GDT: Game 1: Anaheim Ducks @ Las Vegas Golden Knights, 7pm PT

[robbieboy3686]

 

[HanSolo]

View attachment 753141

Lmao noted stud Ben Hutton.

Anyway. I thought Lacombe, Drysdale, Minty all has strong showings overall. Some mistakes here and there but promising stuff. Zegras looked solid to the extent that he was fearless in the physical game but his stick handling was pretty well stifled in this one. Terry was really inconsistent. His confidence in dangling is an asset on many occasions but tonight it just made him look like a hotdog who kept screwing up.

Gibby looked like he stayed committed to the game the whole way through so that was encouraging. Overall felt like the team had decent structure. Third line blows ass. But some solid signs of improvement early on.

 

[McDonald19]

also for a game that had plenty of physicality and fights Johnston was silent

Well there was only one fight in the game. Johnston was in the middle of a couple scrums, so I don’t know what game you were watching.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Game 1 Stat Card.

 

[AngelDuck]

Fowler should not be receiving 1PP time and all these offensive opportunities. He needs to just focus on a defensive role. Minty, Drysdale and Lacombe should be the PP guys

I said this last season and got absolutely killed for it but Fowlers play style just doesn’t fit in with this rebuild. He should have been moved.

You can’t have him on this team when you’re trying to work in Minty, Zellweger, Drysdale, LaCombe

Anyway, Drysdale was very good tonigjt. He’s been pretty unfairly criticized by a number of people on this board

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Catching up on the board.

Our bottom six isn't that great and we're missing two top-6 players in Carlsson and Killorn. One player we are missing that could make our third line also look better is Lundy. That would push Groulx to 4C.

If we added those three forwards, then we'd have something like this:

Z-Carlsson-Terry
Rico-McTavish-Killorn
Vatrano-Lundy-Strome
Jones-Groulx-Carrick

Sucks that Lundy will be out until February.

 

[CrazyDuck4u]

I said this last season and got absolutely killed for it but Fowlers play style just doesn’t fit in with this rebuild. He should have been moved.

You can’t have him on this team when you’re trying to work in Minty, Zellweger, Drysdale, LaCombe

Anyway, Drysdale was very good tonigjt. He’s been pretty unfairly criticized by a number of people on this board

Yah I've been saying it too. Fowler needs to be traded

 

[KelVarnsen]

Catching up on the board.

Our bottom six isn't that great and we're missing two top-6 players in Carlsson and Killorn. One player we are missing that could make our third line also look better is Lundy. That would push Groulx to 4C.

If we added those three forwards, then we'd have something like this:

Z-Carlsson-Terry
Rico-McTavish-Killorn
Vatrano-Lundy-Strome
Jones-Groulx-Carrick

Sucks that Lundy will be out until February.

No thanks on Groulx. He’s not a very good player and doesn’t really add anything. As someone said, he is very Vanilla.

 

[Mr Rogers]

I said this last season and got absolutely killed for it but Fowlers play style just doesn’t fit in with this rebuild. He should have been moved.

You can’t have him on this team when you’re trying to work in Minty, Zellweger, Drysdale, LaCombe

and he's getting worse every year at holding the blue line it seems.

Also they mentioned that Cronin wants the D pinching a lot and Cam just isn't a guy who wants to do that, he isn't an aggressive player. I think taking some of the offensive burden off him would allow him to be fresher for bigger defensive assignments. there were a lot of times last year where he looked exhausted and just had nothing left - it would be nice if that didn't happen again this year.

Also on the Fowler/Drysdale pairing, Cam is definitely the driver on that and i get why, but i'm not sure it's so great for Drydsale - he needs to learn how to defer less to his partner. Jamie is supposed to be a puck rusher with skill, and right now he's just mostly watching Cam skate the puck up the ice. it's a waste of his talent and isn't allowing him to develop those skills imo.

 

[Mr Rogers]

Game 1 Stat Card.

View attachment 753149

Drysdale was solid all night and that definitely matches up. McTavish had a great third, a bit surprised at Minty but felt like he wasn't playing with any of our better forwards (ie was with the 3rd/4th lines a lot that got absolutely destroyed)

 

[Hockey Duckie]

No thanks on Groulx. He’s not a very good player and doesn’t really add anything. As someone said, he is very Vanilla.

That's okay for a 4C who is only getting 8 mins, where 40% of it is on the PK. We're forcing Groulx to play 3C as a 4C. 4C's are supposed to be Vanilla.

Groulx is probably a placeholder until Gaucher gets up to speed.

 

[Ducks DVM]

I said this last season and got absolutely killed for it but Fowlers play style just doesn’t fit in with this rebuild. He should have been moved.

You can’t have him on this team when you’re trying to work in Minty, Zellweger, Drysdale, LaCombe

Anyway, Drysdale was very good tonigjt. He’s been pretty unfairly criticized by a number of people on this board

In a vacuum, yes. But he’s literally the only defenseman on the team who belongs in a top 3 role. Trading him means replacing him with someone who can play a top 2 role, AND drag around someone else who doesn’t belong there, which means most likely adding to him. Those trades just don’t typically exist.

The kids need to be sheltered.

 

[Bender66]

I understand Fowler is only actual top 4 NHL defenseman on the team at this point ... but can we pls get him off PP1 for the love of cthulu. It's only been one game and i already am back to mid season hate for his ridiculous zone entries and that shitty way he coasts through the neutral zone with the puck. Like, your one redeeming skill is that you can skate, but sure, please do coast through the neutral zone while the opposing PK ignores you because they know you don't have the balls to carry the puck into the zone so they can stack the blue line and force the ducks to dump the puck in. sigh

 

[Bergey37]

They’re playing NHL quality hockey at least this year.

It’ll be better when Killorn and Carlson are back.

That's a tacit admission that Z, McT and Terry aren't enough to get things going. Last season, each of them demonstrated skill and ability but, in my view, NONE of them demonstrated chemistry with anybody. They made nobody better. Tonight's offense looked like last season, and we HAVE to get that figured out.

 

[JohnnyDrama]

I said this last season and got absolutely killed for it but Fowlers play style just doesn’t fit in with this rebuild. He should have been moved.

You can’t have him on this team when you’re trying to work in Minty, Zellweger, Drysdale, LaCombe

Anyway, Drysdale was very good tonigjt. He’s been pretty unfairly criticized by a number of people on this board

Maybe I missed some posts but I don’t think Drysdale has been unfairly criticized, it’s just tough to gauge where he’s at as a player because of the injury and inconsistency during his limited time as basically a rookie. I agree he looked good tonight and it will go a long way if he becomes even fringe top pairing

Already feel bad for Gibson lmao. This teams gonna suck again. Just want progress from the young guys and excited for Leo to get in. Still good to have ducks hockey back however painful it is

 

[Hockey Duckie]

That's a tacit admission that Z, McT and Terry aren't enough to get things going. Last season, each of them demonstrated skill and ability but, in my view, NONE of them demonstrated chemistry with anybody. They made nobody better. Tonight's offense looked like last season, and we HAVE to get that figured out.

Tonight's offense "IS" what we had last year. That's why we added Killorn via FA and Carlsson being the #2 pick overall to our top-6. Terry and Z kinda stagnated last year instead of taking another step. Mac was a rookie last year that got moved around a lot.

If you're talking about chemistry, Carlsson centering Zegras and Terry felt like they were Huey, Dewey, and Louie.

As for McTavish, he was bounced around a lot last year from 2LW to 4C, 3C, 2C, 1C, and back to 2C. Mac had chemistry with Leason and Jones last year as well as chemistry of being fed the puck on the PP for a one-timer. Killorn is a better version of Leason and Jones... and Strome. To start Mac's pre-season, he got injured before pre-season started.

Mac has chemistry issues with Terry. Since Z and Mac played mostly center last year, it's rare they're on the same line. I think Z could mesh with Mac like Bedard meshed with Mac. Yet, seeing how Z-Carlsson-Terry had instant chemistry, I don't know if Z will play with Mac.

 

[anezthes]

Great game by Gibson. The rest, not so much.

Business as usual.

 

[Bergey37]

Tonight's offense "IS" what we had last year. That's why we added Killorn via FA and Carlsson being the #2 pick overall to our top-6. Terry and Z kinda stagnated last year instead of taking another step. Mac was a rookie last year that got moved around a lot.

If you're talking about chemistry, Carlsson centering Zegras and Terry felt like they were Huey, Dewey, and Louie.

As for McTavish, he was bounced around a lot last year from 2LW to 4C, 3C, 2C, 1C, and back to 2C. Mac had chemistry with Leason and Jones last year as well as chemistry of being fed the puck on the PP for a one-timer. Killorn is a better version of Leason and Jones... and Strome. To start Mac's pre-season, he got injured before pre-season started.

Mac has chemistry issues with Terry. Since Z and Mac played mostly center last year, it's rare they're on the same line. I think Z could mesh with Mac like Bedard meshed with Mac. Yet, seeing how Z-Carlsson-Terry had instant chemistry, I don't know if Z will play with Mac.

Oh, I quite understand that Killorn was brought in to help stabilize there guys. And it was indeed refreshing to see Carlsson with Terry and Z so bright in one preseason game against AHL competition. My concern is that these 3 piers of our top 6 could not get the offense going last year, and nothing has changed as of tonight. One game I know, but IMHO these guys need to learn how to work effectively with their teammates. I'm not seeing it yet.

 

[JohnnyDrama]

Oh, I quite understand that Killorn was brought in to help stabilize there guys. And it was indeed refreshing to see Carlsson with Terry and Z so bright in one preseason game against AHL competition. My concern is that these 3 piers of our top 6 could not get the offense going last year, and nothing has changed as of tonight. One game I know, but IMHO these guys need to learn how to work effectively with their teammates. I'm not seeing it yet.

The only realistic hope I have is inserting Killorn and Carlsson (Carlsson has to be unreal for this to work which may not happen) will push everyone else down and create a ripple of depth

 

[IdyllwildEcho]

I was at the game. The Ducks looked like a serious NHL team for most of the game. Too many penalties cost them, though.

Drysdale looked really physical tonight with some massive hits (I was surprised when I saw that it was him laying these hits). I’m guessing he put on size.

 

[pbgoalie]

For the record, I’ve been a Fowler questioner for a long while. Mostly feel like since his injuries, he just looks scared sometimes.

But realistically, last year he was pretty good. We have some unreal talent that is just too young to believe can handle a full nhl season and excel right now.

I also believe the “kids” could make the pp
more effective, but I’m not ready jettison him right now. I’m hoping being challenged may make him wake up and use more of the obvious talent he has

 

[JohnnyDrama]

For the record, I’ve been a Fowler questioner for a long while. Mostly feel like since his injuries, he just looks scared sometimes.

But realistically, last year he was pretty good. We have some unreal talent that is just too young to believe can handle a full nhl season and excel right now.

I also believe the “kids” could make the pp
more effective, but I’m not ready jettison him right now. I’m hoping being challenged may make him wake up and use more of the obvious talent he has

I can’t recall the exact injuries but I think it happened twice where he looked like a completely new assertive player starting to jump in and take chances, then got injured and turned hesitant again. One must’ve been the Gio knee. I feel like early coaching/dev will always take some blame. He’s also had the shittiest d partners of all time

Wouldn’t be surprised if he lost his PP1 spot at all to Lacombe and eventually Mintyukov, with all the praise I have for him as a player, powerplay is not what he excels at to say the least. Even if his PP stats aren’t terrible which I feel like is true but I’m too lazy to check, I’ve never felt threat with him at the point

 

[Terry Yake]

how did mintyukov look?

 

[Anaheim4ever]

I was at the game. The Ducks looked like a serious NHL team for most of the game. Too many penalties cost them, though.

Drysdale looked really physical tonight with some massive hits (I was surprised when I saw that it was him laying these hits). I’m guessing he put on size.

Drysdale is now Fowler's bodyguard.

I can’t recall the exact injuries but I think it happened twice where he looked like a completely new assertive player starting to jump in and take chances, then got injured and turned hesitant again. One must’ve been the Gio knee. I feel like early coaching/dev will always take some blame. He’s also had the shittiest d partners of all time

Wouldn’t be surprised if he lost his PP1 spot at all to Lacombe and eventually Mintyukov, with all the praise I have for him as a player, powerplay is not what he excels at to say the least. Even if his PP stats aren’t terrible which I feel like is true but I’m too lazy to check, I’ve never felt threat with him at the point

I remember when Shane Doan destroyed his nose, when he came back its like he came back from shellshock. Doan's son is now in the NHL, maybe Fowler can return the favor ! Wrist shot a puck at his face like Shane did to him. Fowler was incredible last year, on a playoff team he probably would have had a 60 point season. I also think he could have been personally motivated as i'm sure he was aware of the season Montour, Lindholm and Theodore were having.

 

[Dryish]

I'm glad you guys are in the habit of actually posting updates as the game goes on. Having to watch the highlights and nothing else, it looked like we were even worse than we were last season (the freaking reel basically only showed defensive lapses). Glad to hear that's not the case.

Or maybe you're all delusional, what do I know?