I'll say it. This team is better without Derek Roy, but better without the Roy that does stupid things and plays a very selfish game. We don't need the Derek Roy who a great backchecker once he coughs up the puck. Roy can look like a world beater at times, then there's times he looks like a perfect fit on the NY Rangers. (And that ain't a compliment....think about all the wasted talent on that's been through that roster.)

To me there's also some weird dynamic between him and Lindy. Maybe I'm just seeing things, but at times its almost Parcels/Terry Glenn-like.

I think there will be a very intense talk with Derek Roy once he's ready to return to the ice in how he plays his game. He was playing really well before the injury, but I think there will be talk about his gaffs and his need to seemingly always be the one to skate the puck up the ice. Make the smart play. Maybe it's just me who can no longer watch him skate into the zone on the PP and cough up the puck due to all 4 PKers converging on him. This team has shown that there are other playmakers now.

IMO you also just can't put him on a line with Vanek anymore, so that means Roy's going to have to be okay with being the #2 line center. But I think we need size that can score at center. Roy, Gerbe, McCormick, Gaustad, and maybe Adam. I guess you can shift one out to wing, in the regular season that's fine, but come playoffs, a stronger physical presence at center is needed. Just look at last year's series against the Bruins. Our PP was terrible and the Bruins skated to our blueline almost unimpededly.

Right now Lindy seems to pair anyone with anyone..I don't think that's possible with Roy and Vanek.

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If your having goal problems, I feel bad for ya son....we got 99 problems but Vanek ain't one!

Roy still is a 20-30 goal scorer capable of scoring 70 points a season. This team is in no way better without Roy.

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

Roy was playing good hockey until his injury. When/if he comes back, he'll probably be in a 3rd/4th line capacity, maybe even on LW. After a few games, if his knee and stamina are fine, he should be nothing but a bonus at any center position, 1st-3rd. It would come down to where Lindy wants Boyes, what lines are going well, etc.

What the forwards have been doing really well the last month or so is getting through the neutral zone and into the O-zone with short, quick passes. If Roy can do this and not hold onto the puck too long (like he has in the past) then he'll be a huge plus for the team. I doubt he'll have trouble getting with the program once he's on the ice, and I'm pretty good with Roy out there instead of Niedermayer.

I don't think he should come back until next year and let's face it, he's barely skating on his own right now. But if he did come back, I wouldn't like him playing near the boards on a wing for a shift, let alone a game or two.

Philly or Boston would just make it a point to obliterate him.

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If your having goal problems, I feel bad for ya son....we got 99 problems but Vanek ain't one!

He's doing better than you think, and anyone can hit him as hard as they want, he's not at any more risk for injury than before it happened.

He's at more of risk if he can't move like he did....and I don't see him being as quick or have the stamina having not played for so long. The guy did tear the ligament that joins all your quad muscles and makes it possible to bend your leg.

Have there been other reports than the one I saw a week or so ago that has Roy skating on this own for a short period of time at practice?

With the way this team is playing, there's no urgency to bring him back. Who do you bench? Who's minutes do you increase as I can't see Roy playing 17, let alone 20 minutes? Is that a good idea?

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If your having goal problems, I feel bad for ya son....we got 99 problems but Vanek ain't one!

The sooner we can move Boyes out of center and back to wing where he's comfortable, the better.

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Wheelhouse

Who do you bench? Niedermayer, Mancari or Ellis and adjust the lines form there. I don't know how this is much of a discussion. Roy is a pt/gm player that is also a very good PKer. The doctor said 4-6 months, he's been skating with teammates before/after the normal practice, and said he feels like he's going to be ready at 4 months. If he can join in with the regular practice in the next few weeks, getting him back in the line-up at 4 months is a complete no-brainer.

Just keep him away from Vanek

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"Let's just trap Sekera in the caverns underneath HSBC arena." -BlueandYellow

Reporter: "Steve, you guys now lead the league in defensive scoring."
Montador: "It's probably because of how good-looking we are."

I just don't think you can set aside that when things start to derail with this team, Derek Roy's play seems to be at the center of things. When he gets frustrated and starts tossing long passes that get picked off, tries to skate through too many opponents, etc...the team seems to go down with it. I really don't care how good of a backchecker or penalty killer he is when this starts to happen.

When Derek's going well, he surely lifts the team as high.

He's not playing on the same line as Vanek, so that puts him with Ennis and you could put Boyes on the RW. That's could be a soul crushing line for an opponent to play against. It would have to gel quickly, but that's too much speed and hands, especially if an opponent has to also contend with the Vanek, Connolly,and Stafford putting up points.

But Roy's got to let Ennis carry the puck into the zone. He's got to allow him the opportunity to create. When Roy gets into that mindset that he has to pull out his Superman Cape ... that's when things start to go badly for this team. Not only because his mistakes seem to end up in a lot of scoring chances, but other players start to follow his example.

He has to be on board that this is not his team...its Vanek's team.

Connolly, Roy, Gerbe, McCormick/Gaustad and Hecht (but I'd rather see him on the wing anyways.)

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If your having goal problems, I feel bad for ya son....we got 99 problems but Vanek ain't one!

Roy was about the only thing going right early in the season. He had no part of the team's struggles. If you're worried about chemistry with the lines, at the very least he'd make a great 3rd line C. I don't care where he is in the line-up, as long as he's in somewhere the team is better.

You really believe that Roy had nothing to do with this team's struggles? Okay. I don't look at his personal stats when I make that assertion.

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If your having goal problems, I feel bad for ya son....we got 99 problems but Vanek ain't one!

No, I don't. Not this season anyway. I know what you're getting at, but this season's bad start falls squarely on young d-men that kept screwing up badly on a regular basis. Myers was the worst initially, but then Sekera, Butler, and to a lesser extent Weber stayed consistent with their mental breakdowns. That fubar-ed the breakout and the O-zone entries, until they got their heads on straight later on.

Yes, Roy has a tendency to stick handle too much through the nuetral zone, but so does a lot of top two centers in the games I watch. Connolly still gets caught with TOs in the same way, but the defense has settled down, the breakouts are cleaner, and there seems to be a concerted effort to get through the neutral zone and into the O-zone with quick short passes. This is very much what the team was doing in the first half of 09-10 and playing great. Connolly's and Roy's TOs were (and still are) simply oh-by-the-way stuff that comes with the territory of being a top two center that's supposed to generate quality scoring chances without always doing the dump-and-chase. It's not the root cause of any of their serious struggles.

I think people misunderstand my criticism of Derek Roy. He has the ability to be the most deadly player on this roster....no question.

But we've all seen enough games where watching Roy play is like watching Sisyphus on skates.

As soon as you even comment on this, his fans toss up how he backchecks and how he plays on the PK. Both true, but they don't address the issue and they don't compensate for him going off the reservation when he feels like it.

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If your having goal problems, I feel bad for ya son....we got 99 problems but Vanek ain't one!

The thing with this year's team was Roy was too hot, the team as a whole didn't compliment Roy very well. They played bad but he played great.

But since Vanek, Stafford, Ennis, Connolly, and company really picked up their play, the team a a whole improved tremendously.

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gotta wonder... what would todays team be with roy in the line up? top 4 in the conference skill, IMO. if hes really getting close to ready and he somehow returns... well who knows. seeding doesnt mean shit come mid april.

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Exactly, in the East last year the top three seeds were all knocked out after the first round.

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