I love when people use small sample sizes and misrepresent play to prove a point..... Not worth the effort. Same tireless shtick.
That can be said about every player on this team. In small sample sizes Granlund, Forsberg, Saros, Smith, Bonino, Arvy have all had spurts this year of good hockey. The problem is all have long stretches of no goals. Arvy, Forsberg, Granlund, Duchene, Johansen are the players that can not go extended games without goals or the entire team fails. Johansen is the cat daddy of failure he had a 16 game period without a goal Forsberg went from Feb 1 to the Dallas game without a goal again 16 games for him as well. I am not going to go thru each player but all have extended streaks of not potting a goal you can even add Smith in there if you wish. Smith is no different than he has always been a streaky player and this season has been no different he had a 15 game goalless streak. And while he always ends up in the 20ish area by having a few multiple goal nights he is unreliable to pace the team. Each of these players have a strength Smiths work along the boards has never been a question as well as his hustle but you had best not rely on him for a timely goal. Arvy and Granlund have been snipers in there time buy not this year. Forsberg has been dynamic but not this year, in fact Forsberg has never really met his potential not a single season, he is the most talented forward on the team and honestly should be a PPG guy.
It is not surprising that people here come to the defense of each one well except Johansen I think that ship has sailed. But all of these 20 goal scorers need to have a goal every 4 or 5 games consistently not have 7 to 19 game streaks without goals. That is what has happened this season a entire roster of Smiths who will have a two or three game streak then go back to the icebox. You can cover for one maybe two guys doing this but when the entire top 6 have this issue in a season the team struggles.
Your 100% correct about short sample sizes all they can indicate is that perhaps a player is coming out of the funk. The only player who has exceled this year has been Josi the next best player has been Ellis both have met expectations and surpassed.
There are defenders for each player on the roster but collectively this bunch is not put together well on the ice and now on paper they are failing. Other than Josi a case could be made to shed every player except Fabbro who at 21 is still over his head, but recall Josi was in the same situation when he came in to the league. I said then that Josi was going to be a better player than Weber an took criticism but he has surpassed what Weber was. I think Fabbro could be better than Weber as well don't know yet if he will be better than Josi.
The inconsistent play makes it difficult to know what team is going to show up on any given night. This team has had a 4 game steak and a 4 game losing streak is just as possible. Coaching changes have not proven to turn problem areas around and when it comes down to it the failures are on the ice not the bench. If wholesale change is not embraced it is not going to turn around. A .500 WC team does not meet expectations any longer. It is doubtful that the needed changes will take place a couple new faces is what we have come to expect over the years and that's about what will happen in the offseason. I hope im wrong but this is not a very fun or entertaining team to watch now.
