re: Unofficial NHL Season-Long Thread: Puckheads Unite!

Lehtera with the short handed goal for the hat trick.

35 minutes into the game. Damn

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No way should we dump Tokarski for a Dman this year. As unreliable as CP31 can be in net, why would you want to get rid of one of the most promising young goaltenders in the league before you absolutely had to?

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That would be like the Ranger trading Lundqvist for Sandis Olzilinch. Makes no sense.

In other news.....how in the frick did the rangers win 5-0? As a fan with no TV access am dumbfounded. This is what it feels like to be Mississipi state for a day.

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I'm chalking it up the Pens 5 game road trip being on the backend, they were very flat tonight.

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Long road trips can tire a team. Except San Antonio does it every February and they often run the table during them.

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Since when did San Antonio get a hockey team?

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They have an AHL team that plays in the same arena as the Spurs. And when February rolls around, everyone has to vacate for the rodeo.

Canadiens down the streaking Jets 3-0.

Goals by Eller, Galchenyuk and a SH goal by Plekanec.

29 saves in the shutout by CP31

What a finish in the Stars/Coyotes game! Three goals in the final five minutes.

Stars score with 4:41 left and Arizona (still feels weird to not say Phoenix) ties it up less than a minute later. Coyotes have the momentum with the late equalizer and go on the power play with just over two minutes to go. Garbutt scores an unassisted shorthanded goal for the Stars on a beautiful individual effort with 1:16 to go in the game, and Dallas hangs onto the win with a flurry of shots by Arizona in the final 20 seconds. What a game!

This is why I think Tokarski gets tradedi can't hate cp31 today. But give me a few minutes I'll come up with a reason

I hate to say it, but I think the Jackets are done for this year. You need to be around 92 points to have a shot at the playoffs historically (8th seed had 93 points last year). That means you need to get about 9 points every 8 games to get you to 90 at Game 80, with 2 games to get 2-4 points. You can be slightly off the pace and pick up points later, but not too much. We're now 20% in to the season. You are what you are at this point.

The Jackets have 9 points in 15 games. Hell, let's spot them a point in their next game, to get them to a round 10 in 16. That means, in order to get to 90 points and playoff contention, they need to get 80 points in 80% of the season. So, instead of 9 points every 8 games, they need 10... a 100-point pace for 4/5 of the season. Now, ask yourself, are the Jackets a 100 point team right now?

Probably not. The Jackets are already extremely unlikely to make the playoffs with this start, so you might as well get in the McDavid Sweepstakes, and start thinking about trading guys to open cap space. Foligno and Letestu are you're only significant UFA's (Atkinson, Calvert, and Erixson are RFA's). Those are your most likely trade pieces. Though trading Anisimov, who has 2 years left, is a real option as he'll have a lot of value.

You're $6 million under the cap right now. The Jackets can write off this year and be a much better team this year with some aggressive moves. Even if it means taking on a bad contract.

They have a lot of guys hurt, I agree. But they need to come out and play 100-point hockey the rest of the way just to have a shot at the 8-seed. That's a huge hill to climb. Not impossible, I grant you, but they are further out than they think right now. The real problem is there are 10-11 teams in the East currently on that 90 points in 80 games pace. That's a lot of teams you need to stumble.