GDT: Carolina @ Dallas 8:30 EST

Nikishin Go Boom

Russian Bulldozer Consultent
Jul 31, 2017
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Gardiner was brought in to be a puck moving offensive defenseman whose offensive numbers would offset any struggles he would have defensively. The first half of the season, he was a complete disaster, but his game is coming around now. You're never going to get him to be defensively sound with his game, that's just not who he is. If you're expecting that to be a part of his game, you're gonna be in for a bad time.

I get it but we cant afford to put one guy back out our blue line in case he does something crazy either. His offensive game has come around but his d game or game inside our O zone is bad. If he could just be a guy that gets us out of the D zone with those amazing stretch passes, he would be fantastic. Sub him out immediately after that, like OT with Staal.
 
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The Faulker 27

Registered User
Nov 15, 2011
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Reality is at their door. As the Slavin said after the game it's now or never. Having our 3 best players on one line puts a huge spotlight on the lack of effort, and offensive talent we have with the team. Theoretically Haula, Dzingle, and Nino should be bringing WAAAY more than they are. Not sure if that's going to change given what we've seen up to this point. My hope is at least Haula get's going on a scoring streak again. I have no hope for the other 2.

I don't really expect Staal to contribute offensively at this point. He plays his shut down role well, wins faceoffs, and does well on the PK. That's enough to get a pass from me. He could obviously bring more, but I rarely see a lack of effort from him. Same goes for Foegele.

Mrazek wasn't to blame for the loss, but let's be honest he's putting L's in the outcome column quite frequently. He still overplayed several times, and it's nerve racking to watch him when he's a foot outside of the crease. It's just not the kind of goal tending I'd prefer.
 
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Svechhammer

THIS is hockey?
Jun 8, 2017
23,437
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He still overplayed several times last night, and it's nerve racking to watch him when he's a foot outside of the crease. It's just not the kind of goal tending I'd prefer.
And see, this is where my views on Mrazek fall right now. Even if we shore up all our other problems, we still have a goalie who is making a mess of things on the back end. Right now its easy to overlook it because the defense isn't helping him out at all, but man, he's out of position a lot. He's giving up a lot of goals you'd hope a goalie would be able to save. Its certainly not our only problem right now, but the more I am seeing lately, the more it becomes clear we have to have a serious improvement in goal if we have hopes of contending down the line.
 
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The S5

Registered User
Jul 27, 2017
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First of all, they're all good players. They've all had success before.

Secondly, I'm not even asking for "good." There are degrees. Right now, Nino, Haula, Dzingel, McGinn, Staal, Wallmark, Gardiner and Edmundson are *worthless*. We need them to be *not* worthless. I can't even see "good" from where we are. We need them to be "better." That's not too much to ask.

"Better" might be a reasonable ask for Haula, McGinn and Wallmark, but the rest are what they are.
 
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My Special Purpose

Registered User
Apr 8, 2008
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"Better" might be a reasonable ask for Haula, McGinn and Wallmark, but the rest are what they are.

Yeah, I'm sorry, but I'm not buying that Dzingel, Staal and Niederreiter should only be reasonably expected to combine for 30 goals. They should reasonably produce double that.
 

The S5

Registered User
Jul 27, 2017
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Yeah, I'm sorry, but I'm not buying that Dzingel, Staal and Niederreiter should only be reasonably expected to combine for 30 goals. They should reasonably produce double that.
I do think Dzingel and Nino should be producing more, but neither has shown any indication that they are close to breaking out or victims of bad luck. Staal is clearly trending down offensively, but he does bring other skills to the ice.
 

Joe McGrath

Registered User
Oct 29, 2009
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Yeah, I'm sorry, but I'm not buying that Dzingel, Staal and Niederreiter should only be reasonably expected to combine for 30 goals. They should reasonably produce double that.

All 3 have a shooting % well below their career low. It’s bizzare.

Dzingle is tied for 12th on the team in even strength goals with 4. He’s tied with McGinn, Pesce, and Edumundson. somehow less than Nino and Staal. Among players who aren’t currently on IR and aren’t Svech or Aho, no one has double digit goals at even strength.
 

Stickpucker

Playmaka
Jan 18, 2014
15,102
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Lots of guys pulling up on the forecheck other than Williams. Seriously why is a 38 yr old geriatric the only one playopl the body in the ozone?

It starts with the captain for me. I could get past his stone hands if he would lay the body. If Staal, McGinn, and Nino were hitting like Williams and Svech dmen would be shitting themselves going back to retrieve the puck....but rather these joker's pull up and skate by giving them time to make nice outlet passes. Our shit forecheck is mainly on these guys because I don't expect it from TT or Dzingle.

Foeges has been pretty good in that category too.
 

The Faulker 27

Registered User
Nov 15, 2011
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Lots of guys pulling up on the forecheck other than Williams. Seriously why is a 38 yr old geriatric the only one playopl the body in the ozone?

It starts with the captain for me. I could get past his stone hands if he would lay the body. If Staal, McGinn, and Nino were hitting like Williams and Svech dmen would be ****ting themselves going back to retrieve the puck....but rather these joker's pull up and skate by giving them time to make nice outlet passes. Our **** forecheck is mainly on these guys because I don't expect it from TT or Dzingle.

Foeges has been pretty good in that category too.


I'm not at a place where I can look, but isn't Staal in the top 5 for hits? I feel like I hear JF say it often.
 
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The Faulker 27

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1st on the team and 49th in the league

but.. that stat does not speak to the effectiveness of the hits.

True but there's plenty of players on the team to pick on about physicality other than Staal. I'm not the biggest fan of Staal, I just think he adds his value outside of his offense. At least he's adding value. Nino can skate for 15 - 20 minutes and contribute a couple of penalties.
 

CanesFanBudMan

Borg member
Jun 14, 2016
1,739
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True but there's plenty of players on the team to pick on about physicality other than Staal. I'm not the biggest fan of Staal, I just think he adds his value outside of his offense. At least he's adding value. Nino can skate for 15 - 20 minutes and contribute a couple of penalties.
Did not intend to pick on his physicality. He’s plenty physical, just not fast enough or able to sustain the energy level to consistently make impactful hits on the forecheck. And I’m sure if we make the playoffs we will see the Moose come out to play.

Nino is playing like doodoo, but still preferable to Rask
 
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The Faulker 27

Registered User
Nov 15, 2011
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Did not intend to pick on his physicality. He’s plenty physical, just not fast enough or able to sustain the energy level to consistently make impactful hits on the forecheck. And I’m sure if we make the playoffs we will see the Moose come out to play.

Nino is playing like doodoo, but still preferable to Rask

Fair point, and I agree.
 
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tarheelhockey

Offside Review Specialist
Feb 12, 2010
84,983
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Maybe it’s just me, but all three of Nino, Haula, Dzingel have come as advertised. All three of them are 20-feet-from-the-net finishers who stop producing when pucks stop coming their way. None of them are line driving playmakers and were never advertised as such. Staal has indeed been terrible offensively, but then again he has been getting steadily worse for years so we can be disappointed without being surprised.

If we had put the current 18-man lineup on paper in the preseason, with only the foreknowledge that Jake Gardiner would play buyout-level hockey through February, every single one of us would have predicted results consistent with what we’re seeing right now.
 

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