Pre-Game Talk: 2014-15 Playoffs - ECF: New York Rangers vs Tampa Bay Lightning

[Volodya Krutov]

 

[DaBolts]

So what you're saying is that we win when Nesterov plays

I don't care what anyone else says, but I'll say it. Nesterov becomes Nastyrov when he gets free reign to cause havoc in the neutral zone and creates more pressure on the opponent's blue line than the Dumpster Fire D pairing that Coop seems to love.

 

[DaBolts]

And Carle was the man pointing them to their theaters. He needs to sit. Now.

As someone who worked part time as an usher in a movie theater when I was in high school, I'm deeply offended being compared to Matt Carle.

 

[LTIR Trickery]

Tell that to the offensive and defensive black holes that are Brenden Morrow and Namestnikov.

 

[Leonardo87]

hy

That is a sad excuse, if Boyle was healty, you throw him on the 3rd line with him and Callahan, and they can certainly protect him, while generating offense. The 3rd line with Paquette sucks, and he should be on the 4th line. This even goes back when Flip was on that line, stop me if I'm wrong?

 

[LightningStrikes]

Translation: Namestnikov is better defensively. I don't know if I agree with that. Especially since Names has been a non-factor in all three zones.

 

[zeykshade]

Cooper: "There's more than one net in a rink. There's two. You have to be able to play in front of both." When asked about Jo Drouin.

Yeah Coop, you have to actually score in one of them too.

 

[chasespace]

As someone who worked part time as an usher in a movie theater when I was in high school, I'm deeply offended being compared to Matt Carle.

And I bet you're even more offended when you realize he's paid $5.5million a year to do the same job as you

 

[chasespace]

Translation: Namestnikov is better defensively. I don't know if I agree with that. Especially since Names has been a non-factor in all three zones.

Names is better defensively, there really isn't much debate about that right now. The difference however, is that when Drouin has the puck he's a master at hanging onto it like Kucherov is. Namesy is easily pushed off of the puck by bigger players.

I'd rather go with possession instead of defense right now.

 

[Vasilevskiy]

I must have forgotten the moment where Namestnikov turned into John Madden

 

[Stammertime91]

That's pretty **** ty from Coop. I'd expect different but how is he going to learn just watching every game? He's nor worse than names who is awful and adds more than morrow does. I'm starting to think he will treat drouin so bad that the kid will tell them to **** off and he gets traded. I know if he doesn't play next year, that's what I'd do.

 

[dechire]

Maybe it's just me but I thought Cooper's quote sounds hella rude.

He does make a good point about there being two nets though. How has Morrow done in front of the other one ? Oh right zero goals and zero assists in 12 games. How about Vlad ? Hmm 0 goals and 1 assist in 11 games. Paquette ? 1 goal and zero assists in 13 games. So maybe Cooper doesn't care so much about the first net.

 

[LightningStrikes]

Names is better defensively, there really isn't much debate about that right now. The difference however, is that when Drouin has the puck he's a master at hanging onto it like Kucherov is. Namesy is easily pushed off of the puck by bigger players.

I'd rather go with possession instead of defense right now.

Even if Names is better defensively - and maybe he is - in his 11 playoff games he didn't have a (positive) impact on our offense at all. Even without Boyle and a stitched up Callahan he got less than 7:00 TOI last game. So even if Names has the edge on Drouin defensively, Drouin can't possibly be worse than Names' no-show offensively.

In the end it probably comes down to Namestnikov being a natural center. Cooper is probably just more comfortable with him at center than Drouin. He's also 3 years older.

The thing is this is going to be a very close series. And we're in desperate need for (secondary) scoring and - as you have already pointed out - possession. I can't imagine that Drouin will do more harm than Names in the ~6:00 TOI we're talking here. And not just Names - Morrow's, Paq's and even Brown's offensive numbers have been **** as well.

 

[LightningStrikes]

Here's the full presser:

[nhl]823283&catid=55[/nhl]

 

[zeykshade]

Hagelin / Moore / Hayes are going to own us. The Rangers have a real 3rd line that can contribute and grind while also potting goals. Even if our top 1.5 lines get shut down and balance out with the Brassard and Stepan lines, they out depth us because of 62/28/13 of the Rangers.

Sounds a lot like Cooper really cares more about the Bishop is in. That is fine. Drouin will get better, but we won't see it until next year. I can understand that Drouin really can't take 4th line minutes(wrong player type), but he could certainly be covered by 2 defensively sound players on the 3rd line while offering some offensive threat. We're going to really feel Boyle's absence if this goes on very much longer. He stabilizes the entire bottom 6 and the PK.

 

[JS91]

I must have missed the day when Drouin became a two-way forward. It seems like Cooper expects Drouin to play like Johnson and Palat defensively and that's just not going to happen. I get that playing a defensively questionable rookie in the 3rd round of the playoffs is not optional which is why he probably should sit for the rest of the playoffs, but Cooper really needs to take a different approach with coaching Drouin.

 

[Leonardo87]

Hagelin / Moore / Hayes are going to own us. The Rangers have a real 3rd line that can contribute and grind while also potting goals. Even if our top 1.5 lines get shut down and balance out with the Brassard and Stepan lines, they out depth us because of 62/28/13 of the Rangers.

Sounds a lot like Cooper really cares more about the Bishop is in. That is fine. Drouin will get better, but we won't see it until next year. I can understand that Drouin really can't take 4th line minutes(wrong player type), but he could certainly be covered by 2 defensively sound players on the 3rd line while offering some offensive threat. We're going to really feel Boyle's absence if this goes on very much longer. He stabilizes the entire bottom 6 and the PK.

The 3rd line now has a less than 100% cally who should hopefully be healthier next game, Paquette who has been awful and is more of a 4th liner, and JAM who has played hardly any NHL games. We have the talent to make up a solid 3rd line, but Coop has thrown that out the window. Would want Flip back down there but then who plays the top line with Stamkos? We have an issue now, not sure what can be done.

 

[LightningStrikes]

Speaking of 3rd lines, anybody miss Bergenheim-Moore-Downie?

 

[zeykshade]

Speaking of 3rd lines, anybody miss Bergenheim-Moore-Downie?

Or you can watch what is going on in Anaheim. Nate Thompson's line is shredding the Hawks. Cogliano / Thompson / Palmieri are absolutely dominating the Hawks whenever they're out there. They've got the matchup and get to be deployed favorably where our 3rd line isn't. Even if we did have last change, I don't see our 3rd line doing ****. We went from having scoring depth to having none really. The fact that the Triplets are 50% of our goal scoring is both impressive and pathetic at the same time.

 

[TheSchmidt]

Cooper can blame himself if Drouin's defense isn't up to par with what he wants.

Tough to improve during the season with the minutes he was getting.

I guess Kucherov wasn't good enough defensively to start the season when he was relegated to bottom six minutes again. Then he magically got better playing with better linemates.

 

[LightningStrikes]

Or you can watch what is going on in Anaheim. Nate Thompson's line is shredding the Hawks. Cogliano / Thompson / Palmieri are absolutely dominating the Hawks whenever they're out there. They've got the matchup and get to be deployed favorably where our 3rd line isn't. Even if we did have last change, I don't see our 3rd line doing ****. We went from having scoring depth to having none really. The fact that the Triplets are 50% of our goal scoring is both impressive and pathetic at the same time.

I agree, although things would probably look different with a healthy Boyle in the lineup. We've talked about Names and Drouin but how about the other regulars on our bottom-6?

Morrow's production is long gone but he brings physicality and leadership so I guess he's an auto-pick for Cooper. Not saying I agree per se but okay. Brown doesn't produce either but he's good on the forecheck and the backcheck, along the boards and the breakout. Unfortunately there's nobody to feed off of it on his current line. Paquette is probably the most surprising underperformer. Yes, he has been streaky during the regular season, but I'm almost shocked to see him play so differently compared to last season's playoffs. He was relentless on our opponents, steamrolling through everybody with simple but smart plays. If I was a betting man I'd say he's injured too. JAM has been looking good so far but it's a small sample size and well, he's got no points yet either.

 

[DaBolts]

Which is what many of us have been saying. He's still thinking minors; at the red line you have to haul your butt back there and play defense. Tyler Johnson should be his role model.

 

[DaBolts]

I must have missed the day when Drouin became a two-way forward. It seems like Cooper expects Drouin to play like Johnson and Palat defensively and that's just not going to happen. I get that playing a defensively questionable rookie in the 3rd round of the playoffs is not optional which is why he probably should sit for the rest of the playoffs, but Cooper really needs to take a different approach with coaching Drouin.

There is no room for singularity in the playoffs. Players HAVE to be able to play defense and skate hard on offense also.

Great teams win the Cup on 4 lines doing it every way, not just playing like it is the regular season. Drouin was a passenger in the regular season; we can't afford that in the playoffs.

 

[DaBolts]

That's pretty **** ty from Coop. I'd expect different but how is he going to learn just watching every game? He's nor worse than names who is awful and adds more than morrow does. I'm starting to think he will treat drouin so bad that the kid will tell them to **** off and he gets traded. I know if he doesn't play next year, that's what I'd do.

Watch Drouin come back next year with a vengeance. I like it. Time to tell the kid who everyone preached up as the 2nd coming of Gretzky that psst, btw, Gretzky played defense also.

 

[dbieon12]

Matt Carle pinches like an idiot. Period. It leads to countless numbers of 2-on-1s for the opponent. If you take him off of the ice, not only does this number decrease relative to the nature of the game but your offense would improve.