GDT: Game 41 - Coyotes @ Wild - 6 PM MST - Scripps, ESPN+ - Cold? What Cold Edition

[bwhsocal]

Bad goal tending and more mistakes versus less mistakes and great goal tending. Minni is a bad team, they showed it, I wouldn't get too excited about this 6-0 wi

Who the heck were that team that I just watched? From dire to Brilliant its a never ending run of emotions with the Yotes. Cooley had a good game, Bjugstad with his hatty and Ingram with a 38 save shutout and some very good saves thrown in.
Loved watching that one. Time for some redemption on Tuesday!!

young team and it shows, this and boston vs calgary and winnipeg. they have it but not able to bring every night - they will get there in time

 

[bwhsocal]

I didn't see the 1st period (date night/double date and the GP had the kids, sleeping in for the first time in a looong time), but we played a solid game. We're a middle of the pack team right now, and I'm happy with that progress. Fix the blue line and get a few more guys on 50+ point paces, this team will be dangerous.

Kerfoot seems like he's gotten so much better over the past 41 games, what a signing he's been. Zucker hasn't been nearly as consistent, but he seems like a phenomenal fit in the room. Dumba has been a huge disappointment, I thought he'd bring so much needed stability, but he's been a source of severe inconsistency. I hope we sign Bjuggy to a retirement deal, his 2 seasons here have shown his immense value to this squad. I dig on Stecher a lot, but he's been a solid 6/7. You want to love Dermott, but he's just not an NHL caliber player.

Half way through the season, I'm inclined to give Bill a B- for his UFA signings. He's done well.

i give little higher grade because while dumba and zucker (esp dumba) have been below expectations they are good veteran clubhouse guys and both one 1 year deals. you sign 5 UFAs (none stars) and so far been B+ for me overall when adding contracts signed

 

[Schemp]

If we're grading I'd say D
We were at 12th last season at this time with Chychrun and never replaced him. Our 2 1sts last season and the prospect that played in the NCAA finals haven't been signed yet. Our goaltending are what's giving most of our wins. More wins this season doesn't mean jack when the teams below us are worse than they were last season. In certain areas there is progress, but in other areas we aren't.

I'm just not feeling the love anymore!

 

[TheLegend]

Better late than never....

 

[Mangosteen]

If we're grading I'd say D
We were at 12th last season at this time with Chychrun and never replaced him. Our 2 1sts last season and the prospect that played in the NCAA finals haven't been signed yet. Our goaltending are what's giving most of our wins. More wins this season doesn't mean jack when the teams below us are worse than they were last season. In certain areas there is progress, but in other areas we aren't.

I'm just not feeling the love anymore!

And add both of our firsts probably could of been had late 1st or 2nd round. That's what's hurts the most right now is we tanked for these players? It's like tanking for Brad May. Useful player but would you right off a season for him?

 

[Jakey53]

Bad goal tending and more mistakes versus less mistakes and great goal tending. Minni is a bad team, they showed it, I wouldn't get too excited about this 6-0 win.

I agree, the next two are the ones I'm waiting for.

 

[Jakey53]

Everything about this is truth. First 15 games or so I did not understand Kerfoot at $3.5. Now I get it and he is one of my faves. Zucker hoping for a resurgent 2nd half. Dumba just seems slow of foot and doesn't make good decisions to cover for it. Love Bjugstad and would love to see him finish as a Coyote. Stecher I don't notice much which, for what his job is, I think that's a good thing. Dermott is the 2nd most frustrating player on the team and gets way too much ice.

Bill Signings:
Kerfoot A+
Zucker D
Dumba F
Bjugstad A+
Stecher B

I would still give Bill an A as these seemed like the right moves at the time and the one year deals for Zucker and Dumba make it to where it's kind of a we tried it and it didn't work out sort of thing. So no real mistakes for this phase of the rebuild.

Kerfoot is one of my favorite players to watch. He does everything so well. Such a smart player.

 

[Jakey53]

And add both of our firsts probably could of been had late 1st or 2nd round. That's what's hurts the most right now is we tanked for these players? It's like tanking for Brad May. Useful player but would you right off a season for him?

I don't think those two players would have been available in the late 1st. or 2nd. round like you mentioned. Having said that, I would not have picked Simashev at sixth, and But at 12 I'm fine with even though he is a winger. I would have picked Dvorsky at six and Yager at 12. The Russian factor alone has me scared shitless. That is the fan talking in me, and we all know BA has much more info. and experience than we do. Results is how I measure success or failure, and so far I think we should be happy with the team thus far.

 

[Bonsai Tree]

Nice bounce back. This year's team is incredibly streaky. I have to say, it's been a hell of an exciting ride so far this year following this team. Watching the replay last night, I saw a team that looked absolutely pissed at themselves and determined to play a better game. After goal three, I thought that they relaxed a bit and started to enjoy the game, but for the first 3 goals, they were all business.

 

[Bonsai Tree]

Apologies for the double post. I also think that Cooley deserves to stay on a line with Guenther. Once they develop chemistry, the sum will be greater than the individual parts. IngraHam looked terrific in net. Poised as can be. Bugs is my nominee for best pick up of the year. We shouldn't trade him away again.

I read Morgan's big article on the Coyotes at season midpoint. Seems to me that if Bear doesn't have the defensive talent to play his man to man style, he should change up the defense to accommodate the talent avaiable. Please don't flame me, but I wouldn't mind a bit of zone and trap at this point in time.

 

[Vinny Boombatz]

I love the fact Bear likes to play a man-to-man style...I prefer that to a zone.

 

[Mangosteen]

Trap and zone is so less entertaining to me. Would rather lose a couple more games but still be entertained

 

[MIGs Dog]

Trap and zone is so less entertaining to me. Would rather lose a couple more games but still be entertained

But winning IS fun.

"Coyotes fans, you just won the Stanley Cup, what do you think?"
"The trap is boring"

 

[cobra427]

Apologies for the double post. I also think that Cooley deserves to stay on a line with Guenther. Once they develop chemistry, the sum will be greater than the individual parts. IngraHam looked terrific in net. Poised as can be. Bugs is my nominee for best pick up of the year. We shouldn't trade him away again.

I read Morgan's big article on the Coyotes at season midpoint. Seems to me that if Bear doesn't have the defensive talent to play his man to man style, he should change up the defense to accommodate the talent avaiable. Please don't flame me, but I wouldn't mind a bit of zone and trap at this point in time.

I don't know, but it seems like to me that Bear is getting more with less. 70 points last year, 77 points was the betting line, we are on pace for 88 points, 10 points above par pace, pretty darn good right now. Part of me thinks this is just young players improving and great goal tending by Ingram, but another part of me can't deny giving Bear credit. We are doing this without maybe one of our most valuable players in Hayton (IMHO).

To me, I'll let Bear determine style of D play, let him figure out what is best. Our D men are overall sub par, weakest part of our team followed closely by C position. If the D men can clean up some mistakes, missed assignments and turnovers mostly, this team has a shot at the playoffs.

 

[Jakey53]

I don't know, but it seems like to me that Bear is getting more with less. 70 points last year, 77 points was the betting line, we are on pace for 88 points, 10 points above par pace, pretty darn good right now. Part of me thinks this is just young players improving and great goal tending by Ingram, but another part of me can't deny giving Bear credit. We are doing this without maybe one of our most valuable players in Hayton (IMHO).

To me, I'll let Bear determine style of D play, let him figure out what is best. Our D men are overall sub par, weakest part of our team followed closely by C position. If the D men can clean up some mistakes, missed assignments and turnovers mostly, this team has a shot at the playoffs.

"Hayton one of our most valuable players."I laughed so hard I pissed myself.

 

[finkelsteinberg]

"Hayton one of our most valuable players."I laughed so hard I pissed myself.

When I read cobra's post I knew that was going to trigger you. You seem to be someone who focuses on stats and not visual play. Everyone but you knows how valuable Hayton is to that team. It would be great if he wasn't a 1C for us but the Coyotes play him as such and it isn't his fault he isn't putting up 1C numbers. The team looks markedly better offensively when he is on the ice, 5 on 5 or not.

 

[moosemeister]

When I read cobra's post I knew that was going to trigger you. You seem to be someone who focuses on stats and not visual play. Everyone but you knows how valuable Hayton is to that team. It would be great if he wasn't a 1C for us but the Coyotes play him as such and it isn't his fault he isn't putting up 1C numbers. The team looks markedly better offensively when he is on the ice, 5 on 5 or not.

Agreed. The reason I’ve been an annoying little bitch about moving McBain up to the top line wasn’t about replacing Kerfoot’s point production there. It was everything else he does to open up the other two, and look, Schmaltz and Keller have been able to do what they do because McBain opens up a ton of space, similar to Hayton.

I don’t expect McBain to suddenly increase his scoring because he’s on the top line, but I do expect Schmaltz and Keller to score more and they have been.

Not a coincidence at all, McBain just does the dirty work and opens up the ice for the other two, similar to what Hayton did.

Hayton isn’t ever going to be a 60+ player, and that’s a bummer considering he’s a top 5 pick, but if he were picked like 10th, I would’ve been totally happy. Haha

 

[Vinny Boombatz]

Moose is right...Keller & Schmaltz have played so much better the last two games and no surprise that it's in part due to McBain doing the heavy lifting, allowing Keller & Schmaltz to do their thing.

 

[JasonDemersWasOkay]

"Hayton one of our most valuable players."I laughed so hard I pissed myself.

As disappointing as hayton’s statistics have been I think it’s short-sighted to not realize that he is still a good player and benefits the team in a lot of ways. He’s defensively sound, good on faceoffs, and opens up a lot of space for Keller and schmaltz.

 

[Jakey53]

When I read cobra's post I knew that was going to trigger you. You seem to be someone who focuses on stats and not visual play. Everyone but you knows how valuable Hayton is to that team. It would be great if he wasn't a 1C for us but the Coyotes play him as such and it isn't his fault he isn't putting up 1C numbers. The team looks markedly better offensively when he is on the ice, 5 on 5 or not.

Hayton is fine defensively, that's it, this year anyway. He progressed last year, and then this year took a nose dive (4 pts. 16gms). IF he can get back to last year's play, I would still be disappointed but satisfied. Hayton unfortunately is not even the best C on this team. Kerfoot has passed him by, same as Bjugstad, and the way Cooley is making progress, him as well. You could flip a coin between Hayton and McBain, Hayton better in the dot but McBain much more physical.

 

[lanky]

Hayton isn’t ever going to be a 60+ player

Yeah he will.

 

[Jakey53]

As disappointing as hayton’s statistics have been I think it’s short-sighted to not realize that he is still a good player and benefits the team in a lot of ways. He’s defensively sound, good on faceoffs, and opens up a lot of space for Keller and schmaltz.

Just like the rest of our C's, but with less results. Have you watched Kerfoot on that line? McBain is doing what Hayton is doing by planting his ass in front of the goalie. Hell, even Boyd was playing better before his injury, and he was scratched several times. Sorry, I'm not going to defend Hayton until he at least plays like last year. I'm just curious how you think Hayton opens up a lot of space for Keller and Schmaltz?

 

[Jakey53]

Moose is right...Keller & Schmaltz have played so much better the last two games and no surprise that it's in part due to McBain doing the heavy lifting, allowing Keller & Schmaltz to do their thing.

Did you ever think that some of that success is that Schmaltz has played better as well? What you are saying is that a 4th. line C is doing what Hayton does, but maybe even better?

 

[Schemp]

I wonder if the reason that Hayton started off subpar was because he had a hurt thumb and didn't think much about it and wasn't discovered how bad it was until he was rehabbing for a different injury? At least that seems like the reasonable explanation why it's taken so long, an idiot jock trying to play through an undisclosed injury...

Did you ever think that some of that success is that Schmaltz has played better as well? What you are saying is that a 4th. line C is doing what Hayton does, but maybe even better?

Coyotes have a 4th line center?

 

[Jakey53]

I wonder if the reason that Hayton started off subpar was because he had a hurt thumb and didn't think much about it and wasn't discovered how bad it was until he was rehabbing for a different injury? At least that seems like the reasonable explanation why it's taken so long, an idiot jock trying to play through an undisclosed injury...


Coyotes have a 4th line center?

You are grasping at straws. I believe McBain was playing 4C.