GDT: Pens at Carolina

[The Stranger]

It was Peters. If a guy who's gotten 70 a year for everybody playing with everybody on good teams and bad all of a sudden drops off the map, and then immediately rebounds. Who else can it be? Ooh, he was lazy! Ooh, he gave up! People were saying that about him every season. And he was putting up 70 during his 'lazy quitter' seasons.

Yes, look at the team about 7 years ago. Eric would put up 70+points and next highest player wouldn't crack 50. This was the era when Scotty Bowman said the Hurricanes, to paraphrase, "have two...maybe three forwards". Yet folks would complain about his leadership and call him lazy. Obviously you could find instances where he would make lazy plays, but it was clearly the wrong focus for the fan's angst.

However, I would not put nearly as much blame on BP for his dip in production as you. It was not highly publicized, but he played the 2nd half of the 2014-15 season with a broken foot...then 2015-16 was his worst season. His point production that season was better under BP that season than it was under AV. I think he simply had some injury accumulation...maybe some mental fatigue...and just had a down period in his career...it's not uncommon.

 

[AD Skinner]

Had Eric Staal not spectacularly busted in NY and failed to get an offer from the canes he would not be the player he is today. If he had come back to Carolina he would be the same lazy try-the-same-stuff-move-every-time player he had come to be here. He's playing so well now because of the chip on his shoulder he got from not getting an offer from the canes. Of course I have no way of proving this but I 100% believe it

 

[tarheelhockey]

Oh boy, are we going to have to deal with revisionist Eric Staal history where he didn’t really give up and float mindlessly through shifts and games and seasons?

 

[geehaad]

Obviously you could find instances where he would make lazy plays, but it was clearly the wrong focus for the fan's angst.

This is such bullshit.

 

[geehaad]

Oh boy, are we going to have to deal with revisionist Eric Staal history where he didn’t really give up and float mindlessly through shifts and games and seasons?

 

[The Stranger]

Oh boy, are we going to have to deal with revisionist Eric Staal history where he didn’t really give up and float mindlessly through shifts and games and seasons?

This is such bull****.

Not revisionist history, just a minority opinion.

Also, get a room...again.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Not revisionist history, just a minority opinion.

Also, get a room...again.

You’re inviting blowback with a line like “you could find instances where he made lazy plays”.

I could find “instances” where Tomas Kaberle made lazy plays. I could find long highlight reels where Eric Staal didn’t show up for entire weeks of the season.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Yeah, his reasons for it are is own, but there's no doubt that something changed for Staal over the years that caused him to play lackadaisically far too often.

 

[NotOpie]

I'm irrationally frustrated with this team at the moment, but this rebuild is struggling.

Competent goalie and serious scoring forward (w/size would be a bonus) immediately changes the tenor of this team. Maybe not enough, but it does allow for slotting of guys closer to where they belong. The fact is the rebuild was leaning heavily on Darling being "at least league average" and that our pretty good players played, you know, pretty good (Faulk, Skinner, Rask, for example).

Last night was more about talent than it was about effort.

I was at the game....it was a negative effort event. Even so, it started off pretty well, albeit sloppy. Then the sloppiness got so bad that the Pens took over and took advantage at every turn.

Passes were bad and when they weren't, they were mishandled. Shots went awry...it was the epitome of a shit show against one of the hottest, most talented teams in the league. The Hurricanes would have had to play their very best game to skate with Crosby and Co. last night, instead, they brought their D minus game. Sure Jordan Staal was not in the line up, but that effort was pure embarrassment.

While I've come to agree with many of you that feel this team doesn't have the talent to compete, I still feel we are pretty darn close. When the guys play the way they are capable, we are competitive with almost anybody. However, efforts like last night may fall on the team, but I'll say this again, this feels strangely like a team who has tuned out their coach.

 

[AD Skinner]

I didn't see it, but if the impressions I read here are truly indicative of peters' milquetoast non-speech before the game, there's not much to tune out at this point.

 

[A Star is Burns]

Not revisionist history, just a minority opinion.

Also, get a room...again.

As I said to Kev last night, you're mostly wasting your time on this board defending Eric. He wasn't a perfect player by any means, but I pointed out a time or two that those who wanted to run him out of town the most would see how difficult it is to come by a player that productive for as long as he was. And go figure, it's true.

But seriously, when some are so certain he gave up with one bad season with a very questionable coach, and some are so certain he would have been bad had he returned here, in spite of the fact that he's torn it up since, you'll never convince them otherwise. By the end, I was ready to move on, but just from the perspective of not having to deal with all the crap that came from posters about him.

And you can call revisionist history, but there were some that mostly defended him over the years, myself being one.

 

[The Stranger]

You’re inviting blowback with a line like “you could find instances where he made lazy plays”.

I could find “instances” where Tomas Kaberle made lazy plays. I could find long highlight reels where Eric Staal didn’t show up for entire weeks of the season.

I don't mind blowback. This board benefits from unpopular opinions...without them it's a boring echo-chamber.

On a scale of player laziness, 1 to 10, Rod Brind'Amour being a 1 and Pavel Brendl being a 10, I would put Eric at a 3. During his time with the Canes he was top 10 in the league in scoring, top 5 in games played, and averaged 20+ minutes a night. It doesn't make sense to call a player with these stats lazy. Highly talented, hard-working ironman is more apt.

I watched every game he played with the Canes a know why people would get frustrated with him...however, I would argue that anchoring on specific lazy plays he had and calling him an overall lazy player is revisionist history.

 

[GoldiFox]

Staal was the drafted face of the franchise for a decade. That franchise didn't even offer him another contract and he ended up taking peanuts in Minnesota. That's pretty damning as far as what the actual GM and hockey personnel thought of him, IMO.

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

Staal was the drafted face of the franchise for over a decade. That franchise didn't even offer him another contract and he ended up taking peanuts in Minnesota. That's pretty damning, IMO.

He looked like he was done. Unless Peters' system makes centers slower than they actually are, I don't think that was the problem. The thought was Edler had messed up his knee permanently. I guess Adrian Peterson gave Eric some of those sweet deer antlers or whatever.

As for revisionist Staal history, he was lazy, often when the team wasn't playing well. But I never agreed when people turned that into blame on him for that particular sunk season, rather than, say, the horribad depth and AHL caliber defense.

 

[Bub]

I suggest we all follow a different team. The Knights look super fun!

Heresy, I know, but I've been watching a lot of Islanders games lately. Lots of scoring, on both sides. It's like 80s hockey, but without the line brawls.

 

[My Special Purpose]

Yeah, his reasons for it are is own, but there's no doubt that something changed for Staal over the years that caused him to play lackadaisically far too often.

He got out of Carolina.

I'm seriously starting to buy into the whole "hockey wasteland" thing. We're the last stop before being out of the NHL. We're the Sacramento Kings. The San Diego Padres. The Cleveland Browns.

Perfectly explains Faulk and Skinner this season, too. The minute they get to a real team, they'll be back, too.

It's a losing culture and it's not going to change anytime soon.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

If we're bringing back arguments about players that were wronged by this organization, I propose a Babchuk discussion.

 

[The Faulker 27]

If we're bringing back arguments about players that were wronged by this organization, I propose a Babchuk discussion.

The players made millions. f*** that. I've been wronged for a decade. I want my time and $$ back.

 

[Ole Gil]

I don't mind blowback. This board benefits from unpopular opinions...without them it's a boring echo-chamber.

On a scale of player laziness, 1 to 10, Rod Brind'Amour being a 1 and Pavel Brendl being a 10, I would put Eric at a 3. During his time with the Canes he was top 10 in the league in scoring, top 5 in games played, and averaged 20+ minutes a night. It doesn't make sense to call a player with these stats lazy. Highly talented, hard-working ironman is more apt.

I watched every game he played with the Canes a know why people would get frustrated with him...however, I would argue that anchoring on specific lazy plays he had and calling him an overall lazy player is revisionist history.

If it added up, it wouldn't be so absurd. If Eric could be lazy and score 70 sleepwalking through half a season, why would he only score 33 for Peters? And why was his defensive game and possession game the best of his career the season he was giving the least effort ever?

At some point, when the other person is with their new family in a mansion eating steak, and you're in a dumpster picking cheese off from discarded Whopper wrappers for dinner, you have to question whether THEY were really the problem in the relationship.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

You're just like management. Accept mediocrity. Quit on each other. Use the word "unacceptable" but don't mean it. Sit and watch as Rome burns. I'm surprised you're not RF's advisor.

There's a difference between losing at home to the Penguins and what happened tonight. And if you can't see that, I suggest you try a different sport.

And you wonder why people on here react to you the way they do? Actually, you probably know, but don't care and maybe even revel in it.

 

[DaveG]

I'm not normally one to criticize Peters, but for the love of f***, if he knew ahead of time that Jordan wasn't going to be available last night why the ever loving f*** did he start Ward instead of Darling?

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

I'm not normally one to criticize Peters, but for the love of ****, if he knew ahead of time that Jordan wasn't going to be available last night why the ever loving **** did he start Ward instead of Darling?

Yeah, I was all for him starting Ward against the Pens before hearing about Staal missing the game. On the flipside, it may not matter. Without Staal, on a back to back, against a team with speed, where they can dictate the matchups and with a team where the coach says he "wore some guys out" last night? I'm not sure it matters who will be in net tonight unfortunately.

 

[Joe McGrath]

I'm not normally one to criticize Peters, but for the love of ****, if he knew ahead of time that Jordan wasn't going to be available last night why the ever loving **** did he start Ward instead of Darling?

I choose to assume he found out late enough in the day where Cam was already wherever he needed to be to start last night mentally and physically. Goalies are weirdos.

It’s tough for me to assume that though because both Peters and Francis seem to know about as much as I do about goaltending.

 

[What the Faulk]

WAIT. Jordan Staal didn't play last night? Well that explains a lot. I was there but I was only like half watching the game. Had no idea he was out.

Sorry guys this was my fault. I've now seen them get outscored 16-3 in games I've gone to with an opposing fan. Luckily there's only one more Rangers/Red Wings/Penguins home game this year.

 

[bleedgreen]

Staal wasn’t talented enough to carry a team by himself, and he got too old to engage beast mode. Or he stopped wanting to. Or whatever reason you want to assign to it. Regardless he wasn’t doing it anymore for us, as well as us never having enough quality around him. Putting any of it on Peters is comical. Staal’s play flat out declined.

I don’t want him back. We need to fully move away from the Staal era altogether I think. I don’t care if he did score more now that he found whatever was holding him back. I’ll never believe that was Peters.