GDT: Senators @ Capitals | Dec. 22 | 7:00PM EST | TSN5, RDS

[Benjamin]

Defense is not the problem.

its not the problem. Its one of many problems.

 

[Boud]

We don't score enough goals.

We are probably 30th in shot against per game, our goaltenders are saving us every game... How is defense not a problem

Not saying offense is not a problem but defense is mostly the problem.

 

[DylanSensFan]

He is slow and weak but is pretty smart as evidenced by his excellent passing

That means he can see the mistake he did but can do nothing about it

If he doesn't have the puck he is not helping this team win: he's just another, not quite as good, David Rundblad

Get rid of him ASAP

If Stone can work on his weaknesses then so can Wiercioch.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

I think our top 6 is pretty good

Hoffman - Zibanejad - Ryan
MacArthur - Turris - Stone

It's on the young side so it ought to get better as we chug along

Our bottom 6 is seriously lacking in skill

Michalek - Pageau - Chiasson
Greening - Legwand - Condra

Is just not going to cut it and, even worse, that doesn't even factor in offensive blackholes Smith and Neil

The D is mostly good except for one huge hole at number 2: Karlsson is obviously great, Cowen and Ceci are solid, Boro, Gryba and Phillips are all serviceable as bottom pairing dmen.

So we need more skill in the bottom 6 and a number 2 D according to me

Obviously we could use better players pretty much everwhere but those two stick out as the biggest problems to me

 

[krapsik]

We are probably 30th in shot against per game, our goaltenders are saving us every game... How is defense not a problem

Not saying offense is not a problem but defense is mostly the problem.

We outshot Caps. We let in one goal on PK ( even Nasville let some in ). And one goal on a breakaway, which was clearly stopable (Anderson fault). We lose cause we manage to score one goal. And scorer was 4-th liner. How can you blame D on this loss ? Last game against Montreal is pretty much the same. Only goal was scored by same 4-th liner on crazy mistake by Price. And even then we got a chance to make even before 3-1 on PK. Believe me, our D start to look better, when our F group start to score. Game against Anaheim is perfect example.

 

[coladin]

We are probably 30th in shot against per game, our goaltenders are saving us every game... How is defense not a problem

Not saying offense is not a problem but defense is mostly the problem.

I think the defensive coverage has been better since Cameron took over. Look, Erik Karlsson can play defence, who knew? He was excellent last night.

We can't score, we are getting chances, should have put the game away in the 1st, but didn't. I can live with last night's game, but the fact of the matter is we are playing better defensively and if Andy were Andy, we win 1-0. yesterday. Or at the very worst we are in OT.

 

[Pierre from Orleans]

We outshot Caps. We let in one goal on PK ( even Nasville let some in ). And one goal on a breakaway, which was clearly stopable (Anderson fault). We lose cause we manage to score one goal. And scorer was 4-th liner. How can you blame D on this loss ? Last game against Montreal is pretty much the same. Only goal was scored by same 4-th liner on crazy mistake by Price. And even then we got a chance to make even before 3-1 on PK. Believe me, our D start to look better, when our F group start to score. Game against Anaheim is perfect example.

You are looking at a very small sample size. What about the games prior to the previous 3? Are you saying that our defence is fine when looking at the big picture?

 

[MiscBrah]

It's easy to look defensively when a team isn't putting pressure on because they are holding a 2-1 lead.

was washington even forechecking for the last period?

 

[coladin]

You are looking at a very small sample size. What about the games prior to the previous 3? Are you saying that our defence is fine when looking at the big picture?

The "big picture" is nowhere near to being decipherable right now.

pfft...

 

[Boud]

We outshot Caps. We let in one goal on PK ( even Nasville let some in ). And one goal on a breakaway, which was clearly stopable (Anderson fault). We lose cause we manage to score one goal. And scorer was 4-th liner. How can you blame D on this loss ? Last game against Montreal is pretty much the same. Only goal was scored by same 4-th liner on crazy mistake by Price. And even then we got a chance to make even before 3-1 on PK. Believe me, our D start to look better, when our F group start to score. Game against Anaheim is perfect example.

I never talked about last nights game and I don't blame D on this loss, not sure how you got that. How can you be 26th in the league in shot against per game and expect to win regularly ? This is one of the rare occasions this year where we outshot our opponents, or where our goaltenders didn't save us. We are 16th in goals against per game and 26th in shot against thanks to our goaltenders. We are also 20th in the league in goals per game and 22nd in shots per game. This is why I said '' I'm not saying offense is not the problem but defense is mostly our problem''. You do realize that goaltenders can't hold this for a whole year and last nights game was an excellent example. We need to play better defense so we can minimize the riduculous amounts of shot on net we allow.

Yesterday the puck didn't go in the net but Macarthur per example is a 20 goals scorer, he can score but he got robbed. Most nights these shots go in but sometimes goaltenders are there to steal some games, familiar with that aren't we?

 

[DylanSensFan]

It is Christmas... you all need to stop whining and complaining and watch some world juniors.

 

[Sensfanatic]

When I compare our team to others, the main issue appears to be mobility on defense. This not only hurts us defensively, but greatly affects our transition zone speed and therefore offense.
The top teams are much more fluid and efficient exiting their zone.
Our guys work really hard but you just can't overcome this deficiency.
It won't be easy to fix either. Good puck moving defensemen are a tough find.

 

[MiscBrah]

I never talked about last nights game and I don't blame D on this loss, not sure how you got that. How can you be 26th in the league in shot against per game and expect to win regularly ? This is one of the rare occasions this year where we outshot our opponents, or where our goaltenders didn't save us. We are 16th in goals against per game and 26th in shot against thanks to our goaltenders. We are also 20th in the league in goals per game and 22nd in shots per game. This is why I said '' I'm not saying offense is not the problem but defense is mostly our problem''. You do realize that goaltenders can't hold this for a whole year and last nights game was an excellent example. We need to play better defense so we can minimize the riduculous amounts of shot on net we allow.

Yesterday the puck didn't go in the net but Macarthur per example is a 20 goals scorer, he can score but he got robbed. Most nights these shots go in but sometimes goaltenders are there to steal some games, familiar with that aren't we?

My argument against that is that there appears to be no desire to change our defence. It seems that Murray wants (or is forced) to wait until they hopefully get better.

So rather than complain every game about our defence we should up our goal scoring and rely on our goalies until the defence gets better.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

My argument against that is that there appears to be no desire to change our defence. It seems that Murray wants (or is forced) to wait until they hopefully get better.

So rather than complain every game about our defence we should up our goal scoring and rely on our goalies until the defence gets better.

And do you gauge management's desire to do something about the D?

Also what you just said isn't an argument at all

 

[MiscBrah]

And do you gauge management's desire to do something about the D?

Also what you just said isn't an argument at all

By the fact that Murray signed all of these players and that we haven't made a trade for defence since Methot (July 1, 2012).

He gave Weir 3 years, Cowen 4, Boro 4, Gryba 2, Phillips 2 (IRRC)

Doesn't really seem like a guy who is interested in making changes.

Here's the argument:

1. Management/Ownership wants to make the playoffs

2. We don't want to, or can't, trade any defencemen

3. Our goal scoring is lacking

4. Our goaltending is great

We should trade prospects for another 40-50 point player to bump up our offence and help us win more games while we are waiting for our defence to develop.

Our goaltender are good enough to win us games, and we'd win even more if we had better scoring.

If we want to make the playoffs, which is managements goal, then we need to score more goals to win more games.

 

[Micklebot]

I never talked about last nights game and I don't blame D on this loss, not sure how you got that. How can you be 26th in the league in shot against per game and expect to win regularly ? This is one of the rare occasions this year where we outshot our opponents, or where our goaltenders didn't save us. We are 16th in goals against per game and 26th in shot against thanks to our goaltenders. We are also 20th in the league in goals per game and 22nd in shots per game. This is why I said '' I'm not saying offense is not the problem but defense is mostly our problem''. You do realize that goaltenders can't hold this for a whole year and last nights game was an excellent example. We need to play better defense so we can minimize the riduculous amounts of shot on net we allow.

Yesterday the puck didn't go in the net but Macarthur per example is a 20 goals scorer, he can score but he got robbed. Most nights these shots go in but sometimes goaltenders are there to steal some games, familiar with that aren't we?

Well, to be fair, we did just change coaches, so if we maintain the shots against rate since he came in, we'd be 24th

I think it's pretty clear we are missing at least one top 4 D (Methot) and could possibly use an upgrade on the bottom pair too.

On offence, it's a little more muddy. The top two lines look ok, but lack a top tier center. The bottom six are alright, but need an injection of skill. Nothing as glaring imo as the complete lack of an adequate top pair LD, but certainly room for improvement.

If Lazar can come back from the WJC with a spark, Pageau sticks with the team and provides a bit of an additional speed and spark, we can maybe put them together with Chiasson to create a good forechecking line that can provide secondary offense.

Legwand, Greening, and Condra can stay together (I actually think they could be an effective shutdown line).

That leave Neil and Smith on IR, Smith when healthy might be able to sub in and out with either Greening or Legwand, but I don't want those three together. Neil imo is probably the odd man out.

 

[krapsik]

You are looking at a very small sample size. What about the games prior to the previous 3? Are you saying that our defence is fine when looking at the big picture?

No, our D is not fine. But as i say, i believe if we start to score more, our D start to look better.

 

[Micklebot]

By the fact that Murray signed all of these players and that we haven't made a trade for defence since Methot (July 1, 2012).

He gave Weir 3 years, Cowen 4, Boro 4, Gryba 2, Phillips 2 (IRRC)

Doesn't really seem like a guy who is interested in making changes.

Signing players rather than letting them walk away for nothing seems like a no brainer. I could see letting Phillips walk, though the circumstances at the time would have made it both a risky move and bad for PR.

Methot is someone they have already said they would trade if they can't sign him. An injury has made that impossible (CBA doesn't allow it).

The need on D is a replacement for Methot (either for the duration of his injury or permanently because we intend on moving him/letting him walk). Early on, it made no sense to move valuable piece to get that, as we thought we'd be getting Methot back and could re-sign him. The trickle down effect was this made it less desireable to move Wiercioch, as we may need the body. Now it seems less likely he'll play, and we can't move him, so we'd be more likely to look for a replacement, but many of the available options aren't there anymore (Boychuck, Leddy).

The lack of changes to our D has little to do which the lack of desire, and more to do with the current circumstances.

Here's the argument:

1. Management/Ownership wants to make the playoffs

2. We don't want to, or can't, trade any defencemen

3. Our goal scoring is lacking

4. Our goaltending is great

We should trade prospects for another 40-50 point player to bump up our offence and help us win more games while we are waiting for our defence to develop.

Our goaltender are good enough to win us games, and we'd win even more if we had better scoring.

If we want to make the playoffs, which is managements goal, then we need to score more goals to win more games.

I think (and I may be wrong) that management is not happy with our D core without Methot. So I think that as it becomes more likely that he's not in our future plans, we'll be more interested in acquiring another LD. I can see us being interested in Staal and Sekera, and maybe Erhoff. All three woould like help both defensively and offensively (Phillips and Boro on the top pair is a big time drain on the offense imo).

 

[jbeck5]

The issue is we have no depth.

We have 70 point karlsson, then a bunch of under 20 point guys.

Since we lost gonchar and kuba we needed 2(or at the very least 1) 30-40 pts 2-way d. We refuse to do anything about it and just dream,hope, and wish that we develop them all while wasting karlasons prime years.

 

[Micklebot]

The issue is we have no depth.

We have 70 point karlsson, then a bunch of under 20 point guys.

Since we lost gonchar and kuba we needed 2(or at the very least 1) 30-40 pts 2-way d. We refuse to do anything about it and just dream,hope, and wish that we develop them all while wasting karlasons prime years.

Ceci should soon be a 30 pt guy. Methot had the potential to push 30 as Karlsson's partner.

Also, peak years for a defensman tend to be a little later. Karlsson's peak, if he follows the normal distribution, will likely be from 25-33.

I tend to agree that we need more help for Karlsson; the team miscalculated on Wiercioch and Cowen's progression, hoping they could contribute as top 4 guys too soon. Wiercioch may never reach that level.

I'm happy with a top 4 of [insert quality LD or healthy Methot] - Karlsson, and Cowen-Ceci. Obviously the preference would be to have a guy like Erhoff, Enstrom, or Yandle, but a Staal, or Sekera would be great too. The problem is every other team in the league want them too, so we have to pay something big to get them.

If help can't be found, I wouldn't mind trying out the following;

Cowen-Karlsson (cross fingers it works this time)
Wiercioch-Ceci (I find Wier looked his best with Ceci, and it keeps Phillips out of the top 4)
Boro/Phillips-Gryba (15 mins a game, with PK duties)

 

[Cosmix]

Screw that. He's not good enough to be the #2C.

If this is true, dump him. He's been trending downwards since Detroit and he's no longer the player he thinks he is.

Trending downward since Detroit????

It started before that in Nashville. The first time I saw him in a Senstors uniform Legwand has looked slow. That has not changed since the season started. I would trade him to the first team that inquired about him. The Sooner the better as his salary is higher next year.

 

[Lenny the Lynx]

It is Christmas... you all need to stop whining and complaining and watch some world juniors.

Can't I keep whining AND watch some world juniors? Seems like a win-win

 

[Cosmix]

Daren Dreger, the reason Pageau is playing now is because Neil and Smith are injured and has nothing to do with the change of coaches.

Wow! Who knew?

I don't know what the rest of you think of Dreger, but I don't see much in the way of "insider information" coming from him. He does not seem to have good contacts compared to Bob McKenzie.

 

[Pierre from Orleans]

Wow! Who knew?

I don't know what the rest of you think of Dreger, but I don't see much in the way of "insider information" coming from him. He does not seem to have good contacts compared to Bob McKenzie.

I've said this many times but Dreger just regurgitates what has already been said and known. He's a parrot.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

We already knew that the only reason Pageau was in the AHL was because of too many contracts