GDT: Coyotes at Ducks 7pm PST HOCKEY IS BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Paul4587]

turns out when his hands aren't tied to the bicycle with Bieksa and Dotchkin and can actually let him fly he does stuff

weird.

Weirdly enough the best three months of his career were played mostly alongside Bieksa. He’s had plenty of good partners who he’s struggled alongside, the issue is with Cam not who he’s paired with. Last night was an example of that, Guhle was awful but Cam was outstanding.

 

[mightyquack]

Solid enough start, things weren't perfect but it was pretty entertaining once Anaheim got past their slow start. Liked what Eakins did with controlling Getzlaf's minutes, that's something which should have happened years ago with Anaheim, he's still by far our best forward so looking after him is going to be crucial.

Interested to see how they do against a more competitive team on the weekend.

 

[DavidBL]

Weirdly enough the best three months of his career were played mostly alongside Bieksa. He’s had plenty of good partners who he’s struggled alongside, the issue is with Cam not who he’s paired with. Last night was an example of that, Guhle was awful but Cam was outstanding.

Imo Cam strikes me as a guy who is going to do what the coach tells him to a T. I'm hopeful that with more encouragement to do things like he did last night we might finally see a confident player.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

I feel like itll take about 10-12 games for the team to get comfortable with the systems and shake off the Randy-cap,

Stealing wins early while the team is still finding its game will be big

 

[Surfandhockey]

Scrappy win over a mediocre team but you have to take it

My thoughts split into units:
- Getz looks like he’s either lost a step or his legs aren’t there yet. That said his anticipation and hockey IQ are still so high that he’s still going to be effective even when the wheels fall off. I thought he had a great third. Ritchie and Kase both sucked although Kase had a couple of spurts of looking good.

- second line did not impress me as a line. Individually I really liked what I saw from Steel.

- third line didn’t really impress me either.

- fourth line was awesome. I love what those guys bring to the table as a unit.

-Lindholm and Manson were just ok. Lindholm was the better of the two and had some good moments but also overcommitted to the puck carrier on the Yotes goal leaving the passing option wide open.

- Fowler was awesome. I Thought he had a brilliant game and the goal was sick. Guhle was awful.

- Larsson was decent. Holzer was not

Gibson was great but still faced too many shots and chances. Hopefully we can add a top 4 guy who can help in that area, it would be nice to push Guhle down to the third pairing and get Holzer out of the lineup.

Seemed like Fowler was trying to avoid passing to Guhle , don’t blame him for it. Some bad decisions

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Weirdly enough the best three months of his career were played mostly alongside Bieksa. He’s had plenty of good partners who he’s struggled alongside, the issue is with Cam not who he’s paired with. Last night was an example of that, Guhle was awful but Cam was outstanding.

I liked the cam I saw last night, and that's the cam I think we all hope we can have on a more consistent basis.

I think Dallas will put him in positions to succeed, and push him to be more of the player he should be and not try to make him into something hes not.

Still worried bout the bottom 3 tho, id rather see MDZ in our bottom 3 then what we had yesterday. I think Larsson will be fine... I really don't care for Guhle much at all... I wonder if well see MDZ + fowler next game or maybe even Larsson + fowler.

Id trade Guhle for honka right now tbh.

 

[bsu]

Wish we kept Montour.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

The guy going down the middle with the puck?

You have to commit to him like that, i wouldnt call that a bad play by lindholm, just a 3 on 2 that the coyotes made the right play on.... you hope lindholm can mess the pass up or something, or ritchie gets back to poke check the pass... but you cant leave middle lane guy open.

With correct body position he could have taken the pass away and not given the guy in the middle enough space to walk through which would have allowed Gibson to see the shot all the way from a decent distance.

Easier said than done but Lindholm is meant to be one of the best defensively so I expect more from him defending that play than I would Holzer or Guhle.

Wow. You're expecting placement perfect defense on what became a 2-on-1 on Lindholm and expect the Yotes to play the 2-on-1 mechanically to not pull Lindholm away? The mistake isn't on Lindholm if there's a odd man defense, but you hope Lindholm could have deterred the opportunity. The mistake was the bad line change moment. To "expect" Lindholm to defense a 2-on-1 perfectly always is a prolific expectation. It's a very odd expectation like expecting to beat an "untainted Kobayashi Maru exercise" all the time. Kessel was the middle guy and Stepan outwide. It was a great pass by Kessl and a great shot by Stepan. You're screwed the moment you step onto an "untainted Kobayashi Maru exercise". You just have to hope whoever you're defending isn't highly skilled to take advantage of the situation.

Your prolific criticism on Lindholm on this play seems displaced when there's no blame at all for a terrible line change that lead to an odd-man rush in your assessment list. The odd man rush did happen. Let's not omit that fact. Rationalizing your list that Lindholm can deter a 2-on-1 with Kessel and Stepan all the time is a vacuous conclusion.

 

[Duck Off]

Still haven't heard any explanation as to why MDZ wasn't introduced before the game.

I was wondering this myself. Seemed off. For one I thought he’d definitely be in over Holzer, but not seeing him period was strange.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Wow. You're expecting placement perfect defense on what became a 2-on-1 on Lindholm and expect the Yotes to play the 2-on-1 mechanically to not pull Lindholm away? The mistake isn't on Lindholm if there's a odd man defense, but you hope Lindholm could have deterred the opportunity. The mistake was the bad line change moment. To "expect" Lindholm to defense a 2-on-1 perfectly always is a prolific expectation. It's a very odd expectation like expecting to beat an "untainted Kobayashi Maru exercise" all the time. Kessel was the middle guy and Stepan outwide. It was a great pass by Kessl and a great shot by Stepan. You're screwed the moment you step onto an "untainted Kobayashi Maru exercise". You just have to hope whoever you're defending isn't highly skilled to take advantage of the situation.

Your prolific criticism on Lindholm on this play seems displaced when there's no blame at all for a terrible line change that lead to an odd-man rush in your assessment list. The odd man rush did happen. Let's not omit that fact. Rationalizing your list that Lindholm can deter a 2-on-1 with Kessel and Stepan all the time is a vacuous conclusion.

Eh pauls pretty consistent on calling Lindholm out on 1 v 2s(or odd man breaks) .... which in reality top 6 players are going to find a way to get something out of it if put into that situation no matter how good the defender is(percentage wise, obviously the dmen might get a good read/or lucky stick in the passing lane, or the forwards misplay)

There is usually a mistake to put Lindholm in that position... and like we both said you hope Lindholm can do something to disrupt the passing option, but you have to take the middle lane away... I wouldn't say Lindholm misplayed anything there really, and just because hes known as a top defender doesn't mean he should stop every 1 v 2 or 2 v 3 scenario.

You take out the middle guys shot, hope you can disrupt the pass(or back checker can get back to disrupt it), and then worst case scenario the shooter on the wing is on a off angle so the goalie has a better chance at stopping it.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

I was wondering this myself. Seemed off. For one I thought he’d definitely be in over Holzer, but not seeing him period was strange.

I like holzer for about like 2 games a year... MDZ isn't the greatest, but hes easily our 4th best dmen behind hampus fowler and manson right now.

 

[Terry Yake]

i'm so over nick ritchie

put one of the kids in there

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

i'm so over nick ritchie

put one of the kids in there

Idk bout the kids, but i wonder if we can find a better dmen solution in a trade w/ ritchie

 

[Mr Rogers]

i'm so over nick ritchie

put one of the kids in there

He definitely did not make much of an impact last night but neither did that entire line.

 

[cheesymc]

If we want a successful season, I dont think we can afford dressing both Holzer and Guhle out there at once. Both are so turnover prone. Its sad to see Guhle having all that athleticism and not have the vision and demeanor to slow the game down like a Fowler. He just tosses the puck and prays for the best. They both had their good moments but I dont think they will ever be consistent with reducing those turnovers.

I also noticed that teams will continue to cross the line and bump Gibby due to our reputation of a soft D. I can understand Crouse doing so since that is his job, but even mini Garland was out battling Guhle in front of the net.

At least we won the first game for our 21st player and for Eakins. Glad that hockey is back, it was a long summer!

 

[Hockey Duckie]

I feel like itll take about 10-12 games for the team to get comfortable with the systems and shake off the Randy-cap,

Stealing wins early while the team is still finding its game will be big

The team went 14-11-1 in 26 games under Murray as head coach. In those 26 games, we improved scoring and being scored against. We should refrain from citing shaking anything off from the Randy era. Murray shook that off last season already. It's a wrong narrative to keep citing Carlyle. The team has a new coach and the team is still trying to find itself as the top three forward lines are somewhat new.

• Ritchie-Getz-Kase. Getz is the new center for Ritchie and Kase. Never seen that line combo in pre-season.
• Jones-Rico-Terry. Rico is the new center for Jones and Terry. Never seen that line combo in pre-season.
• Rakell-Steel-Silf. Steel is the new center for Rakell and Silf. Steel got injured early in pre-season. So Lundy became Rakell's and Silf's center for two games. Yet, this was the best line of out the top-3 forward lines last night. Of course, this triplet were a set before last year too.

C Grant- RW Rowney stayed a pair. Shore was added to the LW, who has better chemistry with Grant-Rowney than Deslauriers. Let's give the top-3 lines more games to feel each other out as they find out who likes what where as well as get injured players back to speed since they didn't participate throughout the pre-season in Kase and Steel.

For myself, I'm glad to see Getz and Terry separated. We all witnessed how both love to hold the puck for long periods of times as well as have a reluctance to shoot often. According to the box score, Getz had 2 shots and Terry had 1. Rico babysitting the kids was a good idea last night as Getzlaf was missing in the first two periods. In the third period, Getzlaf's mind was on point. So that should benefit Ritchie and Kase going forward, I hope.

Defensively, the pairings are from the Murray era with Lindholm-Manson being the top pairing and Fowler being demoted to 2nd pairing. The TOI distribution reflects this.

 

[bsu]

Guhle is a soft Sbisa. All the tools other than Strength(which Sbisa had) but just not good.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

There is usually a mistake to put Lindholm in that position... and like we both said you hope Lindholm can do something to disrupt the passing option, but you have to take the middle lane away... I wouldn't say Lindholm misplayed anything there really, and just because hes known as a top defender doesn't mean he should stop every 1 v 2 or 2 v 3 scenario.

You take out the middle guys shot, hope you can disrupt the pass(or back checker can get back to disrupt it), and then worst case scenario the shooter on the wing is on a off angle so the goalie has a better chance at stopping it.

Taking out the middle limits the winger's scoring options. Taking out the winger, increases the middle guy's scoring options. I'm just hoping whoever is defending on the 2v1 or 3v2 can mitigate the scoring opportunity to one side. With Keller, Kessel, and Stepan on the ice on that 3v2 rush, which was played perfectly into a 2v1, we just have to hope if the pass makes it to the wing that either the shooter misses or Gibby is there. If Lindholm is going up against a Grant-Rowney 2v1 rush, then I feel our chances of coming away without being scored upon increases vastly. LoL

I'm far more upset at the terrible line change to put Lindholm in such a disposition. Hell, I'm upset we almost gave up a short-handed opportunity on the PP! That's something that has happened often in the pre-season. But to say Lindholm isn't a good defender b/c he couldn't defend a 2v1 rush against Kessel-Stepan is a redonkulous standard. Why doesn't Paul extend the blame to Gibby? Lindholm forced the puck outside, which does limit the scoring opportunities to a side angle. Why didn't Gibby get to that puck? Isn't Gibby a franchise, Vezina type goalie? Why didn't Gibby stop that puck on such a limited angle? Why didn't Gibby come out further from the crease to decrease that shooting area either? Srsly? Where's that extension of blame and degrading of a player's talent? If Paul's gonna be consistent, then be 100% consistent through and through - not cherry pick.

I give credit to Arizona for taking advantage of the bench's mistake. That mistake allowed one goal against. The final score last night was Ducks 2, Arizona 1. If the Ducks can limit self-inflicted errors, then Gibby might have had a shutout. But hey, Lindholm sucks b/c he couldn't defend a 2v1 rush between Kessel and Stepan.

 

[Paul4587]

Guhle is a soft Sbisa. All the tools other than Strength(which Sbisa had) but just not good.

Where the f*** even is Luca Sbisa nowadays? Feel like I haven’t seen him in the nhl since he was in the SCF for Vegas making all sorts of mistakes.

 

[bsu]

Where the **** even is Luca Sbisa nowadays? Feel like I haven’t seen him in the nhl since he was in the SCF for Vegas making all sorts of mistakes.

The Islanders I think?

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

Sbisa had a PTO with the Isles, I think. Don't know if he made the team.

 

[Static]

I think the Guhle hate is overblown. I saw maybe one instance of a really bad play from him and then didn't notice him all that much other than that. Thought he was fine and his pairing was very good.

Just to expand on that, he and Fowler had excellent underlying numbers last night, Fowler especially. Fowler was on the ice for 26 shots attempted vs 11 against, Guhle 21 and 17. Fowler really had an exceptional game.

 

[bsu]

I think the Guhle hate is overblown. I saw maybe one instance of a really bad play from him and then didn't notice him all that much other than that. Thought he was fine and his pairing was very good.

Just to expand on that, he and Fowler had excellent underlying numbers last night, Fowler especially. Fowler was on the ice for 26 shots attempted vs 11 against, Guhle 21 and 17. Fowler really had an exceptional game.

I just barely started watching that... the play at 51 seconds is horrible, he had so much time and could have skated the puck behind our net or made a pass to fowler.....

 

[Static]

Yeah that was the bad play, completely rushed it most likely from nerves in that first period.

They settled after that. The team as a whole played a great defensive third and I think Arizona only had one credited high danger chance in the period.

 

[TopShelfWaterBottle]

Jeeze people it was one game stop writing off guhle after one freaking game especially the first game of the season where Nobody is in game shape yet.... if he can’t handle it after 5-10 then we have an argument.... relax and give the whole team a block of games to judge by instead of one game where 3/4 lines were garbage and 3/5 dmen weren’t up to par