GDT: Game 40: New York Rangers @ St. Louis Blues, 8pm ET, MSG2

[turcotte8]

Sammy Blais would fit beautifully here with his one goal this season.

Hat trick tonight

 

[zlev]

There's so much shit on this team right now, that it's hard to even care if they win or not. The injuries are obviously a huge factor, but they made their bed too. All the teacher's pets were playing before the injuries. They decided they had no use for Edstrom before he was hurt. They called up Othmann so he could sit on the bench and watch. I guarantee you Leshithead gets more leash because he does stuff. He'll go out of position to bump into somebody, hustle back when he's behind the play, and golly gee, he might even sacrifice the body and block the 4th or 5th shot attempt he's giving up in a shift. They have better options than Wheeler on that line which they have refused to explore because Wheeler is a vet. Bonino and Goodrow are never coming out. If we got healthy enough and push came to shove, Vesey would come out first which is unfathomable.

It's the same old obsession with the same old type of players.

yea but that Lavi System tho

 

[will1066]

yea but that Lavi System tho

Don't hate the system. Hate the player.

 

[duhmetreE]

yea but that Lavi System tho

'dont cover in front of the net or slot, they'll never expect that' 4D Checkers

 

[80shockeywasbuns]

There's so much shit on this team right now, that it's hard to even care if they win or not. The injuries are obviously a huge factor, but they made their bed too. All the teacher's pets were playing before the injuries. They decided they had no use for Edstrom before he was hurt. They called up Othmann so he could sit on the bench and watch. I guarantee you Leshithead gets more leash because he does stuff. He'll go out of position to bump into somebody, hustle back when he's behind the play, and golly gee, he might even sacrifice the body and block the 4th or 5th shot attempt he's giving up in a shift. They have better options than Wheeler on that line which they have refused to explore because Wheeler is a vet. Bonino and Goodrow are never coming out. If we got healthy enough and push came to shove, Vesey would come out first which is unfathomable.

It's the same old obsession with the same old type of players.

Wow you really think you’re smarter than these NHL coaches huh.

 

[HockeyBasedNYC]

This blues team is bad, special teams should dominate

 

[Machinehead]

Wow you really think you’re smarter than these NHL coaches huh.

Yes lol

 

[80shockeywasbuns]

Yes lol

Nah you’re nothing bro, a nobody. The great Peter Laviolette who’s been to multiple Stanley Cups isn’t going to be wrong in his assessment. Get your head out of the spreadsheets

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Wow you really think you’re smarter than these NHL coaches huh.

It’s not a high bar tbh.

Coaches should be abolished.

 

[Machinehead]

I don't know if I agree with this at this point. I think a lot of the decisions were about keeping line continuity with what worked and filling in the blanks in the interim to try and get the other 2 lines to work. It's clear they have 2 lines they really like and wanted to keep together while trying to make due with the other lines and that's Panarin - Trocheck - Laf (which should not be broken up under any circumstance right now) and Vesey - Goodrow - Pitlick (now Vesey - Goodrow with Pitlick out.) There's a roster construction issue currently due to the injuries which I can't say is really the teams fault. I think Bonino isn't really useful but he's going to play right now with Chytil, Kakko, and Pitlick out and we've established Bonino and Goodrow can't be on the same line as neither drives play. So now you're stuck with Bonino centering another line. Yeah, they could give Vesey a shot on line 1 but I think they really value what they're building on 4 and want to keep that together as much as possible so Cuylle (a kid) will get his shot there for now. Leschyshyn sucks but there's really no evidence of this being more than a 3 game stint on a line that won't play much until Kakko gets back. I don't love what they did with Othmann but I don't think this is a sign of a larger trend at this point. Fact of the matter is they only have 1 line that drives play at this point. A good portion of this is missing Chytil and Kakko who are both play drivers but they also need the Mika/Kreider combo to step it up at 5 v. 5. It's been a trend for years now with them unless Kakko or Buch are on their wing. That's a much bigger concern to me at this point than Leschyshyn getting 6 mins a game until Kakko is back. I don't know what they'll do with Bonino but I think they know he can't be the 3C so that'll be addressed at the deadline. I'd hope he's the one to go over Pitlick (I don't even think Vesey would be a consideration) but I'm not going to freak out over a hypothetical right now.

The lines that they're so desperate to keep together aren't anything special. And even if they were, so what?

None of this really matters. It's the regular season. We're not on the bubble. We should be using this time to try different things and see what else works. That's how you find depth. You put together lines that are better than the sum of their parts. Having ostensibly our top line be terrible because replacing Wheeler breaks up another line is stupid. You should have a number of different looks to determine what works best before the playoffs, not just go with half of a good lineup because half of the lines worked immediately.

The organization's unwillingness to try anything is why they end up in this hole and several different coaches now have picked up on the security blanket culture.

 

[majordomo]

This blues team is bad, special teams should dominate

The hell with special teams -- how about dominating 5 on 5?

 

[Glen Sathers Cigar]

Gonna need a win tonight.

 

[bl02]

The hell with special teams -- how about dominating 5 on 5?

Only one line can do that right now unfortunately. I mean when Vesey-Goodrow-Pitlick was a thing actually had almost 2 lines that could do it.

 

[Fitzy]

I was going to complain that we could use more offense from the blue line this season but it appears as though we are once again near tops in the league in points from defensemen.

Really can't make any more excuses for the bottom 6.

 

[Kodiak]

Wow you really think you’re smarter than these NHL coaches huh.

Leschyshyn is the type of player that can fool a coach at any level. He's half a step behind the play so it can look like he's about where he's supposed to be, and you don't notice any glaring mistakes, but he's still a negative impact on both sides of the puck because he can't keep up.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

I was going to complain that we could use more offense from the blue line this season but it appears as though we are once again near tops in the league in points from defensemen.

Really can't make any more excuses for the bottom 6.

Or the top 3

 

[duhmetreE]

I was going to complain that we could use more offense from the blue line this season but it appears as though we are once again near tops in the league in points from defensemen.

Really can't make any more excuses for the bottom 6.

where can you see that?

 

[DanielBrassard]

Only one line can do that right now unfortunately. I mean when Vesey-Goodrow-Pitlick was a thing actually had almost 2 lines that could do it.

Pitlick is actually a pretty big loss. He and Vesey were carrying Goodrow to a 55 percent xG as a line.

 

[McRanger92]

Pitlick is actually a pretty big loss. He and Vesey were carrying Goodrow to a 55 percent xG as a line.

Pitlick is skating and on the trip, which is a good sign to get Brodzinski out of the lineup once he and Kakko are back. I know people like Jonny B but he hasnt done a damn thing in weeks. Hartford needs him.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

There's so much shit on this team right now, that it's hard to even care if they win or not. The injuries are obviously a huge factor, but they made their bed too. All the teacher's pets were playing before the injuries. They decided they had no use for Edstrom before he was hurt. They called up Othmann so he could sit on the bench and watch. I guarantee you Leshithead gets more leash because he does stuff. He'll go out of position to bump into somebody, hustle back when he's behind the play, and golly gee, he might even sacrifice the body and block the 4th or 5th shot attempt he's giving up in a shift. They have better options than Wheeler on that line which they have refused to explore because Wheeler is a vet. Bonino and Goodrow are never coming out. If we got healthy enough and push came to shove, Vesey would come out first which is unfathomable.

It's the same old obsession with the same old type of players.

Look at how guys have been used recently. Bonino has been getting his minutes cut, not Vesey.

Im pretty confident that if it comes down to the 2 of them, Bonino is the one who will sit.

Goodrow for what ever reason will continue to be teflon though. Should have bought him out this summer just so he couldn't be a factor.

 

[Cuckoo4Kakko]

Nah you’re nothing bro, a nobody. The great Peter Laviolette who’s been to multiple Stanley Cups isn’t going to be wrong in his assessment. Get your head out of the spreadsheets

Lavi knows more about hockey x's and o's than all of us. True statement.

Lavi is like almost every NHL coach dinosaur who prefers bad vets making mistakes to kids learning from mistakes. True statement.

Lavi's been GREAT here. When Kakko and Chytil come back, if certain guys in the bottom six don't leave, there will be pitchforks out. The eye test and analytics tell the same story.

 

[bl02]

Pitlick is skating and on the trip, which is a good sign to get Brodzinski out of the lineup once he and Kakko are back. I know people like Jonny B but he hasnt done a damn thing in weeks. Hartford needs him.

Brodz probably gets claimed? Sucks for Hartford but his time here is coming to an end. I take Pitlick 90 percent of the time over Brodz especially on the 4th line.

 

[McRanger92]

Brodz probably gets claimed? Sucks for Hartford but his time here is coming to an end. I take Pitlick 90 percent of the time over Brodz especially on the 4th line.

He's been waived multiple times in the past 2 seasons and not claimed so Im not overly concerned about that

 

[duhmetreE]

Brodz is better than Bonino

 

[Profet]

Wow you really think you’re smarter than these NHL coaches huh.

It's not about being smarter. It's about having different goals.

GMs have what... 5-8 years to accomplish their task (Winning a championship)?
Coaches may only have 2-3 years.
Fans are many times in it for 30-50 years.

GMs have the luxury of somewhat extended timeline to develop the team in their vision.
Coaches have practically no time. They need to win, today.

Once you realize this, some of the decisions get some context. I'm not saying they always make sense, but their goals/priorities are significantly different from ours.