deadhead
Registered User
- Feb 26, 2014
- 49,215
- 21,617
People just hate to admit this isn't a very talented team.
Laughton is not a good center, I've watched him all season and it's the same, with the right linemates he can center a good checking line, but so can PEB, and no one thinks PEB is a credible 3C. But PEB is more responsibly defensively, he just had dreck to play with here (which has been true since 2012-13, at no time have we had decent 4th line personnel). So replace Filppula with him and in two weeks all I'll read about is what an idiot Hakstol is to trust him in tight situations.
Read is playing better, but he's still a marginal 4th line wing, as is Lehtera, while Weise and Leier are worse.
Simmonds and Raffl can be productive with a good center, but that ain't Filppula. But nor is it MV. And Vorobyev isn't ready.
I wouldn't trust Sanheim under pressure at the end of the game right now, let him just get comfortable on a regular shift, don't set him up to fail.
Outside of Provorov and Ghost, and they need another year or two to rise to elite level (there's more than scoring, they've been struggling under pressure in the D-zone much of this season), they don't have much on defense this year.
But what really stands out at the end of games, is the lack of physicality on this team, pressure them on the boards and you can take the puck away on a regular basis - and that isn't fixed by playing Ghost or Sanheim, that's fixed by finding more guys like Patrick (when he grows up) and Lindblom who have size and good hands and grit. You can't pass it out of your D-zone if you don't possess the puck. And you get the puck back by winning board and corner battles.
Laughton is not a good center, I've watched him all season and it's the same, with the right linemates he can center a good checking line, but so can PEB, and no one thinks PEB is a credible 3C. But PEB is more responsibly defensively, he just had dreck to play with here (which has been true since 2012-13, at no time have we had decent 4th line personnel). So replace Filppula with him and in two weeks all I'll read about is what an idiot Hakstol is to trust him in tight situations.
Read is playing better, but he's still a marginal 4th line wing, as is Lehtera, while Weise and Leier are worse.
Simmonds and Raffl can be productive with a good center, but that ain't Filppula. But nor is it MV. And Vorobyev isn't ready.
I wouldn't trust Sanheim under pressure at the end of the game right now, let him just get comfortable on a regular shift, don't set him up to fail.
Outside of Provorov and Ghost, and they need another year or two to rise to elite level (there's more than scoring, they've been struggling under pressure in the D-zone much of this season), they don't have much on defense this year.
But what really stands out at the end of games, is the lack of physicality on this team, pressure them on the boards and you can take the puck away on a regular basis - and that isn't fixed by playing Ghost or Sanheim, that's fixed by finding more guys like Patrick (when he grows up) and Lindblom who have size and good hands and grit. You can't pass it out of your D-zone if you don't possess the puck. And you get the puck back by winning board and corner battles.