Observations XIX

[Roman Yoshi]

Kamenev not getting called up worries me.

 

[NSH615]

really interested in seeing what the ultimate decision is on Girard here in a couple weeks. I hope we keep him up here, but my gut tells me if we see a couple more games like he had against CHI we will decide to send him down. It sorta got lost in all the post game disappointment of the overtime, but not only did he have a couple of dangerous giveaways early, it was also his failed clear that led to the tieing goal (the irwin stick robbery on the play made most overlook that i think). Without a doubt he has the talent to stay, but do we have the patience to watch him make youngster mistakes that cost us but grow while he's making them? I do, but not sure management will.

Well I think this answers that. Getting scratched when our defense is a thin as it is....

 

[Roman Yoshi]

I know we made it to the cup last year and I shouldn't be saying this, but... I'm really confused by some of the decision making we saw this summer/so far this season.

It's early and we aren't in a huge hole, but there is a little head tilt.

Go out and get 2 points tonight and I will be feeling better.

 

[triggrman]

Girard does make some rookie mistakes, but Irwin and Weber just make mistakes, at least Girard makes plays, Weber and Irwin just take space.

 

[Pred303]

Girard does make some rookie mistakes, but Irwin and Weber just make mistakes, at least Girard makes plays, Weber and Irwin just take space.

don't disagree at all trig.

 

[BigFatCat999]

I have a fantasy of Steve Sullivan and Arvidsson on a PK. They could use their offensive skills to kill penalties.

 

[Mortiest Morty]

Bet people aren't mad we kept Jarny now.

If they've paid attention to the way Jarnkrok has played so far, they might be...

 

[AdmiralsFan24]

If they've paid attention to the way Jarnkrok has played so far, they might be...

Yeah, he's been really bad this year but he was an abomination tonight. I thought most of the guys played really well today. Jarnkrok, Hartnell and Aberg struggled at forward.

Bitetto and Irwin weren't very good either. Just not enough skating ability for them to get out of the zone. That's why Girard needs to keep playing. Have a player on every pair that can get the puck and skate it out of the zone instead of flipping it around and allowing easy control by the opponent, icing it or worst of all, not getting it out at all and allowing the other team to continue their offensive set up.

 

[Scoresberg]

Jarny has been what he's always been..

The biggest difference in our game from the start of the postseason to now is our defensive zone play. We're really calm there, we allow shots but not a lot of chances and Pekka takes care of the rest. Obviously, he's been sharp early this year. And when the opposition gets momentum we don't make stupid mistakes like before and practically let them score. We stay calm and just keep ourselves between the man and the goal.

Also, our special teams are looking a lot better. Don't care what anyone says about the PK, I think it's looked alright. Think about the goal last night, it went off Josi's stick. And our PP, well, we've learned how to use our strengths.

 

[AdmiralsFan24]

Didn't even go off Josi's stick. It was going like 8 feet wide of the net, hit the back of his skate blade and then went in the net.

I disagree with you about our PP. We look lost for the most part in 5 on 4. Our two PP goals against the Bruins were 6 on 3 and 6 on 4. So a two and three man advantage. We had another 5 on 3 against the Flyers, one that was 5 on 4 and the one at the end of the game that was technically 5 on 4 but came right after the Flyer got out of the penalty box and hadn't set up yet. 5 on 4 against Dallas, 5 on 4 against Chicago and a 5 on 3 tonight.

So while we're 8 for 28 on the PP this year, half of those goals have come with at least a two man advantage and another came right after a two man advantage had just expired. That's just not going to get it done over the course of the regular season and especially the playoffs.

 

[Scoresberg]

I think we saw good puck movement from the 1st unit and some good chances, the goals will come for sure.

Also, always it's not your percentage that matters but the ability to get crucial goals from your PP. Today we got one, and ran with it to the W.

 

[Pred303]

posted this in gdt by mistake, lol

that was some frantic, fast, entertaining end to end hockey. a little chaotic, system less at times but all the more impressive because despite the up and down, back and forth action we still somehow managed to only give up 21 shots even while taking 7 penalties. the ever few minute special team play after the first really chopped up the play. a few quick bullet points;

..our PP only went 1 for 5, but it was much better than that all night. quick passing, dangerous chances. 14 PP shots in 7 1/2 minutes, speaks for that.
..compare that to COL's 7 PP shots in same amount of time.

..lot of good individual games, the way you like to see it spread around.
..josi with 7 shots on net. his presence changes our team, especially offensively.
..rinne was downright spectacular. counted no less than 5 really good saves and those were all critical when the game was undecided.
..add in the josi save with the score 2-1.

..we killed them in the dot all night. Johansen 14-4, Sissons 10-3.
..sissons looked like he belonged last night. we need him to be a threat.
..arvidsson was everywhere all night. no idea how he didn't score multiple times.
..Forsberg with a goalless, but good game. two really great assists.
..emelin only played 17 minutes but obviously his best game.

..smith looked much better with sissons than jarnkrok. imagine that.
..glad to see Watson score.
..if every good save on both sides had been a goal this might have been a 10-7 type game
..ekholm, subban both played well without making the scoresheet.
..what a strange call on the sissons goal. but while he was pushed, without a doubt sissons was barreling hard to net.

..thought Irwin/bitetto were a little bit of a tire fire early, they settled down. onlt playing them 13 minutes helped.
..probably the only guys who didn't play exceptionally well for us were fiala, Aberg, jarnkrok. they're pressing and trying to do too much.

well that was fun to watch. we needed that.

 

[Pred303]

Josi has such good offensive instincts on the PP. His vision and knowledge of when to break in on the weak side when the puck goes to the left halfboard to Johansen or Forsberg makes the PP so much more dangerous. It's just intinct of when exactly to move and where to be. Not something that can be taught honestly.

 

[NSH615]

The Predators provided an update on center Nick Bonino on Wednesday, listing him as day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

Peter Fish, Bonino's agent, told The Tennessean that he believes Bonino "is going to be out a couple of weeks."

http://www.tennessean.com/story/spo...ino-injury-nashville-predators-nhl/769100001/

Kind of a contradiction isn't it?

 

[drwpreds]

Kind of a contradiction isn't it?

Not in the ridiculous NHL world of injury updates. If the NFL and NBA acted like the NHL, then Aaron Rodgers would be day to day with an UBI, and Gordon Hayward would be day to day with a LBI.

 

[Pred303]

not much real hockey talk anymore, used to be so different after every game.

 

[triggrman]

Hoping Freddy hockey moves up a line. He has way more offensive instinct.

I'm also not convinced Aberg's skill translates.

 

[NoNecksCurse]

aberg doesn't do anything for me. i am convinced he will not cut it in nashville. fiala has to quit trying so hard as well. the skills are there but 2 lonely assists (both in wild philly game on the power play) is all he has. we have to have more from someone who was accounted to produce as a 2nd line scoring winger.

we looked good last game. but it's hard to tell if colorado will be a dumpster fire again. their record says otherwise.

arvy is gonna be a steal for the money. forsberg as well. 10.25 million between the two in cap hit. i doubt you could find a better tandem in the league (not on an ELC) that produces as they do. not to mention, we rely on them as much as anyone does. if our first line fails to produce, bad results follow. that must change once the season gets into second gear.

finally, johansen.. he got paid and that's great for him. i would like to see a killer instinct from him and score some goals. he passes up potential opportunities on game to game basis. he is our playmaker but he has the hands and body to be physical down low and pot some goals. 4 assists in 6 games and only 1 assist in the past 3 games. all 3 games have been against central division rivals. granted, we were 2-0-1 in the past 3 but the point remains.

simmonds could also be out tonight against philly. that would be a pretty big loss for them. ill take all the help we can get on the road.

 

[Preds Partisan]

I agree about Aberg, he's looking like a 4A player.

 

[NSH615]

aberg doesn't do anything for me. i am convinced he will not cut it in nashville. fiala has to quit trying so hard as well. the skills are there but 2 lonely assists (both in wild philly game on the power play) is all he has. we have to have more from someone who was accounted to produce as a 2nd line scoring winger.

we looked good last game. but it's hard to tell if colorado will be a dumpster fire again. their record says otherwise.

arvy is gonna be a steal for the money. forsberg as well. 10.25 million between the two in cap hit. i doubt you could find a better tandem in the league (not on an ELC) that produces as they do. not to mention, we rely on them as much as anyone does. if our first line fails to produce, bad results follow. that must change once the season gets into second gear.

finally, johansen.. he got paid and that's great for him. i would like to see a killer instinct from him and score some goals. he passes up potential opportunities on game to game basis. he is our playmaker but he has the hands and body to be physical down low and pot some goals. 4 assists in 6 games and only 1 assist in the past 3 games. all 3 games have been against central division rivals. granted, we were 2-0-1 in the past 3 but the point remains.

simmonds could also be out tonight against philly. that would be a pretty big loss for them. ill take all the help we can get on the road.

We have to have more skill around him. Look at how Neal's production dropped when he was placed on that line vs the first line the year or two before. You can't put a player on the 2nd line, then put 3rd/4th liners with him and expect high production.

As to Aberg...He should have been traded 2 or 3 years ago.

 

[Pred303]

This is more like it, real hockey talk. valid points/worries.

and yeah, i am worried about both aberg and fiala because we need them to be 15-20 goal guys or the offense is gonna sputter. preds33 makes a great point about their linemates though. these guys need an offensive centerman and linemates. they need a playmaking centerman and other than johansen we simply don't have one. the point about neal is one i've said over and over when people criticized his dropoff in goal scoring last year. a sniper needs a playmaker. once we moved him away from johansen/forsberg (remember he had 10 goals in the first 20 games he played last year before that move). then he had ribeiro for the next 20-30 games before ribeiro blew up. after that he had jarnkrok/fisher. guys that simply aren't playmaking passing centermen. that's why he didn't score 30-35 with us last year, not that he personally played any different.

ultimately i think we will have to break up the forsberg-johansen-arvy line to spread talent to the second line. i really think we could move arvy and it wouldn't change his game much and maybe an aberg/fiala would prosper on that top line. not sure we know about aberg until he's given a better centerman, but i admit it's not looking like i hoped.

our lack of depth on the right side is also a factor here.. arvy, smith, aberg, watson... some talent here, but not enough.. almost forces us to play a kid like fiala on his offhand side, which is just something else for him to have to figure out.

 

[triggrman]

I still want to see Hartnell - Sissons - Watson, that's some decent skill with a lot of grit.
I want to see Fiala - Gaudreau - Smith together. It's not perfect but I think Gaudreau has more offensive potential than Jarnkrok. That of course would leave Jarnkrok with McLeod which sounds like a root canal, and you can't play Aberg with those two so you would need to go with Salomaki.

Scoring outside the top 6 right now, is awful, really outside the top 4.

 

[Pred303]

i would be willing to see if those lines work

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

I still want to see Hartnell - Sissons - Watson, that's some decent skill with a lot of grit.
I want to see Fiala - Gaudreau - Smith together. It's not perfect but I think Gaudreau has more offensive potential than Jarnkrok. That of course would leave Jarnkrok with McLeod which sounds like a root canal, and you can't play Aberg with those two so you would need to go with Salomaki.

Scoring outside the top 6 right now, is awful, really outside the top 4.

I like that Sissons line. I don't expect miracles from Watson but think he has some better offensive instincts and ability than is being utilized. Him and Soissons would be great on the forecheck as well.

I like the idea of Smith with Fiala. Smith's speed creates a lot of chances and you put him with a guy that can finish in Fiala and it may pay some dividends (e.g. Sissons' goal the other night).

 

[glenngineer]

Fiala, Smith, Hartnell and Aberg are not the problems here. With Bonino between Hartnell and Aberg they were generating chances shift after shift. Fiala and Smith did the same the other night against Colorado. Both lines have driven the play in many games this year, just not in the same game.

What's been the constant when they don't drive the play? Anyone? Want to venture a guess where I'm going with this? Two words, Calle Jarnkrok. He does not make lines better that he plays on, he actually hurts their play. Sissons centered Smith and Fiala the other night and they drove the play. Aberg and Hartnell were non-existent with Jarnkrok between them.

If Jarnkrok is as good as everyone says he is, especially his hockey IQ, why does he not score more? Wouldn't he know where to be to set up good offensive chances for himself or his linemates? I don't see that in his game. He needs great players around him to elevate his game to the 40 point level - see Johansen/Forsberg from two years ago. He is not physical. He's not an elite penalty killer. He's not great in the dot. Yeah, he's got a great contract but so freaking what.

It was a mistake letting Neal walk as we had another year of him at the very least. The only reason I can see why he was left unprotected was he was a problem in the locker room. Other than that, losing him to keep a borderline 3rd line center was asinine. You can always find a guy like Jarnkrok in free agency, always. While we would've ended up losing Neal after this year anyway, he would've provided some insurance for some of the guys who were unknown entities as they learned to produce at this level.

Watch any line that has Jarnkrok and watch the players on his wings. It's like they go there for a place to die because he kills any offensive flow for his line. Just not seeing it with this kid and while people complain about Fiala and Aberg, Jarnkrok is older, been in the league longer and should be producing as well but he isn't yet no one calls him out on it. He's a POS player in my very straight forward opinion.