That first GIF is after MacK turned it over in the offensive zone and Tavares came down the wing on a mini break and Z had to chase him down to poke check the puck away. Are we sure that's not a bit of frustration from MacK with himself on that one? The second one I can understand the frustration though.
Fwiw, I saw Z, MacK, and Landy doing a lot of communicating on the bench last night, and it wasn't all screaming. Taking just a few instances makes it all look bad. They're always talking before faceoffs too, both at ES and on the PP.
The first gif definitely isn't in frustration of the turnover. The puck went up in the air and landed in Mack's feet, and Tavares made a nice quick play to poke it ahead. Then Z actually made a really good defensive play to drive him wide and knock the puck off his stick back to Nate.
Then Nate grabbed the puck and took it up ice like in the gif. After it cuts, and before he goes to the bench, the only thing that happens is Barrie gets the puck and and passes it to Mikko who losses the puck a bit and goes off sides.
He's definitely not upset with himself, it's someone on or near the bench, and he's not yelling at Mikko for a simple offsides. He screamed the F word after Landy's pass cleared the zone, and then when he got to the bench he clearly said "what a elfin change", even though it's harder to tell in the gif.
I'm not sure who he was talking to, that part is speculation, but my guess is it was either Z, or possibly Barrie who would have been just getting back to the bench at that time.
I think Mack is probably generally a good teammate, and he gets along great with Landy obviously, but I do think he still displays some immaturity at times. It's not the first time I've mentioned it, but this was a pretty obvious example.
He's got to work on that if he's gonna be a leader, and if this team is gonna go anywhere.
I think this is pretty close to speculation. We don't really know what was said. Meh.
It's not that much speculation really. He's visibly arguing with someone on the bench on the first play, and even though it's a little harder to tell in the gif because it's dropping frames, in real time he's clearly saying "what a effin change."
His swearing was quite audible during the broadcast after both turnovers, and the second one he'd have no reason to be upset with himself, or bad luck, it was clearly directed at Z's mistake.
Seriously.
So many fans on this board have decried the lack of passion/leadership shown by this hockey team, then a young star player shows some spark, but then the fan base doesn't like it.
The worst season in the history of the franchise, and we're doing our best Goldilocks imitation.
It's not just being passionate though AB. It's not frustrations with a play not going his way, or showing passion for not winning, it's an emotional lashing out at a teammate. That's very different.
Your teammates are your brothers. You win and lose together. You make mistakes together. Just like no one yells at Nate on the ice for his mistakes. If you have an issue with a guy you take it up behind closed doors.
He's not a terrible person for doing this, he just needs to grow up a bit. I think we all know this about Nate.
Complaining in frustration isn't leadership nor will it help players improve. Mid game isn't the time or place for that.
Next day, during practice, when you have cooled down then you can approach a teammate.
Cussing out teammates during a game is primadonna junior hockey behavior. Just like when goalies or defenders give each other the stink eye after a bad goal. Doesn't help at all.
A player that still makes a lot of simple mistakes like MacKinnon should just focus on his own.
Exactly. Getting upset with a teammate is fine, but you keep it in the room first of all. You don't do it on the ice. Secondly, Nate isn't the guy to be casting stones and acting like he's the authority on playing a perfect game. He still makes quite a few defensive mistakes, and bad passes. If you're gonna get upset with a teammate you better damn well have your own game in order.
I'm somewhere in the middle on this. Yeah MacK shouldn't freak out, but we don't know what has been said before and we don't know how Z's reacted either. I get the frustration and as bad as MacK has been at times, he has been the Avs best player and it is obvious he cares. As long as this isn't consistent I don't have an issue with it.
That's true. They could have had issues for a while and this was just boiling over a bit. Teammates don't always get along. It also didn't look like a huge deal, just a bit of a spat.
Nate just didn't handle it properly. He's also held to a higher standard since Bednar for some reason thought he was ready to wear an A on his shoulder.
He clearly cares about winning though. That's part of it. He also played a great game from start to finish. He was flying out there all night and scored the OT winner.
He just needs to hold these emotions in until you get to the room, and not throw your teammate under the bus for both benches and the fans to see. You can get the same message across there if you need to.
Every other player has instances where a teammate killed a play with a bad mistake, and they just subtly mention it on the bench, or bite their tongue till they get to the room.
