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2024-2025 NHL Thread

canadaguy

That time we turned shortkut into pineapple pizza
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I think it comes down to whether Florida can contain McJesus. Last year they were able, but dude seems locked in this year.
 
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Back to Marner, because I've got some choice words for him & his camp after the way they've been badmouthing the team on the way out, talking about how he feels disrespected by the organization.

Well, let me tell you something right now. Marner & his camp played this game. They held out because they wanted Matthews money, they wanted the captaincy. But when it was all said & done, they got what they wanted. Marner got his $11M contract, and whether anyone thought it was a fair contract or not, the fact of the matter is, management trusted this guy enough to give him that much money. They saw him as a core piece going forward, so for them, it was justifiable.

But for as much as the organization invested in this core, it's only fair to expect a return on investment. After all, that's part of doing business. You want to see your investments pay off. You want to see results, and not just in the regular season, but in the playoffs too. As far as the latter is concerned however, they haven't lived up to their end of the bargain. The team has saw players shuffled in & out of the lineup, 2 major shakeups behind the bench, and changes in the front office. Yet, the core remained intact, and the result has always been the same. So after all that, can you really blame management for wanting to explore moving on? I think not, and for Marner's camp to whine about that is downright silly. Management has never been shy in going the distance to do everything in their power to accommodate this team. They sure as shit haven't been shy in throwing as much money at almost everything for the last decade either. They've given the core pieces everything they wanted contractually since they came off their ELCs. They make more money here than most comparables, they have NMCs, and they have a full bonus structure. Not a single one of them has a leg to stand on when it comes to how this organization has treated them.

If there's anything management deserves to be criticized for, it's running it back when the writing has been on the wall for years now, and also for Shanahan allowing Marner's NTC to kick in. He knew full well the consequences of that. But to talk as if there's been this lack of respect after all the trust that was put into this whole process is utter bullshit.

Going back, I will also say the the crap Marner put up from Babcock was shitty, and the Schedule B stuff was handled poorly, but even still, that doesn't justify or excuse his actions. Even aside from those incidents from Lamoriello & Babcock, the fact management held so much belief in the core in the face of so much adversity speaks volume as to how much belief they held in this group. It's just too bad Marner's took it for granted, and that he's decided to burn this bridge on the way out.
 

Crystal

Formerly Apollo
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Yeah not surprising. He dug his own grave with those post series comments.
100%, he just took a bad situation and made it nuclear with that one stupid move. I mean pulling Otter was stupid anyway, but throwing him under the bus was arguably the dumbest thing a coach could do after a loss like that. Idiotic, and he got exactly what he deserved.
Never toss your players under a bus. Fastest way to lose the locker room.
Truth. No wonder he's never won a cup.
 

canadaguy

That time we turned shortkut into pineapple pizza
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100%, he just took a bad situation and made it nuclear with that one stupid move. I mean pulling Otter was stupid anyway, but throwing him under the bus was arguably the dumbest thing a coach could do after a loss like that. Idiotic, and he got exactly what he deserved.
I don't necessarily disagree with pulling him. It was an elimination game, and he needed some way to try to wake the team up. That move has worked before, but really didn't here.

Blaming the loss on Oettinger is out to lunch though. The team in front of him was fucking asleep. 5 goals in the last 4 games of that series. Short of him getting a shut out every game, you aren't going to win often with that offensive output. Oettinger didn't have a great series, but the rest of the team was worse.
 

Crystal

Formerly Apollo
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I don't necessarily disagree with pulling him. It was an elimination game, and he needed some way to try to wake the team up. That move has worked before, but really didn't here.

Blaming the loss on Oettinger is out to lunch though. The team in front of him was fucking asleep. 5 goals in the last 4 games of that series. Short of him getting a shut out every game, you aren't going to win often with that offensive output. Oettinger didn't have a great series, but the rest of the team was worse.
Can't shake a team up that's in a coma, that's for sure.
 
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