Post-Game Talk: We suck (Well, the Players, coaches, management, Ice Caretakers)

My Special Purpose

Registered User
Apr 8, 2008
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The guys in Charlotte aren't the solution right now. I don't think replacing Kruger with Wallmark makes us a markedly better team. Neither does getting Foegele 12 minutes a night.

In order for us to actually win enough to make any kind of run, Skinner and Faulk -- and Lindholm, and Rask, and Slavin, and Hanifin, and Ryan, and Stempniak -- have to play, and have to play a lot better. Maybe sitting them one or two games gets rid of any complacency holding them back, but in the end, they have to play for us to win. So I get why Peters is in a jam. If Faulk's icetime goes down, somebody's has to go up, and we don't have anyone who deserves it.
 

Joe McGrath

Registered User
Oct 29, 2009
18,055
37,805
That was brutal, even by Luke's standards.
And it was totally on point.

Also, I'm intrigued by Peters' comments about having a new look by Tuesday.

A month into that new contract, Rask is making Francis look awfully smart. It’s not much of a surprise that he’s playing at a $4 million level. His numbers before weren’t far off. It’s that his performance so far offers every indication that he’s going to continue to improve, which could potentially make his contract one of the better bargains in hockey for a long time.

That’s what Luke said about Rask’s contract last season. Now Francis gave him the deal inexplicably. That sanctimonious twat can go f*** himself.
 

Canes

Registered User
Oct 31, 2017
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An Oblate Spheroid
A month into that new contract, Rask is making Francis look awfully smart. It’s not much of a surprise that he’s playing at a $4 million level. His numbers before weren’t far off. It’s that his performance so far offers every indication that he’s going to continue to improve, which could potentially make his contract one of the better bargains in hockey for a long time.

That’s what Luke said about Rask’s contract last season. Now Francis gave him the deal inexplicably. That sanctimonious **** can go **** himself.
I don't really like Luke, and yeah it's BS he appears to have reversed his opinion on the Rask contract, but everything he wrote about Francis today is true. We'll have to deal with it. Or not, I guess. Anything to avoid the dead, rotting elephant carcass in the room, amirite
 

AeroFishOne

The Curriest of the Curry’s
Feb 5, 2010
1,323
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I’ll probably get a lot of ‘ish for this but I’d love to see what these kids would do with a coach like Keenan, torterella or Hitchcock. Probably be a disaster but it would be interesting to watch. I like Mad Peters with what he had to say. I’m just tired of the non Chalant attitude about everything this team displays.
 
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Jun 21, 2016
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I’ll probably get a lot of ‘ish for this but I’d love to see what these kids would do with a coach like Keenan, torterella or Hitchcock. Probably be a disaster but it would be interesting to watch. I like Mad Peters with what e had to say. I’m just tired of the non Chalant attitude about everything this team displays.
Torts or Hitch maybe, but f***ing Keenan? [MOD]
 
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Negan4Coach

Fantastic and Stochastic
Aug 31, 2017
5,783
14,668
Raleigh, NC
I’ll probably get a lot of ‘ish for this but I’d love to see what these kids would do with a coach like Keenan, torterella or Hitchcock. Probably be a disaster but it would be interesting to watch. I like Mad Peters with what he had to say. I’m just tired of the non Chalant attitude about everything this team displays.


Torts would have been the perfect choice to break these soft Millennial pricks to the saddle. Sadly, we had that chance but didnt take it.

Since I joined here I've said that this problem with the team is a failure of leadership and organizational culture from top to bottom. I hope Dundon treats this place like Stalin did the Red Army in the 1930s
 

zetajerk

Registered User
Jan 1, 2015
738
589
I was there today and Friday, and I have never been so f***ing bored at a hockey game. They're like a dead fish handshake. They sucked the enthusiasm out of me this weekend. Then I remembered I have tickets to this Friday, Saturday, and the following Friday. Just f***ing win again.
 

Bub

I like griping
Jul 5, 2006
2,080
5,790
Maine
I was there today and Friday, and I have never been so ****ing bored at a hockey game. They're like a dead fish handshake. They sucked the enthusiasm out of me this weekend. Then I remembered I have tickets to this Friday, Saturday, and the following Friday. Just ****ing win again.

Just don't leave those tickets on the dashboard of your car -- someone might break the window and leave you some more.
 

Boom Boom Apathy

I am the Professor. Deal with it!
Sep 6, 2006
48,174
97,099
So I sat there and watched the team today and tried to figure out “what’s missing.” My perception - yes, the forwards lack finish, creativity, overall skill. Yes, yes they do. The addition of Necas hopefully next year, the improvement of Aho, and perhaps a few of the Charlotte players breaking into the lineup will certainly help. However, I don’t think that’s the most pressing issue.

What I saw today, and if anyone backs me up or contradicts me that’s cool, I think all of you probably watch more than me....but what I saw today was a hesitancy on the part of every single defenseman to move the puck quickly up the ice, whether it be by pass or by skating it at least to the red line. The opposing teams can choke the neutral zone because they don’t have anything to fear from the Canes’ back end. If the passes are completed, the forwards have no speed crossing the blue line. What ends up happening is the inevitable dump and chase, and while they do cause the occasional turnover, there has to be the ability to mix it up. You can’t do the same thing over and over.

And I started thinking about it more, and really, who on the defense is really skilled, really creative? No one. Faulk has his shot, Hanifin can skate it out of trouble (but his decision making? Suspect), but the rest, when pressured, have nothing that scares the other team. They all have their strengths and I do like each individual player, but as a unit i really think they’re lacking.

TL:DR? I used to think trading Faulk for a game changing forward was the answer. I’m off that now. I think a change on the blue line is necessary. I don’t dislike any of them, I just don’t think this team will be able to progress without some more offense from the blue line.

I think you hit on the symptoms, but I'm not sure about the cause of the disease. Other than the Staal line, the other lines (Ryan-Skinner in particular) can't play well enough in their own zone to even allow an effective breakout from the defensemen. Then the only 2 guys with a decent chance of making moving the puck quickly are maybe Hanifin and Slavin.

Skinner is just atrocious in his own zone and 9 time out of 10 when the puck comes to him, it goes right back in the zone. Williams has made way to many "drop" type passes from the wall to nobody that ends up in a turn-over. TT is afraid of his own shadow so unless he gets the puck in some sort of open space, he loses it.

So is it coaching? Piss poor play in their own zone from forwards that never lets them get any sort of flow to start with? Poor ability by defensemen to move the puck quickly? All of the above? I think you are right on that what happens in the end is a clogged neutral zone and poorly executed dump and chase, with the exception of Staal line, but I think there are a few contributors to that.
 

tarheelhockey

Offside Review Specialist
Feb 12, 2010
84,977
137,333
Bojangles Parking Lot
I don’t think our defensemen are particularly bad at breaking the puck out. Slavin is about as sure-handed as it gets when making the first pass, barring a once-a-week brain fart. Hanifin has the athletic ability to skate it out by himself, even though he doesn’t often do it for “system” reasons. TVR is good with the puck for a bottom pair guy. Faulk has average ability but questionable hockey sense. Only Pesce and Fleury really seem below-average at breakouts, from an athletic/brains standpoint.

The problem is up front, IMO. We flat out don’t have forwards who can skate with the puck. Aho is pretty good and at least an intelligent player, TT is probably the best on the team in terms of athleticism. After that? Skinner and his endless turnovers, Williams who is crafty but limited in his abilities, Staal who is just a mule offensively, Ryan who’s effective in a very limited role, Lindholm who’s becoming anonymous very quickly, and then a bunch of guys whose best role is looking for opportunities on the forecheck.

So, basically, there are two guys who can reliably handle a breakout pass and skate it into the zone without a turnover. And those guys play on the same line. Who can blame the defensemen for being hesitant and trying to slow down the play? The alternative, from their standpoint, is to watch Rask make his 18th turnover and then have 3 opposing forwards coming over the red line at full speed. I wouldn’t make that pass with confidence either if I were them. Dump and chase, thank you very much.

This is one of those areas where I’m not sure whether it’s on Peters or not. On one hand I don’t think this team can be successful if they don’t play with tempo. They are not built to win a grinding, slow paced game. On the other hand, they don’t have the horses to win a track meet. The talent just isn’t there. What they’re trying to do is meet in the middle, playing an up-tempo dumping game that creates turnover chances off the forecheck. I don’t think that’s a terrible strategy for the team we have, but at the same time it’s brutal to watch Slavin stand there and wait 5 seconds for everyone to get ready, just to set up a tip-in at the red line.
 

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