Post-Game Talk: 10/8 Rangers @ Hertl. And some other guys

[Kitten Mittons]

I hope Mueller works out as well!

Nah, he'll bust. Unless he hits puberty and grows some muscle. He might be another Vlasic. Sure looks like him.

 

[Gene Parmesan]

I saw a different angle on NHL on the fly on Stuart's hit..he didn't lead with an elbow...it was high though.

 

[RainbowDash]

I saw a different angle on NHL on the fly on Stuart's hit..he didn't lead with an elbow...it was high though.

Yeah, not an elbow.

Roughing would have been the correct call.

 

[Gene Parmesan]

Unless our coach with his Burish-mancrush has his way, Sheppard will look really good when Havlat and Torres return and he gets some stud linemates (nevertheless, his line should improve from Sheppard-Desi-McCarthy).

Too bad T-mac will never do it, but in theory:

Hertl-Thornton-Burns
Marleau-Couture-Havlat
Torres-Pavelski-Kennedy
Nieto-Sheppard-Wingels
13th forward Desjardins
14th forward Burish

Desi is doing work...hes not coming out of the line up.

 

[ChompChomp]

Desi is doing work...hes not coming out of the line up.

Just making the point of how stacked the lineup is, and how, when fully healthy, Burish shouldn't be in it (and Sheppard should, in theory, end up with better linemates). Double especially (As to benching Burish) come playoff time.

 

[wraith985]

If Nieto keeps up this level of play, I actually think Sheppard is the odd one out. Desi and Wingels are better for fourth line duties than Shep, and odds are Tmac will want to use Burish on a regular basis as well (as much as I strongly disagree with that).

Hertl-Thornton-Burns
Marleau-Couture-Havlat
Torres-Pavelski-Kennedy
Wingels-Desjardins-Burish
Nieto

is how I see it. McCarthy the eternal plug back to the Woo and Sheppard with no good place to slot in the lineup unless injuries happen.

EDIT: It would probably be better for Nieto's development if he went back to Worcester and Sheppard stayed on as the 13th forward, but if Matty continues to play as well as he has thus far it'll be tough to justify that.

 

[OrrNumber4]

To play devil's advocate, you can see issues on the goals.

Goal 1 was all Desjardins.
Goal 2 came off Boyle/Thornton's transition-creating ability; 98/100 you want Hertl hustling on the backcheck, not floating near the blueline on the off-chance that there will be a turnover.
Goal 3 was nice hands by Hertl, but generated by a fine shot from Demers; Hertl was just cleaning up the garbage in front.
Goal 4 doesn't come unless Demers makes that beautiful pass to Hertl.

 

[Paka Ono]

Stuart's hit doesn't look that bad from this angle - http://video.tsn.ca/?dl=nhl-latest/latest/1/0/1020112/clip/369

 

[wraith985]

Stuart's hit doesn't look that bad from this angle - http://video.tsn.ca/?dl=nhl-latest/latest/1/0/1020112/clip/369

He blew it, and then he blew it again! Teenage Mutant Ninja Hertl, TSN man.

 

[Gene Parmesan]

Just making the point of how stacked the lineup is, and how, when fully healthy, Burish shouldn't be in it (and Sheppard should, in theory, end up with better linemates). Double especially (As to benching Burish) come playoff time.

What has Sheppard done to deserve better linemates that Desi hasn't? Desi is an ideal 4th liner..he grinds, kills penalties, fights etc. Sheppard would be the odd man out

 

[WTFetus]

To play devil's advocate, you can see issues on the goals.

Goal 1 was all Desjardins.
Goal 2 came off Boyle/Thornton's transition-creating ability; 98/100 you want Hertl hustling on the backcheck, not floating near the blueline on the off-chance that there will be a turnover.
Goal 3 was nice hands by Hertl, but generated by a fine shot from Demers; Hertl was just cleaning up the garbage in front.
Goal 4 doesn't come unless Demers makes that beautiful pass to Hertl.

To play devil's advocate, all you'd really have to do is mention his >40sh%.

I disagree with the evaluations too. You could argue for his first two goals of the season (weak backhand and one deflecting off his body), but his last 3 goals today were very skilled. The finishes were greater than the set-ups in those.

 

[magic school bus]

Hockey's Future only rated Mueller as a 7.5C, so he'll probably be an All-Star.

 

[KirbyDots]

Nieto is a scorer and should be in the top 9 if he earns it. Torres-Desi-Wingels is basically a third line, super tough hard hitting line. That would give us the equivalent of two 1st lines and 2nd and a 3rd. That there is a cup team, deeper than the Hawks even.

Hertl-Thornton-Burns
Marleau-Couture-Havlat
Nieto-Pavelski-Kennedy
Torres-Desjardins-Wingels
Shep

 

[Tkachuk4MVP]

To play devil's advocate, you can see issues on the goals.

Goal 1 was all Desjardins.
Goal 2 came off Boyle/Thornton's transition-creating ability; 98/100 you want Hertl hustling on the backcheck, not floating near the blueline on the off-chance that there will be a turnover.
Goal 3 was nice hands by Hertl, but generated by a fine shot from Demers; Hertl was just cleaning up the garbage in front.
Goal 4 doesn't come unless Demers makes that beautiful pass to Hertl.

I know it's a devil's advocate post but I think you're selling the kid short. Plus it's nice to have a player who can actually FINISH these great set ups. We've got enough two-way playmakers on this team.

 

[wraith985]

I think we can all agree that this is a very good problem to have. Frankly, I'm surprised that Nieto is as far along as he seems to be, so I'm expecting some dropoff as time goes on. That might be enough to get him sent back to Worcester to develop some more, while Sheppard stays on in San Jose. If only TMac's man crush on Burish wasn't around to complicate things, this would all be so simple...

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

To play devil's advocate, you can see issues on the goals.

Goal 1 was all Desjardins.
Goal 2 came off Boyle/Thornton's transition-creating ability; 98/100 you want Hertl hustling on the backcheck, not floating near the blueline on the off-chance that there will be a turnover.
Goal 3 was nice hands by Hertl, but generated by a fine shot from Demers; Hertl was just cleaning up the garbage in front.
Goal 4 doesn't come unless Demers makes that beautiful pass to Hertl.

We all know every goal wasn't all him, but what we can see that makes us happy is he is enjoying the ride, he scored 4 ****ing goals, and they're all having a great time. I'm honestly more excited to see that he is back checking so well and making other small things happen offensively. He'll only score 25-30 goals max this year but he will probably win the Calder and stay in the NHL. I'm just excited to see both he and Nieto look like they fit. I'm shocked to see how well Nieto has played. Hopefully Nieto keeps it up, Hertl is obviously a lock.

 

[The Nemesis]

To play devil's advocate, you can see issues on the goals.

Goal 1 was all Desjardins.
Goal 2 came off Boyle/Thornton's transition-creating ability; 98/100 you want Hertl hustling on the backcheck, not floating near the blueline on the off-chance that there will be a turnover.
Goal 3 was nice hands by Hertl, but generated by a fine shot from Demers; Hertl was just cleaning up the garbage in front.
Goal 4 doesn't come unless Demers makes that beautiful pass to Hertl.

To play Devil's Devil's Advocate:

Who cares. This was Hertl's night.

 

[ChubbChubby]

TMac sounded kind of pissed in the post game when asked about the fourth goal, saying something along the lines of "Hertl is innocent out there, doesn't know anything, and doesn't know what league he's in."

I hope I just read it the wrong way because stifling a young player's creativity like that would be terrible. It's a game for crying out loud, let the 19-year-old kid have some fun.

 

[glennzky]

Based on what I've seen so far, I think Havlat is out of a job. He's injured too often and overpaid. Nieto and Hertl have passed by him on the depth chart.

Vigneault is still the drama queen. Stuart did not elbow Nash in the head and he didn't leave his feet as Vigneault claimed.

I think Nash left the game because he didn't want anymore to do with the blowout. Or perhaps Vigneault kept him out because he wants to make a case to suspend Stuart as payback for the Sharks causing him to lose his job in Vancouver. Shanaban likes to suspend when a player is injured and ignore or give a fine when a player isn't injured.

 

[glennzky]

To play devil's advocate, you can see issues on the goals.

Goal 1 was all Desjardins.
Goal 2 came off Boyle/Thornton's transition-creating ability; 98/100 you want Hertl hustling on the backcheck, not floating near the blueline on the off-chance that there will be a turnover.
Goal 3 was nice hands by Hertl, but generated by a fine shot from Demers; Hertl was just cleaning up the garbage in front.
Goal 4 doesn't come unless Demers makes that beautiful pass to Hertl.

Yeah, but he still had to go to the net and finish. It wasn't like the puck bounced off him and in. Give credit where it is due.

 

[Juxtaposer]

To play devil's advocate, you can see issues on the goals.

Goal 1 was all Desjardins.
Goal 2 came off Boyle/Thornton's transition-creating ability; 98/100 you want Hertl hustling on the backcheck, not floating near the blueline on the off-chance that there will be a turnover.
Goal 3 was nice hands by Hertl, but generated by a fine shot from Demers; Hertl was just cleaning up the garbage in front.
Goal 4 doesn't come unless Demers makes that beautiful pass to Hertl.

You have to be ******** me. You could make an argument like this for every single goal in the NHL.

 

[SactoShark]

TMac sounded kind of pissed in the post game when asked about the fourth goal, saying something along the lines of "Hertl is innocent out there, doesn't know anything, and doesn't know what league he's in."

I hope I just read it the wrong way because stifling a young player's creativity like that would be terrible. It's a game for crying out loud, let the 19-year-old kid have some fun.

In that case, I hope guys like Hertl and Yakupov never realize what league they're playing in.

But if I were to know the koala's comments better, I would assume he meant that Hertl was playing beyond what is expected of him. Just a guess.

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

Based on what I've seen so far, I think Havlat is out of a job. He's injured too often and overpaid. Nieto and Hertl have passed by him on the depth chart.

Vigneault is still the drama queen. Stuart did not elbow Nash in the head and he didn't leave his feet as Vigneault claimed.

I think Nash left the game because he didn't want anymore to do with the blowout. Or perhaps Vigneault kept him out because he wants to make a case to suspend Stuart as payback for the Sharks causing him to lose his job in Vancouver. Shanaban likes to suspend when a player is injured and ignore or give a fine when a player isn't injured.

Nieto is not proven. He has played 3 NHL games. Havlat is still a ridiculously important fit on the team and a big piece of the puzzle.

Do you guys not remember the Marleau-Couture-Havlat line before Marty got hurt? That line was about as good as the current Hertl-Thornton-Burns line has been. Havlat is still really really important to this team. Nieto will probably just be sent down, honestly, unless he continues to play like he did tonight. Burish will always play if healthy, and Desjardins probably will too. Nieto will be sent down and Shelpard will be scratched to make room

 

[Negatively Positive]

You have to be ******** me. You could make an argument like this for every single goal in the NHL.

What are you talking about? Other players score their goals going coast to coast getting by 5 players with no help.

 

[ChubbChubby]

In that case, I hope guys like Hertl and Yakupov never realize what league they're playing in.

But if I were to know the koala's comments better, I would assume he meant that Hertl was playing beyond what is expected of him. Just a guess.

Well the question was "what did you think of Hertl's fourth goal?" or something like that and his first reply was "well it went in so it's fine" instead of giving him props or credit.

And then it went from there. The tone just wasn't a positive one.