Pre-Game Talk: SENS in Buffalo (Snowstorm Edition), Tuesday night 7:00 pm on TSN

[NyQuil]

There are expansion teams that have put up more than a 8.7% on the PP which is what we’ve been running over this streak.

It’s not a talent issue.

We may have talent problems in some parts of our lineup but I don’t think they account for how abysmal our special teams have been.

And again - my issue isn’t so much that they are bad but that I haven’t seen anything new attempted.

 

[BondraTime]

There are expansion teams that have put up more than a 8.7% on the PP which is what we’ve been running over this streak.

It’s not a talent issue.

We may have talent problems in some parts of our lineup but I don’t think they account for how abysmal our special teams have been.

And again - my issue isn’t so much that they are bad but that I haven’t seen anything new attempted.

We overpass through the box.

For the life of me I never understand why we don't utilize 1-timers.

Hold onto the puck, without moving, for way too long.

Force the play around and through the box, never try to penetrate through the seams or get the puck to the slot.

It's baffling to me, it really is.

 

[Viletho]

View attachment 87689
I dont know about you guys, but ive been doing that a lot lately

sincerely i was angry at first.. but not anymore. It is wgat it is. I still love that team. I just hope the set sooner rather than later what's the plan.

Are we still believing for a playoff spot, retool, rebuild.

I hope a retool, play the young player who will be your futur and try to trade the vets who are blackhole.

 

[Viletho]

We overpass through the box.

For the life of me I never understand why we don't utilize 1-timers.

Hold onto the puck, without moving, for way too long.

Force the play around the box, never try to penetrate through the seams or get the puck to the slot.

It's baffling to me, it really is.

This team is bad at one-T and when they do, they miss the net by a miles.

I watch some plays and i feel the footwork is not good at all.

Look at Chabot's goal how he move his geet quickly and open himself ready for the One T. This team is lacking good foot work and are not opening there body to do it so when the puck is coming they are not ready or able to do it.

That is just a obsetvation i made recently.

 

[Cosmix]

Detroit and Vancouver yes, not sure with Minnesota and the Rangers. I don’t watch them enough, the Wild in particular.

No question our PP should be better. Just not sure if copying what other teams do is going to be the solution to our struggling ways.

You can copy them, but the PP will only be as good if you have players with similar skill sets at each position. The PP needs to be designed around the skill sets of the players you have.

 

[Cosmix]

sincerely i was angry at first.. but not anymore. It is wgat it is. I still love that team. I just hope the set sooner rather than later what's the plan.

Are we still believing for a playoff spot, retool, rebuild.

I hope a retool, play the young player who will be your futur and try to trade the vets who are blackhole.

I chose Full Rebuild in the survey, but that would lead to last place finishes for several years. I think there are some players worth keeping and some that should be traded. So a Retool is probably more palatable.

Trade: Burrows, Thompson, Phaneuf, Ryan, Brassard, Wideman, Borowiecki, Oduya (out with the old)

Retain: Stone, Duchene, Dzingel, Hoffman, Ceci, Karlsson, Claesson, Chabot, Harpur (retain the young and the skilled)

In Betweeners: Pageau, Pyatt, Anderson, Condon, Smith

 

[Upgrayedd]

Did Lehner end up with the first Star? That graphic they put up mid game about us being horrific vs old goalies can probably be extended to basically any player who ever played for the team coming back to inevitably torch us, it's uncanny and you can set your watch to it.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

a coach can only coach up to his players’ talents and potentials

Is this our talent and o potential?

 

[TeamRenzo]

Habs fan here, looking at Sens ills objectively. Here are the 'big' problems from my point of view:

1. Bobby Ryan is a 7.5mil hole in the lineup...he's useless.

2. Erik Karlsson is not himself; he was not able to do any training whatsoever in the offseason due to the ankle surgery, and only began skating when season had already started. He never got to do the weights and plyometric training required to get the strength and explosiveness back in his legs after the layoff, and it shows...he's not the same weapon that he normally is. This, of course, affects the rest of the team; opposing defenders not keying on Karlsson as much means guys like Stone and Hoffman are not getting as much room to operate, and they are not getting those golden chances off of highlight-worthy Karlsson rushes.

3. Boucher's 1-3-1 system and coaching style is not well liked by offensive players, and his message has limited shelf life. There's a good chance he has lost part of that room.

4. Turris for Duchene was a terrible trade, as Turris fit into Boucher's system MUCH better than Duchene does.

We're bad this year, but the Sens are every bit as bad if not worse. Better luck next season.

Regarding Boucher's system, the team was playing fine before the trip to Sweden, any notion of losing the dressing room in nonsense. Sure, they weren't tops in the league however they were comfortably in a playoff spot and scoring at a pretty good pace. Something happened and the wheels fell off.

 

[maclean]

This team, amirite guys? Eh?

 

[OgieO]

Unpopular opinion: Karlsson is the reason the pp is bad

He's very slow in his build up and doesn't do a good job quarterbacking the pp to facilitate fast puck movement. He holds on to it too long and that let's defenders get set and think about what his next decision will be, which they can then anticipate easily.

Not just you. He slows the pace waaay down and it kills us. He's not the only reason, but that is a very poor habit of his.

 

[OgieO]

I actually thought last night was progress but perhaps my bar is too low after the past 2 weeks. We changed lanes in the neutral zone a bunch, rather than just dump and try and recover, and it led to some controlled entries and threats to score. Haven't seen much of that this year where it seems GB wants to be a grind it out down low type of offense. I was pleased to see us use the neutral zone better last night.

First goal was terrible, EK cost us his usual goal per game with lazy effort and a brutally selfish penalty (without consequence from coach apparently) by Smith cost us the 3rd. Loser team does loser things to lose but structurally I thought we were significantly better last night. I presume the shot attempts were in our favor by 10 or more.

But ffs, get Chabot back in the lineup ASAP. His kinks are no worse than Harpur and both are better than Oduya. Freddy had a nice game. Top line was a pretty consistent threat - Ryan, Stone and Duchene all looked dangerous.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Ryan played very well last night, that was encouraging, same with Duchene.

Had a good first, I step away after the first a bit and I come back and it's 3-0. How the **** does that happen?!

 

[NyQuil]

I actually thought last night was progress but perhaps my bar is too low after the past 2 weeks. We changed lanes in the neutral zone a bunch, rather than just dump and try and recover, and it led to some controlled entries and threats to score. Haven't seen much of that this year where it seems GB wants to be a grind it out down low type of offense. I was pleased to see us use the neutral zone better last night.

First goal was terrible, EK cost us his usual goal per game with lazy effort and a brutally selfish penalty (without consequence from coach apparently) by Smith cost us the 3rd. Loser team does loser things to lose but structurally I thought we were significantly better last night. I presume the shot attempts were in our favor by 10 or more.

But ffs, get Chabot back in the lineup ASAP. His kinks are no worse than Harpur and both are better than Oduya. Freddy had a nice game. Top line was a pretty consistent threat - Ryan, Stone and Duchene all looked dangerous.

What bugs me is that, when you're in a slump, nothing works.

You have to go overboard to get any kind of results.

You have to work 5 times as hard as the opposition, you have to outshoot them twice or three times over.

It's not enough to just play the same way and hope that things fall your way.

I don't see any desperation at all which is so odd.

 

[sbhatt]

Regarding Boucher's system, the team was playing fine before the trip to Sweden, any notion of losing the dressing room in nonsense. Sure, they weren't tops in the league however they were comfortably in a playoff spot and scoring at a pretty good pace. Something happened and the wheels fell off.

Don't be so sure. Tampa Bay started to struggle partway into Boucher's second season there, and were completely mailing it in by the time the third season started. It's very possible that he and his system have a very short shelf-life.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Don't be so sure. Tampa Bay started to struggle partway into Boucher's second season there, and were completely mailing it in by the time the third season started. It's very possible that he and his system have a very short shelf-life.

Its also very possible that they are all people and that the situation and dynamics in Tampa is different then the situation and dynamics here,.. again.. I am very interested in something along these lines with some depth that would clearly show what is being claimed

 

[NyQuil]

Its also very possible that they are all people and that the situation and dynamics in Tampa is different then the situation and dynamics here,.. again.. I am very interested in something along these lines with some depth that would clearly show what is being claimed

It's still a fascinating coincidence nonetheless.

Just like Andy's good season-bad season thing which has kicked in again.

 

[topshelf15]

Worst group of board playing forwards,in the league.Our fast guys cant win an puck battle to save their lives,and our slow guys never get there in time.....I so miss Alfie...

 

[NyQuil]

Worst group of board playing forwards,in the league.Our fast guys cant win an puck battle to save their lives,and our slow guys never get there in time.....I so miss Alfie...

Our "fast" guys aren't particularly fast.

 

[pzeeman]

Its also very possible that they are all people and that the situation and dynamics in Tampa is different then the situation and dynamics here,.. again.. I am very interested in something along these lines with some depth that would clearly show what is being claimed

+1

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

It's still a fascinating coincidence nonetheless.

Just like Andy's good season-bad season thing which has kicked in again.

Coincidence are fascinating and they make people wonder . if they are coincidences. I find fault with Boucher on his stubbornness for example.. his unwillingness to foster an environment that would see young players , play, learn and contribute ...especially when the vets you are choosing over them are not solid contributors... e.g. White, Chabot vs Burrows, Oduya. Boucher just believes in the experience and he seems to believe in getting more experience in the AHL before playing in the NHL...He is definitely not wishy washy in these beliefs even in the face of extreme pressure and adversity. Is this what has made the Sens play so poorly ... I can't connect those dots.

The system... IMO Boucher has let up on his demand for details concerning the system from last year.. Why? .. It seemed at the beginning of the year it was fine , and the counter attack was really good... Other teams are not perfect.. the claim that they've figured it out and can destroy it shift after shift, game after game I don't buy. The play has changed... Maybe its because of personnel , maybe its lack of execution. maybe its a combination of things.
The Defensive zone coverage.... basic things like cover your man in front of the net... do your job... if your partner is beat you can't go and try to do his job... these are basic things that the players are not executing .. I do not know why .. but to just point the finger at the coach and say .. happened in Tampa .. is way way too simplistic

 

[NyQuil]

Their confidence is tissue-thin right now.

Every mistake leads to visible slumps and eye-rolling and "here we go again" expressions.

The only way out of that is working insanely hard - and yet we still look like the team that is mailing it in.

There is zero desperation, as I said before, and we are at the point of desperation in the season if they want to salvage something.

We've had "players-only" meetings far earlier in slumps in previous incarnations.

I don't get any sense from management, coaching or the players that anything particularly unusual is going on.

 

[topshelf15]

Our "fast" guys aren't particularly fast.

True...We need some size that has speed and skill,in the top 6 . Playing obvious bottom 6 guys like Smith or Burrows,to make up for what we lack just isnt working

 

[danielpalfredsson]

I don't get any sense from management, coaching or the players that anything particularly unusual is going on.

I think Boucher is afraid to push, because he wants it to be him and the players against the world, and not the players against him. I get that indication from his farfetched post game pressers and just the general tone of the things he says.

I'm not in the room, but I could be wrong. But it sure looks to me like the players have quit on Boucher. At this point, what's the path of least resistance? Replacing Boucher, or replacing the players?

 

[NyQuil]

I'm not in the room, but I could be wrong. But it sure looks to me like the players have quit on Boucher. At this point, what's the path of least resistance? Replacing Boucher, or replacing the players?

I've said the same. It's not fair, but it is what it is.