First time seeing the team in person this year. Let's start with the positives, because why the hell not.
- Okhotiuk looks solid. Not great... But NHL roster ready.
- The team didn't stop skating, and actually had a fair few back to back dominant shifts in the third. Sure, the Canucks probably weren't skating, but still, the team didn't give up.
- Eklund looks as good in person as he looked on TV... which is to say, he belongs, and he plays a solid 2 way game. He does get knocked off the puck, but he also finds crafty ways to gain leverage and he's very crafty on the forecheck. Obviously with the puck he's one of our more dangerous forwards, although he's a bit too obsessed with his behind the net backdoor pass and it got sniffed out today.
- Labanc actually looked effective-ish in the forecheck.
- nice snipe by Zetterlund.
And now for the reality.
Man this team is bad. Passes into feet, pucks left behind, defense consistently makes the wrong play when we win possession in our zone and turn the puck over immediately, defensemen afraid to pinch leading to multiple fast break goals, two fwds in the same place on the PK, the few chances we got were squandered with pucks a foot over the crossbar or passes missed or carelessly given away... It just kept going and going. So many bad decisions, and turnovers, and failed breakouts. The problems really do start at the back. None of our defensemen can control puck and make a clean exit via pass or skating. As a result the forwards come deep and flip pucks out, and we do it all over again.
That, plus even though the first 3 goals were good shots, 1-2 of them could have been saves... also, some horrendous bad luck. Ferraro looked god awful out there but at least he skates hard in between terrible puck decisions and getting burned.
Sturm is a winner. I hope we can keep him through the dark years or he'll be a trade asset and play an important role on a good playoff team. Duke looks snakebitten and gripping his stick. Hertl needs someone who can create and threaten in the space that he forces open around the net.
We're just 4 top 6 forwards, 2 bottom 6 forwards, and 4 top 4 defensemen away from having a team that can win games.
I knew all that, but feeling it in person is different. Brutal.