travel_dude

What a pass. What a shift. What a shot

I was wondering if we were missing Cow Bell. The scoring has dried up with the lack of the Bovine Ringy Thingies

Rooney back in the lineup; Ritchie appears to be coming out Huberdeau-Lindholm-Toffoli Dube-Kadri-Mangiapane Ruzicka-Backlund-Coleman Lucic-Rooney-Lewis Hanifin-Andersson Weegar-Tanev Zadorov-Stone Vladar

There used to be a thread that had the instructions "pinned" but that disappeared when the site as restructured. If you want to get the lines, you can go to Dailyfaceoff.com and copy paste the lines. Starting goalies are in there as well. I know Vladar is starting for us.

I wonder where he ends up next season. Contract years can help set you up, but he's not going to get $7M +. Even if he wanted to come back, I doubt we could afford him. Not saying he doesn't want to, but I wonder where he really wants to go. CBJ to play with his buddy? MTL which is a dog's breakfast for English players?

The way he answers that kind of question is troubling. I don't know what he means, but I know what it sounds like. The AHL is a different league and scoring there is not the same. The answer is missing about two or three more points, but Sutter doesn't finish his thoughts at times. He gets pissy and thinks people are questioning his usage, which they are. Hates armchair GMs. That does not mean that you can;t do the same in the NHL. And I think he gets that. He has a real problem with non vets of a certain age. He talks about Mange and Dube without mentioning bames. Says the vets know what they need to do and don't need reminding. They may need to be better (Kadri), but they know that. Says the young guys need to be constantly reminded.

When the team was struggling, that line was good at burning minutes and wearing the other team out. Now the other teams gets worn out from having the puck and getting chances. Seriously though, the decline from last year is obvious. From what the stats would suggest, he was on for about 6-7 goals for and 11-12 against. Sutter supposedly looks at stats, so he is clearly ignoring the obvious for the little bit of grit that might be brought. Look, I have no problem with Lucic taking a leadership role, but at some point you have to sit the guy. The wheels are flat and the alignment is off.

TSN is very much a controversy based reporting bunch. I get why he is pissy with TSN, but he comes off that way with most of the reporters. Few even bother asking the hard questions. But this question is exactly what needs to be asked. The answer shows the bias. He also doesn't like questions about specific players. They (Wranglers) are a team. And he believes that the team isn't good enough for the NHL. No kidding. But that's not the same as specific players. If they are not willing to ever give Phillips a shot, trade him for someone that may get a chance. Or use him as a sweetener in a bigger trade. But I also don't think this is only Phillips. Pelletier is viewed in the same light because he had a lesser camp, playing away from the roster players. I think Sutter likes Zary but is not ready to bring him up. The Jack Adams thing is a bit of recentcy bias. He was a great coach for that team, but never really got on them for being unwilling to go to the net. The [playoffs exposed that. Not that I am complaining about that team, but we have turned into a team that needs to battle to score a single goal. What does Sutter say about last night? The guys that need to finish didn't. Perhaps the dirty areas are not the only places to score from. Perhaps the line combos don't match the need.

I would be inclined to send down both Lewis and Rooney but that solves nothing unless you actually call somebody up. Maybe a C for the 4th line that can win a faceoff? Or a winger that does more than look like a guard dog on a leash.

Salim Valji asked Sutter about the AHL players and specifically Phillips:

Well, I don't think we have the people to score in the dirty areas. Or at least we aren't using them in that role. Guys like Mange and Dube score on clean shots. Kadri creates some havoc but the other guys are a bit light to battle in there. Toffoli is a good first shot player or getting a shot off a free rebound. Rozie is creating the rebounds but Backlund is missing the net too often. Coleman seems to be getting tied up too much. Lucic has the size to be able to clean up crap but he has no hands. Anyway, good game except for the score and the free gift.

Hey, if you are doing that, might as well bring up Pelletier for the 4th line and sit Looch. Dube with Lucic is not like when Bennett was here; Looch is toast.

There is no question that when you take away 2x40 goal guys you are not going to be better. Or to put it another way, 2/3 of a top line. That never happens in the NHL except to us. We lost zone entry skill and net front skill. We also are missing our 6th D who was one of the better zone entry and puck carriers. And we lost the big dude that was very good on the PK. What we gained was an elite passer and a gritty C that is used to playing with power forwards. And a puck moving D that has just started to get used to his role. When we get Kyl back and players get more used to each other, I think we have a much better team for the playoffs. The 4th line looks like crap now, but that's a Sutter decision. BT isn't about to waive guys if the replacement isn't viewed as a solution by the coach.

There isn't even a line that has chemistry from last year. 3 players that either weren't here last year or played so few games. Toffoli rarely, if ever, played with Lindholm. Dube and Mange never played together with positive results, think they played with Monahan for that stint. The 4th line is consistent. Consistently getting owned. Lucic and Lewis are such great leaders in the room, maybe they should try coaching. Even with a short bench, they were getting owned. 4-7 minutes for that group. 1 shot on net for the entire line. I would prefer 8-10 minutes of a guy working his butt off to score than huffing and puffin to hold the zone. It ain't working. I hate to say it, but the biggest threat to score out there every shift is Rozie. Him and Toffoli are the ones most likely to get a hard shot on net. We have prospects that could come in and provide some kind of spark. Let them show the stale guys what it takes to stay in the lineup. You could have Zary and Pelletier with Ritchie if you like. Defensively it's better than what we have. Offensively, it ices a threat to score. But it can't be done unless you sit the vets. You want to give a top 6 AHL player a top 6 spot? So be it, it's not entirely working. The downside is that it says "miss a shift and you get 4th line". The better thing is that you show something you get rewarded.

I think a trade with CAR might have worked out too, depending on the players involved. I think it was more than Necas, but they would have a harder time trading for him. At worst, he would be a one year rental that they could sell off if he wouldn't do longer than that. Even then, would Necas be the same player here?

The frustrating part for me is that we are scoring at a rate where we need flawless goaltending. I know Markstrom wasn't exactly tested much, but he only let in one stinker. That goal 13 seconds in was the difference in this game. We need to stop losing 1 goal games, but we get scored on every mistake that happens. A bad pinch. A forced play through the middle. Puck off shinpads coming back. This should be a building game. Some positive signs, but no reward for it. The goalie is frustrated. We went to the net but didn't get many sticks on pucks there. Guys like Lindholm, Kadri, Huberdeau, Ruzicka should be parking themselves there. But they seem to be more involved in passing from the fringes. If they aren't the right guys to be there, we may be too soft on the wings. I don't know.

It's an identity change and would be hard to do, let alone the cap/roster implications. Only possible to call up 2 right now and that's if you waive Rooney and Mackey (not likely). Kylington is burning a spot and cap but can't do anything about that. Will have to waive Mackey at some point as it is.

Well, the immediate trade was one thing. Both players will get better as they get used tolinemates. And we don't play river hockey here, so there's something. The lesser part of the trade is a 1st and a top prospect. Either of those could outplay Tkachuk. But anyway, not the time to panic.

Ruzicka is already looking like a guy that will score 20 this year, and that's on a defensive line or with your best C. Dube and Mangiapane look good for a game or two, then go back to sleep. Kadri doesn't look like a threat out there. I know I am picking on that line, but it seems poorly constructed with two wingers that are getting knocked over. Mangiapane looked great with Backlund, but we aren't willing to consider it. Why did I mention that? Because a Phillips or Pelletier may encounter the same issues here. But, should you mix it up a bit, there is no reason why Rozie and Kadri couldn't support a player like Phillips. You get a guy willing to go through a wall playing with skilled players. The alternate universe puts Dube on the 4th line, but I would rather see Dube than Lucic at LW or Lewis at C. Rooney is in the doghouse, but he's not the worst player on the team. Waive him and get him playing again. Bring up Phillips to play with Kadri and Rozie. Figure out whether Mangiapane or Hiberdeau should play with Lindy and Toffee. I tend to agree that scoring sucks and we aren't getting better. The lines is half the problem. We have good structure, but the shot volume is not the only goal. Players are preached to get it on net and go to the dirty areas. That's fine but is forcing a bad shot instead of looking for a better one. Our entire 4th line could be replaced by Pelletier-Zary-Phillips with no loss of productivity. We lose some grit and "leadership" but also are able to compete. Instead of 8-12 minutes of fumbling and the occasional thunderous hit, we see 100% compete. All the prospects are used to the altitude and are shining. We have gotten too old and are not bringing on the next wave.

Good to see the bench shortened, but no way in heck Lucic (7:50) should have 3 minutes more than Ritchie (4:50). But as far as the goalie is concerned, 2 goals is not the end of the world. On 19 shots that doesn't look good, but we need to be able to score more than one goal. Dicking around on four PP's. 20 passes to one shot.

Time to readjust the lines. None really working. Maybe a time to call up a AHL guy.

Should have done that first minute of the game

Smallest player on the ice.