The Nuge
Some say…
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For the hell of it I counted how many teams I think Draisaitl would be the #1C on. Slightly more than half. We are really lucky to have him as a 2C here.
Detroit
Montreal
Ottawa
Columbus
New Jersey
Carolina
New York Rangers
Nashville
Minnesota
St. Louis
Chicago (Compared to Toews now, not his prime)
Vegas (I’m not convinced Karlsson is a 1C yet)
San Jose
Calgary
Vancouver
Arizona
29 (Draisaitl) days left! He was an absolute force in this game. Gives me chills every time.
Thanks for sharing, watching is getting me pumped for the season despite how pessimistic I've been all off-season. I'll admit I had somewhat forgotten how legit the whole team looked in 16-17. Obviously the Ducks played poorly in this game, but I would love to see the team get back to playing with this level of jump and confidence.
Also, watching that powerplay goal from Letestu...I can sadly see a little bit of why Todd insisted on trying him in that spot for so long again . But only a little bit - no idea why he refused to mix it up.
Ah, the game that cemented his legacy as a true playoff warrior and landed him his $8.5M contract.
Once a goalie loses trust in his defense, then the season is pretty much over. He starts having negative thoughts because he knows no matter how much he preps for the game, his guys will make several "I'm not even on the ice yet mentally" mistakes on their first shifts and he'll be facing a 2 on 1 with a D not having the pass and backing up into him in screen. If he makes the save his lone flailing D-man will probably fail to clear the puck.
Worse yet, he knows his fragile team will probably fold because despite it being an A+++ chance, they'll take no personal responsibility for it since it is "yet another 1st or 2nd shot on goal" that's in the net.
When your goalie is letting in the first shot of the game almost 20% of the time or momentum killing goals then you can't blame the defence. Our team defensive coverage wasn't horrible last year but you do need a goalie to bail you out when there's a breakdown. It's what separates the great goalies from the average ones.