- May 1, 2011
- 128,942
- 55,952
Fair enough, but here's one other elephant in the room this year that I know someone is gonna probably scream at me over.You're right, all of these things are problems - but they all complement each other.
I defend the goaltending on a regular basis, because 9/10 goals have been because of massive defensive breakdowns. I would've liked KK to have made that save on the flutterball. He hasn't been good.
But sometimes you just point to SV% like it means something. His .8xxSV% over the last 12 is NOT because he's been terrible. The team has been terrible, and there have only been a couple of games where he's been exceptional enough to cover for it. And, yes - he's sucked at times too -
Let's face facts - this isn't even as good a team as last year's squad, when the goaltending had to be exceptional to win - and EVERYONE exceeded expectations...
And then we lose Moore, Gibbons, Maroon and Grabner. Granted, none of those were expected to hurt at all - but at least those 4 were seemingly NHLers. Right now, it is hard to watch this team because there are at least 6 guys who shouldn't be in the NHL right now starting for this team - and that includes guys like Greene and Lovejoy, Stafford, Santini, Seney.. and guys like Zacha, Wood, Mueller, Butcher and Quenneville, who have the tools but just can't put it together right now.
Even our supposed blue chip talents Vats and Severson have been bad - It's just an all around mess and you are correct - it's hard to figure out where the blame lies - because there's just tons of it to go around.
I can't even post anything during games anymore, because I hate the constant bashing the team gets on this board and on the ice and I'm looking for something positive.
Even in losses last year, you could point to someone making strides or doing something unexpectedly good - like KK making a save, or Coleman/Gibbons/Bratt/Nico/Butcher etc... There was always SOMETHING to be happy about.
Other than Palms continuing to be a steal, Travis having a good year, Coleman coming to play every game and now Blackwood... crap. It is pretty bleak out there.
Zacha has 5 goals and 0 assists in like 29 or 30 games this year? I think he had over twice as many points after he played 30 games last year.
Miles Wood had 19 goals last year. What's he have this year? 3? Hardly any points, producing at the rate of a 4th liner. He played very low minutes last year and scored over 30 points. He had a great season, this year he's done nothing.
These two players have really taken steps back as far as the offense they've churned out.
Coleman is really the only guy that's exceeded expectations. I guess Bratt and Nico have also, but not as much as Coleman has. That's not a knock on Nico or Bratt, they're progressing just fine.