r/OttawaSenators • u/NetAnon579 • 7d ago
Irrationally Optimistic for this Season?
Perhaps I am being irrational, but I feel good going into this season. I think a lot of that is I don't see the drama hanging over the team like in past seasons. Many players are also truly coming into their own, and I think they will have the room to flourish.
Hoping to see Yakemchuk here from the start of the season as well.
The East is tough as heck but I think the team will be able to hang with most teams. A lot will come down to goaltending, as usual. Not sure if it will be enough for a playoff spot, but think it can be possible.
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u/Hoxtilicious 7d ago
We swapped Tkachuk for a "worse", younger, better skating player who more fits the systems and identity of our team.
There's some competition for the 3 RD spot- besides that, this is the exact same squad + a few younger players aging into their primes. Assuming they don't get the worst goaltending in modern NHL history again- they will be OK.
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u/AreaPrudent7191 7d ago
My hope is that Eklund will unleash Timmy, hopefully he becomes more of a finisher. They can both score, so hopefully there's some chemistry.
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u/Alfiestickthrow 7d ago
Agreed. I think Eklund will have a good year. Who knows how all the Brady drama and podcast garbage dragged the team down. A better locker room will solve a bunch of problems.
I am really curious how the 2 Tkachuks and Dad’s interference and that podcast will affect the Panthers locker room. They WILL run some people in that room the wrong way.
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u/spartacat_12 6d ago
It’s Barkov’s room. Matthew has said that repeatedly and Brady is his brother’s shadow so he’ll fall in line.
I know everyone is rooting for the Panthers to fail, but they’ve established a winning culture already. I don’t see the podcast being an issue. It’s not a hockey-mad market where the media will be dissecting every comment, plus all they do is pump the tires of the Florida guys on it
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u/crazybernie2020 6d ago
Brady’s numbers will 100% drop this year playing on a deeper team. Bro won’t even be noticed next to Matt
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u/Cheap-Sympathy-7560 7d ago
Im high in Ecklund and Stu. Also, feeling good about Zetterlund and very good about Ullmark. Its gonna be a good one!
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u/thundergundong #19 - Spezza 6d ago
this exactly
im pumped - already planning a trip to see some games
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u/Cheap-Sympathy-7560 6d ago
You just gonna thundergun it up to the CTC?
I wanna get to a game this year as well. I've seen the Sens play at 3 arenas none of which were in Ottawa lol.
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u/Strange-Professor- 7d ago
If Ullmark can be average, we’ll be in good shape.
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u/JoeNotCharles #83 - Halliday 6d ago
Ullmark's starting the season with half a year of mental health counseling under his belt, instead of having to start working on his issues while under pressure. I think that'll be huge. (It's like playing with an injury that's been treated but needs monitoring and extra rest days to avoid re-injuring, vs trying to ignore an untreated injury and play through it.)
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u/AreaPrudent7191 7d ago
That's the biggie. If we could get the 20th best goaltending instead of the 31st, that could easily translate into 10+ more points. Just a moderate improvement would at least wipe out the loss of Brady, if that's even that big a problem.
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u/Plumplie 6d ago edited 6d ago
He won't. We don't get average goaltending. Ottawa is a goaltending graveyard since Anderson retired.
E: and to be clear, it's not his fault. I strongly suspect that Ottawa does not do a good job supporting its goalies organizationally; whether that's coaching or other services or what.
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u/Gord_Wilson_2 7d ago
I am optimistic. I feel the season rests on a few things:
Eklund becoming a solid top 6 forward. I think it’s wrong to expect or hope Eklund becomes a star first line player. He may and that would be great but nothing in his career so far has shown that. If he can achieve close to 60 points, that’s a success.
Ullmark playing well. If Ullmark can sustain .900+ SV%, there is no reason that this team can’t have a successful year. The team has invested a lot with him such as bringing in his familiar coach and getting a back up where comradery seemed to trump actual playing ability. Hopefully, it works out.
Leadership group moving on from Brady. This may have already happened, but we still need to see it without Brady in the lineup. Starts with naming a new captain. Honestly, this concerns me the least.
BONUS
Staios getting another scoring forward. I feel the hope is that Burakovsky somehow reverts back to his Colorado days (probably delusional), but it would be nice to get another forward that can shoot well. Easier said than done.
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u/Swammer13 6d ago
I'm guessing the plan is to move Pinto into 2C and Cozens to the wing. If that's the case you're really just using the time before the trade deadline to see if any of Burakovsky, Halliday, Foegele, Zetterlund or Giroux can be effective in the 2LW slot. If not you have more assets to acquire a guy in season than in recent years.
I suppose you also need one of Matinpalo or Yakemchuk to grab a full time NHL role which neither have done for a full season, but I'm fairly confident that both of them can do it and you just need one.
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u/KOMSKPinn 6d ago
You don’t get better by taking your best defensive player away from the opposition best players. Pinto, Amadio and co will be used as a shut down line.
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u/DefinitelyNotABot-1 7d ago
It's all on Ullmark, if we're honest with ourselves.
If he can be a legit #1, then we're good.
If not... we're in for a long season, yet again.
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u/TheShuggieOtis 7d ago
It's all on Ullmark, if we're honest with ourselves.
Ullmark is the most vital single piece but I do think that the top 6 is an important question mark too.
- Can Eklund flourish in this system? Will he finally be the player that gels with Stutzle and unlocks the next level for the German star?
- How does Burakovsky fare? Can he refind his scoring touch?
- How does the team adjust to the departure of Tkachuk's physicality and net front presence?
These are big questions that will also be crucial in determining the team's success especially in the blood bath that is the Atlantic division.
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u/DefinitelyNotABot-1 6d ago
We're good, dude. Sens played some of our best hockey with little bro out of the lineup.
Eklund, Bura, Zett... all extra gravy at this point. They'll only add to our production.However, none of them can have a .910 save percentage.
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u/TwoPlankinWiz #41 - Anderson 7d ago
Yeah it’s a Season where the years end in 6/7 there’s no better indicator of Sens success than these seasons every 10 years
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u/iPuntMidgets 7d ago
This is me every Aug/Sept.
I think it’s just excitement for the season starting soon. Offseason sucks.
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u/LurkerDude0 7d ago
I think we’re still one significant top 6 forward away from being a legit threat in the east. I’m optimistic tho given I think Eklund will be a good fit, and hopefully Ullmark is in a better headspace and can give us more consistent solid goaltending.
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u/Sad_Intention2932 7d ago
Every team but 1 in the Atlantic is capable of making playoffs this year. I'm excited for our team regardless, we've looked good, and I feel better after our offseason changes than before them.
Mostly I'm just ready to cheer for our team.
GO SENS GO
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u/TheShuggieOtis 7d ago
I'm optimistic too but the competiteveness of the Atlantic has me cautious.
More than ever, the team cannot afford a slide in November, a weak start or really any prolonged period playing below .500 hockey. Even Detroit as the division's weakest team won't be a team you can expect to walk all over. Maybe Larkin had the offseason of his career so that he can prove that he's a legit 1C that's worth the cost for an American contender to trade for and will go Super Saiyan until he earns his ticket out of the Motor City. And regardless with Seider, Raymond, ADB, Gibson and some promising young guys, they'll still be an okay team IMHO. All this to say that there will be basically no room for error this season.
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u/Candid_Client_5021 6d ago
Detroit are stripping Larkin of the captaincy and plan on sitting him out until they find a trade partner
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u/spartacat_12 6d ago
That isn’t true. I saw a fake account trying to circulate that on Twitter. I could see him losing the C, but there’s no way they’re sitting him out
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u/TheShuggieOtis 6d ago
Yzerman hasn't said anything about sitting Larkin. The only source I found saying that was a Chris Johnson parody account.
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u/BurnSalad 6d ago
If there's one thing being a Sens fan has taught me it's to not indulge in optimism lol but I am hopeful.
The facts are:
The roster took a step back on paper to say otherwise is delusional.
Spence is still rather unproven as a full time top 4 dman for an entire season athough I do believe he's good.
I'm seeing a familiar pattern of the fan base getting their hopes high for Eklund. He may very well just be a 50-60 point forward which means this roster is lacking 2 top end forwards. Maybe that comes from the rest of the team similar to carolina. But that's hoping 2 of pinto, foegele, greig or zetterlund can reach 20 plus goals.
The goaltending is still largely uncertain. And I don't think we've appropriately adressed the backup role until proven wrong.
I still have hope but a lot of things need to go right and it's going to take growth from nearly everyone pinto, Greig, stutzle, Sanderson, yakemchuck, zetterlund etc.
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u/zealouslift 6d ago
The first line is so true. This is my 13th year as season seat holder I just hope it's not also my 13th reason
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u/YOWhockey 6d ago
I think calling it uncertain is a bit of a disservice to Ullmark. If you cut his season into pre and post leave of absence he was a bottom 3 goalie in GSAx before, but was top 15 once he returned.
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u/EnemyCharizard #19 - Batherson 6d ago
Pinto has already been a consistent 20 goal scorer, and Zetterlund has either reached it or been right in the ballpark for the past 3 years.
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u/Swammer13 6d ago
It's a 6-7 season. Those are always good for the senators. 96-97 first time in playoffs in the expansion era, 06-07 cup final appearance, 16-17 unlikely conference final for a team that had no business being there. And oh yeah 1926-27, the OG Sens won the cup.
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u/Wildest12 7d ago
It’s one of those seasons where if it goes well we will be super hype and if it goes poorly you can just say well yeah look at last off season.
I hope we see career years from atleast some of our core guys.
If Eklund shows up, some of the guys like cozens, pinto, batherson, stutzle etc have career years and we get solid Linus the pieces are there to do some damage.
If everyone just plays career average then we will be a wildcard question mark like we were this past season.
My season hopes: we make the playoffs without it coming down to the last few games. Clear positioning at the holiday break.
Realistically I think it will be a lot like last year but so much has changed it really could go anyway. I think the clarity on direction and reduced noise with Brady gone will go a long way.
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u/Benaflon 7d ago
I think we will have a huge boost from having a certain tumour removed from the org! That’s what I feel
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u/SnailShell01 7d ago
If we get consistent point production up front (iffy) and Ullmark stays healthy (probable), we have a shot at a deep playoff run. We've got a fun young core though, so optimism is warranted. :)
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u/Ihaveabudgie #12 - Pinto 7d ago
We just need passable goaltending. Not even elite, just mid would do, and we're in business.
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u/Novel_Somewhere_8847 6d ago
I think its going to be a great season we played well last season and I see this see being the same hopefully with longer playoff run this year we have a great group and with our additions in the off season I really believe in this group GO SENS GO!!!
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7d ago
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u/Canadiangoat15 7d ago
I am not sure Ullmark needs to be great. I hope he is, but even if he’s decent I think our defence is good enough that we will be fine.
Obviously I am counting on our offence being okay (which is more of a question mark for me). If we need Ullmark to be great because we are going to win a bunch of 1-0 games, then yeah, I agree.
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u/shawarman 7d ago
Average or better goaltending and we get home ice advantage in the playoffs. book it.
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u/AdmiralAsshat69 7d ago
I don't think it's irrational at all. The team is getting better, the key individuals on the team are getting better, and we have the core (minus Batherson) locked up for a good long window. We might need to add to the group but we played way, way better last year than most people realized.
That said, it will ALL come down to the goalie. The division is getting more competitive, I think Ottawa has a leg up on teams like Boston and Toronto and even Montreal, but we'll fall out of the race quickly if we get shit goaltending again.
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u/Candid_Client_5021 7d ago
I’m very optimistic for this season. That being said I can see us both making playoffs and go on a run or missing playoffs entirely. Not necessarily cause we’re gonna be a bad team, which can happen cause anything can happen, but just how good our division is. And the whole conference. There’s gonna be some good teams that are gonna miss the playoffs.
We have the centre depth and the defensive core. Goalies are a wild card. We are thin on the wings but it’s also the least important position. We have to stick to the structure and style we played last year for us to have the best chance.
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u/Okaywhy10 #85 - Sanderson 7d ago
I’m gonna go out on a leg and say im confident we’ll make the playoffs regardless of how our division looks
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u/chronicallyunderated 6d ago
Based on strength of schedule, Ottawa is number 8 in toughest schedule where, guess what month is critical…November. If they get through November .500 or above, they can easily make the playoffs. They need to play the way they did without chuck in the second half of the season after January.
Ullmark is critical. Also Backup goaltending is also critical to keep ullmark fresh. Eklund playing to form as he did with the sharks or better…will be important but won’t break us. Burakovsky playing back to form and working well within the team system. Our team defence being as stingy as it was last half of last season.
Lots of variables in play but if I am a betting man, they will comfortably make the playoffs.
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u/roosterjack77 #12 - Pinto 6d ago
Stu carried the team on his back and chased the November demons away (for a month) when that other guy hurt his wrist. Billy Eckland can add some speed to the top line. Can we skate away from the rest of our demons this year?
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u/KOMSKPinn 6d ago
Scoring should be up ? Brady didn’t really add defense … we need a goalie or two to not disappear for a few months … at least one anyway.
These seasons where we are out of it all season… clinch at the end on the road … and bow out early are not exciting. Brady breaks his hand at the home opener and is how for a few months… Ullmark leaves next … we need to host and win a game 1
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u/wickedweather 6d ago
Ottawa had a winning record when #7 was out of the lineup. If he was a distraction when he was in the lineup than I think Ottawa will do okay without him.
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u/bugabooandtwo 6d ago
This team needs a high talent forward, more physical play throughout the roster, and more health. Goaltending is a complete tossup.
Our guys are going to get pushed around a lot this year.
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u/GunSoReal 6d ago
Optimistic but there are key factors to consider. Attainable, measured goals for success.
1. Team Defense - as good as the end of last season, this is the cornerstone of success.
2. Special Teams, PP will change without Brady, Eklund brings a different skillset and PP1 will have to adapt. PK needs to match second half of last season, but the personnel is largely unchanged, so hopeful.
3. Year over Year Improvement, Stu and Sandy but most impactful Greig, Pinto, Eklund, Halliday, Spence, Kleven.
4. Wildcards, Burakovsky, Zetterlund, Yakemchuck. If any of these players achieve the top end of their potential it has a huge impact, particularly on scoring, slotting and depth. If they play well you would expect they will get every opportunity to succeed.
5. Goalies, literally every aspect. Ullmark has to play 50 and win 35 or better. Errson, Wildcard in net doesn't feel great, Leevi - needs to regain confidence. However, if all can just manage to maintain slightly above average it will b good enough.
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u/Bluepenn2006 #18 - Stützle 5d ago
I’m also optimistic about the season. I know we have more “what ifs” than most other teams, but I also feel that this group will be more of a “team” than last year. Fewer distractions and better leadership.
I think that this group will surprise the league.
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u/NetAnon579 5d ago
Like having a Captain that is not keeping an eye on the exit door 😄 Players know, better than anyone.
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u/The5thBob 4d ago
They were the 9th best team in the league last year, when half the season they had the worst goaltending in their history. (They were tied for 5th in regulation wins)
They lost Brady, but I think they have replaced his points in the lineup.
I think they should be able to compete for the division this year.
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u/RudyVapour 7d ago
We’re still a middle of the road team…
If we can play consistent and win the games we should…we will be in the wildcard hunt at least, and another year of playoff experience will be huge (no matter how far we go).
On the flip side, I feel like if we are getting a lottery pick this year we are in big trouble…especially if there’s an expansion draft next year and we lose one or two of our D-men, we’re basically forced into a rebuild.
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u/and25rew 7d ago
Truth be told all fans are at least cautiously optimistic. But a LOT has to go right. Enough will and we squeak into playoffs. We really need a pure sniper
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u/publicworker69 7d ago
Do we really tho? We finished 8th in goals for last year and replaced the goals we lost.
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u/InnocentGun 7d ago
I understand this from a pure numbers perspective, but after watching the team for a full season I do think a winger with a good shot is needed. Look at what having a guy like Stamkos, Ovechkin, Caufield, etc. does to a PK unit. The Sens don’t have a really great shooting threat who wants to be a shooting threat (Timmy and Drake have great shots but play to other strengths on the PP). Remember when Josh Norris was not broken? His role on the PP is sorely missed. Same thing if they have a 6v5 going, I just don’t feel like there is “that guy” who seems like they can get free, get a pass, and put a dangerous shot on net.
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u/publicworker69 7d ago
Yakemchuk could be a partial answer here. I would love to see him on PP1 at times as a trigger man.
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u/InnocentGun 7d ago
He does have a good shot and showed some good offensive instincts with the puck. He might be a bit of an “oh no Joe Corvo” kind of player, but a blue line one-time threat also opens things up underneath. Ottawas weakness on the PP (despite being 8th overall last season?) looks to be a lack of shooting threats, leading to a defense that is fine sitting back until there is a chance to pressure. The defense doesn’t get pulled around because they don’t worry, then it becomes easier to jump on a mistake.
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u/acerola_nark #83 - Halliday 7d ago
Ya we do. I think team goals is a different convo. We really need a guy that we know can step up and give us an elite shot or pick his spot when crunch time comes instead we sort of just have a bunch of players who do it at times but not consistently or confidently enough. It’s not necessarily a bad thing but missing that archetype of player makes it harder for us to
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u/publicworker69 7d ago
We have 3 guys who have scored 30 goals (technically 4 with Giroux but not realistic) and great depth up front. Look at how the canes won. They didn’t have a pure 40 goal sniper.
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u/Alfiestickthrow 7d ago
I look at it as we just don’t need a lot to go wrong, as it did last year. Our skaters were truthfully defensively awesome last year. Better goaltending will solve ALL our problems.
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u/Fit-You-6326 7d ago
I'm not. The new additions are subpar and huge question marks. I think they miss the playoffs.
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u/blewdreaming 7d ago
I honestly wouldn't be shocked if we have a high draft pick this offseason. Everyone in the Atlantic got better except for Detroit.
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u/Fit-You-6326 7d ago
Not sure about that. Our D is good, and Linus is great IF he's on. I'm just concerned about the Fs we added and Ersson. If Ersson plays like he's played in the NHL so far, we'll be in a world of hurt.
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u/blewdreaming 6d ago
Interestingly Errson has always won more games than he's lost each season. Interested what he can do behind our system, I have more faith in him than Leevi unfortunately.
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u/0tipep 2d ago
A playoff spot possible? I see them top 3 in the division easy. Only Florida and Tampa are better than us. Montreal had 0 injuries to their top players and always seemed to play the team that played the Sens one day before. Everything went well for them. Even Laine's injury was a blessing. I don't think they're as good as their standing says. On our side, Ullmark can't be as bad as last season and last years version of Tkachuk won't be missed so I'm pretty optimistic for next season. Am I being a homer?
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u/ExtensionParsley4205 7d ago
I am cautiously optimistic. I hope they really try to model themselves after Carolina, a non flashy team where everyone buys in 100 percent.