GDT: 12/31/23 - 7:00PM EDT - Montréal vs Tampa Bay

[OffBy1]

These issues are not going to be solved overnight. One would think Stamkos and Heddy could carry the on ice leadership . It appears they are lacking in the leadership area. Short of the PP not one element of the team is playing well. Kuch night in night out earns his paycheck the rest not so much. People have called me out for criticizing Hagel but last night was his 17th game in a row without a goal sure his big contract does not kick in until next season but a streak approaching 1/4 if a season without a goal is a issue. Cirelli continues to just be underwhelming. Point has not been as dominant. Very little depth scoring and the D scoring has vanished.

GAA is above 3 and GFG has dropped to 3.2. Not much room for mistakes. With limited cap both areas can not be addressed at the same time. What we would like to see and what JBB does is probably going to be vastly different. Any method taken is gong to take a while .

You do get a lot of crap on this website - the only head turning take you continue to have for me is that Hagel is never doing enough, even when he scored 30 last year, his career year.

Let's connect two of your points:

Short of the PP not one element of the team is playing well

People have called me out for criticizing Hagel but last night was his 17th game in a row

How much power play time does Hagel get? He has only 10 minutes more time on it than Tanner Jeannot. For additional perspective - Kuch, Point, Paul and Stammer have between 145 and 130 minutes, Hagel has 55. That's down almost a minute per game this year.

That said, even with his goal scoring drought, he's only 9 points behind Brayden Point on the season, with a better +/-.

We are a one line team, we don't have a second line as no one has flourished offensively with Cirelli since Killorn left and they won't play Stamkos at center. Most everyone on the team is having a down year either offensively or defensively, aside from Kucherov.

 

[Hockeyville USA]

That's kinda the thing, isn't it? During that three-year run of going to the Final every year - especially in the 2nd and 3rd years - there was sort of a feeling around the team that was like they knew they were at their peak, they knew what they were capable of, and that kinda gave them steam. Remember the first half of 2021-'22 when Kucherov and Point both missed a lot of time and we still not only managed to stay afloat but actually thrived for quite a while without them. They knew they were Cup-level good and that fueled them. I dunno, I don't wanna say it quite like this, but maybe they feel their better days are past them now and trying to win the Cup is harder with what they have now? Also obviously cap attrition has forced some longtime faces out the door...Pally, McDonagh, and Killorn off the top of my head. Even more than on the ice, that's a hell of a lot of locker room leadership that you can't just replace in free agency.

When these guys have their heads screwed on straight, they're still at least a playoff-level team, but the consistency just isn't there like it used to be. And that's why we're halfway through the season and still sitting on the outside looking in. We keep waiting for that 10-15 game stretch where we get 20 out of 30 points that might stabilize us, but it just hasn't happened yet. Three game homestand out of Christmas and the first 2.5 games of it were just terrible. We salvaged two points against one of the NHL's worst teams tonight after falling into a 2-0 deficit for the third straight game. We can't keep starting games like this.

The 2022 run to the Final saw some of the best team defense and goaltending you will see in Stanley Cup Playoff hockey, after Point got hurt. They collectively knew they had to dig down and grind without their 2nd best offensive weapon and played elite team defense, with the exception of Game 4 against Florida and parts of Game 1 & 2 against New York. The Final was Colorado just being a faster team who controlled puck possession, they barely tested Kuemper (outside of Game 3 and 4). A healthy Point changes that series most likely.

This team doesn't have elite defense from McDonagh, clutch goal scoring from Palat, solid contributions from Killorn, sturdy although inconsistent middle 6 production from Colton, cheap depth from Perry, and holding the dressing room accountable/veteran presence from Maroon. And Vasilevskiy is playing like shit most nights. They're f***ed in terms of going on a deep run and may very well miss the playoffs. I guess we watch for Kucherov every night, and to see Point, Stamkos, Hedman to do something spectacular once every week and a half.

 

[Hockeyville USA]

It's alarming that this team needed one of their teammates to get rocked and knocked out of the game and giving up one of the most embarrassing goals of a lifetime to wake up. Props to the crowd for getting lively and sparking the guys to a comeback win.

The franchise needs to take away the in arena DJ/PA sound system person's salary for that game. No whistle was blown. Embarrassing.

I would like to see Jack Thompson get called up if we have Cernak and Fleury out for a couple weeks.

 

[Rschmitz]

These issues are not going to be solved overnight. One would think Stamkos and Heddy could carry the on ice leadership . It appears they are lacking in the leadership area. Short of the PP not one element of the team is playing well. Kuch night in night out earns his paycheck the rest not so much. People have called me out for criticizing Hagel but last night was his 17th game in a row without a goal sure his big contract does not kick in until next season but a streak approaching 1/4 if a season without a goal is a issue. Cirelli continues to just be underwhelming. Point has not been as dominant. Very little depth scoring and the D scoring has vanished.

GAA is above 3 and GFG has dropped to 3.2. Not much room for mistakes. With limited cap both areas can not be addressed at the same time. What we would like to see and what JBB does is probably going to be vastly different. Any method taken is gong to take a while .

It's actually kind of crazy that Hagel hasn't scored in 17 games, just goes to show how much of an impact he is having on the ice in spite of that because that baffles me. It's the polar opposite of Stamkos, who scores or is invisible, if you're watching the games there is no way you can be disappointed in Hagel because he's so incredibly productive in all of the other areas of the ice.

 

[Hoek]

Hagel getting pulled off the top line definitely put a dent in his scoring chances.

 

[Stammertime91]

Hagel getting pulled off the top line definitely put a dent in his scoring chances.

Playing with Cirelli does that to you.

It's actually kind of crazy that Hagel hasn't scored in 17 games, just goes to show how much of an impact he is having on the ice in spite of that because that baffles me. It's the polar opposite of Stamkos, who scores or is invisible, if you're watching the games there is no way you can be disappointed in Hagel because he's so incredibly productive in all of the other areas of the ice.

Agreed. I wouldn't have known that. The effort level is definitely there.

 

[Sky04]

Hagel does need to produce again but not worried considering he's still effective.

 

[Fan from AK]

How the f-ck is there no whistle there?

The nearest Bolt was a half a mile away from the goaltender.

 

[Byrddog]

in no way did I intend to point out Hagels performance in relation to PP . That was a reference to the part of the game the team is not sucking in.

And I agree that this is a one line team now n fortunately. But at some point players have to be accountable to their role on the team. The question is Hagel a 30 goal guy? Doing it once is the way you end up with Jeanott. He could well turn this around and have a streak and get 30 but 10 game goalless streaks hurt this team as it is put together. Hagel does a number of things well but so does Cirelli both of these guys have contracts making them critical to the success yet as most young guys they have struggles. I gave up on Cirelli a couple years ago and see him as an overpaid 3C. We have one of the top 3 goalies in the world and Veznia winner and we sure have higher expectations for him and he gets his share of criticism.

Hopefully soon Hagel will start scoring, if the streaks like this continue it is just more trouble.

 

[Todd1a]

in no way did I intend to point out Hagels performance in relation to PP . That was a reference to the part of the game the team is not sucking in.

And I agree that this is a one line team now n fortunately. But at some point players have to be accountable to their role on the team. The question is Hagel a 30 goal guy? Doing it once is the way you end up with Jeanott. He could well turn this around and have a streak and get 30 but 10 game goalless streaks hurt this team as it is put together. Hagel does a number of things well but so does Cirelli both of these guys have contracts making them critical to the success yet as most young guys they have struggles. I gave up on Cirelli a couple years ago and see him as an overpaid 3C. We have one of the top 3 goalies in the world and Veznia winner and we sure have higher expectations for him and he gets his share of criticism.

Hopefully soon Hagel will start scoring, if the streaks like this continue it is just more trouble.

I think hagel is 20-30 goals yearly 30 is his absolute top .

Cirell isn’t going to have any offense just never has he’s a 3rd line center good two way player

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

24 hours later everybody's kind of moved on already, but here's Coop's thoughts on the bizarre goal from last night:

"First thing I thought of was we could have used Kelly (Sutherland) in game 3 of the playoffs last year. But, aside from that, that's one of the strangest plays - I guess that's why you're in the game. You love the competitive fire and everything that goes on. You go into every single game and you never know what you're going to see. That one for sure is a first. ... You know there's things you learn, and whether I agree or disagree with what happened, you know the linesmen are coming in, Jonny Murray skated right in to go get the puck, but we didn't have anybody around, Kelly had the whistle to his mouth, but I think the big thing I learned is Johansson leaves his net early when he thinks the whistles gone. So, you can make light of it now, but it was - I thought the goalie scoring on us a few weeks ago was odd, but this for sure takes the cake."

"We're most definitely gonna have that talk (with Johansson). To be honest I turned away, because many times you can't even hear the whistle with the crowd and everything. I couldn't even see JJ. I didn't know where he was. Yeah, he does do a little sprint around the net. Goalies have their rituals. Almost every goalie does it. It's just for him he's going to have that by his name, but he's also going to have a 'W' by his name, and I think that's the main part."

"Let's be honest, there's some strange goals. The Watson goal for me is, if anyone's heard of karma, that's what that goal was. Whether there's hockey gods or not, tonight I think they played a part in making sure this one was gonna be evened out."

 

[Rschmitz]

Word is that inside the arena the "going to commercial" light went on, and so the DJ started playing music and that just added to the confusion, and that light is run by an official so...

I also get that it's hard for players to hear sometimes so you're relying a lot on things that are being subcommunicated to you. The biggest issue I have though is that Sutherland just did a small hand gesture to the goalie after letting him hold the puck for 3-4 seconds to keep it going. It's still our fault for not pressuring the goalie, but a subjective stoppage call like that should be yelled out, just like how linesmen yell out onsides or icing being waved off. Since we won we can luckily just laugh and forget about it.