GDT: [#64] Dallas Stars at Los Angeles Kings, 9:30 PM CST (FS-SW)

[BfantZ]

He wasn’t really benched. Nichuskin was given his spot with Seguin and Radulov, and he was put on a line that barely played in the 3rd. He was with Spezza and Dickinson.

Nichushkin should be sent back to Russia . He’s completely useless out there . No reason he should ever be playing on the top line anymore .

 

[Webster]

Great win! Very important points.

Now keep it going until Zuccarello returns

 

[Magic Mittens]

Glad we got the two points. Dont really like how we struggled against a team like LA, but we've struggled all year with weaker teams, and it was on the road

Happy to see Hintz producing with the top line. Once Benn and Zucc return we might actually have two lines that can score

 

[Multigrain]

Is Seguin injured? He hasn't looked like himself the past few games. Maybe its fatigue any idea?

 

[Multigrain]

Nichushkin should be sent back to Russia . He’s completely useless out there . No reason he should ever be playing on the top line anymore .

ottawa trade at the draft they will need players.

 

[serp]

Nichushkin should be sent back to Russia . He’s completely useless out there . No reason he should ever be playing on the top line anymore .

I thought he looked ok yesterday even hit a post and that line with Hintz , Spezza and Dickinson had some good chances in the 3rd . THat great Dickinson chance Quick saved was generated by Hintz when he stole the puck and gave it to Spezza for his great pass to Dickinson

 

[Ragernschnapple]

Nichushkin should be sent back to Russia . He’s completely useless out there . No reason he should ever be playing on the top line anymore .

I think Nichushkin needs to play more. He’s always going to be a bust, because of how high he was drafted, but he has some strengths to his game he needs to focus on. He can’t shoot, but he’s been more physical lately. That’s what he needs to be. Physical, Crash the net, Net front presence, tip pucks, clean up the trash. That’s his game if he wants to stick in the NHL.

 

[Kcb12345]

Nichushkin should be sent back to Russia . He’s completely useless out there . No reason he should ever be playing on the top line anymore .

He actually didn't have a bad game last night. I'd play him over Ritchie anyday

 

[AveryStar4Eva]

Man last night was frustrating. Funny how we started to turn things around once we simplified our game. I think every one of our goals were scored right in front the oppositions net. Put pucks on net and get to the dirty area. If we insist on having a big lumbering team like this we should at least be able to do that.

 

[Frozen Failure]

I think Nichushkin needs to play more. He’s always going to be a bust, because of how high he was drafted, but he has some strengths to his game he needs to focus on. He can’t shoot, but he’s been more physical lately. That’s what he needs to be. Physical, Crash the net, Net front presence, tip pucks, clean up the trash. That’s his game if he wants to stick in the NHL.

I thought he was pretty good last night in comparison to his previous games here.

He got slotted in with Seguin and Radulov after Hintz gave up that awful turnover for the goal. Didn't look terribly out of place.

It may be entirely possible that he can only really hack it with top end talent, but can't play any other sort of role. Is that weird? I think that's weird.

And Lovejoy was fine. Klingberg looked like crap, Heiskanen was way too soft on the puck all night, Lindell was slow, and Polak was Polak.

If Benn's out again on Saturday, or if he comes back and they bomb, is Benn the problem?

 

[The Tourist]

I thought Val was pretty good last night. Regarding what Frozen said above about Val playing with better linemates, I've actually thought that for a while but you can't say anything positive about Val on here without being killed. Val always looks dangerous and plays well when he's in the top 6 and especially when he's with Radulov. He doesn't look out of place and he generates scoring chances.

I would love to see Dallas at full strength with Benn and Zucc and then give Val 2-3 games straight of playing nothing but top six minutes.

Zucc-Seguin-Radulov
Benn-Hintz-Val
or
Val-Seguin-Rads
Benn-Hintz-Zucc

It won't happen because Monty loves his Comeau but I think it might get Val going.

 

[M88K]

Is Seguin injured? He hasn't looked like himself the past few games. Maybe its fatigue any idea?

He had a shift in the 3rd last night where he went all out like a man possessed, then got crosschecked in the numbers near the end of it.
The most like his "old" self he's looked in a long time

 

[JesusNPucks]

Is it just me, or has Klingberg’s defensive game really slipped this year? I didn’t watch last nights game, but just the condensed game on the NHL site alone showed him front-and-center on a lot of bad coverage and failure to track back. Am I just missing something, or was that really the case?

 

[The Tourist]

Is it just me, or has Klingberg’s defensive game really slipped this year? I didn’t watch last nights game, but just the condensed game on the NHL site alone showed him front-and-center on a lot of bad coverage and failure to track back. Am I just missing something, or was that really the case?

He's been pretty average defensively and running the PP for several weeks now. I wouldn't mind seeing Miro run the point on the top PP if Klingberg doesn't pick it up.

 

[BfantZ]

He actually didn't have a bad game last night. I'd play him over Ritchie anyday

I prefer Ritchie over val hands down . At least Ritchie looks like he cares , plays with passion and will drop the gloves or throw huge hits . Nichushkin just does nothing , 0 goals at this point of the season is embarrassing. He looks like a player who knows they don’t belong in this league . He’s been given every opportunity playing with every player on every line and still can’t do anything . He’s not necessarily a liability but he’s useless . He brings nothing to the table .

 

[Multigrain]

Is it just me, or has Klingberg’s defensive game really slipped this year? I didn’t watch last nights game, but just the condensed game on the NHL site alone showed him front-and-center on a lot of bad coverage and failure to track back. Am I just missing something, or was that really the case?

It always seems to happen this time of year. Why do they always look hungover in games?

 

[Multigrain]

I thought Val was pretty good last night. Regarding what Frozen said above about Val playing with better linemates, I've actually thought that for a while but you can't say anything positive about Val on here without being killed. Val always looks dangerous and plays well when he's in the top 6 and especially when he's with Radulov. He doesn't look out of place and he generates scoring chances.

I would love to see Dallas at full strength with Benn and Zucc and then give Val 2-3 games straight of playing nothing but top six minutes.

Zucc-Seguin-Radulov
Benn-Hintz-Val
or
Val-Seguin-Rads
Benn-Hintz-Zucc

It won't happen because Monty loves his Comeau but I think it might get Val going.

I think I would send Benn down to 3rd line minutes until he gets his game back if he can.

 

[Kcb12345]

I prefer Ritchie over val hands down . At least Ritchie looks like he cares , plays with passion and will drop the gloves or throw huge hits . Nichushkin just does nothing , 0 goals at this point of the season is embarrassing. He looks like a player who knows they don’t belong in this league . He’s been given every opportunity playing with every player on every line and still can’t do anything . He’s not necessarily a liability but he’s useless . He brings nothing to the table .

Val can play a physical game too which is why we've seen his ice time go up these past couple of games. We have other guys to fight if needed. Ritchie has had more opportunities than anyone on the team over the past few years and has done nothing but prove he sucks. Val played on the top line with Seguin and Radulov for the first time all season last night. Val at least can be physical and not a complete idiot with penalties, all while being 2x the player Ritchie is defensively. A non-liability useless player is better than 1 that does nothing but take penalties. Sure he hits occasionally, but that doesn't mean he should be getting the opportunities that he gets offensively when he has proven he has the worst offensive IQ on the team.

Ideally they're both healthy scratches, and likely will be when everyone is healthy. Isn't Ritchie 2nd on the team in most costly penalties or something? He and Radulov are 1 and 2. Bit of a difference between those 2 though..

 

[BfantZ]

I don’t think Ritchie should be getting top offensive minutes especially not on pp but I don’t mind him on a bottom six role , he is effective on the forecheck and I think his offensive iq is definately higher than Val’s . Val plays kinda physical but never really throws a big hit . I was defending val somewhat at the beginning of the year because at least he was generating chances and hanging on to the puck down low but he has looked terrible for a while now , as if he doesn’t even care if he scores anymore .

 

[serp]

I don’t think Ritchie should be getting top offensive minutes especially not on pp but I don’t mind him on a bottom six role , he is effective on the forecheck and I think his offensive iq is definately higher than Val’s . Val plays kinda physical but never really throws a big hit . I was defending val somewhat at the beginning of the year because at least he was generating chances and hanging on to the puck down low but he has looked terrible for a while now , as if he doesn’t even care if he scores anymore .

I disagree with that. Ritchie does dumb things , take stupid penalties and is a blackwhole on offense. He either shoots , mostly bad shots , or turns it over imho .

In in ideal game neither plays but if one had to i choose Val imho.

 

[Kcb12345]

I don’t think Ritchie should be getting top offensive minutes especially not on pp but I don’t mind him on a bottom six role , he is effective on the forecheck and I think his offensive iq is definately higher than Val’s . Val plays kinda physical but never really throws a big hit . I was defending val somewhat at the beginning of the year because at least he was generating chances and hanging on to the puck down low but he has looked terrible for a while now , as if he doesn’t even care if he scores anymore .

Ritchie and offensive IQ just don't belong in the same sentence his IQ is worse than Comeau's offensively imo. The amount of times he has missed an open man going to the net drives me insane. He just floats one on net instead of even attempting the pass, which is usually a pass most players can make

 

[HatchtrickBateman]

I prefer Ritchie over val hands down . At least Ritchie looks like he cares , plays with passion and will drop the gloves or throw huge hits . Nichushkin just does nothing , 0 goals at this point of the season is embarrassing. He looks like a player who knows they don’t belong in this league . He’s been given every opportunity playing with every player on every line and still can’t do anything . He’s not necessarily a liability but he’s useless . He brings nothing to the table .

This... Ritchie may take a dumb penalty here and there but he has contributed more than Val. Val either passes to a fully covered teammate, turns it over, or shoots his “nhl’s most special” shot which has no chance at beating a goalie. He’s an offensive black hole with absolutely no confidence. I cannot believe the breaks this guy gets from our fan base. I’m sure the majority of it is denial or pity. Play him more??? Lol.. comeau, Ritchie, janmark, dickinson, L’esperance all bring more to the table than Val. Sure, cement him to the 4th line.

 

[HatchtrickBateman]

Ritchie and offensive IQ just don't belong in the same sentence his IQ is worse than Comeau's offensively imo. The amount of times he has missed an open man going to the net drives me insane. He just floats one on net instead of even attempting the pass, which is usually a pass most players can make

I feel like nischuskin could easily be inserted to replace ritchies name in this..

 

[Smelling Salt]

Is it just me, or has Klingberg’s defensive game really slipped this year? I didn’t watch last nights game, but just the condensed game on the NHL site alone showed him front-and-center on a lot of bad coverage and failure to track back. Am I just missing something, or was that really the case?

Yes his defensive game has been bad. Reminds me of Dion when he is at his worst. Doing 360s at the top of the crease with one hand on his stick not knowing what to do.

 

[Kcb12345]

I feel like nischuskin could easily be inserted to replace ritchies name in this..

Val at least has basic passing skills that are expected of players at this level