Observations XXVI full ** v. XXVII started

[Scoresberg]

12th in the West, and if you're not in by Thanksgiving you usually don't make it in at all.

About 2 weeks to get their shit together.

 

[Scoresberg]

Turris hasn't really done much since his hot start and isn't cut out to play a checking role so it makes sense. Grimaldi is probably the other most logical choice but his line is the only one that's played well relatively consistently over the last few weeks. I like the outlook of having two skilled lines and two hell raising forechecking lines especially against the Jets who we generally struggle with physically. Although with the loss of Byfuglien and Myers the Jets aren't quite as imposing as they once were.

He hasn't but he's played on the 4th line since Forsberg came back and hasn't really gotten a fair shake all season.

He has 3 EV goals this season, one more than Duchene & Smith, two more than Joey. 3rd least EV ice-time among forwards. 10:50 against CHI, 11:47 against VAN.

I just do not understand why Lavy seemingly doesn't want to get more out from Smith & Turris. The answer to our forward depth lies there.

 

[Predsanddead24]

He hasn't but he's played on the 4th line since Forsberg came back and hasn't really gotten a fair shake all season.

He has 3 EV goals this season, one more than Duchene & Smith, two more than Joey. 3rd least EV ice-time among forwards. 10:50 against CHI, 11:47 against VAN.

I just do not understand why Lavy seemingly doesn't want to get more out from Smith & Turris. The answer to our forward depth lies there.

Fair points but I think Laviolette really doesn't want to play Turris on the wing which limits the options you have for him and makes him the odd man out. Since we actually haven't seen Turris on the wing at all its tough to assess whether that is a good idea or not, but if he really can't play on the wing there just isn't anywhere in the lineup for him that makes sense if you're going to keep the Grimaldi-Bonino-Smith line together. Bringing in Olivier definitely wouldn't be my first choice but I can somewhat see the logic of it to try and get some more energy and physicality into the team since they've looked pretty lackadaisical lately. Long term its definitely not the answer and there's a pretty high chance Olivier can't hang and looks like a traffic cone tonight, but hey we haven't won by trying to outskill the other teams lately so might as well try something different.

 

[Legionnaire11]

Which is strange because when Turris was skating hard and having early success, he looked most dangerous coming down the LW (even when lined up as a C).

Grimaldi-Bonino-Smith clicked for a couple of games, but I don't think overall they've been sooooo effective that they can't be split now.

 

[101st_fan]

12th in the West, and if you're not in by Thanksgiving you usually don't make it in at all.

About 2 weeks to get their **** together.

OR 8th in the West if you go by points percentage to account for teams with four more games played having more points.

 

[Predsanddead24]

Which is strange because when Turris was skating hard and having early success, he looked most dangerous coming down the LW (even when lined up as a C).

Grimaldi-Bonino-Smith clicked for a couple of games, but I don't think overall they've been sooooo effective that they can't be split now.

My guess is it would have to do with his effectiveness defensively on the wing but that's purely speculation since we haven't seen him play that position at all. I'm kind of torn about Grimaldi-Bonino-Smith because I don't think its something we can really run long term given the rest of our roster, however they have been our best line 5 v 5 over the last couple week so I'm not keen on breaking them up. I think Scoresberg's point is ultimately really valid though that for us to have any sort of long term success we need Turris and Smith (as well as Granlund) to be contributing offensively, but I don't necessarily mind trying something completely different tonight to try and bust out of our slump. Hopefully Olivier can be like Harry Zolniercyzk was a few years back and provide that spark in the bottom of the lineup to get things going.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

I dunno... if they are absolutely religiously determined not to use Turris as a winger, it would have been nice to try to trade him before healthy-scratching him. Like we needed more bad contract dump offers on Turris. I thought he looked better than I was really expecting as a winger. And didn't really like having him and Duchene juggling a spot.

There are no bigger picture ramifications to just scratching Grimaldi instead. I would probably have decreed from on high that things had to go that way, if I was in Poile's spot.

Assuming everybody's healthy, anyway.

 

[nine_inch_fang]

Which is strange because when Turris was skating hard and having early success, he looked most dangerous coming down the LW (even when lined up as a C).

Grimaldi-Bonino-Smith clicked for a couple of games, but I don't think overall they've been sooooo effective that they can't be split now.

It was mostly one game that everything went right for that line then a couple after that were good games. They haven't played bad outside of that but I still don't see Grimaldi as a player they need to hang their hat on.

 

[101st_fan]

Grimaldi has one point in the last seven games, an assist. Smith has one goal, one assist in those seven games. Turris has one goal, one assist.

Seven games is the span since the Bonino hat trick versus Chicago.

 

[nine_inch_fang]

Grimaldi has one point in the last seven games, an assist. Smith has one goal, one assist in those seven games. Turris has one goal, one assist.

Seven games is the span since the Bonino hat trick versus Chicago.

Yeah, there's no way I'd play Grimaldi over Turris.

 

[Scoresberg]

Even if they win tonight, I still think it's a really bad move to scratch Turris. Whether it's performance on the ice or trade value league-wide, this should not be happening.

 

[Roman Yoshi]

They should never scratch Rocco again. I'm sorry, but he is one of the few players who is driving possession and opportunity.

 

[Predsanddead24]

They should never scratch Rocco again. I'm sorry, but he is one of the few players who is driving possession and opportunity.

For real. Grimaldi has the highest number of Assists/60 and 2nd highest Primary Assists/60 on the team and is among the best in all of the on-ice stats of our forwards both in raw productivity and possession stats. Let alone the fact that the eye test shows a guy who plays as hard as he can all of the time and rarely makes any big mistakes. The real argument is if we should be scratching anyone to put Olivier in the lineup, but leaving Grimaldi in the lineup should be a no brainer.

 

[Armourboy]

I gotta admit I have zero idea what they are doing with the hole Turris thing. They won't even try him on the wing, which at this point I don't see why not, nothing else is working. Now if it's something crazy like Turris refusing to play wing then you move him for whatever it takes, ain't got room for BS like that. That said I don't think that's really what it is, I think Lavi just refuses to do it for whatever reason.

 

[GoldOnGold]

Turris and Smith on the 3rd together would make sense, but I think Lavi loves Bonino too much to give Turris real minutes.

 

[glenngineer]

They should never scratch Rocco again. I'm sorry, but he is one of the few players who is driving possession and opportunity.

For real. Grimaldi has the highest number of Assists/60 and 2nd highest Primary Assists/60 on the team and is among the best in all of the on-ice stats of our forwards both in raw productivity and possession stats. Let alone the fact that the eye test shows a guy who plays as hard as he can all of the time and rarely makes any big mistakes. The real argument is if we should be scratching anyone to put Olivier in the lineup, but leaving Grimaldi in the lineup should be a no brainer.

1 point in the last 7 games. I think people like Grimaldi a little too much around here for his lack of overall production. I love hustle but you also need results with that hustle, especially in his role.

Someone on Twitter said Turris didn't want to play wing. Move Bones to the wing then and let Turris play center. Sitting Turris not only affects the lines but will affect the 2nd PP unit. Poile didn't pay Turris $6 mill a season to have him scratched when he hasn't been the problem. This is absolutely stupid him sitting.

 

[Predsanddead24]

1 point in the last 7 games. I think people like Grimaldi a little too much around here for his lack of overall production. I love hustle but you also need results with that hustle, especially in his role.

Someone on Twitter said Turris didn't want to play wing. Move Bones to the wing then and let Turris play center. Sitting Turris not only affects the lines but will affect the 2nd PP unit. Poile didn't pay Turris $6 mill a season to have him scratched when he hasn't been the problem. This is absolutely stupid him sitting.

His production is as high as anyone on the team given his ice time, which was the point of my post. He's been bad in the last seven, but so has the rest of the team. As a whole on the season he's easily a net positive.

Also, if Turris really doesn't want to play on the wing then that's even more reason to scratch him. He's not good enough to be a primadonna about his position.

 

[Armourboy]

Like I said, if he is unwilling to play wing then you do what you need to to get him out of here. Ain't got room for BS like that.

 

[BigFatCat999]

25% done and Saros' stats are starting to warm up. You see losing I see Saros has dropped his GAA a .5 pt. Personnel wise, you want an improvement in the 3rd pairing. Eye test screams the offense has turned ice cold. There is zero production from the RW position; Granlund, Smith, recently Grimaldi, and the constant black hole offensively, Salomaki. Is there a metaphor for too much center? Duchene is a #1 but so is Joey. Bonino is playing like a #2. Turris was hot but back to #3 production. We are back to the same narrative, Preds score 3, they win. How do the Preds defrost?

 

[GoldOnGold]

At our current rate of descent a certain franchise LW might be a possibility for us in next years draft - and we do need another top 6 winger...

 

[TitansVolsPreds615]

Preds need some luck and a win to get things turned around

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

I gotta admit I have zero idea what they are doing with the hole Turris thing. They won't even try him on the wing, which at this point I don't see why not, nothing else is working. Now if it's something crazy like Turris refusing to play wing then you move him for whatever it takes, ain't got room for BS like that. That said I don't think that's really what it is, I think Lavi just refuses to do it for whatever reason.

Almost feels like the Toronto situation where the roster was pretty set and then Tavares fell into their lap. It's like Poile had considered the Duchene chapter to have closed and then adjusted the roster accordingly. Then when he threw himself at us it was going to be the cherry on top. We might find the right mix and chemistry evevntually but it feels like there's too many cooks in the kitchen and I'm not sold Lavy and Poile are still on the same page regarding which players to use and how best to use them.

 

[101st_fan]

PK structure falls on the coaching staff. Failure to execute on the ice falls on the players. I counted about four ES goals from our top six since Bonino's hat trick game. Arvy hasn't scored at ES since the game against the Ducks ... almost a month ago. We need goals from them.

 

[Armourboy]

Almost feels like the Toronto situation where the roster was pretty set and then Tavares fell into their lap. It's like Poile had considered the Duchene chapter to have closed and then adjusted the roster accordingly. Then when he threw himself at us it was going to be the cherry on top. We might find the right mix and chemistry evevntually but it feels like there's too many cooks in the kitchen and I'm not sold Lavy and Poile are still on the same page regarding which players to use and how best to use them.

I almost wonder myself if the organization isn't thrilled with Turris which is why you are seeing some of these oddities and also why Poile really wanted to move him.

I think the dissatisfaction started long before Duchene got here and had something to do with how he handled his injuries.

 

[Roman Yoshi]

Joey and Arvy are on pace for sub 60 point seasons.

Granlund and Smith on pace for sub 30 point seasons.

That's not good enough from those guys.