Willie Desjardins' comments on SiriusXMNHL today

[CherryToke]

Agree that plus minus is imperfect however when you are the worst player on your team (tied with Vrbata) it can't be ignored. Clearly something - either the player or his deployment - resulted in a massive imbalance in his on ice results, worse than anyone else on the team. And when combined with his CorsiFor numbers it tells a pretty stark picture for Bo's season, outside of scoring. It is certainly foolish to talk about how last season was "good for him" and "accelerating his development". It was a tough season and he'll almost certainly get through it. But if putting a player in a situation where they will struggle then I certainly expect to see Virtanen on the Sedin line playing 20+ minutes a night next year too.

playing a shutdown role with soft floating wingers might have something to do with his struggles. or Maybe everything to do with his struggles.

 

[CanaFan]

playing a shutdown role with soft floating wingers might have something to do with his struggles. or Maybe everything to do with his struggles.

That's my point though. HOW Horvat was used was wrong, unless you subscribe to the theory of putting players in situations to struggle. The poster I was discussing with argued that last year was great for Horvat's development as a "hard minutes shut down C" and that he killed it in his deployment, which is not even close to correct.

 

[CherryToke]

That's my point though. HOW Horvat was used was wrong, unless you subscribe to the theory of putting players in situations to struggle. The poster I was discussing with argued that last year was great for Horvat's development as a "hard minutes shut down C" and that he killed it in his deployment, which is not even close to correct.

oh sorry I agree. His deployment last year is how you ruin a young player.

 

[banme*]

Did the period where horvat tried to pull off end to end dangle fests over and over while floating without the puck happen with baertschi on his line? If so I agree with WD, he was garbage for a while despite the points.

 

[MS]

For his age and usage, Horvat's performance defensively at 5v5 was probably more in the range of "expected" than "bad". I thought the only area he was anywhere near bad was on the penalty kill, where he was atrocious.

To me he looks like a good offensive #2 centre who can possibly develop a respectable defensive game. He was given minutes more like a young Jordan Staal or Sean Couturier though, which seems like a mis-read of talent.

Yup, agreed completely.

 

[Scurr]

IMO the minutes that Horvat played last season were 2nd line minutes. They were the minutes that Kesler and Bonino played previously. Those are the minutes Sutter should be playing. So as long as WD realizes this (which admittedly isn't a given) I don't have a problem with Sutter as the 2nd line centre.

 

[Hit the post]

So as long as WD realizes this (which admittedly isn't a given)

I not so sure he'll ever realize this.

 

[BobbyJazzLegs]

bo was always trying to do way too much in his own end to make up for the junk around him. got caught out of position a lot because of it

 

[VanJack]

Every year in the pre-season TSN does a panel show, predicting which NHL coach will walk the plank first...they're usually unerringly accurate...had both Todd Richards and Mike Yeo on the list last year....surely Willie has to be at the top that list this go-around.