#isles Don't worry, guys. Sorokin's xGA is super high so it's OK that he can't find the net 6 years into his NHL career. He's elite. The private data says so.

#isles Announcers finally starting to rightfully criticize Sorokin's terrible positioning. It's been three seasons of poor fundamentals here. I'm very OK with benching Ilya for a game at this point. It's not like he's playing well.

#isles Nah. Nobody Buffalos like Buffalo, Sean. We're going to be OK. Just going to take a couple years.

#isles Romanov and Mayfield were good together. I actually agree with these pairs right now. You have to do something and split up Romanov and TDA. You have to.

#isles This team's positioning is disjointed. Especially defensively. You can see guys struggling to think through what they are being asked to do. Hesitations. Lack of confidence. The body language is terrible and that's coaching.

#isles I think it was Alex who pointed out that coaches need to work with what they have and not stubbornly pretend these guys can be something they aren't. Part of the reason this defense is atrocious is because it's being asked to be hyper-aggessive and mobile and that's

#isles Another thing on coaching is the pairings. Romanov, a highly mobile and aggressive defender who is prone to mental mistakes and being out of position. So, obviously, put him with another highly mobile defender who is prone to mental mistakes and being out of position.

#isles This guy is finding the silver lining for us. If you look at this with your expectations then you're going to enjoy this season for what it is. If you hope for playoffs (like I do, unfortunately) then it's going to be a tough year.

#isles It's too early for me to make a prediction but this team, right now, looks like a 20 win team. Maybe 25. And I think if that's the situation you'll know pretty early. A 2-9 start is a situation where plans can change with the roster way sooner than the deadline.

#isles Alright, I waited a bit here and everyone who hates this roster has reason to. But there's one last thing I want to say about Roy. History repeats itself. When Roy struggled with Colorado he played bullshit games like he's playing now. Torpedoing young players into

#isles Some of you jumped on me before the draft for saying that Schaefer was Makar-like. <3

#isles They are both problems. The defense is by far the bigger problem. But we can't sit here and pretend Sorokin has been 8+ million dollars good for 3 years and at this point is regressing badly.

#isles I think you could potentially move Pelech and Pulock regardless their NTC. I think that it'd limit your return more than their play already has. The difficulty here is their cap hit mid-season. But if they thought they were going to be 3rd pair on a contending team,

#isles Their mishandling of his extortion situation with Mogilny. And then his trade to the Canucks. And then the rumors the ownership lobbied against his Hall of Fame induction for like 20 years.

#isles

#isles I don't see it with this club, Jacob, but they've certainly had a lot of high quality chances to score and you have to think at some point those begin to go in. If they can figure out the defense. If Ilya can right the ship. No, you're not crazy. I don't agree with

#isles 11 games from now Roy will figure out he needs to split Romanov and TDA.

#isles I've said it a million times. People undervalued Marner badly.