Admittedly, I haven't watched but one game the last 2 weeks, but I've seen enough of this team over the first part of the season to have a pretty good gauge on their strengths and weaknesses.
A couple of things to consider:
- Both Chara and Krejci have missed significant time
- The defense is a work-in-progress (to put it nicely)
- The team has been statistically average in every category (Goals, Goals Against, PP, PK, 5-on-5)
Having said that, what should Chia/Claude to do improve this team, if anything? There are, in my mind, three options:
- Stand pat and hope the team gets healthy and starts to shake the rust off
- Make a team changing (shakeup) type of deal
- Make a minor move to improve an area of need (defense anybody?)
I argued at the beginning of the season that the defense would be fine without Boychuk and I've got a little pie on my face. The one caveat, to be fair to myself, is that they have not had the entire defense at full health for an extended period of time.
I'm starting to wonder if the team is getting a little stale and there needs to be a shakeup of some sort (i.e. exploring deals for guys like Marchand, Lucic and Loui). I'm also willing to let it ride for another month to see if something sparks. I'm thinking 12 more games will give us a pretty good indication which way this team is trending. Right now, they are treading water.
The team currently sits outside of the playoffs with more than 1/3rd of the season gone.
A couple of things to consider:
- Both Chara and Krejci have missed significant time
- The defense is a work-in-progress (to put it nicely)
- The team has been statistically average in every category (Goals, Goals Against, PP, PK, 5-on-5)
Having said that, what should Chia/Claude to do improve this team, if anything? There are, in my mind, three options:
- Stand pat and hope the team gets healthy and starts to shake the rust off
- Make a team changing (shakeup) type of deal
- Make a minor move to improve an area of need (defense anybody?)
I argued at the beginning of the season that the defense would be fine without Boychuk and I've got a little pie on my face. The one caveat, to be fair to myself, is that they have not had the entire defense at full health for an extended period of time.
I'm starting to wonder if the team is getting a little stale and there needs to be a shakeup of some sort (i.e. exploring deals for guys like Marchand, Lucic and Loui). I'm also willing to let it ride for another month to see if something sparks. I'm thinking 12 more games will give us a pretty good indication which way this team is trending. Right now, they are treading water.
The team currently sits outside of the playoffs with more than 1/3rd of the season gone.