and I still don't know how deep to dig on them. Certainly Benn has found ways to still contribute (though he hadn't found the scoresheet since *last month* before last night), and his pass to Bourque last night is a great example of the skill that will always be there for a player of his caliber.
I kind of think he's actually better on a third line than a fourth line at this point, just because his vestigial scoring talent is a big part of his upside at this point in his career. If he's not playing with anyone who can capitalize on that, I'm not sure how much of a contributor he can really be.
Praising Stone? Sacrilege!!!
:)))
He's been officially censured behind the scenes, don't worry.
I’ll take the win against that team in their building any day of the week and twice on Sunday. First game I can ever remember Mavrik Bourque looking like a second line forward. Another flash of what he could be. We need to see it much more consistently. I’m still not sold on him. Not even close.
This is a fair level of skepticism and pragmatism, all in one.
That was an ugly third period. But I'm extremely happy for Borque! I hope he stays with it and continues to show off his skill and scoring ability. I could see a line in the future with Borque and Johnston, or Borque centering his own line. Really awesome to see him get 2 goals.
The only thing missing was for either #4 or 96 to accidentally have a toe pick send them into Stones knees and end his season. Don’t really want to see him injured, but if he is in the way of a falling player with no where to go, KARMA. .
Now, now....
Olympian Jack Eichel can't score a shootout goal. Non-Olympian Jason Robertson can't NOT score a shootout goal. A big part of me wants team USA to not make the medal rounds simply because they can't win in a shootout. And then salt in the wound, let Robo be the Conn Smythe of this year's playoffs en route to thr Cup win!
Now that would be a storyline.
I’m glad you’ve picked up on my coping mechanism, Robert, of immersing myself in other teams’ doomsaying to offset doubt spirals over the Stars. The Maple Leafs are good for something, let me tell you!
Well, it’s also just more fun to talk about teams’ ineptitude than to hammer all the same concerns into the ground here. We try to be fair around here.