Observations XX

[ThirdManIn]

I will say that I had hoped Hellebuyck would show last year to be an aberration, but he made some pretty ridiculous saves that would have gone in against almost any other goalie in the league. What we knew ahead of time wasn't an aberration was that several players on the Jets will go full goon when they are losing control of the game. Of course, we'll hear from people who look at the PPs about how the Preds had the refs on their side, but Winnipeg played maybe they most undisciplined game I've ever seen from a team. It began to snowball when they let it frustrate them rather than calming down and focusing on not taking more penalties.

 

[Pred303]

an umbrella PP by it's very nature and philosophy is a very static PP, you have three guys around the perimeter each in an 'assigned' area of the ice. this works when you have 3 good shooters on the perimeter and guys in the low slots that can get to and screen the goalie. and move the puck quickly and sharply around the perimeter. we are moving the puck like pondwater from man to man, allowing the PK and goalie to shift from side to side easily. on top of that we aren't getting to the net to screen the goalie effectively. i thought fiala, forsberg and subban were exceptionally slow moving the puck last night each catching the puck and then holding it looking for a shooting lane to magically develop instead of one timing the puck. personally i wish we would go to more typical overload PP system especially with our second unit where we don't really have good enough one timers out on the perimeter.

It all looks great when we are moving the puck quickly, hitting spots with one timers and screening effectively. when we don't do all, much less any of those things, well it looks like it did last night.

 

[predfan24]

I will say that I had hoped Hellebuyck would show last year to be an aberration, but he made some pretty ridiculous saves that would have gone in against almost any other goalie in the league. What we knew ahead of time wasn't an aberration was that several players on the Jets will go full goon when they are losing control of the game. Of course, we'll hear from people who look at the PPs about how the Preds had the refs on their side, but Winnipeg played maybe they most undisciplined game I've ever seen from a team. It began to snowball when they let it frustrate them rather than calming down and focusing on not taking more penalties.

Hellebuyck reminds me of Saros. He's cool, calm and collected. The big difference is he is 6'4!

 

[predfan24]

When I take off my fan hat and put on my faux GM hat I come to the conclusion that if Fiala has a disappointing season it might be the best thing for the long term since he is in a contract year.

 

[Adz]

an umbrella PP by it's very nature and philosophy is a very static PP, you have three guys around the perimeter each in an 'assigned' area of the ice. this works when you have 3 good shooters on the perimeter and guys in the low slots that can get to and screen the goalie. and move the puck quickly and sharply around the perimeter. we are moving the puck like pondwater from man to man, allowing the PK and goalie to shift from side to side easily. on top of that we aren't getting to the net to screen the goalie effectively. i thought fiala, forsberg and subban were exceptionally slow moving the puck last night each catching the puck and then holding it looking for a shooting lane to magically develop instead of one timing the puck. personally i wish we would go to more typical overload PP system especially with our second unit where we don't really have good enough one timers out on the perimeter.

It all looks great when we are moving the puck quickly, hitting spots with one timers and screening effectively. when we don't do all, much less any of those things, well it looks like it did last night.

Thanks for explaining that. Do you think this is a coaching issue or is it a player issue? Fiala and Forsberg are normally pretty fast moving around on the PP, aren't they? Even after all these years watching it's hard for me to know--my eyes can't keep up with the movement of their feet. I can't even see offsides when they show it in slow motion. But I like to know the concepts, anyway.

 

[wadesworld]

an umbrella PP by it's very nature and philosophy is a very static PP, you have three guys around the perimeter each in an 'assigned' area of the ice. this works when you have 3 good shooters on the perimeter and guys in the low slots that can get to and screen the goalie. and move the puck quickly and sharply around the perimeter. we are moving the puck like pondwater from man to man, allowing the PK and goalie to shift from side to side easily. on top of that we aren't getting to the net to screen the goalie effectively. i thought fiala, forsberg and subban were exceptionally slow moving the puck last night each catching the puck and then holding it looking for a shooting lane to magically develop instead of one timing the puck. personally i wish we would go to more typical overload PP system especially with our second unit where we don't really have good enough one timers out on the perimeter.

It all looks great when we are moving the puck quickly, hitting spots with one timers and screening effectively. when we don't do all, much less any of those things, well it looks like it did last night.

That 2-minute 5-on-3 we had the other night was a complete joke. As you said, we just kept passing it around the outside, and waiting for the defenders to shift. Every once in a while, we'd try to force it through down low and it'd get picked off easily.

What I see from good power plays is they don't just stand and pass the puck quickly, they are all moving and then they pass the puck quickly. When the shot happens almost everyone is crashing and/or ready to bang in a rebound.

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

That 2-minute 5-on-3 we had the other night was a complete joke. As you said, we just kept passing it around the outside, and waiting for the defenders to shift. Every once in a while, we'd try to force it through down low and it'd get picked off easily.

What I see from good power plays is they don't just stand and pass the puck quickly, they are all moving and then they pass the puck quickly. When the shot happens almost everyone is crashing and/or ready to bang in a rebound.

Not enough movement or decision from the guys on the half-wall. Lot of teams still rely on the point shots but you'll see the guy on the half-wall get the puck and then overlap with the point player. The movement creates some traffic as defensive players adjust and you open up the potential to one-time it off the half-wall or open up somebody down low/in-the-slot. We are way too damn static, and when we do get movement it is so slow to develop and we are predictable with the shots we make.

Our point players also, for some reason, insist on taking shots from the absolute furthest spots in the zone (PK notorious for shooting it ON the blue line). Very low percentage.

 

[Pred303]

well, that was a good win.

 

[PredsV82]

Small sample size obviously but since Saros is going to be getting a lot of starts, I'll ask those of you with the good hockey eyes a question. Do the Preds play differently depending on which goalie is in? If so, is it because of the different styles the goalies play, different puckhandling ability, or what?

 

[FossilFndr]

Thought Hamhuis played a solid game, glad to have him back. Just realized that he is 5 weeks younger than Pekka.

 

[triggrman]

I thought Josi was off last night. He kind of screwed Joey on that transition by leaving early and had a few pucks get by him at the line. Other than that a solid night for all the blueliners.

We had 501 club seats last night, which was nice. Also got to see Adz for the first time in awhile.

 

[Adz]

I thought Josi was off last night. He kind of screwed Joey on that transition by leaving early and had a few pucks get by him at the line. Other than that a solid night for all the blueliners.

We had 501 club seats last night, which was nice. Also got to see Adz for the first time in awhile.

Good to see you, too! I sit in 219 so we were neighbors.

 

[LCPreds]

Obviously have plenty of room for improvement but writing that certainly feels a lot better while sitting at 4-1.

 

[Legionnaire11]

Thought Hamhuis played a solid game, glad to have him back. Just realized that he is 5 weeks younger than Pekka.

I've been focusing on Hamhuis a lot in these early games, it's interesting to see how his game has evolved over the years. He's still got a lot of the "old school" tendencies (good things like taking the body and finishing checks) and he's not as quick on his skates as he used to be, but he's adapted mentally and he's able to overcome a lot of speed and matchup issues with good positioning and solid stickwork. If he just maintains this level of play, it will be a big boost. It's weird right now to not have a minor heart attack every time the third pair hits the ice.

 

[TitansVolsPreds615]

I don't have many complaints today so I'll ask if we can get ahold of a copy of gold on the ceiling that doesn't glitch out in the middle.

 

[Drake744]

I don't have many complaints today so I'll ask if we can get ahold of a copy of gold on the ceiling that doesn't glitch out in the middle.

Seriously. What is up with that?

 

[LCPreds]

Seriously. What is up with that?

They’ve had all kinds of issues with the new sound system. Not sure why it’s so difficult to work that out though.

 

[Outofbodyinhungary]

Any chance we look for a third pair dman as an upgrade over Weber who can play with hamhuis in the playoffs? I know it’s early but a lack of a solid third pair has burned us when we suffer injuries and also in the playoffs

 

[triggrman]

Weber has looked good so no

 

[MrJoshua]

They’ve had all kinds of issues with the new sound system. Not sure why it’s so difficult to work that out though.

They've had more than sound system issues. In the third period last night, the out of town scoreboard said the Jets beat the Canucks 21 to 11.

 

[Armourboy]

As long as Hamhuis holds up our 3rd pairing is fine. Hammer is still good enough to carry a 3rd pairing and Weber is complimentary enough to work fine in that role.

 

[LCPreds]

They've had more than sound system issues. In the third period last night, the out of town scoreboard said the Jets beat the Canucks 21 to 11.

Hah I saw that. The shots on goal counter has had problems getting started up each game as well.

 

[triggrman]

As long as Hamhuis holds up our 3rd pairing is fine. Hammer is still good enough to carry a 3rd pairing and Weber is complimentary enough to work fine in that role.

Agreed. Weber skates with the puck well for 3rd pairing guy

 

[Legionnaire11]

Last week I tried to buy a pretzel at a stand near 215 and it wasn't even an option on the register. Apparently they had new registers with a bunch of unnecessary items on them and when the servicing company came to update it earlier that day they took off too many items.

Luckily the tech was still nearby and was able to add the pretzel back on after about five mins. But then it was another five mins or so to get it because the cooks go strictly in order of purchase so they are cooking a burger and stand there watching it cook for several minutes instead of looking at the next bunch of tickets. They could have easily just grabbed a pretzel and handed it to me. This was at 6:15 too when barely anyone was in the arena yet.

But all of these small things should be corrected over the first month of the season as the staff learns all of the new tech that just went in. The arena staff was still super friendly and that goes a long way with making the transition easier to tolerate.

 

[FossilFndr]

moved to de-clutter thread