Game 3: Columbus at Phoenix | 1/23 10pm EST | "Western Swing" Edition

[Columbus Jack]

Oh well, at least we don't have to worry about winning the Cup and losing our lottery pick.

I agree on using the amnesty buy out on Umberger.

It's a bit too early to buy out Umberger. It's never going to happen either he's got a freaking A on his chest for god sakes. Not sure if I should laugh or cry.

 

[JACKETfan]

It's just one game.

The AVs game will tell us a lot.

 

[Jive Pawnbroker]

I fell asleep at the beginning of the third and didn't wake up until about 4AM. From the sounds of it, I guess I should be thankful that I did.

 

[NTDP]

All around bad game on all accounts, as has been said I can't blame Mason on this one. Some poor defensive coverage in front of the net. I remember Mason made some pretty decent saves earlier in the game to keep us in it at the time being. Also, I'm really not a big fan of RJ either. I know a lot was made about the way he played towards the end of last year...but I think he's pretty overrated.

 

[EDM]

I know it is highly unlikely they would buy out RJ.

But I was astonished on opening nite to see an "A" on RJ's chest. I am undecided on Richards. But frankly, on my scorecard, Richards has one strike against him for his incredibly stupid decision to put an A on RJ's chest. After the horrible performance RJ turned in over the first 70 games last year, and after he chose not to PLAY hockey during the lock out, rewarding him with an A was not showing good judgment in my view.

 

[Fro]

mase got hung out to dry but didn't do much to help us out...i hope RJ and Brass get sat tonight...Gillies and DMac can't do much worse....

 

[IBleedUnionBlue]

This team is heading north because quite frankly, they went about as far south as it is possible. Not surprised about last night. Given the talent level, we are going to see more of this over the next 45 games. There will be a couple nights where they work hard and are rewarded, but this is a bottom 5 team in the NHL.

 

[blahblah]

Well I hate to break it to you but this team isn't going to win many games. Not many other candidates to play top 6 mins that are gonna be a whole lot better. We were told this team is going to have a lot of effort, I think everyone should be on board before we start bashing guys for stupid plays. That's just my two cents. **** ton of guys who made stupid plays and lacked effort compared to a few that made just stupid plays. But we'll see how they look tomorrow.

Why in the world are you so gung ho on not holding players accountable for moronic plays during key times leading to either goals against or great chances for the other team?

I didn't say there wasn't anything else to get on the team about. I did, after all, already talk about the overall team effort.

I have no idea what your problem is, Brass was a moron last night. You haven't countered that. Your just on some lame ass "But at least he tried, when hardly anyone else did, and that is more important." defense.

I really don't see what your issue is. I am perfectly within my rights to be upset over sloppy and stupid play. I am not the first person to do so. Dorse gets hammered for stupid play all the time. Since there really isn't a logical counter argument coming from you other than "I don't think we should beat him up over these guys.", I am just going to assume you have the issue because it was me posting it or that you are a complete and total Brassard homer.

 

[blahblah]

This team is heading north because quite frankly, they went about as far south as it is possible. Not surprised about last night. Given the talent level, we are going to see more of this over the next 45 games. There will be a couple nights where they work hard and are rewarded, but this is a bottom 5 team in the NHL.

If we give the effort like we did tonight, yes. However, I don't think this will be what we normally see and I don't think it is what we will see tonight.

There is a lot of talent on this team. Some of it is young and inexperienced. We have 5 new players and a short camp. This will take some time. Being 1-1-1 at this point is a good start.

 

[Doug19]

Steeeeeeeveeeeeee mayyyyyyyyyysonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

 

[pete goegan]

All these complaints and nobody has pointed out the worst result from last night: TW was actually right about something (att:8,355). With that sort of encouragement, who knows what he'll come up with next!

Lousy game, I slept through it.

 

[Doug19]

Well I hate to break it to you but this team isn't going to win many games. Not many other candidates to play top 6 mins that are gonna be a whole lot better. We were told this team is going to have a lot of effort, I think everyone should be on board before we start bashing guys for stupid plays. That's just my two cents. **** ton of guys who made stupid plays and lacked effort compared to a few that made just stupid plays. But we'll see how they look tomorrow.

I said this team was a last place team and you cried. Which is it?

 

[Columbus Jack]

I said this team was a last place team and you cried. Which is it?

LOL I cried? I said give it a few more games capn overreaction.

 

[Columbus Jack]

Why in the world are you so gung ho on not holding players accountable for moronic plays during key times leading to either goals against or great chances for the other team?

I didn't say there wasn't anything else to get on the team about. I did, after all, already talk about the overall team effort.

I have no idea what your problem is, Brass was a moron last night. You haven't countered that. Your just on some lame ass "But at least he tried, when hardly anyone else did, and that is more important." defense.

I really don't see what your issue is. I am perfectly within my rights to be upset over sloppy and stupid play. I am not the first person to do so. Dorse gets hammered for stupid play all the time. Since there really isn't a logical counter argument coming from you other than "I don't think we should beat him up over these guys.", I am just going to assume you have the issue because it was me posting it or that you are a complete and total Brassard homer.

Yep I love brassard to death and cant stand you. All Im saying is I rather someone make stupid plays bc hes trying rather than someone making stupid plays bc the effort isnt there. i.e. Umberger. If you cant understand that than I dont know what to tell you. Your making it sound like Im praising someone bc of the effort we showed. Did you see me praising Brass any other games no? But Im defending him this game bc he doesnt deserve it as bad as others.

 

[MattTheMask]

Quenneville, Hitchcock, Babcock, Trotz, and Richards.


Which one of these doesn't belong?

This.

You could also apply Stan Bowman (Dale Tallon), Doug Armstrong, Ken Holland, David Poile, Scott Howson to this. Just sayin'.

 

[BlueJacket2]

Went to bed last night after the second intermission. Recorded the third period. Fought the urge to not check the score online before I watched. But once it was 3-1, I couldn't resist fast forwarding to just see how bad we lost. Defense has major issues. Mason wasn't that bad (from what I watched) and he seemed to be hung out to dry. Does this team still not have faith in him? Did it carry over from last year even with all of the new acquisitions?

 

[JacketsDavid]

There is a lot of talent on this team. Some of it is young and inexperienced. We have 5 new players and a short camp. This will take some time. Being 1-1-1 at this point is a good start.

I agree on new players and I agree with being 1-1-1 is a good start.

Not real sure how anyone can look at our roster and see a lot of talent. I see a lot of depth but missing a lot of top end talent.
We say we have three 2nd lines. I think it's closer to us having maybe three third lines and a couple guys who (in the right situation) be a solid second line player. But those guys are now forced to be top 6 players and at best they are complimentary players right now (like you mentioned some of the guys are developing and they can become top 6 forwards).
Like most years we greatly over estimate our talent at the beginning of the season.
Finally lack of talent doesn't disqualify us from being a good team, but they guys have to play within the system (think of Nashville and how they have been a good solid team for a long while, and they are not loaded at forward, always get good tending and have good d-men). But it takes a while to develop that system, with the 7 day camp thi syear no way could it have happened.
I still hope this team plays hard and starts to play the right way. That would be light years ahead of the CRAP we've seen around here (exception IMO was the time under Dave King and Ken Hitchcock, until the kids quit on Hitch).

 

[Skraut]

Quenneville, Hitchcock, Babcock, Trotz, and Richards.


Which one of these doesn't belong?

Hitchcock,

The rest Matthew has never stated that they should be fired.

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showpost.php?p=22829754&postcount=264

 

[USNBluejack]

I fell asleep at the beginning of the third and didn't wake up until about 4AM. From the sounds of it, I guess I should be thankful that I did.

This. Making new meme: Started Mason. Went to bed early.

 

[blahblah]

Not real sure how anyone can look at our roster and see a lot of talent. I see a lot of depth but missing a lot of top end talent.

Umm... You are making my case for me. You stated we have "3 second lines". That is talent. I'm not sure I agree with that statement however. Then you say we don't have a lot of top end talent. Well that isn't really all that true. What you meant to say is that we don't have any top end forward talent. While JMFJ is not Suter or Weber, he is in the that second tier of defensemen. Wiz is in that third tier. We have a wild card in Nikitin. We have two potential top lines players that just aren't ready yet in Johansen and Atkinson.

Yes, if you are looking at this roster and looking for a replacement for Nash the closest thing you are going to find is Johansen. He is not ready for that yet and he's not going to be a 40 goal scorer, but overall game is probably the closest. Long term it would not be a surprise to see Atkinson and Johansen hit the 30 goal mark.

No from top to bottom this is the most talented team we've iced. We are just in trouble because we have players that aren't ready for top line roles yet.

 

[JacketsDavid]

Umm... You are making my case for me. You stated we have "3 second lines". That is talent. I'm not sure I agree with that statement however. Then you say we don't have a lot of top end talent. Well that isn't really all that true. What you meant to say is that we don't have any top end forward talent. While JMFJ is not Suter or Weber, he is in the that second tier of defensemen. Wiz is in that third tier. We have a wild card in Nikitin. We have two potential top lines players that just aren't ready yet in Johansen and Atkinson.

Yes, if you are looking at this roster and looking for a replacement for Nash the closest thing you are going to find is Johansen. He is not ready for that yet and he's not going to be a 40 goal scorer, but overall game is probably the closest. Long term it would not be a surprise to see Atkinson and Johansen hit the 30 goal mark.

No from top to bottom this is the most talented team we've iced. We are just in trouble because we have players that aren't ready for top line roles yet.

I said:

"We say we have three 2nd lines. I think it's closer to us having maybe three third lines and a couple guys who (in the right situation) be a solid second line player. But those guys are now forced to be top 6 players and at best they are complimentary players right now (like you mentioned some of the guys are developing and they can become top 6 forwards)."

Three third lines is not a lot of NHL talent, unless you also have 2-3 studs topair with with. You can convince yourself that we have a lot of talent, we don't. We have guys who can score 20 goals in the right situation. Playing beside other guys who are also COMPLIMENTARY players is not that situation. 5 goals in regulation over 3 games should be very telling of all this talent.

So yes we disagree. You see a lot of talent, I see very little. Now maybe under the new leadership in a couple years they can build a team around alot of these guys, but we're not close right now. Questionable coaching, questionable goaltending, subpar talent with forwards. The only strength is the d-men.

 

[blahblah]

Yep I love brassard to death and cant stand you. All Im saying is I rather someone make stupid plays bc hes trying rather than someone making stupid plays bc the effort isnt there. i.e. Umberger. If you cant understand that than I dont know what to tell you. Your making it sound like Im praising someone bc of the effort we showed. Did you see me praising Brass any other games no? But Im defending him this game bc he doesnt deserve it as bad as others.

I have no issue with your position, nor should you have an issue with mine. I wasn't asking you to change your opinion, I was asking you to respect mine. Well that and use hyphenation.

I made valid criticisms against him. You couldn't argue against them, so you deflected.

Pick another battle. You aren't arguing he shouldn't receive criticism. You are just arguing that someone deserves to more. I am already criticizing the other player(s). Of all the idiotic debates I've been involved in, this is right up there with the most silly position I've been forced to defend.

Honestly, I don't even know what you want me to do here. I'm not going to remove the criticism of Brassard, he deserves it therefore I am not. If you are asking me to lessen it, I am not. He made some moronic plays. You know it, I know it.

So ultimately, I have no idea what you want beside starting an argument that doesn't need to exist. If you think Brassard wasn't a moron, illustrate why or just go away.

 

[Matt]

I think that the mind set was to play not to lose. I don't think this team feels that Mason has returned to his rookie form. When that second goal was scored, Mason shrugged his shoulders and I knew right away that the flood gates were opened.

 

[cbjbluejackets61]

lots and lots of invisible players with so many shots going to our goalies.. at one point, it was 33 shots to i think 17. that, fellas, is not gonna win games.

*headfake*

 

[bizzz*]

I turned the game off after the 1st Phoenix' goal. Vermette's shot was 10 feet wide, but Mason decided that he has to make a save. He left the net wide open and served an easy rebound for Sullivan. Looked like he had no idea where the net is. The rest of the game was predictable with Mason in net.
Brassard is not the biggest problem for this team. Atkinson had 4-5 shots per game playing with him, last night Cam was almost invisible prior to the Phoenix goal. He had one chance after Dubinsky's cross-ice pass and looks like that was his only shot.
Some people wanted to see Atkinson with Anisimov. I'm not sure if they liked it. but I saw what I expected.