GDT: Calgary @ Ottawa, Wednesday on SportsNet @ 7:30 pm

[Rodzilla]

How is Wier/Boro still playing over Wideman still baffles me..
Esp. Wier, he brings nothing that we really need, he has been bad his whole time here except 20 games where everyone was sick and I still think people overrate his play, he hasn't improved on major flaws that he has in his game his whole time here. Skating is horrible, many puck battles lost to way smaller guys tonight, gap control was poor.

And pleaseeeee, what is he doing out there at 3 on 3? Cameron? It's a skating game!

I really thought we'd be good at 3 on 3 with Karlsson's explosion but he doesn't skate at all these days. In fact, he doesn't do much these days, he was bad tonight again but still is 9 in 9 with +2 on the year lol . Methot was great, I really like his game

 

[OgieO]

We need a D.

PW was slightly better, but still nowhere near good enough. He should be making a difference offensively but he's just not. Ceci has been just as bad imo and Boro has been a disaster so far. I can live with development and don't expect them to be studs all of a sudden, but we're carrying too much "development" in our D right now. Our ENTIRE bottom 4 are working things out, and I just don't think you can win that way. We need a solid presence to play with Ceci as he's clearly the better long term option over PW.

I actually prefer PW to the 3rd pairing where he can be sheltered but if Wideman has surpassed him, so be it.

 

[BonkTastic]

We need a D.

PW was slightly better, but still nowhere near good enough. He should be making a difference offensively but he's just not. Ceci has been just as bad imo and Boro has been a disaster so far. I can live with development and don't expect them to be studs all of a sudden, but we're carrying too much "development" in our D right now. Our ENTIRE bottom 4 are working things out, and I just don't think you can win that way. We need a solid presence to play with Ceci as he's clearly the better long term option over PW.

I actually prefer PW to the 3rd pairing where he can be sheltered but if Wideman has surpassed him, so be it.

Agreed.

Methot - Karlsson
(Legit 2nd pair anchor) - Ceci
Cowen - Wideman


Boro as the 7th guy. Wiercioch to the moon.

 

[OgieO]

Also, our play without the puck was atrocious last night. We're in the classic "trying too hard" mode and losing sight of the little things. So many times I saw guys watching the puck and drifting from their Responsibility and consequently we lost an opportunity to change puck possession.

I thought the shift where Cowen retaliated against Gaudreau was a bit of a spark. That seemed to get us going.

 

[OgieO]

Agreed.

Methot - Karlsson
(Legit 2nd pair anchor) - Ceci
Cowen - Wideman


Boro as the 7th guy. Wiercioch to the moon.

Yeah, that's just so much better than what we roll out there nightly. Hard to find that mythical "solid vet D" that can move the puck and play well enough in our own end, but I hope we're looking.

 

[BonkTastic]

Yeah, that's just so much better than what we roll out there nightly. Hard to find that mythical "solid vet D" that can move the puck and play well enough in our own end, but I hope we're looking.

I'd be looking hard at trying to move Wiercioch for a rental.

 

[God Says No]

Since we won't be getting a top 4 LH D any time soon, the bottom 4 pairings need to be split up. They are just not working. I don't think it's a coincidence that the games where we actually had low shots against, are the games that Wideman was playing. I'm not suggesting Wideman is the sole responsible party for the better shot count against and better D play but he accomplishes 2 things.

1) We get another puck mover back there
2) He breaks up the Cowen - Boro pair

For those reasons alone, he should be playing every day. For the next game we have to do this:

Methot - Karl
Cowen - Wideman
Boro - Ceci

Wier can draw back in for Boro if need be.

 

[Xspyrit]

People will try to give 10 thousand reasons (slow, fat, ugly, lack of hair, lol etc) why the team isn't playing at 100%, but the problem is simple : puck support

More puck support brings more options, less fancy individual plays, more chemistry, more cohesion, more puck possession...

The way most of them are playing right now, it looks like they barely have played together before. Too many times the play is broken because the guy didn't expect what the other was going to do... Need more chemistry asap.

 

[Upgrayedd]

On the goaltending interference penalty, i just don't understand how any competent ref would call a penalty on Ryan?

Anymore on this? Missed the game for my own hockey last night and keep hearing about it....any .gif around or perhaps a quick recap?

A marginal call going against us at home is almost automatic at this point, guess they have to balance it out for the more blessed franchises who actually get favourable calls at home.

 

[BigZKingK]

I really like Cowen and Wideman as a 3rd pairing we need to fix the 2nd pairing though

 

[FunkySeeFunkyDoo]

People will try to give 10 thousand reasons (slow, fat, ugly, lack of hair, lol etc) why the team isn't playing at 100%, but the problem is simple : puck support

More puck support brings more options, less fancy individual plays, more chemistry, more cohesion, more puck possession...

...

You are quite correct that their puck support is bad.

But, based on last night's game, it looks like the Sens are doing almost nothing well.

If I had to point to one thing that they need to turn things around I'd say it is .... Karlsson. When he's playing like a top-5 player in the league the Sens are a good team as he hides so many of their flaws and makes the other players better. When he's a run of the mill offensive d-man, which he is right now, then the Sens are mediocre at best.

 

[BonkTastic]

If I had to point to one thing that they need to turn things around I'd say it is .... Karlsson. When he's playing like a top-5 player in the league the Sens are a good team as he hides so many of their flaws and makes the other players better. When he's a run of the mill offensive d-man, which he is right now, then the Sens are mediocre at best.

While I agree that Karlsson needs to be better if we want to succeed, what does that say about the rest of our blueline?

Good teams are not reliant on one player to drive their entire back end. We shouldn't have to expect Norris-caliber seasons from the guy every year, year after year, in order to just make the playoffs.

 

[Sensinitis]

Is Boro in the 2nd year of his 3 year deal?

 

[Alex1234]

People will try to give 10 thousand reasons (slow, fat, ugly, lack of hair, lol etc) why the team isn't playing at 100%, but the problem is simple : puck support

More puck support brings more options, less fancy individual plays, more chemistry, more cohesion, more puck possession...

The way most of them are playing right now, it looks like they barely have played together before. Too many times the play is broken because the guy didn't expect what the other was going to do... Need more chemistry asap.

Exactly

These are the same players as last march

Cameron needs to find a spark to get them going and have more cohesion

Thats on cameron

 

[Sensinitis]

Exactly

These are the same players as last march

Cameron needs to find a spark to get them going and have more cohesion

Thats on cameron

Mostly the same players, yeah.

But Hoffman and Lazar are injured.

And Neil is playing every night.

Those are the 2 main differences.

 

[FunkySeeFunkyDoo]

While I agree that Karlsson needs to be better if we want to succeed, what does that say about the rest of our blueline?

Good teams are not reliant on one player to drive their entire back end. We shouldn't have to expect Norris-caliber seasons from the guy every year, year after year, in order to just make the playoffs.

Oh, I'm on board with those who wish that Wideman swap in and Weircoch out. I think we get a pretty big bump from that, as well as the side effect of moving Boro back to his correct side.

I'm just pointing out the real difference between the team we're seeing now, vs the one that looked so good down the stretch last year.

 

[DrunkUncleDenis]

Agreed.

Methot - Karlsson
(Legit 2nd pair anchor) - Ceci
Cowen - Wideman


Boro as the 7th guy. Wiercioch to the moon.

I laughed more than I should have at this last part.

I think there can be a general consensus that your D pairing suggestions are exactly what needs to happen.

Exactly

These are the same players as last march

Cameron needs to find a spark to get them going and have more cohesion

Thats on cameron

Well, he yells a lot and skated the crap out of them the other day. Maybe it's wearing thin already. I doubt it, though.

 

[BonkTastic]

And Neil is playing every night.

Those are the 2 main differences.

Neil playing 7-8 minutes every night against the opposition's worst line probably has a 1% correlation to the final score.

Saying Chris Neil is a major part of why we are not good is like saying a faulty hinge on a glove box was a major part of a car crash.

 

[BigZKingK]

Mostly the same players, yeah.

But Hoffman and Lazar are injured.

And Neil is playing every night.

Those are the 2 main differences.

And Mac we are missing 2 top 6 player... Our offence will be fine we need to fix the D thought

 

[Holdurbreathe]

Anyone see the stat that was posted?

Karlsson on ice, shots were 20-16 in favor of Ottawa.

Karlsson off ice shots were 36-15 for Calgary.

Wiercioch and that 3rd pairing are atrocious.

Something appears wrong with these numbers.

Ottawa allowed 38 shots, according to how I read your data Ottawa gave up 52 shots.

 

[BonkTastic]

Is Boro in the 2nd year of his 3 year deal?

1st year of his 3 year deal. He's on the books until the 2018 offseason.

 

[bornNraised Sens]

Something appears wrong with these numbers.

Ottawa allowed 38 shots, according to how I read your data Ottawa gave up 52 shots.

You're talking shots on goal, he's referring to shot attempts i think.

 

[Sensinitis]

Neil playing 7-8 minutes every night against the opposition's worst line probably has a 1% correlation to the final score.

Saying Chris Neil is a major part of why we are not good is like saying a faulty hinge on a glove box was a major part of a car crash.

Haha I wasn't saying that...

Was just pointing out a difference between the now team and the Cinderella team.

I do think though that having someone else in Neil's spot would allow us to roll our 4th line for more than 7-8 mins a night, and that that would be a good thing.

1st year of his 3 year deal. He's on the books until the 2018 offseason.

Ouch.

 

[tony d]

Good win last night but yeah defense is something our team needs to improve upon. Even if it means trading Zibanejad or Lazar to get 1.

 

[BonkTastic]

Since I watch games on replay now, I guess I'll always be late to these conversations, but without spending time reading the back pages of this thread, was I the only one who thought Chiasson had a pretty good game?

I've been hard on the guy this year, but credit where credit is due. This was one of his good ones. Not a classic from him or anything, but consistently positive shifts and an overall positive effect on the game. Definitely a breath of fresh air from most of his other games this season.