GDT: 12/22/15 - 7:30PM EDT - Vancouver VS Tampa Bay

[HedsUp77Up]

I think we've suspected that for the last month, besides as someone pointed out earlier in this thread, even if we did make the playoffs there isn't anything this team has shown that tells us that they would go anywhere.

I guess I'd just like to believe that, if they did make the playoffs, they'd find some kind of extra gear that would help them to a deep run.

This year is weird and frustrating.

 

[HowYouDrouin]

The concept is simple...

Stralman, man the point, take shots on net and cycle the puck to the half wall and make sure you hold the puck in

Neamestnikov I need you to be able to lug the puck in with speed. Dump and retrieve if needed and win a few puck battles along the wall when it comes to it. Make plays to the open man okay? The open man then makes a choice... pass it or shoot.

Names and Kuch seem to have alright chemistry cycling down low from the dot to the side of the net, but i dont know whether they might get too fancy and not have the strength of someone like cally to get those pucks out when they inevitibaly get hemmed in the corner. although i suppose if names and kuch got enough practice in then maybe they wouldnt get hemmed in the first place?

Stralman... im not so sure about on the pp. he's alright at pinching down low or coming through the slot for a backdoor play (so is hedman) but neither has a bomb, and neither is all that good at feeding stammer. there just seems to be some awkwardness in their handedness too idk. the other thing is though that teams collapse into the center (kinda around marchy) and so theres almost too many players there to have any chance at getting the puck through at all via a bomb from the point. maybe just put garrison there and tell marchy to get ready for a puck to maybe hit him and just keep firing it into that crowd of pkers. if we keep getting 10 pps a game, we should be able to successfully injure all their pkers!

we need a dedicated specialist coach or something. (i know we apparently already got someone??)
does anyone think trading for a stopgap till deangelo is ready is the right move to make? we're losing games because of this, yzerman should probably bite the bullet and admit that waiting for one of the d's to step up (like nesterov shows glimpses of) might cost us a playoff stop.

also, it would be nice if one of the units could just stay the same for a while, maybe they need to get chemistry? they seem to go through the neutral zone like headless chickens, and then stand still when they do get set up. theres almost too much structure because everyone wants to make sure that stamkos gets back to his dedicated spot, meaning that individuals arent willing to act on defenders momentary lapses except for when it would result in a clear lane to get it to stammers wheelhouse. .

 

[DFC]

Having guys that aren't quite suited for PP duty doesn't excuse Cooper from this mess, because, aside from maybe Washington, no team has the perfect guy in every spot. The freakin Toronto Maple Leafs have a top-10 PP in the league. They don't have better PP weapons than we do. What they have is a coach who understands how to take advantage. Same as he did in Detroit. We don't have that.

Otherwise, even if our personnel WAS inept, which is unlikely considering this was last year's #1 offense, our PP would at least be trying new things rather than trying over and over to beat square pegs into round holes. We've been trying the same failed tactics for over two years, just with different players in different spots.

 

[These Are The Days]

Ugh I just don't have the energy tonight. This game pissed me off and I don't even want to talk about it anymore.

 

[DFC]

Ugh I just don't have the energy tonight. This game pissed me off and I don't even want to talk about it anymore.

Here's the issue. The evidence against Cooper is circumstantial, yes, but it's overwhelming. (We've had a top-5 offense for the last two years--these players are not inept.) There's no evidence, circumstantial or otherwise, to show that he has any kind of positive influence on what's going on out there on our PP.

 

[Kramerica Industries]

It also lacks any kind of intuitive sense that players would fare better 5v5 than 5v4. This team was killer at even strength last season, but awful when they had a man advantage. Nothing about that seems logical. And now they aren't as good at even strength, and even worse on the power play. And that's how a team that comfortably finished 3rd in the East last season is rapidly approaching the halfway point and continues to see themselves looking in from the outside.

 

[HowYouDrouin]

Frankly, that's ridiculous.

It's not so simple as putting players in positions and telling them to shoot the puck. We need a hell of a lot more movement than we get. We assess situations until it becomes obvious what we're going to do. Most of Stamkos's best opportunities came because we made two QUICK passes to get the puck to him before defenders realized where it was going.

We don't move. We haven't moved under Coop. I don't care how often he tells us to shoot the puck. Shooting lanes are pretty much shut down when all five guys are standing still, or one makes a predictable one-timer pass.

How is this possibly not on Jon Cooper at this point? How does he watch this thing every single game and not figure out a way to make it change? Why do we have no set plays? Why do we do the most predictable zone entry known to man EVERY SINGLE TIME? Because the players are inept? Most of these players were specifically drafted for their high hockey IQ and yet somehow you've convinced yourself they can't follow simple directions.

they obviously need to find the balance between structure&set plays and rushes or freewheeling cycles that will allow instinct and IQ to come out. currently,we have the worst of both. its basically kuch standing still waiting for a perfect moment to cross ice it to stammer while 3 other teammates stand still and 4pkers dont even have to work for ****!! excuse my french.
then if kuch waits long enough and thinks oh i've been staninding still for too long better do something...... he passes to names in the corner, and if we're feeling extra creative they might switch places and that will open up enough space for kuch to get the pass back again and then thread it from below the goal line, across the slot and to stamkos... who then will 50% of the time **** it up even when the net is open and the pass is perfect.

 

[DFC]

It also lacks any kind of intuitive sense that players would fare better 5v5 than 5v4. This team was killer at even strength last season, but awful when they had a man advantage. Nothing about that seems logical. And now they aren't as good at even strength, and even worse on the power play. And that's how a team that comfortably finished 3rd in the East last season is rapidly approaching the halfway point and continues to see themselves looking in from the outside.

Top 5 scoring team two years in a row. PPs bad in both years. A team that actually scored MORE after losing a HOF scorer. Either we just happened to put together one of the weirdest collections of players in history--players better at scoring against more opponents rather than fewer--or our coach doesn't have any idea how to take advantage of the situation. I think the latter is far more likely.

 

[MrClutch86]

So when will Stamkos become a winger fulltime?
He is better suited for the wing
He sets up on the dot on the PP
The best snipers in the game are all wingers (Ovi, Benn, Tarasenko, etc..)
He also has a non-existent defensive game

When is this going to happen?

 

[Stammertime91]

Stamkos: "that's on us" or "we need to be better" quotes have gotten old.


It's been almost half the season, now would be a good time to stop procrastinating.

 

[Todd1a]

Yzerman and vinik need to pony up hire Adams Oates pay him a darn good coaching contract

 

[The Gongshow]

 

[Lovethiscity]

I think we've suspected that for the last month, besides as someone pointed out earlier in this thread, even if we did make the playoffs there isn't anything this team has shown that tells us that they would go anywhere.

Here's the issue. The evidence against Cooper is circumstantial, yes, but it's overwhelming. (We've had a top-5 offense for the last two years--these players are not inept.) There's no evidence, circumstantial or otherwise, to show that he has any kind of positive influence on what's going on out there on our PP.

sometimes it's like you all have alzheimers and have to be reminded every game that we're missing half of our top 6. Palat and Johnson are both crucial on the PP and PK. Without them, the only play they have is a setup for $tamkos.

 

[2MinutesforGiraffing]

I did karaoke tonight. I don't think I need to clarify what that means.

 

[Sky04]

sometimes it's like you all have alzheimers and have to be reminded every game that we're missing half of our top 6. Palat and Johnson are both crucial on the PP and PK. Without them, the only play they have is a setup for $tamkos.

And you need to be reminded that Palat and Johnson suck **** on the PP, neither of which are having good years anyways.

 

[LightningStrikes]

Couldn't watch the game but did I read that right: 1/10 PP???

 

[Sky04]

Couldn't watch the game but did I read that right: 1/10 PP???

Mind-blowingly bad, we got call after call from the refs, I'm sure Vancouver fans are having a good laugh.

 

[dechire]

Couldn't watch the game but did I read that right: 1/10 PP???

You were lucky. I believe they had zero shots on the first 4 PPs. The rest of them sort of blended together but they had 27 totals shots with 10 PPs so that about sums it up.

 

[FinnLightning26]

Fortunately I slept through this game. 1/10 on the PP? That's embarrassingly bad.

 

[The Macho King]

sometimes it's like you all have alzheimers and have to be reminded every game that we're missing half of our top 6. Palat and Johnson are both crucial on the PP and PK. Without them, the only play they have is a setup for $tamkos.

Ummm...

You're the one with memory problems. Our PP has been bad no matter who we've put out there.

 

[DFC]

sometimes it's like you all have alzheimers and have to be reminded every game that we're missing half of our top 6. Palat and Johnson are both crucial on the PP and PK. Without them, the only play they have is a setup for $tamkos.

Yeah, because our PP just started sucking after the injuries struck... ... ...

 

[Iceman]

I didn't watch the game but let me guess... Filppula and Killorn lead the team in power play time?

 

[Lovethiscity]

Yeah, our power play has been bad for years, but not 9% like last night. Need to split Kuch and Stammer on the PP

EDIT: Palat's and Johnson's rough start was right there with the rest of the team

 

[DFC]

Yeah, our power play has been bad for years, but not 9% like last night. Need to split Kuch and Stammer on the PP

EDIT: Palat's and Johnson's rough start was right there with the rest of the team

Last night was just an exclamation point. It's not like we started pointing this out in the last 24 hours. It's been ongoing for years.

 

[Glide5]

Very rarely will I say this, but that was an embarrassing game. The PP stats are just dumbfounding. not only 1/10 on the night, but I am pretty sure Vancouver actually outshot us while shorthanded. I know we had 0 shots on goal in the first 4 PP's. The team kept doing the same things over and over again. Rush into the zone, control the puck, bad pass back instead of shooting. I get the need to pass it some, I do, but you can't do that 9/10 times when you enter the zone. It got to the point where players were giving up great hard angled shots to try the pass back to no where, or worse out of the zone to Vancouver.

This one was the killer for me. This team doesn't have it this year. Lots of injuries, too many blown games. Bishop saved our ass again, and the team let him down. The last goal was kinda weak, but he made about 3 saves in the game that were just difficult.

Someone should get fired over a game like this. Whoever is in charge of the PP needs to go. It's just getting sad at this point.