This is out in left field tonight, but,... can anyone answer the question as to what the hell was/is actually wrong with Hall to be out for about 1.5 months now with about ZERO explanation as to what is wrong? What kind of injury was so bad that they're not willing to even share news what it is, and he's literally be out 1.5 months from a game and nothing going on in terms of information.
We all used to make fun of Lou back in the day about everything hush hush, but this one takes the cake in recent memory.
Not that it matters now for the rest of the season, but the fact that the organization, media and everyone pretty much was 100% zipped up silent on this, is really frustrating and it indicates really poor fan relations.
The reason this came up to me is after watching such a listless 3rd period, I thought about how the organization and it's future, then i thought about Hall being MIA for just about 1.5 months with literally no communication during this timeframe as to what the hell is going on...
Have we crossed that line from being awful, to outright tanking?
well they can't publicly announce they're tanking
With Kinkaid and Cory as the goalies and no Hall and Vatanen, we are pretty much guaranteed to have a bottom 5 record to close out the year. What a waste of a season.Process might be lose for Hughes right now.
If this team had any chance of a turnaround it was firing hynes in mid-November but instead they extended him. This team played below its talent level and has shown little heart. It seems like everyone is on board with ‘trusting the process’.
With Kinkaid and Cory as the goalies and no Hall and Vatanen, we are pretty much guaranteed to have a bottom 5 record to close out the year. What a waste of a season.
Not going to restate my entire post from the game thread, but this is completely false. It’s not on coaching, it’s essentially poor luck and horrible goaltending. Hynes is going to be a very solid coach moving forward.
Would be more than happy to change my opinion if someone could point to tangible numerical evidence of this being Hynes’ fault, rather than pointing to esoteric things like “heart” and “leadership.”
You don't need numbers for this analysis, just look at the product on the ice with your eyes!
Look at the system breakdowns, look at the backdoor/open man play goals we give up. Look at players and defenders cycling high up in the defensive zone doing man marking at their own blue line (Vats for example, but others have done it too), completely ignoring zone coverage what is considered basic sound defensive fundamentals.
Look at the collapses after taking a lead. 2-0 against Rangers ends up 3-4 loss in final 2 periods. The blowouts, the close game losses (or games that were close turned to blowouts in 3rd period). They're just piling up all season.
I don't think you need to collect some crazy stats for this, to be honest. Coaching impact (negative) is also huge this season (special teams PP fail).
Those breakdowns are fairly common throughout the league (other than maybe the very elite teams), but when your team is losing and your goalies can’t cover some mistakes, then everything is magnified. Watch other teams and see how often it happens. It’s not rare.
Hynes is 15 times more intelligent about hockey than anyone else on this board. He spends essentially all of his waking hours breaking this stuff down. There’s zero chance that this is some systemic failure that he’s overlooking and/or failing to communicate.
To be fair, we won the lottery twice in six yearsConsidering how Hall's in witness protection now and their best goalie's in the minors it's a possibility.
Watch us get stiffed in the lottery now that we're seemingly overtly tanking.
To be fair, we won the lottery twice in six years
Given the critical importance of young affordable elite players in the league and the Devils desperate need for an infusion of talent, I would say a bottom 5 record is far from a waste of a season. It could actually be crucially important in taking the next step.
Given the critical importance of young affordable elite players in the league and the Devils desperate need for an infusion of talent, I would say a bottom 5 record is far from a waste of a season. It could actually be crucially important in taking the next step.
Ehh if all we get out of it is RNH, or god forbid, Yak, then it was indeed a total waste.