Pre-Game Talk: 4/16/13 Panthers @ Fishsticks

[Dread Clawz]

Here is the difference from last year and this year.

Last Year

1st Versteeg / Weiss / Fleischmann
2nd Bergenheim / Goc / Samuelsson
3rd Wolski / Matthias / Skille
4th Sturm / Madden / Barch

Upshall /Santorelli /Bradley

Last Night

1st Kopecky / Goc / Fleischmann
2nd Huberdeau /Matthias /Rallo
3rd Upshall / Bjugstad /Skille
4th Howden / Shore / Parros

Mueller /

While I agree that a better group of forwards would relieve some pressure off of us in the defensive zone, there are mistakes that our defensemen have been specifically making for awhile now that have nothing to do with that. They are either mental mistakes like bad passes, very lax coverage in our own zone, or losing physical battles. All things that are preventable no matter who the forwards are.

No doubt that having weak forward lines has contributed mightily to our GA this season, but it's far from the whole story.

 

[RainingRats]

We were so sloppy in our own zone. Shea Weber wouldn't have made a difference last night. Our forwards were awful along the boards, the d-men couldn't connect a pass. All around terrible team defense. That's the kind of stuff that has to improve if we're going to get better defensively. No player on our blue line is going to change how bad we are if everyone is contributing to sloppy play.

 

[adam graves]

While I agree that a better group of forwards would relieve some pressure off of us in the defensive zone, there are mistakes that our defensemen have been specifically making for awhile now that have nothing to do with that. They are either mental mistakes like bad passes, very lax coverage in our own zone, or losing physical battles. All things that are preventable no matter who the forwards are.

No doubt that having weak forward lines has contributed mightily to our GA this season, but it's far from the whole story.

add kuba and stratchen to the story and its complete.

 

[Lundell4Prez]

add kuba and stratchen to the story and its complete.

Those 2 have gotta go... If they're here next season, expect some more tanking.

 

[angry_treefrog]

Those 2 have gotta go... If they're here next season, expect some more tanking.

Tallon does not seem like a happy man.

I suspect he is going to shake things up this summer.

 

[adam graves]

Tallon does not seem like a happy man.

I suspect he is going to shake things up this summer.

I can watch Dt's interview over and over #hockeyporn.

 

[Android 16]

Looks like we're going to get Drouin, MacK or Jones out of this mess. No Crosbys or Ovechkins but it's much better to have one of them with us for next season and years to come.

 

[Inquisition13]

Looks like we're going to get Drouin, MacK or Jones out of this mess. No Crosbys or Ovechkins but it's much better to have one of them with us for next season and years to come.

If years to come means "three" then I agree.

I still don't believe in the front office keeping a great player for longer than three years.

 

[AwesomePanthers]

I'm so worried about Huberdeau "losing" the Calder, after leading it the entire season. Yakupov looks dangerous.

 

[Desert Panther]

I can watch Dt's interview over and over #hockeyporn.

Which interview? Last one I remember was right after the trade deadline.

 

[adam graves]

Which interview? Last one I remember was right after the trade deadline.

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1385279&page=3

 

[Laus723]

If years to come means "three" then I agree.

I still don't believe in the front office keeping a great player for longer than three years.

Other than Bure, who's been 'great?' Further, different ownership.

 

[adam graves]

If years to come means "three" then I agree.

I still don't believe in the front office keeping a great player for longer than three years.

Luongo was 5

Bure.

And arguably Campbell is a great player.

 

[Erick*]

A lot of this falls on Campbell. He plays half the game and when he makes mistakes like he made last night, this team has no chance. He's been a huge disappointment this season. He has to turn it around in a big way next season, or we won't make the playoffs. We also have to hope that Kulikov, Brennan and Gudbranson continue to improve. I disagree about Brennan. He's shown that he can add a lot of offense to this team. I'm excited to see what he can do next season with this NHL experience under his belt and being more comfortable with this team.

Also, it's apparent that this team packs it in for large portions of games, like the first half of last night. They've given up because they're last in the NHL. There's little energy throughout the lineup sometimes and plenty of lax play. At the beginning of next season it'll be a different story. This isn't a much different defense than the one that took the Devils to 7 games. I refuse to believe that Jason Garrison is that important to a defense corps. He's a very steady, reliable d-man but he's not the difference between a solid blueline and an atrocious one. Other than him, it's the same defense.

Garrison was our best two-way defenseman last year. He was replaced with a pylon. It's a significant downgrade.

It wasn't a good defensive team last year. With the loss of Garrison, it became attrocious.

Gudbranson and Kulikov didn't really progress as expected, and Strachan has proven that he's not an NHL D-man.

Hence the reason why the defense is so bad.

The defensive #'s looked so good last year because of the goaltending we got. This year, we've gotten bad goaltending to go along with the bad defense making the defense look even worse than it is, as well.

 

[gudzilla]

Garrison was our best two-way defenseman last year. He was replaced with a pylon. It's a significant downgrade.

It wasn't a good defensive team last year. With the loss of Garrison, it became attrocious.

Gudbranson and Kulikov didn't really progress as expected, and Strachan has proven that he's not an NHL D-man.

Hence the reason why the defense is so bad.

The defensive #'s looked so good last year because of the goaltending we got. This year, we've gotten bad goaltending to go along with the bad defense making the defense look even worse than it is, as well.

i think strachan is of NHL-caliber but not top pairing caliber. playing like 5 min more then earlier is a lot and can take a toll on your play

i can see him+TJ brennan be a decent 3rd pairing next year. he also brings grit

 

[Dread Clawz]

Garrison was our best two-way defenseman last year. He was replaced with a pylon. It's a significant downgrade.

It wasn't a good defensive team last year. With the loss of Garrison, it became attrocious.

Gudbranson and Kulikov didn't really progress as expected, and Strachan has proven that he's not an NHL D-man.

Hence the reason why the defense is so bad.

The defensive #'s looked so good last year because of the goaltending we got. This year, we've gotten bad goaltending to go along with the bad defense making the defense look even worse than it is, as well.

It was at least a decent blueline last season. Garrison was our best two-way d-man, but even losing him for nothing is not going to throw a blueline into chaos. He's not an all-star. You don't think Campbell deserves a lot of blame here?

The bad goaltending this season has magnified the defense's shortcomings, but I'm talking about mental mistakes like bad passes and careless defensive coverage that are easily correctable. We didn't make so many of these mistakes last season. We didn't have an incredible blueline or anything, but I didn't see games worth of lax coverage in our own zone and tons of terrible passes game in and game out. We at least worked hard and normally didn't shoot ourselves in the foot.

 

[Slick Cat]

Fine; but that's a horrendous comparison. Huberdeau wouldn't be waiver eligible for one, Gaborik had been hanging in the A for a bit, and Tallon had to waive him up send him down.

One more time, apparently, name one team that keeps a player up that didn't make the team. No one, in how many years now, has given me one yet.

Understand the situation, especially if you're just gonna whine.

Huby was obviously a hypothetical example. The point is you don't completely give up on a guy over preseason, a scorer on a scoring deficient team. Amazing how after he has proven himself people on this board still give tallon a pass. Would love to hear the excuses for the great moves this past year. kuba and parros were huge mistakes, and resigning clemm, this team has no heart or toughness, he is responsible. Mueller was a nice surprise, and Mattias was on the hit list and most on this board gave up on him, until he was forced into finally being given a chance and proved he can play.

 

[gudzilla]

Huby was obviously a hypothetical example. The point is you don't completely give up on a guy over preseason, a scorer on a scoring deficient team. Amazing how after he has proven himself people on this board still give tallon a pass. Would love to hear the excuses for the great moves this past year. kuba and parros were huge mistakes, and resigning clemm, this team has no heart or toughness, he is responsible. Mueller was a nice surprise, and Mattias was on the hit list and most on this board gave up on him, until he was forced into finally being given a chance and proved he can play.

Kuba was a VERY big part of Karlsson success last year. Parros was a fan favourite and I have no idea why he isn't playing like he used to in SoCal, maybe it's an injury or something... or not knowing the eastern conference goons

Kuba also just got a two year contract.

 

[adam graves]

Kuba was a VERY big part of Karlsson success last year. Parros was a fan favourite and I have no idea why he isn't playing like he used to in SoCal, maybe it's an injury or something... or not knowing the eastern conference goons

Kuba also just got a two year contract.

Kuba was a mistake as was clemmer; those are on tallon.

I can't blame dt for grabner he looked pathetic and didn't win his own job

I just don't expect tallon to be perfect.

 

[Erick*]

You don't think Campbell deserves a lot of blame here?

Yeah, he's been a lot worse, no doubt.

For what it's worth, I did mention a lot of times last year when people were saying that Garrison was a product of Campbell that Campbell was also benefitting from Garrison's play. Campbell was better last year, but he did make mistakes that ended up being covered by Garrison. Garrison was steady, and great at breaking up odd-man rushes, etc.

I think it has played a part in Campbell's confidence or lack thereof this year. He doesn't have that security blanket covering up his mistakes anymore.

Also, a lot of our guys came into this season out of shape, it seems. Disappointing. I'm also convinced that some of them are tanking. There are a couple who bring it every night, but there are some who noticeably give up. Some of Campbell's mistakes this year have been laughable. On multiple occasions, a goal has been scored against us where you just see Campbell not even trying to move in the defensive zone. It's rather pathetic.

Hopefully things are different next year.

 

[PanthersHockey1]

Yeah, he's been a lot worse, no doubt.

For what it's worth, I did mention a lot of times last year when people were saying that Garrison was a product of Campbell that Campbell was also benefitting from Garrison's play. Campbell was better last year, but he did make mistakes that ended up being covered by Garrison. Garrison was steady, and great at breaking up odd-man rushes, etc.

I think it has played a part in Campbell's confidence or lack thereof this year. He doesn't have that security blanket covering up his mistakes anymore.

Also, a lot of our guys came into this season out of shape, it seems. Disappointing. I'm also convinced that some of them are tanking. There are a couple who bring it every night, but there are some who noticeably give up. Some of Campbell's mistakes this year have been laughable. On multiple occasions, a goal has been scored against us where you just see Campbell not even trying to move in the defensive zone. It's rather pathetic.

Hopefully things are different next year.

Its a double edged sword with him though. Our Powerplay would probably have the same ranking as our PK without him. I wish he switched to forward.

 

[Gaebriel]

I think Garrison's offense overshadowed his defensive ability when he was here. His numbers in Vancouver are really not bad. +/- can be a suspect stat but he's tied for 5th in the league among defensemen at +17 while logging 21:30 per game. Next closest canuck defenseman is only a +9.

 

[gudzilla]

I think Garrison's offense overshadowed his defensive ability when he was here. His numbers in Vancouver are really not bad. +/- can be a suspect stat but he's tied for 5th in the league among defensemen at +17 while logging 21:30 per game. Next closest canuck defenseman is only a +9.

he was a shut down guy until last year... then he started shootinga nd really learnt a lot from campbell, now he's a great d-man

 

[RainingRats]

I think Garrison's offense overshadowed his defensive ability when he was here. His numbers in Vancouver are really not bad. +/- can be a suspect stat but he's tied for 5th in the league among defensemen at +17 while logging 21:30 per game. Next closest canuck defenseman is only a +9.

Garrison is really good. He was a huge loss. Proving further how difficult it is to project d-man and how long it takes for them to develop. Garrison was not even drafted. College free agents is another avenue we can look top get a young top 4 guy.

 

[Dread Clawz]

Yes, Garrison is good, but he's not Shea Weber. Our defense didn't fall apart in one year just because of his departure. It was a contributing factor of course, but only one of many.