TMV made a note on the team's shot differential. This is where the possession stats don't tell the whole story. While they did indeed take a ton of shots, way too many of them came from the defensemen. They are locked into this high-low system to generate offense, which would be fine if they were somehow capable of capitalizing on rebounds and planting bodies in front of the net. But too often goals are the result of perfectly-placed shots or perfect deflections. This team doesn't really know how to set up shots from close-in, nor do they really have anyone with a true net-front presence.
I also would like to know what the coaches are telling AJ Greer to do out there. He oftentimes parks himself in front of the net on the forecheck, which I imagine is similar to what he does in Loveland, but the difference is that he's playing with two linemates who can't really get him the puck. My fear is that they're not telling to do anything, he's just sort of left to his own devices and doesn't have any idea what his role is. Pure speculation on my part but tell me you don't think that's a real possibility. And far as Greer goes...I get that he just may not be good enough, but you can't tell me he has even once been put in a position to succeed in the NHL yet.
I think my biggest fear is that Sakic will learn all the wrong lessons from another failed season and try again with a bunch of big, slow, shot-blocking forwards and defensemen to try and make the team better defensively...hope to hell I'm wrong there.
