I don’t remotely see our issue as a skill issue . The jackets powerplay ranks 26th, at 13%. No matter what personnel we have marched out there under Torts , the powerplay has sucked . Games like last night are pissed away , when you have such an incompetent, major part of your game , look like it’s being ran by high school kids . Who rescues the powerplay this year? Marty St Louis said he’s not available this year . And the bottom line is Torts is the head coach, the bucks stops with him . People can try to blame the assistants , but these assistants haven’t been with Torts his whole career , which most of his teams have had this tendency. And again , bottom line, it’s a results business, and the buck stops with him .
As for projections , the jackets have played one of the tougher schedules to start the season , and at the same time, they are trying to break in 4 rookies . Texier , Bemstrom , Elvis, Garikov, and Milano all are improving . Bemstrom, and Elvis had fantastic nights last night . The goalie room is starting to look like Jarmo said it would . Bemstrom had 6 shots on goal last night , and looked like he has finally settled in . He absolutely needs to be put on the top power play, and put him in positions where he can unleash his shot. His skating is much better than advertised , kid has mass potential .