Half-Assed GDT: Doggies again vs Bluesies

elkranio

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Jan 4, 2014
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s2snBk3.png
 

Oberyn

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Mar 27, 2011
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I know Sundqvist is a coach and fan favorite, but how the hell did he promote himself to the 1st PP unit with how brutal he's been. He has the balance of a hippo on rollerskates with the amount of times I've seen him planted on the ice.
 

Meatball

2018-19 Stanley Cup Champions! :3
Jul 1, 2014
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Flip Dunn and Mikkola and those d-pairings are perfect.

Not sure what's going on with those forward pairings. :eek:
 
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Vincenzo Arelliti

He Can't Play Center
Oct 13, 2014
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I know Sundqvist is a coach and fan favorite, but how the hell did he promote himself to the 1st PP unit with how brutal he's been. He has the balance of a hippo on rollerskates with the amount of times I've seen him planted on the ice.
He's still a play driver and isn't afraid to play the front of the net. We need that desperately. All of those negative attributes (despite myself not seeing them as much) are moot on the PP.
 

Thallis

Progression is not linear
Jan 23, 2010
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It’s always fun to look back and remember that, at one time, this lineup was supposed to be a Stanley Cup contender.

Effect of hindsight really messes with the way this looks. Steen-Backes-Oshie was a great matchup line and Schwartz-Lehtera-Tarasenko tore up the league for a while. Shame Stastny could never slot into that second line consistently and Allen never figured out how to be a starter or they could have been.
 

JohnLennon

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Mar 26, 2011
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What's going on with Perunovich? Are they just going to let him rot on the taxi squad all season? I feel like he should either get a game or two with the Blues or be sent to the Rampage no?
 

Brian39

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Apr 24, 2014
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I know Sundqvist is a coach and fan favorite, but how the hell did he promote himself to the 1st PP unit with how brutal he's been. He has the balance of a hippo on rollerskates with the amount of times I've seen him planted on the ice.
Berube is probably hoping the Schenn/Schwartz/Kyrou chemistry can carry over onto the PP. ROR/Perron/Hoffman give you 6 of your PP forwards. Berube is pretty clearly trying to reward Fualk for his great play so far and see how he looks as a PP QB. If the long-term plan is one D man on the PP, you don't want to try that experiment with Krug/Dunn on the same unit and I'd wager that Berube wants to send a message to Krug that he hasn't been good enough on the PP. So that means you are looking for your 7th forward to fill the last spot on the top unit. I'd take slumping Sunny over Sanford or Barby and the other forwards dressing don't merit a discusion.

Sunny is filling the 7th forward spot across 2 units and is where he is because Berube wants Schenn/Schwartz/Kyrou out on the same unit.
 
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Reality Czech

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Apr 17, 2017
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Flip Dunn and Mikkola and those d-pairings are perfect.

Not sure what's going on with those forward pairings. :eek:

I'm just gonna assume Berube and the Blues are going through "a phase." Guess he wants to shake things up and get the boys playing more physical. I also think they just wanna get JDLR in the game to keep his legs warm, much like Mac Mac in the last game.

The PP lines are a bit strange, though. Then again, with how bad they've been playing I can't blame him for shuffling the deck. This will be interesting to watch, to say the least. I think the boys pick up the win on pride alone. Can't let these Dogs win 3 in a row at home!
 

Zamadoo

Hail to the CHIEF
Apr 4, 2013
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Love the lines!

Barbs seems to do well in short bursts in the top 6. Perron is right, he has.more offense than people give him credit for. Hopefully playing with them gets him going and playing his game.
 

ezcreepin

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Dec 5, 2016
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What's going on with Perunovich? Are they just going to let him rot on the taxi squad all season? I feel like he should either get a game or two with the Blues or be sent to the Rampage no?
Our AHL farm decided not to participate this year because of covid, so all of the prospects we have here in the US are going to Utica. They are already pretty stacked with players, so Perunovich may not get ice time there either. You could make a case that he is probably best or 2nd best defenseman on that AHL roster if he's sent down, but it might be more beneficial to practice with the big club rather than possibly be in the same situation in the A. I don't remember if they would send him to a different AHL squad since that team is full, with covid being what it is right now. I could be wrong, but that's the sense I get with keeping him up here.

Edit: I didn't know he was hurt. That is also a contributor
 
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Bluesnatic27

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Aug 5, 2011
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Effect of hindsight really messes with the way this looks. Steen-Backes-Oshie was a great matchup line and Schwartz-Lehtera-Tarasenko tore up the league for a while. Shame Stastny could never slot into that second line consistently and Allen never figured out how to be a starter or they could have been.
Well of course hindsight would effect how we look at it because that’s the whole idea. It was a comment upon reflection, meaning that what we look upon a past situation using the knowledge we know now. At the time, a lot of people, myself included, thought that team could go far in the playoffs. But looking back, it’s fairly evident why that team didn’t go far until Fabbri and Parayko joined the ranks.
 

Thallis

Progression is not linear
Jan 23, 2010
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Behind Blue Eyes
Well of course hindsight would effect how we look at it because that’s the whole idea. It was a comment upon reflection, meaning that what we look upon a past situation using the knowledge we know now. At the time, a lot of people, myself included, thought that team could go far in the playoffs. But looking back, it’s fairly evident why that team didn’t go far until Fabbri and Parayko joined the ranks.

Hindsight isn't necessarily accurate as to quality though. For example, we (or at least I do) see Steen's name and most prominent image that comes to mind is his play in recent years, which were a shell of what they were on that team. Also that was the year Allen imploded vs Minnesota when we had a pretty clear path to the final as well. Honestly I see that lineup as pretty similar to the current one we have :dunno:
 

Ranksu

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I dont understand. MacMac was so good last game.

I start to hate Clifford gets dickride from Chief. There is no excuse run him over MacMac. Not reason how well MacMac played last game. This fight reasoning Chief gives player play if they are good.

Enough this vet > prospect
 

BlueKnight

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Apr 19, 2015
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From the looks of it the Blues could play the Yotes a couple more times. Minny game against the Blues this week postponed.
 
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Ranksu

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I would like to see

Code:
Krug - Faulk
Mikkola - Parayko
Dunn - Bortuzzo

I dont understand why it's hard Chief not to try Mikkola - Parayko pair. It's written in the wall how well they would fit together. They look really well at PK, so why not they wont work at 5on5.

Shutdown pair at their best.
 

Note Worthy

History Made
Oct 26, 2011
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Hindsight isn't necessarily accurate as to quality though. For example, we (or at least I do) see Steen's name and most prominent image that comes to mind is his play in recent years, which were a shell of what they were on that team. Also that was the year Allen imploded vs Minnesota when we had a pretty clear path to the final as well. Honestly I see that lineup as pretty similar to the current one we have :dunno:

Not to get too OT but I agree with this. Backes and Steen were completely different players six years ago as was Schwartz. I don't think it's odd the 2015 team were considered contenders.

Just for fun here are some of the point totals from that year.

Tarasenko: 37G 36A 73P

Steen: 24G 40A 64P

Schwartz: 28G 35A 63P

Backes: 26G 32A 58P

Our goaltending has been upgraded but we also lost Pietrangelo and Bouwmeester. The forward group might be slightly better with O'Reilly, Schenn and Perron but it's marginal if anything. But I would say our defense is worse without a doubt.
 
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Brian39

Registered User
Apr 24, 2014
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I would like to see

Code:
Krug - Faulk
Mikkola - Parayko
Dunn - Bortuzzo

I dont understand why it's hard Chief not to try Mikkola - Parayko pair. It's written in the wall how well they would fit together. They look really well at PK, so why not they wont work at 5on5.

Shutdown pair at their best.
Because that would almost double Mikkola's ice time and take him from sheltered matchups where he is in position to succeed to extremely hard matchups.

Throwing rookies into the deep end and hoping they don't drown isn't how you develop successful NHL players.

Mikkola has been on the ice for 4 goals against in 8 games at 5 on 5. His xGF% is 2nd to last on the team and pretty much all of his underlying possession numbers are in the 30s and 40s. His starts are skewed towards the D zone, but not by a huge margin. He is also getting sheltered from top 6 lines as much as possible and is playing 13 minutes a night. I like Mikkola and have been happy with him so far. But he is not dominating his sheltered role. He is arguably struggling in that role. Nothing about his results so far indicate that he should be handed an extra 7+ minutes a night against better opposition.

And Parayko is currently not playing nearly well enough to cover for him. I absolutely don't want those 2 acting as our top shutdown pair right now and they are not built to play any other role when paired together. They have played 13 minutes together and here were the underlying numbers: 39% CF%, 46.67 FF%, 50 SF%, and 44.47 xGF%. Scoring chances were 7-4 in the opposition's favor and high danger chances were 2-2. It is an insanely small sample size, but nothing about that suggests that we should obviously be using that pairing as our top shutdown pair.

Mikkola has played 8 games. Be patient. He is developing, learning the NHL, and my hope is that he is ready for 20+ minutes a night with Parayko by the end of the year. But we aren't close to there yet.
 
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