GDT: game fifty six...existential doom edition

[Cousin Eddie]

I'd really like to see what they call "high danger" though. And I'd also like to see what stats measure a team's ability to score garbage goals close-in off of rebounds, which I think we can all agree the Avs are absolutely lousy at. I'm sure Matt Nieto is the king of "high danger shot attempts" since he's very good at shooting from in-close right into a goalie's chest.

And it's not that they're not generating scoring chances, they just keep relying on the same methods to do so.

Also, it's no coincidence that this team relies way too much on the point men to get it done and also give up an inordinate amount of breakaways. Too many turnovers from high in the zone, not enough done behind the net, in the slot area, and below the circles to generate chances. There's also a severe puck support problem that's leading to these breakaways and ridiculous defensive breakdowns that happen every game.

Agree. There are many deficiencies in this team right now and most of all I see a struggle of straight up talent. Bednar has implemented a system that has allowed to have the puck a lot, shoot the puck a lot and shoot the puck from dangerous areas. Unfortunately the players doing that just aren’t very good at it. As you pointed out, Nieto (along with Calvert and Soderberg) were the guys creating last night. 12 scoring chances between the three of them. Imagine a guy like Huberdeau or Panarin replacing one of them.

 

[CobraAcesS]

Boy does that list of Avs on the left there match the eye test. Those are pretty much the players that have meaningful roles that I want to throw rotten vegetables at every night.

 

[Raucherhusten]

Boy does that list of Avs on the left there match the eye test. Those are pretty much the players that have meaningful roles that I want to throw rotten vegetables at every night.

So TOR scored on 5of6 dangerous chances and we were 2/11. And this pretty much happened in about 75% of our games in the past 2+ month.

Yeaaaaaaah i know we are all pissed and want changes but that so many peeps now want Bednar's head is beyond me. Sakic on the other hand is responsible for the lack of talent up front. Hunt him, he, at least, deserves it.

 

[Pokecheque]

I feel like we are once again looking at Injured-but-playing-through-it Landeskog. He was objectively horrible last night, and really hasn't looked great for a while now.

Not surprising at all that Jost re-enters the lineup and continues as the marginal player he was when he left.

 

[CobraAcesS]

So TOR scored on 5of6 dangerous chances and we were 2/11. And this pretty much happened in about 75% of our games in the past 2+ month.

Yeaaaaaaah i know we are all pissed and want changes but that so many peeps now want Bednar's head is beyond me. Sakic on the other hand is responsible for the lack of talent up front. Hunt him, he, at least, deserves it.

Lots of cooks responsible for this cow pie.

 

[Pokecheque]

Agree. There are many deficiencies in this team right now and most of all I see a struggle of straight up talent. Bednar has implemented a system that has allowed to have the puck a lot, shoot the puck a lot and shoot the puck from dangerous areas. Unfortunately the players doing that just aren’t very good at it. As you pointed out, Nieto (along with Calvert and Soderberg) were the guys creating last night. 12 scoring chances between the three of them. Imagine a guy like Huberdeau or Panarin replacing one of them.

Oh, no doubt this team just isn't very well built right now, but that doesn't mean there aren't systemic issues. More concerning to me is that they continue to take insanely stupid penalties and their special teams have completely hit the skids. That's on coaching, I don't care what anyone says.

If I were Bednar I'd put Compher in the press box for a game. That was an absolutely horrid, inexcusable, unnecessary penalty to take. One of the few times Bednar publicly called out an individual player. But that also means Bourque would get another game so...

 

[AegonLeConqueror]

Boy does that list of Avs on the left there match the eye test. Those are pretty much the players that have meaningful roles that I want to throw rotten vegetables at every night.

To be honest this just screams to me that we lack guys who can actually score. Other than Mack and Gabe who have 29(?) a piece and Mikko with 23, I believe, there isn't really anyone who can score reliably. Another thing I notice is that the Avs always try centering the puck and it goes directly....to the other team, because there's almost no one in the slot. Teams always seem to also score during scrambles in front of our net but when it happens to us either the goalie covers the puck with ease or we send it wide and it smoothly leaves our zone. I've harped on this in my last few posts and at this point it's probably just beating a dead horse, but the team does not have a reliable scorer. We have playmakers, but no one is really a pure goal scorer

 

[CobraAcesS]

Oh, no doubt this team just isn't very well built right now, but that doesn't mean there aren't systemic issues. More concerning to me is that they continue to take insanely stupid penalties and their special teams have completely hit the skids. That's on coaching, I don't care what anyone says.

If I were Bednar I'd put Compher in the press box for a game. That was an absolutely horrid, inexcusable, unnecessary penalty to take. One of the few times Bednar publicly called out an individual player. But that also means Bourque would get another game so...

I can't believe I'm saying this, but.. I guess it is easier to understand sitting Z when you have Nemeth and Barbs vs sitting JTC for Borq lol. Even if I think Bednar has been a bit quick on the draw at times with Z.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

Boy does that list of Avs on the left there match the eye test. Those are pretty much the players that have meaningful roles that I want to throw rotten vegetables at every night.

Yeah I still don't see a team that is no longer playing for their coach. They are trying. I just see a team that is way down on themselves. There are coaching issues of course but they have yet to quit on Bednar.

 

[CobraAcesS]

To be honest this just screams to me that we lack guys who can actually score. Other than Mack and Gabe who have 29(?) a piece and Mikko with 23, I believe, there isn't really anyone who can score reliably. Another thing I notice is that the Avs always try centering the puck and it goes directly....to the other team, because there's almost no one in the slot. Teams always seem to also score during scrambles in front of our net but when it happens to us either the goalie covers the puck with ease or we send it wide and it smoothly leaves our zone. I've harped on this in my last few posts and at this point it's probably just beating a dead horse, but the team does not have a reliable scorer. We have playmakers, but no one is really a pure goal scorer

Yeah a lot of us knew this going into the season. There is arguments about Skinner's game away from his goal scoring, but a lot of people wanted him because you know he is someone who capitalizes on his chances. At the minimum they needed a sniper type added to the depth scoring. I mean going into this season how many of our players could you reasonably expect to score 20 goals?

I don't rate Kerfoot's 19 last year, and Soda's goal scoring this year is not normal for him. Everyone else outside of the top line was a, yeah maybe hopefully coin toss but not proven at all.

 

[The Abusement Park]

Yeah I still don't see a team that is no longer playing for their coach. They are trying. I just see a team that is way down on themselves. There are coaching issues of course but they have yet to quit on Bednar.

I see a top line that has though.

 

[chet1926]

I feel like we are once again looking at Injured-but-playing-through-it Landeskog. He was objectively horrible last night, and really hasn't looked great for a while now.

Not surprising at all that Jost re-enters the lineup and continues as the marginal player he was when he left.

So it's ok to blame Landy's crap play on some mysterious injury, but if I even remotely suggest injury as an excuse for anyone else I get ripped apart for even suggesting it and told that injuries aren't an excuse.

Landy isn't hurt, he is just going through his annual I forgot how to play hockey stretch, usually it lasts about a month. This shouldn't be shocking to anyone it happens around the same time every year.

The only player that might have an injury excuse is MacK, who at least took a puck off the foot and could have broken it for all we know, and is trying to play through it. I doubt it, but at least this is somewhat in the realm of possible.

The double standard around here for Landy is crazy. Bad play, oh he must be hurt, can't be because he does this every year or anything. Why can't we just accept that he is a decent player, that has long stretches of terrible play every year.

 

[CobraAcesS]

So it's ok to blame Landy's crap play on some mysterious injury, but if I even remotely suggest injury as an excuse for anyone else I get ripped apart for even suggesting it and told that injuries aren't an excuse.

Landy isn't hurt, he is just going through his annual I forgot how to play hockey stretch, usually it lasts about a month. This shouldn't be shocking to anyone it happens around the same time every year.

The only player that might have an injury excuse is MacK, who at least took a puck off the foot and could have broken it for all we know, and is trying to play through it. I doubt it, but at least this is somewhat in the realm of possible.

The double standard around here for Landy is crazy. Bad play, oh he must be hurt, can't be because he does this every year or anything. Why can't we just accept that he is a decent player, that has long stretches of terrible play every year.

Who knows man, but I personally can chalk pretty much any of the actual good players playing inconsistent up to being emotionally drained, and also just burnt the f*** out physically due to overuse. It's probably a mix tbH.

The goalies have sucked since day one though (well since November in Varly's case). Varly is probably recovery from surgery or long term impact from past injuries. Grubs is like spending 100$ on lottery tickets and winning 10$. That is just bad luck bet gone bad.

 

[AegonLeConqueror]

So it's ok to blame Landy's crap play on some mysterious injury, but if I even remotely suggest injury as an excuse for anyone else I get ripped apart for even suggesting it and told that injuries aren't an excuse.

Landy isn't hurt, he is just going through his annual I forgot how to play hockey stretch, usually it lasts about a month. This shouldn't be shocking to anyone it happens around the same time every year.

The only player that might have an injury excuse is MacK, who at least took a puck off the foot and could have broken it for all we know, and is trying to play through it. I doubt it, but at least this is somewhat in the realm of possible.

The double standard around here for Landy is crazy. Bad play, oh he must be hurt, can't be because he does this every year or anything. Why can't we just accept that he is a decent player, that has long stretches of terrible play every year.

No, I think you get ripped to shreds because you are a very apparent Landeskog hater.

 

[Pokecheque]

So it's ok to blame Landy's crap play on some mysterious injury, but if I even remotely suggest injury as an excuse for anyone else I get ripped apart for even suggesting it and told that injuries aren't an excuse.

Landy isn't hurt, he is just going through his annual I forgot how to play hockey stretch, usually it lasts about a month. This shouldn't be shocking to anyone it happens around the same time every year.

The only player that might have an injury excuse is MacK, who at least took a puck off the foot and could have broken it for all we know, and is trying to play through it. I doubt it, but at least this is somewhat in the realm of possible.

The double standard around here for Landy is crazy. Bad play, oh he must be hurt, can't be because he does this every year or anything. Why can't we just accept that he is a decent player, that has long stretches of terrible play every year.

I honestly don't recall seeing you get ripped for saying that, but whatever. I think plenty of people (including me) have said that injuries have completely derailed the respective seasons of Barberio and Andrighetto, and last season both injury and illness pretty much ruined Colin Wilson's year (although this year I think Colin Wilson has ruined Colin Wilson's season).

I'll say this...anyone who repeat the old cliche that injuries aren't an excuse are kidding themselves. OF COURSE they're an excuse. Winning in the NHL is dependent on a lot of things, and luck with injuries factors into it big time. And the Avs unfortunately have not had great luck at all with them (though much better than the Coyotes). So I'll politely disagree with you and say that I think Landy's playing hurt again, and that he's way, way more than "decent."

Either way, the top line looks burned out and has for a while, and that can't be surprising when they were overplayed to start the season. It turns out you can't win for a sustained period of time in the NHL with one elite super-line, two fourth lines of varying quality, and a somewhat-decent trio of grinders. The opposition has keyed into doing everything they can to stop the top line, and the Avs have no answer.

 

[CobraAcesS]

No, I think you get ripped to shreds because you are a very apparent Landeskog hater.

Yeah, there is that. Some of us have to own our posting history.

The guy with the 1yr 9 day old account is not wrong when judging this trend lol.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

I see a top line that has though.

Maybe after they went down 4-1 but I'd argue that prior to those three Leafs PP goals they were very engaged. I see a top line that got deflated by another way of losing.

 

[AegonLeConqueror]

Yeah, there is that. Some of us have to own our posting history.

The guy with the 1yr 9 day old account is not wrong when judging this trend lol.

Hahah well i'll be honest, I was a lurker for a long time and only made my account to ask questions I couldn't find answers to myself. I'll begin posting more to provide a more consistent trend in my posting history

 

[CobraAcesS]

Hahah well i'll be honest, I was a lurker for a long time and only made my account to ask questions I couldn't find answers to myself. I'll begin posting more to provide a more consistent trend in my posting history

Yeah a lot of us start out that way. Then you get sucked in to the vortex. I think I lurked for like 5 years or some shit before I finally made an account. I may have even made an account, but never used it so I had to make a new one lol. I can't remember.

 

[The Kingslayer]

So it's ok to blame Landy's crap play on some mysterious injury, but if I even remotely suggest injury as an excuse for anyone else I get ripped apart for even suggesting it and told that injuries aren't an excuse.

Landy isn't hurt, he is just going through his annual I forgot how to play hockey stretch, usually it lasts about a month. This shouldn't be shocking to anyone it happens around the same time every year.

The only player that might have an injury excuse is MacK, who at least took a puck off the foot and could have broken it for all we know, and is trying to play through it. I doubt it, but at least this is somewhat in the realm of possible.

The double standard around here for Landy is crazy. Bad play, oh he must be hurt, can't be because he does this every year or anything. Why can't we just accept that he is a decent player, that has long stretches of terrible play every year.

I don't think Landeskog is hurt either. Fatigued maybe but not injured. I just think that hes overthinking everything all the time when he has the puck. Its not just him either its that entire line. Hes been his usual solid self defensively but with the puck oy vey. As bad as Landeskog has been since the break I think Rantanen has been just as bad with the puck and overall decision making. A lot of guys playing bad hockey right now and I doubt its due to an injury.

 

[antiqueslivers]

hahaha this GDT is tragically beautiful!

 

[AllAboutAvs]

Rant needs to go back to the way is was protecting the puck with his back to the defender using his long reach and keep moving his feet. Now all he does is dropping his left shoulder using his left arm to protect the puck and handling the puck with only one hand. That makes it awfully hard to make any kind of plays. It is also very demanding physically. As soon as he starts doing this you see a second guy coming on him to take away the puck while he is battling the other guy. It is becoming so predictable.

 

[mapletreemarty]

So TOR scored on 5of6 dangerous chances and we were 2/11. And this pretty much happened in about 75% of our games in the past 2+ month.

Yeaaaaaaah i know we are all pissed and want changes but that so many peeps now want Bednar's head is beyond me. Sakic on the other hand is responsible for the lack of talent up front. Hunt him, he, at least, deserves it.

I believe those stats are at 5 on 5 so TOR was 2/6.....It would be interesting to see examine things such as scoring chances and high danger scoring chances per PP to really shine a light on how shit tastic our PK has been this season. I bet we are bottom three in both of those categories per min of PK time. I've never seen so many seam passes get through these guys this season.

 

[dahrougem2]

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.

Ian Cole + Matt Calvert in UFA, Patrik Nemeth brought back, Chris Bigras traded for Ryan Graves (don't mind Graves but player style is similar to what you described).

I have a feeling Joe Sakic likes these sorts.

 

[The Abusement Park]

Ian Cole + Matt Calvert in UFA, Patrik Nemeth brought back, Chris Bigras traded for Ryan Graves (don't mind Graves but player style is similar to what you described).

I have a feeling Joe Sakic likes these sorts.

Hey calverts fast! He’s changing his ways lol.