GDT: #61 ⋅ VAN @ ANA ⋅ 5:00 PM PST

[HanSolo]

Is it as good as the first one?

Better. And that's no knock on the original. It's spectacular

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Felix is absolutely right here, my term for it is the swirl and we just haven’t had any answers for it for years.

Man to man…. I feel like Mintyukov was supposed to go with him, but idk if it was because of the change in man power with carrick coming back confusing the line up

What teams in the nhl run successful man to man? Just curious to see how they look

 

[Bender66]

Felix is absolutely right here, my term for it is the swirl and we just haven’t had any answers for it for years.

The players on this team are too dumb and too slow to run man to man d

 

[JAHV]

Felix is absolutely right here, my term for it is the swirl and we just haven’t had any answers for it for years.

Eh, I actually think they've been playing it very well recently. This one was all on Carrick who came out of the penalty box and stood around, then took a man, then switched to another man without communicating. Whether there's a problem with the system, I don't know, but that was just one guy being confused and screwing it up.

 

[JAHV]

I don't know what the possession stats say, but from an eyeball test, that Vatrano-Strome-Terry line was brutal tonight. I thought the Ducks played pretty decent hockey in the last half of the game, but they got nothing out of that group. Vatrano, in particular, made several really bad passes.

 

[Kalv]

Great shift for lindstrom

He leads our team with +10 this year (2024). How is that even possible?

 

[Leonardo87]

It’s very hard to get into these games now. Especially when 3 kids who are supposed to be the foundation of our Top 6 are not even playing.

Guess it took me traveling 2k miles to figure it out, lol. I feel for the season ticket holders who go every game and respect their passion. Especially when I see some folks are really sticking it out and into the team even when they are flat.

 

[Mr Rogers]

Eh, I actually think they've been playing it very well recently. This one was all on Carrick who came out of the penalty box and stood around, then took a man, then switched to another man without communicating. Whether there's a problem with the system, I don't know, but that was just one guy being confused and screwing it up.

There’s ample evidence of this type of movement in the offensive zone absolutely tormenting our D zone coverage. Games against the Avs and Coyotes especially bring it out.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Eh, I actually think they've been playing it very well recently. This one was all on Carrick who came out of the penalty box and stood around, then took a man, then switched to another man without communicating. Whether there's a problem with the system, I don't know, but that was just one guy being confused and screwing it up.

There’s ample evidence of this type of movement in the offensive zone absolutely tormenting our D zone coverage. Games against the Avs and Coyotes especially bring it out.

Here's a post-game interview with Cronin, which includes dissecting what went wrong on the goal after the PK kill... Minty was at fault and a forward (not Carrick) cheating to allow that pass to happen.



Could chalk it up to Minty being green defensively or Cronin's coaching not coming through (cheating forward + Minty) or both. Minty being green defensively is tolerable, but Cronin's coaching not coming through is draining.

But those are little things. Cronin and the team lost by one to Pacific Div Canucks in a very bend, but don't break fashion. It wasn't fun to watch, but at least we weren't blown out on the goal scoreboard. (trying to find positives here)

 

[Leonardo87]

Here's a post-game interview with Cronin, which includes dissecting what went wrong on the goal after the PK kill... Minty was at fault and a forward (not Carrick) cheating to allow that pass to happen.



Could chalk it up to Minty being green defensively or Cronin's coaching not coming through (cheating forward + Minty) or both. Minty being green defensively is tolerable, but Cronin's coaching not coming through is draining.

But those are little things. Cronin and the team lost by one to Pacific Div Canucks in a very bend, but don't break fashion. It wasn't fun to watch, but at least we weren't blown out on the goal scoreboard. (trying to find positives here)

Dostal stood tall, gave us a chance to win, has looked great the last two games, we didn’t bleed as many shots last night.

Problem is shots for and creating chances but missing half our Top 6 and Terry missing some shifts is not going to help.

This is why I’ve been pumping Cutter Gauthier. He checks several boxes to what the team needs.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

He leads our team with +10 this year (2024). How is that even possible?

Gudas is a +15 and then Lindstrom with a +10 rating. I think Lindstrom's become comfy with our system and plays a good complementary role. He gets pucks out once he's able to possess it. The other aspect for that +10 rating is he's being sheltered with respect to TOI, even when playing in the top pairing role with Fowler. Yet, he's earning more play time in recent games - which means he's earning more trust.

I kinda see it Lindstrom in the same light as Vaak, both needing time on the ice for things to click.

A few weeks back on Lindstrom's thread, I noted how Lindstrom hasn't registered a negative rating in the nine games he played for the Ducks. He had a +6 rating then. He's only played in five more games since due to a rotation between him, Vaak, and LaCombe.

Hopefully, Verbeek and the coaches will want to play Lindstrom more to see what we have in him for the rest of the season b/c he's an RFA after this season and he's also not waiver eligible. OTOH, Verbeek may want to improve on talent from Lindstrom.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Dostal stood tall, gave us a chance to win, has looked great the last two games, we didn’t bleed as many shots last night.

Problem is shots for and creating chances but missing half our Top 6 and Terry missing some shifts is not going to help.

This is why I’ve been pumping Cutter Gauthier. He checks several boxes to what the team needs.

The shot differential is usually dependent on puck possession. Even with Cutter, I don't think we improve our shots for drastically if a) we can't win puck battles in our own zone, b) don't give our d-men good passing outlets when we do win the puck, and c) we can't dump-n-chase well. I think points a) and b) are our bigger problems. Zellweger had to skate the puck out from deep in our zone b/c he didn't see a good passing option (although, Groulx was right next to him stride for stride from the dzone to the ozone and take a shot from a pass form Zell).

You need effort and coaching for options a) and b).

Also, maybe Cronin needs to try out Lundy at 2C than Strome.

 

[Leonardo87]

The shot differential is usually dependent on puck possession. Even with Cutter, I don't think we improve our shots for drastically if a) we can't win puck battles in our own zone, b) don't give our d-men good passing outlets when we do win the puck, and c) we can't dump-n-chase well. I think points a) and b) are our bigger problems. Zellweger had to skate the puck out from deep in our zone b/c he didn't see a good passing option (although, Groulx was right next to him stride for stride from the dzone to the ozone and take a shot from a pass form Zell).

You need effort and coaching for options a) and b).

Also, maybe Cronin needs to try out Lundy at 2C than Strome.

Gauthier is a physical player who is able to win puck battles, he will get the puck to a line-mate and get into position to snipe. He will take the shot and not pass back. This is something that has been an issue. Pass - pass - pass - oops turned the puck over didn’t get a SOG.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Gauthier is a physical player who is able to win puck battles, he will get the puck to a line-mate and get into position to snipe. He will take the shot and not pass back. This is something that has been an issue. Pass - pass - pass - oops turned the puck over didn’t get a SOG.

Getting the puck to a linemate may become more difficult because that's a problem we've been having all season and that's with all of our top players and d-men.

We have a forward who loves to shoot, shoot, shoot in Vatrano.

If our team cannot win puck possession (needed support) or have good, easy outlets (needed support), then adding Cutter won't significantly fix those problems. Right now, we're relying on top talents to be creative to carry the team as opposed to those top talents flourishing within a system as ES or the PP.

 

[lwvs84]

Gauthier is a physical player who is able to win puck battles, he will get the puck to a line-mate and get into position to snipe. He will take the shot and not pass back. This is something that has been an issue. Pass - pass - pass - oops turned the puck over didn’t get a SOG.

Honest question because I haven't seen much of him, at 20 years old is he strong enough to win battles at the NHL level? I don't doubt that he will be eventually, but how close is he now?

 

[Leonardo87]

Honest question because I haven't seen much of him, at 20 years old is he strong enough to win battles at the NHL level? I don't doubt that he will be eventually, but how close is he now?

I think physically he is ready. He did play against men in the WC and was very productive. Also has very good speed as well.

 

[Reveille1984]

Getting the puck to a linemate may become more difficult because that's a problem we've been having all season and that's with all of our top players and d-men.

We have a forward who loves to shoot, shoot, shoot in Vatrano.

If our team cannot win puck possession (needed support) or have good, easy outlets (needed support), then adding Cutter won't significantly fix those problems. Right now, we're relying on top talents to be creative to carry the team as opposed to those top talents flourishing within a system as ES or the PP.

How do we even fix this? Just wait for all the kids to get better and gain more hockey sense? Is this a personnel or a coaching issue, or both? Our inability to complete passes and get out of our own zone seems to be an ongoing theme for many years now.

It seems like every game I watch the opposing team just hounds our dmen in our own zone and they end up having to skate backwards to stall, do something too fancy and turn the puck over, or just hold onto the puck for way too long waiting for something to open up while the neutral zone stays clogged with no passing lanes.

Like you mentioned the difference with Olen is that he has the skill and speed to just skate the puck up the ice and through the neutral zone himself a lot of the time which is a breath of fresh air. But eventually teams will adapt and just pinch him out towards the boards forcing him to dump the puck.

 

[Leonardo87]

At the Jimmy Eat world/ FOB concert. At least I got to hear “Sweetness” at Honda Center again one more time before heading home, lol

 

[JAHV]

I'm over in section 410. Jimmy played a great set.

 

[Mr Rogers]

Man to man…. I feel like Mintyukov was supposed to go with him, but idk if it was because of the change in man power with carrick coming back confusing the line up

What teams in the nhl run successful man to man? Just curious to see how they look

I feel like there are some teams that do but for the most part you have to have really good players to make it work. I feel like the Avs are basically M2M but they’re an elite team. Vegas is def zone, that’s one thing I thought surely Cronin would change so it’s weird he hasn’t.

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

I really wonder to what degree Cronin was brought in to coach/develop the young guys while PV tells him how to run the team.