Observations, Part IX

[Pred303]

that was such a disaster. a few observations from a guy who has just about had enough himself;

..6 goals. 2 breakaways. 2 three on twos. 1 two on one. 1 deflection.
..the Forsberg-Ribeiro line was an absolute defensive disaster. -3's. all 3 goals the forwards fault. Ribeiro with the awful blueline unforced turnover on the second goal. then giving up 2 three on twos where they all 3 got caught deep and didn't/couldn't get back.
..the pick on Jackson/ellis on the first goal was a fiasco and a horrible no call. inadvertent, but so obvious.
..Johansen, Jarnkrok, Neal. all with really strong games. completely wasted.
..I had hopes fisher on the top line might work. but that didn't last long.
..gaustad. trying to mount a comeback and you lose that draw and take that penalty. I cursed you. again.

It was so bad, that I found myself somewhat mentally divorced from the reality of it all to be honest. I suppose it's the minds way of protecting itself from harm.

we now have to go about 18-12 in these last 30 to have a good chance.

 

[Scoresberg]

In what way is Goose better option than Sissons right now? Playing Sissons and trading Goose would be a huge investment for the future.

 

[hockey diva]

Nobody is going to want Goose at this point.

My fear is that Poile gets desperate and makes another horrible trade aka Franson et al.

Stick a fork in us, we are done.

 

[Roman Yoshi]

Observation 1: Ryan Johansen is the best player we have on our roster.

Observation 2: Roman Josi is our second best player on our roster.

Observation 3: Not scoring on the power play killed us, especially the first two of the night.

Observation 4: I drank a lot last night.

 

[token grinder]

yeah that game was gross. All that went well the four games during the win streak and defensively vs STL went the other way.

Our 9th ranked PP still looks good once we get in the zone, but last night was the first time in weeks I felt it was a struggle just to get there. 1/7 and the ones we blew early vs STL won't get it done.

Our much improved PK broke last night as well.

Forsberg is killing me. Stat sheet says only 2 giveaways by the team, but again, I think he turned it over trying to do too much every time he touched the puck.

Thought Salomaki played well too. The rest of the 4th line can go fly a kite.
Johansen does well enough at the dot to make Gaustad and his stupid penalties disappear like Nystrom. This team has evolved and they don't need those lugs anymore.

 

[token grinder]

Observation 1: Ryan Johansen is the best player we have on our roster.

Observation 2: Roman Josi is our second best player on our roster.

Observation 3: Not scoring on the power play killed us, especially the first two of the night.

Observation 4: I drank a lot last night.

You must be hungover. You could make an argument for 92, 59 and 6 as the best on our roster. You could, but it still starts and ends with 6 and 59. They play off each other so well....but that shot. Can't teach that. 92 can't take dumb penalties and be considered in that group.

 

[Roman Yoshi]

You must be hungover. You could make an argument for 92, 59 and 6 as the best on our roster. You could, but it still starts and ends with 6 and 59. They play off each other so well....but that shot. Can't teach that. 92 can't take dumb penalties and be considered in that group.

Since coming here, RyJo has been our best player. It's not even been close in my mind. Every time he is on the ice, his line is a threat. Josi and Weber, while good, have had some really bad games since that trade. Not saying they were bad last night, but it's just true.

It's not about points, it's about how I feel when they are on the ice.

 

[glenngineer]

Nobody is going to want Goose at this point.

My wife does but that's a different problem all together.

 

[Roman Yoshi]

My wife does but that's a different problem all together.

 

[Pred303]

the defensive zone failures of our forward corps has been the single biggest failing of the team this year. easily the worst defensive group of forwards we have ever iced in our history.

one of the problems is we are so offensively challenged right now that to even come close to generating a scoring chance we have to either get all three forwards deep (and risk 3 on 2 counters) or have a defenseman carry deep into the zone (risking 2 on 1 counters). other forward defensive problems are at times we simply don't skate hard (known as hustling) on the backcheck (ribs and Forsberg last night on both the 3 on 2's), turn the puck over far too often in our zone (ribs last night), or take stupid offensive zone penalties way, way too often (smith last night, everyone other nights).

trotz would literally have a coronary with the defense of this group of forwards.

 

[FossilFndr]

Though not stellar Jarnkrok has 8 goals now, NHL career best and lots of season to go. Sad that is 6th in goals on the team.

 

[Montross]

that was such a disaster. a few observations from a guy who has just about had enough himself;

..6 goals. 2 breakaways. 2 three on twos. 1 two on one. 1 deflection.
..the Forsberg-Ribeiro line was an absolute defensive disaster. -3's. all 3 goals the forwards fault. Ribeiro with the awful blueline unforced turnover on the second goal. then giving up 2 three on twos where they all 3 got caught deep and didn't/couldn't get back.
..the pick on Jackson/ellis on the first goal was a fiasco and a horrible no call. inadvertent, but so obvious.
..Johansen, Jarnkrok, Neal. all with really strong games. completely wasted.
..I had hopes fisher on the top line might work. but that didn't last long.
..gaustad. trying to mount a comeback and you lose that draw and take that penalty. I cursed you. again.

It was so bad, that I found myself somewhat mentally divorced from the reality of it all to be honest. I suppose it's the minds way of protecting itself from harm.

we now have to go about 18-12 in these last 30 to have a good chance.

Wilson/Smith/Fisher - either hurt or not scoring. The Preds needed so much more from these 3 this season to be a real contender, and they have been pure garbage. Fisher seems done post-injury this season. Wonder how much he really has left.

 

[drwpreds]

the defensive zone failures of our forward corps has been the single biggest failing of the team this year. easily the worst defensive group of forwards we have ever iced in our history.

one of the problems is we are so offensively challenged right now that to even come close to generating a scoring chance we have to either get all three forwards deep (and risk 3 on 2 counters) or have a defenseman carry deep into the zone (risking 2 on 1 counters). other forward defensive problems are at times we simply don't skate hard (known as hustling) on the backcheck (ribs and Forsberg last night on both the 3 on 2's), turn the puck over far too often in our zone (ribs last night), or take stupid offensive zone penalties way, way too often (smith last night, everyone other nights).

trotz would literally have a coronary with the defense of this group of forwards.

Its all a blur right now so I can't even remember which goal it was on, but on one of those 3 on 2 goals, Ribeiro and Forsberg both loafed it down the ice trailing the Flyer with the puck and of course he scored- I think it was on Giroux first goal. Unless they were both completely out of gas there is no excuse for that kind of effort.

And you are 100% correct about the defensive play of our forwards. And when you combine that with subpar goalie play you've got big, big problems. When you have a group of defensemen like we have there is no way you should have a team defense that is this bad. It is almost like we are wasting our great D corps.

 

[triggrman]

Observation 1: Ryan Johansen is the best player we have on our roster.

Observation 2: Roman Josi is our second best player on our roster.

Observation 3: Not scoring on the power play killed us, especially the first two of the night.

Observation 4: I drank a lot last night.

Roman Josi had a lot of gaffe's last night, not a great night for him defensively.

IMHO, he's not better than Weber, especially defensively. He gets a lot of credit for his speed and skating but his positioning isn't nearly as good at Weber's at this point.

 

[triggrman]

Its all a blur right now so I can't even remember which goal it was on, but on one of those 3 on 2 goals, Ribeiro and Forsberg both loafed it down the ice trailing the Flyer with the puck and of course he scored- I think it was on Giroux first goal. Unless they were both completely out of gas there is no excuse for that kind of effort.

And you are 100% correct about the defensive play of our forwards. And when you combine that with subpar goalie play you've got big, big problems. When you have a group of defensemen like we have there is no way you should have a team defense that is this bad. It is almost like we are wasting our great D corps.

Twice, I think Ribeiro didn't even make an effort. The center is reponsible for the 3rd man in the zone, he wasn't even close to the 4th man in the zone....

 

[deansredhalo]

the defensive zone failures of our forward corps has been the single biggest failing of the team this year. easily the worst defensive group of forwards we have ever iced in our history.

one of the problems is we are so offensively challenged right now that to even come close to generating a scoring chance we have to either get all three forwards deep (and risk 3 on 2 counters) or have a defenseman carry deep into the zone (risking 2 on 1 counters). other forward defensive problems are at times we simply don't skate hard (known as hustling) on the backcheck (ribs and Forsberg last night on both the 3 on 2's), turn the puck over far too often in our zone (ribs last night), or take stupid offensive zone penalties way, way too often (smith last night, everyone other nights).

trotz would literally have a coronary with the defense of this group of forwards.

Trotz would be constructing a Taj Mahal-sized doghouse for them all to live in.

 

[Pred303]

Trotz would be constructing a Taj Mahal-sized doghouse for them all to live in.

if Trotz were coaching this team right now, we would probably start 7 defensemen tomorrow, call up two forwards from MIL, scratch Forsberg and Ribeiro for their lack of efforts on those 3 on 2's and turnovers, bench the first forward that was the third man low in the offensive zone, bench the first forward that didn't get back to cover the point when a defenseman pinched low....and I wouldn't blame him for doing any of it.

 

[Pred303]

Rinne's year is among the strangest I have ever seen a pred goalie have... normally you associate bad goaltending with consistently allowing soft goals and/or poor rebound control allowing too many easy rebounds...

but rinne isn't playing badly in those two aspects.. despite his awful save percentage and goals allowed per game he has allowed few true 'softies' all year and his rebound control still remains above average..

the difference is that his save percentage on high quality scoring chances has been truly awful all year... despite looking like he is moving well and not limited by any physical injury he simply isn't make near enough tough saves... and then you add in the Patrick Roy factor, who had a generally high goals allowed number overall and a relatively low overall save percentage but almost always made the key save at the key time in a game, and Rinne is simply rarely making a big save at the key point in most of the games we lose.

of course when your 'all-star' goalie has a save percentage 1.5% below the entire league average and basically only at 90%, you simply aren't going to get enough timely or difficult saves.

 

[deansredhalo]

if Trotz were coaching this team right now, we would probably start 7 defensemen tomorrow, call up two forwards from MIL, scratch Forsberg and Ribeiro for their lack of efforts on those 3 on 2's and turnovers, bench the first forward that was the third man low in the offensive zone, bench the first forward that didn't get back to cover the point when a defenseman pinched low....and I wouldn't blame him for doing any of it.

I agree with everything you said.

 

[roseyc]

if Trotz were coaching this team right now, we would probably start 7 defensemen tomorrow, call up two forwards from MIL, scratch Forsberg and Ribeiro for their lack of efforts on those 3 on 2's and turnovers, bench the first forward that was the third man low in the offensive zone, bench the first forward that didn't get back to cover the point when a defenseman pinched low....and I wouldn't blame him for doing any of it.

We need to let the Trotz thing go .... Your right this system works if we score consistently then we can override our defensive weakness ....most teams don't play defense on a consistent basis ...The players that made us good aren't doing what they do but that is the nature of young players ...Riberio has always been a case and now we see why ...the bottom line is our system is not providing us with forward talent for the off years and slumps and injuries.

 

[Pred303]

some shot per game stats;

this year when we allow a team less than 20 shots in a game we are only 2-5-0.. last year we only did that three times and were 2-1 in those games.

this year when we get 40 shots or more in a game we are only 1-6-0.. last year we were 6-2-0 in those games

this year in games where we more than double our opponents in shots we are only 1-4-0, last year we only did that twice and were 2-0-0 in those games.

the most telling team stat that sort of demonstrates our real problem is team shooting percentage differential..

as a team we are shooting 8.16% (22nd in league), while we have a save percentage of .904 (26th in league)... when you combine the two, our shooting percentage versus our opponents shooting percentage against us (9.96) we have the next to worst shooting/save differential in the league (a -1.81%).

not exactly a success formula and all much different than last years numbers with basically the same players.

 

[deanwormer]

Twice, I think Ribeiro didn't even make an effort. The center is reponsible for the 3rd man in the zone, he wasn't even close to the 4th man in the zone....

Twice THIS ENTIRE SEASON Ribero has actually made an effort.....might not be an exaggeration.

Smith/Willy/Fish might not be getting the results we want, but they hustle, try to help, try to recover from mistakes - Ribero is a passenger, and has been virtually all year.

 

[roseyc]

some shot per game stats;

this year when we allow a team less than 20 shots in a game we are only 2-5-0.. last year we only did that three times and were 2-1 in those games.

this year when we get 40 shots or more in a game we are only 1-6-0.. last year we were 6-2-0 in those games

this year in games where we more than double our opponents in shots we are only 1-4-0, last year we only did that twice and were 2-0-0 in those games.

the most telling team stat that sort of demonstrates our real problem is team shooting percentage differential..

as a team we are shooting 8.16% (22nd in league), while we have a save percentage of .904 (26th in league)... when you combine the two, our shooting percentage versus our opponents shooting percentage against us (9.96) we have the next to worst shooting/save differential in the league (a -1.81%).

not exactly a success formula and all much different than last years numbers with basically the same players.

The same players yes but the factors that when youth is served you are not going to get consistent effort ...the nature of the beast ...Forsberg is good but he needs to learn the ropes and try not to skate 1 on 4 and that will come in time. I think Poile wil do something more far as trading goes I think he knows the clock is ticking on his watch ...Lavy is not all the fault but his coaching is a lot to be desired ...no out the box thinking on his part. Forsberg sophomore slump and Smith under performing and Wilson hurt it seems every year and Fisher dying on the vine...system producing only defenseman and grinder on O ..Rinne has to be perfect to get a win ..when he is on ...he has lately