Good episode Kronos... But damn... Never has a playoff appearance stung or felt more like a missed opportunity than this. That roster was the best assembled in the series and we were up against a beatable team, but the lineup sank us. 1. Watching Werenski - Sheppard as the 1st pair was straight out of a nightmare. Yes, their overalls would suggest they're the two best Ds on the team at this time... But throughout our number of PO runs, Werenski struggled every single time he was slotted on the 1st pair (deep minuses), then found his footing and led the 2nd pair whenever he was alongside a defensively minded partner (however average the latter). He's not a PO #1 and has failed time and time again when we've forced him there due to his overall. What he is is an excellent #3 in the playoffs and we've known that for years. As for Sheppard, he's nothing more than a glorified #4 with great defense and good physical attributes. He'll do okay on the 1st pair in the regular season, but get exposed in the playoffs every single time. He was last year... Started on the 1st pair, struggled badly and we ended up winning the cup on the backs of Morrissey and Mills' exceptional performances (with Werenski - Sheppard as the 2nd pair). Sheppard was horrid defensively and offensively useless again in the playoffs this year. Good, decent player that will get unwarranted hate because he's thought of as more than he is due to: 1) his overall rating, 2) slotting and the organization being in love with the idea that he's a top pairing D (EA's own version of Cody Ceci if you will 💀😂). The fact that we didn't see Stempniak - Mills, or even old Morrissey - Mills on the 1st pair once or that Mills was the one demoted to the 2nd pair instead of Werenski is just unfortunate. By the end of the 7 games, Stempniak - Mills still led the defense in scoring too, while Werenski - Sheppard combined for 1 assist and minus a gazillion. Just really, really unfortunate. 2. Much less egrigious, but shifting Patrick back to the middle (at least for a few games) would have helped too. As good a player as Eklund is, he doesn't have the size of a prototypical center and Patrick proved himself to be a cup winning 2C last season. The untold truth of EA's NHL is that in the playoffs, size and slotting matters more than x-factors, offensive/defensive lines plusses and all the other gimmicks they added to try to make the game more engaging. Sadly, we came up a bit short in this run.

Trade/signing suggestions: 1. Miscast Sheppard to LA for malcontent Hoffman straight up (or with the necessary additions to make the trade go through). One is a top pairing D that's forced to play his entire prime on the 2nd pair. The other is a #4 that's repeatedly forced on the 1st pair. Fixes the issue for both by slotting Sheppard behind Clarke and allowing Hoffman to thrive out of Clarke's shadow. 2. No more Werenski, Morrissey, Connor, Ehlers. None can return. After that shocking exit, the old guard is effectively over. 3. Eklund could be re-signed, but only if he's not locked in as the 2nd line center. Not sure we can consitently win with Perfetti/Eklund down the middle, so the arrangement could be that Eklund is a center in the regular season and a winger to Patrick in the playoffs. Patrick is the only player over 6ft in the top 6, so the defense/bottom 6 has to be beefed up to make up for it.

Svensson - Perfetti - Kennedy Eklund - Patrick - Barker/UFA signing Barker/xxx - Pinto - Tomasino McConnell-Baker - Johnston - xxx Mills - Hoffman Stempniak - xxx xxx - Kreutzer Wallstedt Silovs PP1 Patrick - Perfetti - Svensson Kennedy - Mills PP2 Barker - Eklund - Tomasino/UFA signing Stempniak - Hoffman PKs Perfetti - Svensson Mills - Hoffman Eklund - Kennedy Stempniak - xxx Pinto - Patrick xxx - Kreutzer