Pre-Game Talk: Kings @ Sens Dec. 14 (2 p.m. Eastern)

[WhiteLight*]

Greening has to sit.. he just seems to run all over the ice and not get much accomplished. I trust in the stach.. but some line consistency would be nice.

definitely but that ship has sailed, we all know Mac will never do it

 

[WhiteLight*]

You just copied my lines and re-arranged the order.

that's right order though

 

[DrunkUncleDenis]

Greening has to sit.. he just seems to run all over the ice and not get much accomplished. I trust in the stach.. but some line consistency would be nice.

My trust is waning, but I guess you can only use what you're given by the GM --> Owner.

 

[WhiteLight*]

My trust is waning, but I guess you can only use what you're given by the GM --> Owner.

no excuse. Neil and Greening have more ice time per game than Condra and Pageau. Condra is at his best at even strength, yet gets over 3 and half minutes less per game than Greening.

Michalek averages more ice time per game than Ryan.


Mac has truly been awful

 

[DrunkUncleDenis]

definitely but that ship has sailed, we all know Mac will never do it

Exactly. Kinda like Neil will never EVER be a healthy scratch.

 

[Xspyrit]

I actually like Condra on the top line from a tactical perspective and temporary solution. But it just goes to show the lack of top level forwards on the team. All forwards are healthy and Condra is on the top line . This is not a permanent solution, yet everyone's healthy.. jeez we have problems on this team.

Edit - Maybe Condra will scare the opposition with his hideous face, giving Spezza that extra second to dance around the defenders.

Bobby Ryan
Jason Spezza
Kyle Turris
Clarke MacArthur
Mika Zibanejad
Milan Michalek
Cory Conacher
Jean-Gabriel Pageau
Zack Smith
Colin Greening

If a coach can't make a decent top-9 with all those guys, I think there's a problem (check out their paces this year and/or in career)

To me, it screams more lack of chemistry than lack of talent.

 

[WhiteLight*]

Exactly. Kinda like Neil will never EVER be a healthy scratch.

he's more of a spot duty type player at this point in his career

Bobby Ryan
Jason Spezza
Kyle Turris
Clarke MacArthur
Mika Zibanejad
Milan Michalek
Cory Conacher
Jean-Gabriel Pageau
Zack Smith
Colin Greening

If a coach can't make a decent top-9 with all those guys, I think there's a problem (check out their paces this year and/or in career)

To me, it screams more lack of chemistry than lack of talent.

Greening, Conacher, Michalek and this year Spezza are all chemistry killers

 

[Back in Black]

Go Sens Go!

 

[DrunkUncleDenis]

Bobby Ryan
Jason Spezza
Kyle Turris
Clarke MacArthur
Mika Zibanejad
=====================
Milan Michalek
Cory Conacher
Jean-Gabriel Pageau
Zack Smith
Colin Greening

If a coach can't make a decent top-9 with all those guys, I think there's a problem (check out their paces this year and/or in career)

To me, it screams more lack of chemistry than lack of talent.

So there's 4 if you if you want Zib at C

 

[Alf Silfversson]

I'd like to see:

Conacher - Spezza - Ryan
Mac - Turris - Zib
Michalek - Pageau - Condra
Greening - Smith - Neil

 

[Xspyrit]

Greening, Conacher, Michalek and this year Spezza are all chemistry killers

I somewhat agree to a degree... all those guys haven't really meshed with others so far this year, seems like they're playing on their own instead of the 5 men unit... But it's all in the hockey player psychology. Past injuries (Michalek), want to do too much (Spezza), lack of confidence (Conacher), overthinking (Greening), etc are all factors that can influence the performance of those said players. Outside of generational talents and a few stars, most NHL players are more vulnerable to those factors. It impacts their game much more than say, Nicklas Lidstrom or Sidney Crosby.

Casual fans say lack of hockey IQ (which I find amusing), but I doubt they have any idea how fast the game goes at this level and it's more a question of playing with your head instead of playing with your instincts. It has to be natural in the NHL, you can't think too much.

For example, Colin Greening seems to be the guy or one of the guys with the less hockey IQ on the team, I'm not sure I saw people call him dumb so far but it's maybe because they know for a fact that he is a genius in real life.

Conacher-Turris-Ryan
MacArthur-Spezza-Zibanejad
Greening-Pageau-Condra
Michalek-Smith-Neil

Great lines, however the priority in ice-time would be this IMO (like Godsaysno said) :

MacArthur-Spezza-Zibanejad
Conacher-Turris-Ryan
Michalek-Smith-Neil
Greening-Pageau-Condra

 

[DrunkUncleDenis]

I'd like to see:

Conacher - Spezza - Ryan
Mac - Turris - Zib
Michalek - Pageau - Condra
Greening - Smith - Neil

I'd flip Cony and Mac. But then the second line gets quite a bit worse, so

Edit - Kinda sad there is this much line juggling still at game 30-whatever.

 

[Tampacuseforever]

he's more of a spot duty type player at this point in his career



Greening, Conacher, Michalek and this year Spezza are all chemistry killers

Disagree with that statement;

Greening : Just not very good
Conacher : His only offensive fit as a center is Turris, he's been fine in a defensive role with Smith
Michalek : He's been fine with Turris, and quite good with Smith, but he is not the player he once was but still effective.
Spezza : Done really well with MacArthur and Zibby

MAK not every player is bad, I think Xspirit was very correct when he stated that outside of very good and elite players, the balance of NHL players need the correct situation to be sucessful.

 

[Tampacuseforever]

I'd flip Cony and Mac. But then the second line gets quite a bit worse, so

Edit - Kinda sad there is this much line juggling still at game 30-whatever.

No Conacher - Spezza, never was a fit, never will be a fit. I would do your switch and second line of Conacher - Turris - Zibby Zibby and Conacher have great chemistry but I don't think Stache will play those two together at this point in their careers.

 

[DrEasy]

he's more of a spot duty type player at this point in his career

Yes, and I think Neil would be much more effective in more limited minutes. Just bottle up that energy and release it in short bursts.

 

[FolignoQuantumLeap]

 

[DylanSensFan]

dear CBC and NHL, bite me... too many afternoon games. Will miss this one for work.

 

[Sensinitis]

You just copied my lines and re-arranged the order.

 

[Philadelphia Collins]

Maybe Melnyk is forcing Maclean to play Zibanejad on the 4th line so he won't hit his bonuses and he has to pay him less on his RFA contract?

The only explanation

 

[Sensinitis]

Or you know, not rushing him into a role he might not be ready for.

 

[Tampacuseforever]

Maybe Melnyk is forcing Maclean to play Zibanejad on the 4th line so he won't hit his bonuses and he has to pay him less on his RFA contract?

The only explanation

Is it time to go over this veterans play ahead of rookie thing again ?

 

[MiscBrah]

hahaha did you make this?! That's amazing. Definitely should be posted in every GDT!

2:00 game sucks. I guess I'll get to hear the 1st period on the radio then miss the rest of the game because of work. Awesome...

 

[source]

A Sens win and a Leafs loss puts the Sens one point behind the Leafs with 34 games played each.

The playoffs are very much within this team's grasp if they can pull together some sort of consistency.

 

[WhiteLight*]

Disagree with that statement;

Greening : Just not very good
Conacher : His only offensive fit as a center is Turris, he's been fine in a defensive role with Smith
Michalek : He's been fine with Turris, and quite good with Smith, but he is not the player he once was but still effective.
Spezza : Done really well with MacArthur and Zibby

Michalek has been OK with Smith, that's it.
Spezza hasn't been good with those guys. Has nothing to show for the Buffalo games.

MAK not every player is bad, I think Xspirit was very correct when he stated that outside of very good and elite players, the balance of NHL players need the correct situation to be sucessful.

I disagree with this. MacAthur is not elite but makes whichever line he's on better. Same with Condra, and some people don't even think he's an NHL player. Some guys find chemistry with almost anyone they play with, and others are very difficult to play with.

This is amazing but I would have liked to see more Beaker in the performance

 

[WhiteLight*]

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