Line Combos: Is Rust The Problem?

[vodeni]

I’m not saying what Rust is playing like now. I’m saying the style Rust is geared to play.

Give Geno good linemates…who would have thunk it :/.

Well Rackell has been pretty decent as well.

Letang just need to stop trying to do too much. It’s not like his abilities have dulled.

*edit
The issue is the season is finite. When do we get to the point we are actually outside and can’t get back in.

With all due respect this take drives me nuts, who in the world comes up with this. What exactly "too much" is he trying to do? defend? Skate out of his zone with a puck as he used to do. Hold the blue line as he used to do. make plays as he used to do. don't let the guy make him look like sad sack infront of his goal. This has always been BS reiterated by clueless media that he is trying to do too much, or he is playing too risky? He wants to be and is considered here a Norris type of dman. If you are Norris type than you do more than bottom pair gibroni...He is doing very LITTLE" right now and thts the problem, he is just standing around and watching pucks pass him by...

 

[molon labe]

Anyone know if we still have Uncle Gary in our pocket? I'm fine washing this season off if it's for another superstar. I mean, we're about due aren't we?

All joking aside, Rust is just one of the problems. There's a lot of bad to terrible play right now and Rust is just one of them. Other than L2, most everything else has been mediocre at best. No one looks hungry.

No reason they would. Similar in Tampa. You've paid everyone.

Rust's fire is extinguished. Kappy got undeservedly paid. Carter is on his retirement deal - won't see a huge fire until playoff time (if we make it).....Not surprising to me that the bigger step-ups we're seeing are from the likes of Poehling, Zucker, and POJ.

Dumo is the head scratcher. You'd think he'd have busted his ass all Summer headed into his contract year. His value around the league has been high for some time. He's known as an under-appreciated guy...but he's just tanking his value each shift he takes. I'd be outright shocked if he gets anything more than 4x4 this Summer.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Letang looks like a guy that REALLY took all the adulation this past year and offseason FAR too seriously and figured he was perma-gold, now.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

I'm not going to get excited about a possible switch of Rakell and Rust in practice because I know Sullivan is just itching to switch back immediately. You just know that if Rakell doesn't light it up within the first game or two with Sid and Jake, Sullivan will pull the plug again with a "I told you so" and go back to Rust.

That's why tuning in to these games isn't fun anymore. You're on pins and needles just praying that the new lines work because Sullivan's got the quickest hook possible when it comes to new stuff, but he'll leave his shitty lines together for a dozen games or more no matter how badly they're doing (case in point Rust with Sid/Jake).

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

With all due respect this take drives me nuts, who in the world comes up with this. What exactly "too much" is he trying to do? defend? Skate out of his zone with a puck as he used to do. Hold the blue line as he used to do. make plays as he used to do. don't let the guy make him look like sad sack infront of his goal. This has always been BS reiterated by clueless media that he is trying to do too much, or he is playing too risky? He wants to be and is considered here a Norris type of dman. If you are Norris type than you do more than bottom pair gibroni...He is doing very LITTLE" right now and thts the problem, he is just standing around and watching pucks pass him by...

To be fair, you could make this excuse when Dumo/Letang was a thing. I mean covering for Dumo this year would make anyone's game tank.

But Letang has been with legitimately the best Dman lately in Petts and he's still playing like he's drunk

 

[Andy99]

What they should do:

1) Split up GCR. Put Rakell there

2) Promote Blueger to 3c and stop using Carter in any kind of shutdown role. Give him soft minutes and manage those minutes. He can produce some offense if given some soft minutes

3) Demote Rust off of PP1 and try Rakell there. If that doesn't work, take Rakell off of p1 and run a 2d PP1 with Petry and Letang on it, and Malkin/Sid/Jake down low.

4) Get Kapanen back into the lineup. Yes he has sucked. Yes he's deserved to be scratched. But he can skate, and this team needs to get its speed game going. They need to get him going somehow.

5) Stop playing Jarry until he's healthy. If he is healthy, then ride him until he plays his way through his struggles. Desmith has been fine and all, but Jarry is the guy. They will not go on some extended run with Desmith in net.

Guentzel-Crosby-Rakell
Zucker-Malkin-Rust
McGinn-Blueger-Heinen (use this line in a shutdown role)
Archibald(or Poehling)-Carter-Kapanen (give this line soft minutes and see if they can chip in a little offense)

d pairings how Sully have been doing them have been fine. When POJ is healthy though, get him back with Letang and get MP back with Petry. Move Dumo back to the third pair.

Ride Jarry


That's how I would draw it all up. If you're asking me for actual solutions rather than doom and glooming about how this roster looks, this is how I would do things. Would it be enough? Who knows. Dont know if Sully will ever try my ideas.

Two things:
1) if you want soft minutes for Carter, I don’t think playing him with Blue is the answer as Sullivan gives Blue some of the toughest minutes…I wouldn’t mind seeing Blue and Carter swap lines however

2) POJ was healthy last night…He was, according to the Pitt media, a healthy scratch…Sullivan is choosing to play Ruh on offside over him lol

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Usually I would question whether or not it's actually true that they HS POJ who has been terrific almost every night he's played. And for Ruh who is basically the guy you sign because you don't feel bad about him riding pine. But this is late stage Sullivan so throw it on the pile.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

Elon's Rockets are better than NASA's


That is when Mario got Shero to add Jacques Marin Like 1 Asst. Coach was going to overrule Abylma & his Crony Assy. Coaches

His management skills are as lacking as Hextall's though

 

[Josey Wales]

His management skills are as lacking as Hextall's though

He wanted Abylsma fired & Burkle didn't want him fired so they agreed to add Martin

 

[SEALBound]

One thing that I think was very apparent in the last couple of games with Line 1 is their willingness to make low percentage tippy tappy plays, especially in the defensive zone. I believe this come from comfort due to playing with each other for so long. My hope in returning Rakell to Sid's line is removal of the "oh, he'll just know what to do since we've played together for 3 years" and a return to more structured play.

 

[SEALBound]

Interestingly enough, IIRC, we elected to keep Abysmala one more season and that off-season was when Mike Babcock had become available. I remember we all wanted him (lol looking back). If we had canned Bylsma after 2013, it's possible we could have ended up with Mike Babcock as our head coach...and lord only know where that would have gone.

That said, it could have been after the poor showing 2015 when we had Johnston too...I can't remember the Babcock timeline.

 

[Gurglesons]

Two things:
1) if you want soft minutes for Carter, I don’t think playing him with Blue is the answer as Sullivan gives Blue some of the toughest minutes…I wouldn’t mind seeing Blue and Carter swap lines however

2) POJ was healthy last night…He was, according to the Pitt media, a healthy scratch…Sullivan is choosing to play Ruh on offside over him lol

You gotta a quote for that?

With all due respect this take drives me nuts, who in the world comes up with this. What exactly "too much" is he trying to do? defend? Skate out of his zone with a puck as he used to do. Hold the blue line as he used to do. make plays as he used to do. don't let the guy make him look like sad sack infront of his goal. This has always been BS reiterated by clueless media that he is trying to do too much, or he is playing too risky? He wants to be and is considered here a Norris type of dman. If you are Norris type than you do more than bottom pair gibroni...He is doing very LITTLE" right now and thts the problem, he is just standing around and watching pucks pass him by...

He's over committing a ton in our d-zone and the offensive zone and getting regularly burned by it.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Delete

Yeah, seconded. Please delete the entirety of this team.

FWIW nobody in the core has ever said an ill word about the coach and have only ever been extremely complimentary in public even at the worst of times. That extends even to clear nincompoops like Mike Johnston. So...

No, clearly they love Mike Sullivan like the fathers they never had.

 

[Pens x]

Rust got his retirement contract. The drive isn’t there anymore, unfortunately.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Musky Leon sucks unwashed pig penis, can we leave him and his dumbass janky amphetamine mania outside the thread for our own dumbass coaching psychosis?

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Letang looks like a guy that REALLY took all the adulation this past year and offseason FAR too seriously and figured he was perma-gold, now.

I always found it confusing with guys that kill themselves in the summer to get ready and then coast during the actual games.
Some of what is hurting Letang this year is stupid mistakes, but he's also not skating like he's capable. Yeah he's older and slower now, but he hasn't show his best movement at all.

What's even more concerning is the lack of effort on some of these goals against. That backdoor goal the Leafs scored he just rolled over on. Disheartening.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Letang looks like a guy that REALLY took all the adulation this past year and offseason FAR too seriously and figured he was perma-gold, now.

THE PRIORITY.

I always found it confusing with guys that kill themselves in the summer to get ready and then coast during the actual games.
Some of what is hurting Letang this year is stupid mistakes, but he's also not skating like he's capable. Yeah he's older and slower now, but he hasn't show his best movement at all.

What's even more concerning is the lack of effort on some of these goals against. That backdoor goal the Leafs scored he just rolled over on. Disheartening.

It's almost like it's not that they're physically unable to play the system, they just don't want to.

Interestingly enough, IIRC, we elected to keep Abysmala one more season and that off-season was when Mike Babcock had become available. I remember we all wanted him (lol looking back). If we had canned Bylsma after 2013, it's possible we could have ended up with Mike Babcock as our head coach...and lord only know where that would have gone.

That said, it could have been after the poor showing 2015 when we had Johnston too...I can't remember the Babcock timeline.

If we had prime Babcock, I don't know if it would have been a problem. But coaches, like players, age and get set in their ways. Look at Ruff, you'd think he'd have learned how to actually coach a successful team in his 100+ years of NHL coaching tenure?

 

[HandshakeLine]

It’s Rust’s fault that Crosby hasn’t scored a PP goal in 29 games or even a PPA in 15 games.

You're goddamned right it is.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

I always found it confusing with guys that kill themselves in the summer to get ready and then coast during the actual games.
Some of what is hurting Letang this year is stupid mistakes, but he's also not skating like he's capable. Yeah he's older and slower now, but he hasn't show his best movement at all.

What's even more concerning is the lack of effort on some of these goals against. That backdoor goal the Leafs scored he just rolled over on. Disheartening.

I've been more concerned about his inability to eliminate the passer on odd man breaks . Like this is some pee wee level hockey shit

 

[HandshakeLine]

I've been more concerned about his inability to eliminate the passer on odd man breaks . Like this is some pee wee level hockey shit

Would you say it looks like... he doesn't care?

 

[Khelandros]

I always found it confusing with guys that kill themselves in the summer to get ready and then coast during the actual games.
Some of what is hurting Letang this year is stupid mistakes, but he's also not skating like he's capable. Yeah he's older and slower now, but he hasn't show his best movement at all.

What's even more concerning is the lack of effort on some of these goals against. That backdoor goal the Leafs scored he just rolled over on. Disheartening.

This one?

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

"So wait we BOTH take the shooter, right?

 

[AuroraBorealis]

It's almost like it's not that they're physically unable to play the system, they just don't want to.

To me it looks more like they aren't as resilient to losing anymore at these ages. It saps more of their energy, and they aren't as willing to dig deep to get out of it.
They need to be carried out of it. Geno is not one of these guys. He's been an absolute soldier this year at the low points.

Sid was hopping vs Arizona. 7 shots. He followed it up with a 3 point effort vs Tampa. It wasn't the system then. Letang's energy was better too, even if he was making bad decisions.

I think with Sid he also gets demoralized when his line isn't controlling play to start games. Could be Rust ruining it, the D making bad outlets, Sid himself getting picked off, or just getting outplayed by the opposition.
They need good 1st periods and the momentum seems to carry them after that. The Boston game is the perfect example.
The problem is so many of our 1st periods have been sloppy and/or sleepy as a team.

 

[Gurglesons]

This one?

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View attachment 608732

Better scratch Kapanen!

 

[AuroraBorealis]

This one?

View attachment 608729

View attachment 608732

Yes, that one. I'm certainly not giving Rust a pass.

I didn't like Letang's effort on his check at all though. He should be fighting for inside positioning, staying between the Leaf and the net, and he should be tying up his stick to disrupt the backdoor pass. It's just horrid defending that he was better at the last few years.