Love Buff and the offence he generates but I think he's still hurting a bit. As a matter of fact, since his injury he's not playing the same defensively as before. The discipline he receives may be a blessing in disguise to the Jets as Jay Harrison will be taking his place. If I'm not mistaken I think we have a pretty good record with him in the lineup. If Chairot returns I think we are pretty solid on D for the last few games. If the Jets make the playoffs Buff will be ready to return and hopefully give us more of the pre-All Star game player. 

Can we go back to talking about Buff as a Norris Trophy candidate please.

We could if he was ... have to play that way all year to be considered one, Dustin hasn't.

Probably not going to happen but putting Buff back as a forward kind of makes sense - Perrault, Lowry and Buff would be a killer line for a playoff run.  Stempniak has stone hands.

 

Harrison and Pardy or Chiarot are safe, conservative D-men who can plug the puck up the boards; probably need a bit more of that.

This mystifies me.  Im as up and down with the team as anyone but are we really arguing that Buff should go back to forward because he's sucked for a handful of games when it wasnt long ago that we were arguing how he had to be on D because he was one of the best in the league.

 

Players sometimes struggle.  Buff hasnt forgotten how to play great D.  Leave him where he is.

Harrison has demonstrated multiple times he is a defensive liability in our own zone.

 

Just because a guy isn't good offensively doesn't mean he is good defensively.  Sometimes a guy just isn't that good.  Harrison is a fine 7th D-man but he's not taking anyone's job.

I think Harrison makes smart plays, like the guy.

 

Not saying Buff on D is a bad thing, just saying that Trouba and Myers eat up huge minutes and Buff would actually make more impact as a forward and a power play D right now.  We're trying to pair Trouba-Buff sometimes and that just doesn't work.

Four games for Buff. Thank God we can finally play Harrison instead...

Four games is excessive but I wont argue too much since the play was cheap and dirty.

 

Now he has to face his team mates and explain why he wont be there to help them make the playoffs.

Four games is excessive but I wont argue too much since the play was cheap and dirty.

 

Now he has to face his team mates and explain why he wont be there to help them make the playoffs.

They were there when it happened, so they probably already know why...

Predicting 4 game winning streak now!

I've noticed that the goalie is completely unprotected by the referees. I've seen this in Jets games, and other games.

 

They get hammered, crashed on, regularly. Offensive players end up inside the net repeatedly.

 

There's no excuse for this being tolerated. So they leave it up to the players to deal with the problem.

 

and we get this.

 

In some ways, the NHL is a stupid league.

5 2 1 without buff no? 1-2 since being back? Something like 17-8-1 when Harrison plays. Makes you wonder

This has been a bad stretch for Buff's attempt at re-signing for big bucks. We seem to do OK without him and Myers is somewhat replacing his offense. Prior to the All-Star break I was all in on paying up to 9 mill per for his services (which he may have demanded then). Now I'm not even sure Chevy will offer him anything near what he'd be looking at considering his age.

A bad game or 2 don't change what buff is but what he seems to be based on more than one or 2 games Is a guy who when he feels like it can dominate but doesn't always feel like doing it. Not good defensively either and the money he'd get might be better spent elsewhere. When he's dominating he's an asset. When he's not he's almost a liability

Everything we are going thu as bad as it seems is also something the kids like Schief, Trouba, Lowry, Myers and others are going to learn from. Even guys like Little and Wheels are going to learn from this pressure of how every game means.

Sure Ladd n Buff have been thru this but they cant drag a whole team and teach them.

Ill be disappointed if we dont get in but ill be ok with the young guys that stepped up and will learn.

Our future is going to depend on these younger players and them going thru these things now is huge for the development of the team.

As we bring guys up... We will have more players that have gone thru things for them to lean on and learn from.

Quietly following this thread, then watching the first period of today's game...

 

...Haha, comical. Harrison and Pardy looked COMPLETELY lost out there.

I like Harrison too but he'll prob be let go for same reason Hainsey was.

 

Love the subject line

Trouba having a pretty brutal game out there today as well.

Harri Pardy Is a terrible combo. Harrison still has a year left on his deal tho.

Is Harrison an upgrade over Ellerby? Pardy at least has shown some competence over the year...

Is Harrison an upgrade over Ellerby? Pardy at least has shown some competence over the year...

I'd say so. Still think Ellerby was given a compassionate contract.

I don't think Harrison or Pardy suck but together they do

Both are liabilities in their own end....if Enstrom is out, I sure hope Chiarot is ready to return.

Trouba and Toby have played better games....Myers and Stuart were the best D men today.

Harrison +3

Pardy +1

Trouba -2

Ladd -2

Aren't stats fun?

If only they told the whole story - Pavelec and the team bailed out Harrison a number of times, especially in the first period.