Positive Patty

Although I am not one to look for silver linings, I'm going to pull a few positives out of the latest demoralizing catastrophe. Niklas Hagman sure looks tired of losing.....can you blame him? He looked to single-handedly win the game and was a force on the boards during the powerplay. Wouldn't you love to see Niklas playing with someone over 5'9" in front of net with some hands?

Leafspace is asking for questions to ask Schenn in an upcoming interview. Mine would be, "Has the management/coaching staff asked you to start choosing some opportunities to create some offense?" All of a sudden, since the Young Stars game, Schenn is rushing into the zone with the puck. If that is a directive he has received, now is the time to try it. The "Season of the Tank" is underway and what better time to have your 19 year old defenseman out of position? I think someone in the upper offices of the A.C.C. see Schenn as a potential Phaneuf-like player. I see moments of it as well, but don't think he'll be Al McInnis any time soon.

Although the Moore-Blake-Hagman line has been exceptional lately, they are definitely not able to win a game on their own. They came out the game all even, which is better than almost the entire rest of the team. This is actually a little more impressive when you remember that all three of them kill penalties, as well. Are they a Burke-like first line? No way in hell.

There was a "minor" trade a few weeks ago, bringing in Ryan Hamilton. Ryan does seem to be a Burke-like player, so why not bring him up? I'm not sure exactly why, but John Mitchell drives me nuts. I still think if you're truly tanking, I mean rebuilding, let's have a look at the farm kids. How many times do I need to recommend it before someone does it? Yeah, let's see the kids.