Again, if a coach, who preaches accountability and going with hot hand, I can't see any logical reason why Derek Ryan received 20:00 of playing time and Wallmark received 4:28. I don't buy that the coach couldn't have found a couple more minutes of time for him when (a) the team scored 1 fluky goal in 58 minutes, (b) Derek Ryan was not only terrible, but statistically the worst forward on the ice and (c) was the direct cause of the 2nd goal.
Like I said, it likely wouldn't have made a difference and maybe Wallmark would have struggled as well. Peter's stubbornness with Ryan is inexplicable. Ryan may "Play the game the right way", but he plays it terribly, right way or not. And why even put Wallmark in the line-up, over the guys scratched or others they could have called up if that's his role?
Anyhow, we won't see eye to eye on this and that's fine. It likely wouldn't have made an iota of difference in the game and it's basically rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Just seems to be an odd coaching decision to play the worst forward so many minutes when it's not working.
I hope that I have to eat crow on this like I did when I was bagging on Ryan last year (the whole unsustainable thing), where he started scoring again.
Well, this goes to the core of a whole other issue in our lineup.
Ryan didn't skate 20:00 because Peters is in love with Ryan's performance. Ryan skated 20:00 because Skinner skated 20:03. Ryan doesn't play without Skinner, and Skinner doesn't play without Ryan. Literally the only time #53 comes on the ice without #7 is during goalie-pulled situations.
Why is Ryan hard-matched with Skinner? Because apparently, the only type of linemate who works well with young master Jeffrey is a blatant point-leech whose sole purpose is to feed passes to #53. Anyone with a broader skill set -- grinding in the corners, finishing scoring plays, playing actual defense -- doesn't suit Skinner's style. And Skinner is one of about three above-average forwards in our entire lineup, so we give him what he needs, a personal assistant.
That leaves the rest of the lineup inflexible. We know Skinner is going to get his minutes because he's almost the only guy who can reliably score, we know Aho(Rask) is going to get his minutes because he's the other guy who can reliably score, and we know Jordan Staal will take the other big chunk of minutes because he's locked in against the other team's star line. That leaves scraps for the 4th line, which in Kruger's case was fine because he was in a defensive role. Bringing in someone like Wallmark throws off the dynamic.
The storybook ending here is that Wallmark somehow plays well with Skinner, allowing us to get rid of Ryan or at least reduce him to 4th line minutes while we wait for Kruger to rise from the dead. If Wallmark can't do that, and in relatively short order, we're up **** creek as far as lineup construction and in-game line matching.