Okay...I was roasted in this forum 6 games ago when I suggested that there were signs that this team was slipping into the abyss. Now that we have established that the flu was not the cause of this free fall I am interested to hear what this team has going for it moving forward. Unfortunately I see far more negatives with this team than positives.
The negatives....
Ridiculous contracts (cap hits) that are impossible to move and its interesting to see how these contracts rank. There is no rhyme or reason to the contracts Lowe was dolling out over the last couple of years. It really is a testament to his incompetence.
Lets start with Nilsson ( a top notch AHL forward) and his ridiculous contract. I find it incredible that he is the 6th highest paid forward on the team. (...and Lowe thought that Glencross was asking for too much at 1M but it was okay to pay Nilsson 2M.
)
It gets worse....Pisani is the 5th highest paid forward on the team at 2.5M.
Other ridiculous contracts include Horcoff at 5.5M (highest paid forward on the team), Moreau at (gasp) 2M (along with Nilsson is the 6th highest paid forward on the team)
On the back end we have Grebeshkov at 3.15M and Staios at 2.7M...money well spent, probably not. They are the 4th and 5th highest paid dmen. Grebs may yet become a consistent player (although he is running out of time) so I'll give Lowe a pass on that contract. Staios on the other hand is a bottom pairing dman who will never out play his contract. Gilbert (4M-3rd highest paid dman) could very well be added to this list but, like Grebs, he could turn his game around yet.
The same could be said for Khabby for the last 2 years of his contract but the jury is still out on that signing.
When you throw in players like O'Sullivan, not a Lowe signing but (based on his NHL histroy) a player who will likely never out perform his contract, and Penner (who has looked good for an 8th of a season so far) this appears to be a team with more bad contracts than good.
Not exactly a position of strength moving forward.
Other negatives....
- lack of high end goal scoring talent. There's a reason other teams play their backups against this team. This team doesn't scare anybody offensively.
- Not enough physicality on this team...simply not nearly enough depth in this regard.
- lack of defensive cohesiveness as a team.
The hockey IQ of this team appears to be below average. Too many players either can't or won't buy into a system.
This may have something to do with what appears to be poor veteran leadership from some key players (ie Moreau) then again it may just have something to do with a poor mix of players...or maybe its a little of both.
I happen to think its both. Too many redundant skillsets which is why an overpaid player (Horcoff) is so important to this team.
- very soft defence.
The positives....
Sam Gagner. I think he is going to be a very good player for this team. He may well be the smartest player on the team.
It may take another couple of years of maturation but he will be the #1 centre on this team.
Gilbert Brule. Still has a ways to go but he looks to be a very well rounded player. His versatility will be very valuable to this team.
Andrew Cogliano. His play has slipped this season but that may be due to his all but useless linemates. However he needs to find a niche and prove the is room for both him and Gagner on this team.
Lubomir Vishnovsky. The best player on the team IMO.
Sheldon Souray. His shot on the PP alone is so very valuable to this team but when you have a butter soft defence his absence on the back end is a huge deal.
Khabby has been slightly above average IMO. He hasn't outright won them a game that I can recall but he seems to give them a chance to win almost every game.
Things yet to be proven....
- the coaching staff. More data is needed to determine if this coaching staff is all that. As of right now the team has so many holes that its hard to get a sense of the job this staff is doing.
- Penner. He certainly hasn't outplayed his contract the first couple of years but so far so good this season. It will be interesting to see what kind of player he is after 60 games. He is not exactly a young player so his time is short.
- Hemsky. He may be as good as he is going to get which is a player on the cusp of getting a point a game. A very good supporting player but maybe not a player to build a team around. He is rapidly running out of racetrack IMO. He may be a player you package up to bring in a franchise player.
Sometimes I see Hemsky as a big part of what is wrong with this team. He just doesn't seem to have the "buy in" that he should have. He should be setting an example for players like Gagner in terms of the commitment level required to be a star player in this League. He has and is falling short.
I would be curious to know what other people consider positives. After 3 years of possibly the worst hockey I have ever seen from this team I am very disillusioned.
I am quite sure I'm not alone.
