GDT: G60: Ducks vs Wild 7pm CT/3am Finland (FSN)

[Wabit]

 

[NHL1674]

So what was the straw that broke the camel's back? They had some life before the All-Star break. Was it a trade? What was it that finally pushed the red button that made them completely quit. I mean, we know all the issues. But it feels like something finally put the dagger to them.

 

[907campbell]

Bruce is PISSED!

It's about damn time he gets pissed

 

[Wabit]

So what was the straw that broke the camel's back? They had some life before the All-Star break. Was it a trade? What was it that finally pushed the red button that made them completely quit. I mean, we know all the issues. But it feels like something finally put the dagger to them.

Bitetto's waiver claim.

 

[BagHead]

Bitetto's waiver claim.

Huh... sort of indirectly, maybe. I think you could change the words to "Prosser getting waived". Obviously that isn't big enough of a thing to kill a team outright, but when it's already nearly dead? Maybe at that moment waiving a locker room favorite is all it takes.
Honestly though, I don't think we can point to just one straw that broke the camel's back. All the losing, combined with losing a buddy off the team, and then more losing with no end in sight is probably causing nearly every player on the team to have no confidence. I'm seeing skill in a lot of the guys still, but no cohesive team play. I'm a huge Boudreau fan, but we saw better cohesion than this in Lemaire's last year when people were saying he'd lost the locker room's confidence. This is definitely not all on Bruce (I'd argue it's mostly on the players and management), but it's at least partially on him. I'll be surprised if he's back next season. I have to imagine there are going to be some large changes, and that's an easy large change to make for a GM.

 

[Dickie Dunn]

It was trading Nino for shit. Popular teammate traded for nothing.

 

[Wabit]

It was trading Nino for ****. Popular teammate traded for nothing.

They won 3 of the next 4 games after Nino's trade and were looking decent going into the break.

They are 1-6-3 after claiming Bitteto, and give up 4g+ in 7 of those games.

 

[Minnesnota]

Imagine being paid millions of dollars to play shinny for a living and having the mental fragility of a toddler.

 

[Wild11MN]

Imagine being paid millions of dollars to play shinny for a living and having the mental fragility of a toddler.

That describes the entire team if swapping Prosser for Bitetto caused them to start losing.

 

[Dickie Dunn]

They won 3 of the next 4 games after Nino's trade and were looking decent going into the break.

They are 1-6-3 after claiming Bitteto, and give up 4g+ in 7 of those games.

I think thats giving too much credit to a guy that wasn’t even near their worst D last night. He is a deck chair on this Titanic.

 

[Bazeek]

It's probably multiple things. They were doing well going into the All-Star break and have sh*t the bed ever since then. Snagging Bitetto off of waivers and screwing with a line-up that had been clicking was almost certainly a factor there, and another unforced error on Fenton's part.

Russo also mentioned in the podcast that a player told him that the "green light" talk was in everybody's heads. I don't want to over analyze it, but that story was published a day before the New Jersey game on Feb 14 and a lot of the commentary after the losses since then have been about guys waiting for the deadline shoe to drop.

 

[Wabit]

I think thats giving too much credit to a guy that wasn’t even near their worst D last night. He is a deck chair on this Titanic.

The d-pairs have been a mess and lacking any stability/cohesion besides Suter/Spurgeon. The d-men run everything for the team. They control the puck and flow of the game in all 3 zones and the PP/PK for MN.

 

[Dickie Dunn]

Suter/Spurgeon were the worst pair last night.

 

[TaLoN]

It's probably multiple things. They were doing well going into the All-Star break and have sh*t the bed ever since then. Snagging Bitetto off of waivers and screwing with a line-up that had been clicking was almost certainly a factor there, and another unforced error on Fenton's part.

Russo also mentioned in the podcast that a player told him that the "green light" talk was in everybody's heads. I don't want to over analyze it, but that story was published a day before the New Jersey game on Feb 14 and a lot of the commentary after the losses since then have been about guys waiting for the deadline shoe to drop.

Which just backs up that this is the most mentally fragile team in history.

Big changes are needed if they're this fragile mentally.

 

[W75]

It's Prosser's curse.

 

[TaLoN]

So what was the straw that broke the camel's back? They had some life before the All-Star break. Was it a trade? What was it that finally pushed the red button that made them completely quit. I mean, we know all the issues. But it feels like something finally put the dagger to them.

It was the wave. Never EVER do the wave at the X!

 

[nt3005]

Gotta love my non hockey fan wife. She comes down, watches a bit, then says, "Dubnyk should not touch the puck, and stay in his net."

I was going to list the players that made mistakes, then realized that it was too long a list. One sneaky bad guy was Kunin. Retaliation penalty, missed a wide open net from 5' away, and couldn't seem to catch a pass all night. It was like he was using Ennis's leftover stick.

Did anyone play well? Spurgeon was OK, I think?

This is about as bad as I've seen this team. Maybe some of the very worst Yeo slumps were as bad. There is no spirit, no luck, no zing. Pretty sad stuff.

Why does Suter keep passing to Granlund on the PP in the Umbrella, when Aberg on the other side looked like the only guy who looked like he wanted to hit a puck in anger? He used to do the same to Dumba. Then Granlund tries to make these impossible and risky cross ice passes to Aberg. He knows that Aberg is a better shooter...maybe he should point him out to Suter, Bitetto style?

I have noticed this everytime Aberg has been on the PP. Suter refuses to pass him the puck, there were multiple times Aberg could have gotten a good shot fired but Suter decided to pass to Granlund.

 

[2Pair]

So what was the straw that broke the camel's back? They had some life before the All-Star break. Was it a trade? What was it that finally pushed the red button that made them completely quit. I mean, we know all the issues. But it feels like something finally put the dagger to them.

Pretty obviously Koivu getting hurt

 

[2Pair]

I have noticed this everytime Aberg has been on the PP. Suter refuses to pass him the puck, there were multiple times Aberg could have gotten a good shot fired but Suter decided to pass to Granlund.

That's because the PP is supposed to run through Granlund. The Aberg shot is available whenever they want it.

 

[57special]

This team hasn't looked right to me all season. Dumba's presence was propping them up in a much needed area, the PP and goal scoring, and Koivu's absence has shown just how quietly good he is, even at his advanced age. Throw in Losing Nino( let's not forget he was not very good for us) for an absolutely useless player in Rask...Bitetto hasn't shown himself to be ready to be a regular NHL Dman, AND he's the wrong hand. Hmmm, when have we seen that before ?

In other words, we weren't that good to begin with, there are obvious reasons why we have gotten worse, and things have snowballed past that. We are actually much worse than our place in the standings indicate....the West is crap this year. Oh, and the wave.

It's not any one thing, but a series of them.

 

[THE JAM]

Finnesota turning into Minnesweda - looks like the Wild will miss the playoffs for the first time in years

 

[nt3005]

That's because the PP is supposed to run through Granlund. The Aberg shot is available whenever they want it.

Well maybe only having one plan of going through Granlund is the issue, considering his shot is similar to a bantam.

 

[2Pair]

Well maybe only having one plan of going through Granlund is the issue, considering his shot is similar to a bantam.

It's designed for Granlund to find the other players. When the Puck goes to Suter, that's just to make the defense move and reset the play through Granlund. If the D starts to cheat towards Granlund, that's when the puck goes to Aberg on the one-timer. One-timers from the faceoff circles can be had pretty much whenever you want one. Unless you have a guy like Dumba, they're not all that successful.

 

[Wild11MN]

Finnesota turning into Minnesweda - looks like the Wild will miss the playoffs for the first time in years

Coincidence? I think not.

 

[nt3005]

It's designed for Granlund to find the other players. When the Puck goes to Suter, that's just to make the defense move and reset the play through Granlund. If the D starts to cheat towards Granlund, that's when the puck goes to Aberg on the one-timer. One-timers from the faceoff circles can be had pretty much whenever you want one. Unless you have a guy like Dumba, they're not all that successful.

The problem is Suter slows the play down so much its unsuccesful. Its not hard to see that our PP is extremely easy to stop.


The whole pp is slow and predictable.