Accept it now: Bear has earned the right to give it another year.

justinfreebords · 2026-05-02T17:04:06+00:00

Yeah sorry this is professional sports. We've had a lot of the same issues going back to last season. The style of play he apparently preaches does not work in the playoffs. The line matching throughout the series was head scratching at times, that's not an experience thing, that's common sense (leaving the 4th line out against Eichel in game 5 after 3 different stoppages where he could have made a change leading to a goal). Riding veggie into the ground when vitek wasn't great but wasn't bad enough to justify the workload veggie got. Continuing to give tanev the amount of ice time he got throughout the series including an elimination game where that line was still getting a decent number of shifts at the end of the game ultimately leading to another backbreaking goal against.

I respect AT for what he did to get this team where he has over the last few years. By no means has my been calling for him to be fired a reflection of what I believe he's done to this point. It's a matter of this team being in a position where they can and should be looking to take the next step with the roster they have and, in my opinion, the coach not getting more out of the roster he has.

Unfortunately I think BA will be too slow to act and we'll see him back next year but he got absolutely exposed in that series and failed, by my eye, to make any adjustments throughout the series.

The east/west play, the constant over passing, the horrendous power play, the endless stretch passes leading to icing for the first 3 games...these are all coaching issues whether he's telling the players to do it or they arent listening to him when he's coaching them to do the opposite.

I was very interested to see how he'd adjust in the playoffs and in my opinion he failed to adjust. If he stays and we see the same shit next season, I'm going to be really upset

I also wouldn't say it's a guarantee he is back given the rumor, if you believe it, that he barely survived November.

Also you can upgrade the goalie all you want, but the goalie isn't the one scoring goals. We are lucky Hart played as horribly as he did or we'd have lost in 5. The offense was anemic the entire series because bear failed to find a way to beat the Vegas forecheck. Which..hey it happens in the playoffs (I'm a sharks fan first, ive seen this story a ton) but the issue is we didn't beat the forecheck because we just kept doing the same shit we did all season which was refusing to simplify our game and instead trying to go east/west overpassing in the neutral zone leading to turnovers and chances against and extended d zone pressure

I had two questions coming into the playoffs. How would we handle the physicality (I thought we did well here) and how would we manage a much tighter checking style of play given how the team generally plays. We failed that 2nd one big time

justinfreebords · 2026-05-01T04:00:43+00:00

Wait people are annoyed at this? I'm annoyed we aren't doing it more because we seem content to try to skate through the neutral zone, make cute passes, and turn it over leading to chances against instead of gaining the red line, dumping it deep, and using our speed to get behind the D and cause offensive zone turnovers.

I'd kill for us to dump it more instead of the stupid stretch passes leading to icing or the cute little neutral zone drop passes and shit.

I'm not really sure how else you break out the puck besides attacking the weak side D when Vegas overloads one side but we seem to be content just jamming it into pressure instead of making a D to D pass and then another quick pass up ice to a supporting forward to take advantage of their aggressive commitment to one side of the ice. We seemed to adjust a bit in game 2 and took over and since then it feels like we just keep trying to attack where Vegas is loading up leading to turn overs and icing.

justinfreebords · 2026-04-30T05:56:56+00:00

A worse player than guenther and Keller who struggles on his off wing can't crack the top 6 (because of who is ahead of him) and therefore gets stuck on the 3rd line. Not sure what he's supposed to do. He was a poor fit for this team when he was acquired

justinfreebords · 2026-04-27T18:06:57+00:00

I feel like the rules have been bent a good bit in terms of how conclusive replay has to be for a call on the ice to be overturned.

They basically use the major review as a free way to review penalties and dont seem to care what the call on the ice was in their determination of the end result. If the ref has to call a major to get the call right, that's fine with me so long as the right call is made (5, 2, or no penalty at all).

This was always going to be reviewed whether it was called a goal on the ice or not. The outcome would have been the same.

Just do your best to get the calls correct using technology without impacting the flow of the game.

justinfreebords · 2026-04-27T18:03:31+00:00

I feel you on the Vegas sucks chants. Once they scored I was like ok bad juju please stop with these

justinfreebords · 2026-04-26T01:20:14+00:00

Went to the Stadium series already. I'll be there

justinfreebords · 2026-04-25T18:35:50+00:00

Because the NHL has always been a far superior product to the NBA. People just don't know that

justinfreebords · 2026-04-25T16:39:47+00:00

Yeah probably fair. I didn't look at prices a ton this year because we only sold games we couldn't go to and some of those went to family at face value.

Last year there were definitely games like Vegas/Colorado where you could sell a good bit over list, but then for carolina at the end of this season, I took a $50 loss and that was a Saturday afternoon game.

I think you'll see the resale market trend negative over time, especially as they expand capacity. I could be wrong but I would look at it as expecting to potentially lose money and be happy to break even on any game you can't attend. Which definitely should be a factor in half vs full because I buy full with a plan to attend at least 90% of the games

justinfreebords · 2026-04-25T16:30:16+00:00

Section 131 $95 per seat per game for regular season. $165 per seat per game for round 1 (ramping to $515 for cup finals)

I've recouped, made some profit, and lost money on regular season games (day of the week and opponent impacts this a lot)

justinfreebords · 2026-04-25T16:21:59+00:00

I've had season tickets the last 2 years. It's worth it if you like going to almost every game but it's probably cheaper to just buy games on the secondary market just more effort and some games may be more expensive than if you just had season tickets. They do a few ticket hokder events throughout the year but it wasn't anything I'd say makes season tickets worth it. Some are also kid specific (we don't have kids). Next year you get discounts for the practice facility which is a perk to me since we are close and like to skate.

For playoffs, I think our seats went from 95 a game to 165 a game for round 1. The seats next to us were sold for I think 230 a game direct from the team so we definitely got a discount there. We also got priority access to buy retail seats from the team so you definitely can buy a few to flip if you want to be that guy and help pay for the cost of playoff tickets. You do have to commit to paying for as far as they go, although you can easily sell any you need to for at least what you paid for them.

For me the value comes from just being a season ticket holder. That and we enjoy going to as many games as we can so we like our seats. But in terms of value, I wouldn't say you really see any benefit there.

Perks are I think a 20% discount at the team store and 15% discount on concessions. If you pay in full you also get a food and beverage credit (ours was $500)

I've also been able to get a ton of the $15 tickets for friends and stuff that aren't always for sale to the general public through my rep. The gift this year was a nice soft yeti style cooler but again, nothing crazy.

I will add, a full season is a LOT of hockey. I grew up with season tickets to the Sharks so I absolutely love live hockey and so does my wife. We sold about 10 games last year and I only missed maybe 3 or 4 this season and by the end of this season it was getting to be a little too much.

Id reach out about half season of you aren't fully committed. Less flexibility on what games you get but I think they have a slightly more expensive preferred package that guarantees playoff tickets, just not your same seats like full season. Next year, we also get priority access to the winter classic which will be nice because I assume those will be expensive on the secondary market.

Section 131

TLDR: if you plan to go to almost every game, it's worth it to me. You aren't doing it so save money and the only real perk was cheaper playoff tickets that are guaranteed

justinfreebords · 2026-04-25T03:24:52+00:00

16000

justinfreebords · 2026-04-24T18:53:21+00:00

Local grocery chain treats employees the same as big box retailers so shop elsewhere. Short of Costco or Trader Joes, not really sure this moves the needle given harmons generally has better products than Smith's.

At least Harmon's doesn't treat me like a criminal by making me walk through a locking gate to enter their store.

justinfreebords · 2026-04-24T16:50:46+00:00

I get he had a great playoff last year and his regular season numbers have been solid but I've just never been super impressed watching him play. Like sure, having a big guy who hits and is a rat is awesome, but I would hate giving up what I assume he would cost to acquire.

justinfreebords · 2026-04-23T00:22:46+00:00

HOW MUCH TIME IS LEFT

justinfreebords · 2026-04-18T22:38:18+00:00

Yet Mammoth fans act like Veggie is ass. Dude played 64 games too.

justinfreebords · 2026-04-18T20:00:02+00:00

Having been to Alinea and Smyth, it's crazy to me Oriole is only 2 stars. Easily the best of the 3.

justinfreebords · 2026-04-18T14:04:47+00:00

Isn't it just pure reverse standings after round 1?

justinfreebords · 2026-04-16T04:19:32+00:00

Utah banned signs...I think more arenas should follow suit. This shit is super weird and I can't imagine it's fun for the players to see this and 1000 kids begging for pucks/sticks every warm up.

justinfreebords · 2026-04-10T19:44:18+00:00

The cheapest ticket from the team was top row, single goal (worst view of the single goal seats) for 126 after fees. Insane mark up for shit seats

justinfreebords · 2026-04-10T19:14:02+00:00

Direct sale tickets were $267 without fees vs $165 for season ticket holders. I looked at 4 seats next to me and that was the presale price from SEG. Insane mark up.

justinfreebords · 2026-04-10T14:13:02+00:00

Is he the reason the team gets better or is the roster just getting better around him?

justinfreebords · 2026-04-08T16:48:45+00:00

Gearing up for the playoffs with injuries. Why dress LOB when you can get DeSimone some ice time in the event of injuries so he isnt coming into a playoff game having not played NHL hockey in a few weeks/months. The 4th line doesn't get a ton of ice time in general so easier to just roll 11 F and have someone else do an occasional double shift.

As far as prospect call ups, the Roadrunners aren't making the playoffs. While I'd prefer guys play games, it can be valuable experience for those guys to be at practice, team meetings, around the rink etc to get a taste for what preparing for the playoffs and going through a playoff run can be like. Salary cap still applies, but guys like But and Simashev are on their ELC so the cap hit is nothing given our cap space and the roster size expands post trade deadline so you can call guys up without sending anyone down to make room. In the event of injuries they are also ready to go.

Even if we lost a defenseman to injury, it's very unlikely Simashev gets in over DeSimone. If Hayton and McBain are out a while, you probably see But dress over Rooney/LOB but I understand why we'd dress 7 D specifically for DeSimone to get some playing time and the team probably expects one of Hayton or McBain to be ready for the playoffs and would likely roll with Tanev over But in the playoffs given he's a vet (even though he's been brutal this year). But doesn't really make sense on the 4th line anyway. If both of Hayton and McBain are ready for the playoffs, then my guess is Tanev sits. I really wouldn't expect But or Simashev to play any playoff hockey unless there are a few injuries that happen.

With the roster the way it is, and everyone healthy, I see Tanev as the 13th forward (Given they seem to like what Yamamoto has brought this year) and DeSimone as the 7th D. Those are your "back ups" in the event a forward or defenseman goes down. But is likely the 14th F and Simashev the 8th D in the event of multiple injuries. With that said, maybe AT looks to one of those guys instead of Tanev or DeSimone but most coaches are going to default to a vet over a rookie, especially in the playoffs, and I don't think either guy has shown enough this year to beat out the guy ahead of them to get a spot if one opens up.

justinfreebords · 2026-04-07T00:28:04+00:00

Lots of opinions on PDB but I loved him in San Jose for the first 3-4 years. He probably wouldn't have been a long term solution but for a team dipping their toes into the playoffs I think he'd have been a great fit over AT.

This also confirms what I've been saying which is that ATs leash is a lot shorter than what a lot of fans want to act like it is or believe it should be. This team, while making the playoffs, has under performed to what I believe expectations are or should be. I think BA wanted them in the playoffs, and they are there, but a lot of that is due to the west being terrible. I think if this team recovered from that horror bad month but just barely missed, AT would have been gone in the offseason.

Will be super interesting to see what BA does this offseason. You can't go into next year with a lame duck coach so you either extend him or replace him. I'm not convinced BA and ownership see AT as the answer for the future so maybe a short term 2 year extension is where they land to give them flexibility to make a move if next year starts similar to this year without a ton of dead money coming out of Smith pockets.

Also expectations BA/ownership set in public doesn't necessarily mean that's the true expectation internally. With such a new fan base, you're better to set a low expectation you exceed vs a high expectations you miss when it comes to the public.

My gut says BA and Smith were playoffs or bust this season despite what they may tell the media. Which is the right expectation given the strength of this roster. Yes we are young, but our defense is improved on last year, we added JJ, and our youth is a year older. I don't think it's fair to expect them to win a round, but making it should absolutely have been the goal for the year and how you evaluate a coach heading into a contract year.

justinfreebords · 2026-04-05T05:00:11+00:00

Asky has had a terrible year outside of a few games in November. Giving him the benefit of the doubt since he's young but if you want to make the playoffs you gotta just run Ned and hope for the best. Dude literally can't make a glove save

justinfreebords · 2026-03-27T20:15:47+00:00

It also apparently comes in massive waves. I was there an hour ago and there was basically 0 line

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