I'm only back because it's Christmas Holidays from my HR course. I haven't really watched much of the games this season for reasons listed in the Summer, of course, with call ups, Galchenyuk at center, etc. I would watch the games that I could.
It is quite funny that we started off so hot, there was little to complain about. Galchenyuk was playing center, Desharnais was playing well, sheltered with third line minutes, showing good chemistry with Weise/Flesichmann. Semin experiment wasn't paying dividends but the line itself was still showing some spark even if there wasn't a whole lot of results. Patches/Pleks/Gally were doing well.
All it took was one loss for Therrien to go off the rails, somewhat pull it back in, then two games against New Jersey (who are notoriously stingy) where the offense wasn't spectacular but did enough to produce 3 pts out of 4, for Therrien to lose his mind and go back to what hasn't and will never work.
Here we are in December.. Galchenyuk is back at wing. Grinders are regularly cycled through the line-up playing in offensive roles even though other players deserve more of a chance. Desharnais is regularly getting 18+ minutes of ice time, getting looks with Pacioretty, ample power play time.
Andrighetto and Hudon show sparks of offense, but it's the same old, produce but don't be perfect defensively, you get sent down into the abyss, don't produce for a little while and then you are banished to the AHL. I can imagine it will be the same for McCarron, although I suspect Therrien will bench Big Mac if he shows offense, he's going to want him to play the role of DSP out there.
Carr, save for Thomas, has been the least impressive call-up, but seems to be given the most rope because he "looks like" he's working hard out there. Therrien still can't give up a potential scoring chance for a potential scoring chance for us and that is why we are back to struggling to score. The reins have been tightened and dinosaur MT has returned, which is a shame, because, as elusive as it was, it really looked like management and the coaching staff finally got on the same page on how to maximize offense out of this group. I guess one can't fight their true nature.
I'm excited to see Big Mac but I don't think it will really work in our favor. Pacioretty is an awful PP player and is usually the reason why we lose possession. He forces passes and routinely makes ones ripe for turn-overs and clears.
I would use Patches-Galchenyuk-McCarron as the first wave. Galchenyuk would be the half-board puck distributor/shot threat (when he is on the half wall he looks and runs the PP like Kovalev did). Pacioretty needs to be in the high slot for quick shots and/or high slot tips.. with McCarron doing the grunt work in front of the goalie and along the boards.
But who I am? Why would we play our players to their strengths like we did at the beginning of the season?
