Post-Game Talk: |Pens vs Panther | OT win | We are so very special. Our special teams giveth and taketh away

[Honour Over Glory]

not sure if anyone listened to Sully presser but the way he responded to the question when was Jarry injured indiicates that he is so annoyed by Jarry and that this injury is something totally weird that may got nothing to do with hockey.

He seems annoyed with any injury honestly. Listen to him when anyone is hurt and listen to his tone. He’s the type that probably feels that what Babcock did wasn’t wrong etc.

Jarry took a fair amount of contact vs the Sens and then matinee vs the Devils after a heavy game back from a previous injury. Sully still has no f***ing clue how to ease a player in. He’s shown that enough times to know how his ignorant mind works with this.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Letang literally had a second stroke in his young life and came back to play 22mins in his first game back.

Yeah, f*** Sully and whatever he feels annoyed by.

 

[Gurglesons]

He did that thing with Strome when Backs was back where it threw them off course. It’s the kind of shit Sully does. Oh snap you’re back from a hard injury? f*** easing you in mate, take your spot back. Get your normal ice time back! Rather than slowly playing them in and keeping what works together and layering it in. It would have provided them a better look at depth but instead they’ll f*** it up the way Sully does with this need to pander towards the core vs what works and making sure the depth in the line up is sorted.

Yeah I said the same thing in the Caps forum when it went down.

So bizarre they scratched Strome.

 

[ChaosAgent]

Letang literally had a second stroke in his young life and came back to play 22mins in his first game back.

Yeah, f*** Sully and whatever he feels annoyed by.

I wouldn't have wanted Letang to play any less and I am 100% sure Letang would not have wanted to play any less either.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I wouldn't have wanted Letang to play any less and I am 100% sure Letang would not have wanted to play any less either.

A team with a history of injury issues, makes sense to throw them back to regular usage rather than being cautious. Makes 100% sense. How could I ever think otherwise.

 

[Ugene Magic]

@Better Call Maul while Sully gets to his game brushing his teeth in the morning...

 

[ChaosAgent]

A team with a history of injury issues, makes sense to throw them back to regular usage rather than being cautious. Makes 100% sense. How could I ever think otherwise.

Maybe there's a broad statistical analysis that proves that skipping 3 minutes of playing time over a span of 160 minutes will drastically improve injury outcomes. Or cumulatively eliminating 40-50 minutes of playing time over a span of December-February will make a player better in April.

But even if it did, eh f***k it. I hate load management in sports. Play your best players.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I wouldn't have wanted Letang to play any less and I am 100% sure Letang would not have wanted to play any less either.

Good thing Letang is renown for his good decision making and not the fact that he is a physically gifted athlete with the mind of a hungry golden retriever.

 

[ChaosAgent]

Good thing Letang is renown for his good decision making and not the fact that he is a physically gifted athlete with the mind of a hungry golden retriever.

I'm sure if Letang played 5 fewer minutes in favored of Ruhwedel, then this board would ha e applauded the sensibility.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I'm sure if Letang played 5 fewer minutes in favored of Ruhwedel, then this board would ha e applauded the sensibility.

Clearly, the only two options in our own horrific Sophie's Choice.

 

[Le Magnifique 66]

Hextall
Ruh
CDS

 

[ChaosAgent]

Clearly, the only two options in our own horrific Sophie's Choice.

Which defenseman would you have played more, on their off side, instead?

 

[HandshakeLine]

Which defenseman would you have played more, on their off side, instead?

Why would they have to play on their off-side? You just let the 2nd pairing take slightly more minutes.

What on earth are you even trying to argue?

Are we talking about December 11th and players returning from injury or is this some sort of other argument I haven't been informed about?

 

[ChaosAgent]

Why would they have to play on their off-side? You just let the 2nd pairing take slightly more minutes.

What on earth are you even trying to argue?

Are we talking about December 11th and players returning from injury or is this some sort of other argument I haven't been informed about?

The argument is about Letang playing too many minutes in his first game back. Petry already played 26 minutes. Who else is taking them?

 

[HandshakeLine]

The argument is about Letang playing too many minutes in his first game back. Petry already played 26 minutes. Who else is taking them?

I had no idea there was a finite amount of minutes one could play in two days. The things I learn here.

Petry played, what? 20 minutes the next night of the B2B anyway. Giving him 21 or 22 and giving Rutta an extra shift here and there too is pretty simple stuff. I don't know where you got the whole off-side thing from, tbh?

If Sully was (very hypothetically here) VERY worried about overusing the old guys, which is a fair cop, I would hope he would look more into scratching one of the horrible forward duds in the bottom 6 and calling up Friedman who can play both sides running 7 blueliners, instead of just letting a known moron like Kris Letang dictate his ice time.

Anyhow, seems to me though that you're less concerned with ways of spreading around ice time and more simply annoyed that anyone points out that Kris Letang is an actual savant who can't figure out how to change a tire or open a can of pudding but can play the hell out of hockey instead of a doctor.

But anyway, now that thinking of all the potential ways to shift 1 or 2 minutes was so hard, as a coach I think I deserve to take a 2 month break.

 

[Andy99]

no GDT yet so I’m going to put this here…lol…the Caps are better defensively than the Pens, better goaltending most likely, and better at finishing, but then again most teams are lol…expect Oshie and Backstrom to return for this game…

Head-to-head​

 

[Allie Kitsune]

Again, I know nothing about how to coach a hockey team, so how does one fix the problem of being so consistently bad at finishing? Or is it a personnel issue, being a roster built of guys who just are always going to blow most of their opportunities?

This seems to be a recurring problem for this team.

 

[Le Magnifique 66]

no GDT yet so I’m going to put this here…lol…the Caps are better defensively than the Pens, better goaltending most likely, and better at finishing, but then again most teams are lol…expect Oshie and Backstrom to return for this game…

Head-to-head​

If the Panthers got 6 on us and CDS, how many will the Caps get? lol
Has a great chance to be an ugly one

Again, I know nothing about how to coach a hockey team, so how does one fix the problem of being so consistently bad at finishing? Or is it a personnel issue, being a roster built of guys who just are always going to blow most of their opportunities?

This seems to be a recurring problem for this team.

It's definitely not coaching related, sometimes it also looks easier than it actually is at the speed of the passes, change of directions etc..

 

[Night Shift]

Again, I know nothing about how to coach a hockey team, so how does one fix the problem of being so consistently bad at finishing? Or is it a personnel issue, being a roster built of guys who just are always going to blow most of their opportunities?

This seems to be a recurring problem for this team.

Do you mean certain players who are historically good at finishing and are in a slump? Usually confidence and over thinking things tied together are the main reason.

Honestly though this team needs a new system under a new coach. You might see some role players respond better than in Sully's system.

 

[Andy99]

Finishing has components of 1) lack of shooting talent by individual players, just not good releases, slow release, or lack of creativity in finding shooting lanes etc and 2) the coach’s system/deployment of players…I mean Sullivan trying to get them to dump and chase and cycle the puck to the point for a shot, hoping to get a deflection or rebound, is actually a low percentage shot attempt, and, his north-south play emphasis probably detracts from players with skill making skilled plays…on the other hand, we don’t have enough really skilled shooters on this roster lol

 

[SEALBound]

I don't want to diminish in any way the fantastic game Letang had but what an arbitrary set of criteria to make "history".

 

[Gurglesons]

no GDT yet so I’m going to put this here…lol…the Caps are better defensively than the Pens, better goaltending most likely, and better at finishing, but then again most teams are lol…expect Oshie and Backstrom to return for this game…

Head-to-head​

Better goaltending though as I said

 

[Andy99]

Better goaltending though as I said

Ours is ranked 12 and theirs 13…I wouldn’t call ours better lol