GDT: Honda Presents Honda West Division @ Honda Center: Honda Avs @ Honda Ducks | 8 PM MT

[Richard88]

Graves play is concerning. We need to have a good 6D and not a liability.

With EJ our top5 is great.

Not sold on Graves, Pateryn or Timmins as 6D.

If our biggest concern is choosing between Graves or Timmins for 6D we're in a good place.

A lot of teams don't have anywhere near that level of talent on the 3rd pairing.

 

[Balthazar]

I just want to express my frustration at how Bednar sends our guys out to start OT.

In OT, possession is everything, and winning the opening faceoff is huge.

That being the case, why start Mackinnon, who sucks at faceoffs? What inevitably always happens is what we saw last night: Mackinnon loses the faceoff, then has to skate around for a minute trying to get the puck back, before going off on a line change without having touched the puck. It's just dumb.

Get your best faceoff guy out there - either Bellemare or Landeskog, and win that faceoff. Once you have won the faceoff and have possession then Bellemare would go straight to the bench and Mackinnon comes on, without having wasted a minute of energy skating around chasing pucks.

We got lucky that Anaheim didn't do much with their possession in OT but they really could have punished us in the 2 minutes they had the puck.

That said, kudos to Bednar for going 2D + 1F in OT. I like that a lot as it gives us a more solid platform defensively to not get carved open as easily, and we do have a group of Dmen who all deserve to be out there in OT so might as well use them.

Going forward I would roll these forwards and D pairs every time we go to OT:

Mackinnon (/Bellemare for opening faceoff)
Landeskog
Rantanen
Burakovsky

Toews -- Makar
Girard -- Byram

Bellemare can't skate anymore, I want him nowhere near the ice in OT. If he loses that draw we're stuck with him.

Kadri I could understand but there's 50% chance he'll get chased from the faceoff and a dman would have to take his place. Also he's struggling so f***ing much he didn't deserve to be on the ice.

Mack needs to learn to win faceoffs.

 

[BrickNHL]

Avs Depth:

Kadri: 5 games: 2 points
Compher: 5 games: 1 point
Saad: 5 games: 1 point
Calvert: 5 games: 1 point
Nichushkin: 5 games: 0 points
Bellemare: 5 games: 0 points
Jost: 5 games: 0 points

Good thing the top players are contributing, because this is ugly from the depth.

Another example of stats don’t tell the full story... because they’ve been way worse than that.

 

[Richard88]

Can we keep Zadorov and trade Graves instead? Graves really has to change his game up and tidy his defensive game. Z would've been perfect as a 6th D.

Have you already forgotten about Z's total incapacity to follow the play in his own zone? Let's not make Zadorov out to be some sort of elite shutdown Dman just because Graves had a bad game.

Also worth remembering that Zadorov was likely asking for a big raise on $3.2m to resign with some term. It was the right decision to keep Graves and move Zadorov.

 

[Richard88]

Can we keep Zadorov and trade Graves instead? Graves really has to change his game up and tidy his defensive game. Z would've been perfect as a 6th D.

Have you already forgotten about Z's total incapacity to follow the play in his own zone? Let's not make Zadorov out to be some sort of elite shutdown Dman just because Graves had a bad game.

Also worth remembering that Zadorov was likely asking for a big raise on $3.2m to resign with some term. It was the right decision to keep Graves and move Zadorov.

 

[The Shermanator]

I don't get all the Graves hate. As long as we keep him on the bottom pair he's great.

 

[Pokecheque]

One note of concern from me is whether or not MacKinnon suffered some kind of injury. He looked really stiff in the latter part of the game, especially on that penalty shot, and had an uncharacteristically bad defensive zone turnover near the end of the game. Hopefully nothing but something looked off there.

 

[Balthazar]

I don't get all the Graves hate. As long as we keep him on the bottom pair he's great.

That's where he sucks. He's good when he plays with Makar and Girard but bad when he plays bottom pair

 

[Pokecheque]

I don't get all the Graves hate. As long as we keep him on the bottom pair he's great.

No, he has to be paired with someone who can carry the defensive load. I like Graves too but every time he was out there with Pateryn the last two games the opposition ate him up.

 

[BrickNHL]

You know that video of Dubois’ las shift, that is Brandon Saad all the time.

so useless out there

 

[S E P H]

Listening to the Ducks broadcast was legit painful.

Why you say that? They gave us a lot of praise yesterday. Hayward is normally a tyrefire, but he called the MacKinnon line the best in the NHL and said that our D-core is probably the deepest in the league and that's with EJ being out too.

 

[TruePowerSlave]

I don't get all the Graves hate. As long as we keep him on the bottom pair he's great.

Especially when paired with Pateryn, top class.

 

[S E P H]

You know that video of Dubois’ las shift, that is Brandon Saad all the time.

so useless out there

Saad is a good hockey player, but if the desire isn't there then we're in a world of hurt because I don't think anybody would be able to change that (thank God we only gave up Vitamin Z for him).

 

[BrickNHL]

Why you say that? They gave us a lot of praise yesterday. Hayward is normally a tyrefire, but he called the MacKinnon line the best in the NHL and said that our D-core is probably the deepest in the league and that's with EJ being out too.

the whining on penalties especially on Rantanen. Like yeah he is big but he is clumsy and falls down all of the time.

he confused Pateryn with Makar multiple times. Nichushkin with Calvert twice.

 

[Nihiliste]

If our biggest concern is choosing between Graves or Timmins for 6D we're in a good place.

A lot of teams don't have anywhere near that level of talent on the 3rd pairing.

Seriously, I mean how quickly do we forget that just last year Makar was carrying Graves around on the top pair?

 

[dahrougem2]

the whining on penalties especially on Rantanen. Like yeah he is big but he is clumsy and falls down all of the time.

he confused Pateryn with Makar multiple times. Nichushkin with Calvert twice.

This drove me mad lol Nichushkin is 6'4 and Calvert is 5'11 how the **** do you mix them up?

 

[Metallo]

I just want to express my frustration at how Bednar sends our guys out to start OT.

In OT, possession is everything, and winning the opening faceoff is huge.

That being the case, why start Mackinnon, who sucks at faceoffs? What inevitably always happens is what we saw last night: Mackinnon loses the faceoff, then has to skate around for a minute trying to get the puck back, before going off on a line change without having touched the puck. It's just dumb.

Get your best faceoff guy out there - either Bellemare or Landeskog, and win that faceoff. Once you have won the faceoff and have possession then Bellemare would go straight to the bench and Mackinnon comes on, without having wasted a minute of energy skating around chasing pucks.

We got lucky that Anaheim didn't do much with their possession in OT but they really could have punished us in the 2 minutes they had the puck.

That said, kudos to Bednar for going 2D + 1F in OT. I like that a lot as it gives us a more solid platform defensively to not get carved open as easily, and we do have a group of Dmen who all deserve to be out there in OT so might as well use them.

Going forward I would roll these forwards and D pairs every time we go to OT:

Mackinnon (/Bellemare for opening faceoff)
Landeskog
Rantanen
Burakovsky

Toews -- Makar
Girard -- Byram

This so much this.

It took him years to do a single ajustment to OT (2d).

Plus as soon as we get the puck our players rush to score right away. Make them learn to hang on to the puck and be patient for f*** sake!

3vs3 is a slow game, like half-court basketball without a shot clock.

We got lucky that Landy scored right away because if he does not the Ducks keep the puck we may not get it back for 2 min and lose the game.

 

[The Kingslayer]

I don't get all the Graves hate. As long as we keep him on the bottom pair he's great.

He was on the bottom pair last night and look what happened? This isnt the first game where hes struggled either. He really misses Makar.

 

[The Kingslayer]

One note of concern from me is whether or not MacKinnon suffered some kind of injury. He looked really stiff in the latter part of the game, especially on that penalty shot, and had an uncharacteristically bad defensive zone turnover near the end of the game. Hopefully nothing but something looked off there.

Im thinking fatigue. Look at his ice time the last 2-3 games. I think he was just tired. He and Mikko were the only players who were skating in that second LA game. He was still so dangerous last night with the obvious fatigue. Almost scored 3 times if you include the PS. He will be fine by Sunday because if hes not we are screwed.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

I just want to express my frustration at how Bednar sends our guys out to start OT.

In OT, possession is everything, and winning the opening faceoff is huge.

That being the case, why start Mackinnon, who sucks at faceoffs? What inevitably always happens is what we saw last night: Mackinnon loses the faceoff, then has to skate around for a minute trying to get the puck back, before going off on a line change without having touched the puck. It's just dumb.

Get your best faceoff guy out there - either Bellemare or Landeskog, and win that faceoff. Once you have won the faceoff and have possession then Bellemare would go straight to the bench and Mackinnon comes on, without having wasted a minute of energy skating around chasing pucks.

We got lucky that Anaheim didn't do much with their possession in OT but they really could have punished us in the 2 minutes they had the puck.

That said, kudos to Bednar for going 2D + 1F in OT. I like that a lot as it gives us a more solid platform defensively to not get carved open as easily, and we do have a group of Dmen who all deserve to be out there in OT so might as well use them.

Going forward I would roll these forwards and D pairs every time we go to OT:

Mackinnon (/Bellemare for opening faceoff)
Landeskog
Rantanen
Burakovsky

Toews -- Makar
Girard -- Byram

I've been saying this for over a year now regarding starting Mack. Don't put Mack on the ice until you have possession. You are just wasting him and getting tired for nothing because once he finally gets possession he too tired to do anything so he forces a play. The best combo to start the OT or any faceoffs in OT for me would be Kadri with Landy in case Kadri gets thrown out. Win that faceoffs, get it to your dman then change immediately for Mack and whoever. If Mack's line loses the puck and he passes close to the bench get off the ice immediately even if he was on only for 10 seconds. Keep him fresh for when you have possession. This is not rocket science.

 

[The Kingslayer]

Bellemare can't skate anymore, I want him nowhere near the ice in OT. If he loses that draw we're stuck with him.

Kadri I could understand but there's 50% chance he'll get chased from the faceoff and a dman would have to take his place. Also he's struggling so f***ing much he didn't deserve to be on the ice.

Mack needs to learn to win faceoffs.

Look how long Nathans stick is. Thats why he cant win a draw in this league lol. The centreman who win faceoffs all use a shorter stick. This is why Yannick Perrault was nearly 70% career on the dots. Also, this is why Tyson Jost cant win a draw and struggles along the boards to win a puck. Tyson Jost long stick is only effective on the PK and thats the only time he should use it. For his sake he really should use a shorter stick.

 

[Richard88]

Saad is a good hockey player, but if the desire isn't there then we're in a world of hurt because I don't think anybody would be able to change that (thank God we only gave up Vitamin Z for him).

Saad is in a contract year so one would think (or at least hope) that his desire will improve sooner or later.

 

[Richard88]

This so much this.

It took him years to do a single ajustment to OT (2d).

Plus as soon as we get the puck our players rush to score right away. Make them learn to hang on to the puck and be patient for f*** sake!

3vs3 is a slow game, like half-court basketball without a shot clock.

We got lucky that Landy scored right away because if he does not the Ducks keep the puck we may not get it back for 2 min and lose the game.

Makar and Landeskog had a 2-on-0 on Gibson, which is a situation you really hope to have in OT, and you just have to go for it even at the risk of losing the possession of the puck after a rebound.

I guess you could argue that Landeskog could've been more patient instead of going for a wrap around which doesn't often result in a goal, but he scored so there's nothing to really complain about.

 

[Richard88]

He was on the bottom pair last night and look what happened? This isnt the first game where hes struggled either. He really misses Makar.

To be fair to him he was paired with Pateryn much of the time. Pair him with one of Timmins or EJ on the bottom pairing and he'd likely be better as he wouldn't have the onus on him to move the puck.

 

[Richard88]

I've been saying this for over a year now regarding starting Mack. Don't put Mack on the ice until you have possession. You are just wasting him and getting tired for nothing because once he finally gets possession he too tired to do anything so he forces a play. The best combo to start the OT or any faceoffs in OT for me would be Kadri with Landy in case Kadri gets thrown out. Win that faceoffs, get it to your dman then change immediately for Mack and whoever. If Mack's line loses the puck and he passes close to the bench get off the ice immediately even if he was on only for 10 seconds. Keep him fresh for when you have possession. This is not rocket science.

Starting the OT with a 2nd C is a smart idea, makes a tonne of sense.

Now if only Bednar could read our posts here and implement this strategy that would be swell.