First time poster here...I didn't think we could set the bar any lower as a team after that Buffalo game, and yet here we are. I registered on an impulse just so I could get this off my chest and not pop a blood vessel.
The problem IS the coaching staff, and last night couldn't have made it any clearer. John G's between the benches interview made me want to punch Sully in the throat. "GLORIOUS scoring chances, not finishing, dominating time on attack."
********. We made Markstrom look like a STAR because we fed him 45 of the weakest shots imaginable. We made the Florida D look like GODS because they figured out our "system" and totally shut us down. You can look at the stats and see that we played a really good game and just ran into a hot goalie, but that isn't it at all.
You know what I saw? Endless cycling down low. Every single time the puck would get to the point, it's right back down into the corners. I wanted to tear my ****in hair out. THAT was our whole offense. What happened to just getting pucks on net? What about guys out in front? How many times did the puck trickle out in front of the line, waiting for someone who wasn't there to tip it in?
Torts has this system based on grinding it out and yet fails to implement one of the fundamentals of garbage hockey. He's delusional. Not to mention, this just isn't a grind it out team anymore. We have a superstar first line, a proven stud in Nash, guys who have played well above expectations in Hagelin, Stepan, Callahan, maybe even Kreider if he's used properly. All guys who can score. McD's a competent puck handler, DZ plays with heart. There are your offensive options. You're telling me we can't score more than ONE goal against the worst defense in the league with that lineup? Who's fault is that?
Nobody is playing for Torts anymore, you can see it on the ice. Gabby and Richie have pretty much given up. And honestly, we shot ourselves in the foot. It's way too late in the season to start developing a new system, and make no mistake, that's what we need.
We need a system that fits around and actually BENEFITS the talent of offensively gifted guys like Nash, who last night was reduced to a puck-fumbling, board-crashing nobody, instead of shoehorn them into it. We as a team don't miss guys like Prust, Artie, and Dubi because they were great players, we miss them because they bought into everything Torts was trying to do. This year, the team doesn't, because that isn't the team we are anymore. Before thinking about any trades, we need to think about what this team could do under a coach that promotes and values their creativity. We have nothing to lose at this point.
I'd love for that coach to be Torts, because I don't know who else is out there, but he's just too damn stubborn to change anything. He needs to feel the heat, and get pressured into trying out a new way of playing. The old one's tired and obsolete. It isn't what this year's team is all about. We had a 50 win team based on that, but we also had a significantly deeper bottom 6, which we gave up to get Nash. Why? Because he's a star, he's a catalyst, he's just a gifted player who can control the puck like nobody else and throw his body around. Instead of working around him and coming up with ways to get him to his most productive, we try and fail to do the same exact thing we did last year, with half the talent.
Last night's game, this team's disappointment and downright boring play, is on him. Completely. He needs to face the fact and fix his ****, or go. It's that simple.
