Post-Game Talk: So maybe shut up tonight and talk tomorrow [Mod Warning in OP]

[The Kingslayer]

The Stuart and Briere moves were both so dumb that I honestly dont think that any other NHL management would have done it. That is worrying.

Something positive though, this team will look so much better as soon as Varly is back in the net. This is a game we win with elite goaltending. And he will provide it. But it's gonna suck to rely so fully on goaltending.

I personally didnt see goaltending as an issue tonight at all to be honest. Thought Berra played well. Im trying to find fault in the goals he let in but really can't

 

[Hennessy]

Panic. Failing that, connect some passes.

 

[the_fan]

They're too talented to not turn it around so I think they're right. Varly will give the team a big boost as well. The roster is still flawed though and Varly can only mask so much.

I don't think this year Varly will be able to bail them out like last year, specially with him being injured this year unlike being completely healthy last year.

They are already falling back in the conference with no indication that they are about to go on some sort of win streak.

Like i said before, this is exactly like the Sacco years, making the playoffs one year, the following year going mediocre for the 1st half of the season, win one lose one, then totally collapsing late in the season.

I see the exact same happening this year.

 

[Nihiliste]

Couple things,

First off, if you have no faith? Why follow a pointless team heading into a dark desolate abyss? Clearly you have zero conviction this team will win at any time this season nor future. The cognizance I got from this and your last post, is that you're wasting your time watching this team.

I was not targeting you when I said aggressive bipolar disorder, 99.9% of the posters here this month have been close to unbearable.

What makes me mad personally is when people spout off random one to two sentences without any opinions, facts, or data to back them up. For me, reading sentences which says "I dislike every move by Roy/Sakic" as you said or "Berra for a 2nd sucks" really grinds me gears (probably other posters here as well). ABasin is a perfect example of a poster who I can tolerant because at least he explains why the way he thinks concerning the Avs in a logical way. While you needed another poster (Freudian) to back up your claims.

Why would I ignore you over a couple of posts?

Asking someone why they're a fan of a team is pointless, as the Oilers and Leafs hordes will tell you. You know the answer - I'm a fan because I grew up a fan (moved with the Nords anyways) and thus I will continue to be a fan.

Posters like I and RobinDIF have explanations for our views in many threads throughout the forum - just because our views differ from the prevailing opinion doesn't mean I'm going to retype all of my thoughts every time I post in a GDT to appease your sensibilities.

Cynical one-liners grind your gears? Baseless optimism about players, prospects, management, and the trajectory of the team really grind mine. Oh, and I'm sure you've never agreed with another poster during a discussion before.

 

[tigervixxxen]

D pairs that remain consistent would be nice too, D needs chemistry as well. Also going to 5 D because of injuries or misconducts doesn't help either.

 

[Foppa2118]

Panic. Failing that, connect some passes.

I think that's a solid plan. I vote we panic, and they connect some passes. Though I suppose it could work the other way around too. I could use a bump in pay.

 

[S E P H]

Asking someone why they're a fan of a team is pointless, as the Oilers and Leafs hordes will tell you. You know the answer - I'm a fan because I grew up a fan (moved with the Nords anyways) and thus I will continue to be a fan.

Posters like I and RobinDIF have explanations for our views in many threads throughout the forum - just because our views differ from the prevailing opinion doesn't mean I'm going to retype all of my thoughts every time I post in a GDT to appease your sensibilities.

Cynical one-liners grind your gears? Baseless optimism about players, prospects, management, and the trajectory of the team really grind mine. Oh, and I'm sure you've never agreed with another poster during a discussion before.

Man, then you must have been on suicide watch last season seeing the club actually be successful in the most recent years; where all aspects of the club was above average in your grinding gears categories. Or maybe being in a constant state of pessimism is the new fad? No way in knowing...

But of course that is what black nail polish and hairspray is used for.

 

[The Kingslayer]

I don't think this year Varly will be able to bail them out like last year, specially with him being injured this year unlike being completely healthy last year.

They are already falling back in the conference with no indication that they are about to go on some sort of win streak.

Like i said before, this is exactly like the Sacco years, making the playoffs one year, the following year going mediocre for the 1st half of the season, win one lose one, then totally collapsing late in the season.

I see the exact same happening this year.

I see it as well. Almost like they were satisfied with last seasons results

 

[AvsRobin]

D pairs that remain consistent would be nice too, D needs chemistry as well. Also going to 5 D because of injuries or misconducts doesn't help either.

I want a consistent top 6 too. Even if it doesnt click right away. Stick with the same for a while. All this shuffling is just causing more panic.

 

[Boulder Avalanche]

I am looking foward to seeing McDavid next to MacKinnon.

 

[tigervixxxen]

I want a consistent top 6 too. Even if it doesnt click right away. Stick with the same for a while. All this shuffling is just causing more panic.

Absolutely agree. It makes no sense. It just causes them to overthink even more. That's what makes them slow, making dumb mistakes, can't pass, etc.

 

[Nihiliste]

I see it as well. Almost like they were satisfied with last seasons results

It certainly seems that the team didn't come in with anywhere near the same urgency and preparation as last year. You have to stay hungry in this league.

I want a consistent top 6 too. Even if it doesnt click right away. Stick with the same for a while. All this shuffling is just causing more panic.

Yup, stick with the combinations you want to build, and let them develop chemistry. I've been bewildered thus far by Roy's line juggling.

Man, then you must have been on suicide watch last season seeing the club actually be successful in the most recent years; where all aspects of the club was above average in your grinding gears categories. Or maybe being in a constant state of pessimism is the new fad? No way in knowing...

But of course that is what black nail polish and hairspray is used for.

While I appreciate your condescension, I find your hypocrisy in clamouring for deeper discussion and then following it up with a post like this particularly amusing.

 

[AvsRobin]

Roy's shuffling is IMO a sign of a young coach. He wants to fix what is wrong. Want to do something. Do what he can. But an expirenced coach would probably go down the road of consistency and patience and let everyone learn to know each other on their new lines. Right now, no one is given enough time to find chemistry before they are moved to a new line.

 

[Nihiliste]

Roy's shuffling is IMO a sign of a young coach. He wants to fix what is wrong. Want to do something. Do what he can. But an expirenced coach would probably go down the road of consistency and patience and let everyone learn to know each other on their new lines. Right now, no one is given enough time to find chemistry before they are moved to a new line.

What I would love is for us to have firm combinations that can be effective together in the long term; combinations like Getzlaf-Perry, Kopitar-Williams have lasted years, Benn-Seguin is likely to be one that stays together long term. Hopefully Roy will allow these guys to develop chemistry because we had two potential combinations like that in Landeskog-Mackinnon and ROR-Duchene. It's nice to have a combination you can rely on when the chips are down.

 

[the_fan]

I wish Avs had a coach like Mike Babcock

 

[IceRat]

anyone have a table we can put our balls on?

 

[InjuredChoker]

i had ES chances at 4-11 against the avs. i though the game was closer than what that says, even counting how many powerplays we had. and at least the pp looked good.

I'm not sure Avs are going to be able to keep playing the defensive system they are. Teams are cycling the crap out of Roy's man-on-man and since Avs players are busy chasing players they're often beaten to the puck and we have no players along the board that can get the puck out.

It doesn't surprise any team in the league anymore.

yeah, i think they should switch their system a bit. use 'layers' more or whatever it is called.

personally, i think man-on-man has advantage bc of breakouts, players are right away in position to start transition. or it should be. but right now avs aren't, F's aren't open for outlets and they don't have the D who can do it outside of EJ and barrie and those are too easily shutdown at the moment.

 

[JoemAvs]

Terrible game. Stop going at each others throat, people please.

Not the time. I was lambasted for repeatedly calling this the offseason from hell ,etc. There are very valid concerns about the capability of our management. And I think it should be ok to bring those up. But than again. We are stuck with what we have now. There is no way Sakic and Roy are getting fired (nor should they).

I hope this is a learning experience for them. Our asset management has to be way better and loyalty to somewhat marginal players does usually not pay off in this league. Also (younger) talent > cup experience. I believe we will be fine as long as they are willing to review their decisions and readjust their decision making process.

Coach Roy just won the Jack Adams. There are some concerns but doubting him after just 8 games is wrong IMO. He is a second year coach who is facing his first real crisis. GM Roy really did make it hard on him but in the end he could be a better coach for it.

We jumped several steps in a rebuild last year. In fact we had a historic season. Not many teams jump from #1 overall pick to division winners in the toughest division. We are still a very young team that underwent big changes that were not necessarily positive. Now we are struggling. No real surprise there.

The Islanders faltered last year after looking damn good the year before. The Panthers made it far three years ago before they completely faltered the last two years.
The Blues and Kings had many years where they alternated between looking like the next young contender and missing the playoffs.
I don't think it is unusual what is going on. Young teams are like that.
We just have to make sure that our trajectory over the next 2-3 years is an upward one.
I don't mind missing the playoffs for one more year if it helps adressing our key issues.

Those are clearly the defense. We have to get our hands on a (young) top 4 LD (ideally top pairing). Add Siemens or Bigras as #4 in 2-3 years and this group all of a sudden could look decent. If we unexpectedly suck enough this year to draft it (Kylington, Hannifin) than fine. If we have to trade ROR to get this top pairing D than so be it.

Re-Signing is probably not gonna happen anyways (although I obviously would prefer adding a guy like Sekera or Staal and re-signing ROR but that is not gonna happen with our capsituation and RORs history).

Same goes for our centers.
Mac is hitting the sophomore slump hard right now. Again not unexpected with the different role he has to take on and the whole team struggling. Let him figure it out and let us suffer through the growing pains right now. We will better off for it in the future.
So let us have some patience and hope that this step back helps us take two forward in the future.

If they can somehow turn it around this year and make the playoffs again than more power to them. Does not look likely at the moment,though.

We can not afford anymore screwups with our decision making, though.

 

[Avs71]

It looked like Roy went back to Hejda-EJ last night. I like that. Gives EJ someone he knows and can trust. Hejda's passing skills are gone, but at least he is in position.

Can't say this surprises me:

Barrie and Holden have both been train wrecks.

I liked Iginla tonight. He was going to the net hard. Love how he jumped in for Duchene when Florida was trying to push him around after the whistle. This team needs more of that mentality right now. They're too soft.

Stuart has become completely unnoticeable, which is probably a good thing.

This team just lacks a breakout in the worst way. It's killing the forwards. It's too bad the Avs don't have a young promising guy they could call up who moves the puck well.

 

[ASmileyFace]

Well, that was not the game I hoped to see last night.

Other than a period of like 5 minutes where we scored our three goals we were completely outplayed in our own building by a team that should be bottom feeding this year.

There is just no fight on this team. No one wants to actually work for 60 minutes. They must have thought it was going to be easy after last year, but they are quickly finding out the hard way.

I still think this team is playoff bound because there is just to much talent to not at least somewhat get it together but holy **** this team has some major issues.

 

[StayAtHomeAv]

Doubtful. Roy loves him.

That said, if he brought a guy like Yandle, I'm all for it. The forwards on this team are wasted with this defence core.

We need smart defensive defenders. Not another Barrie.

If we are bring in Yandle we might as well save RoR and play Noreau instead.

i had ES chances at 4-11 against the avs. i though the game was closer than what that says, even counting how many powerplays we had. and at least the pp looked good.



yeah, i think they should switch their system a bit. use 'layers' more or whatever it is called.

personally, i think man-on-man has advantage bc of breakouts, players are right away in position to start transition. or it should be. but right now avs aren't, F's aren't open for outlets and they don't have the D who can do it outside of EJ and barrie and those are too easily shutdown at the moment.

Man, that's actually better than I would have guessed. Seemed like they had close to double digits in just the first period.

 

[Rackham]

Last night looked like a Sacco game. Which pains me to type. They dumped it in down the left side almost every single time, and almost immediately had to scramble back into their own zone when that didn't work.

 

[Avs71]

We need smart defensive defenders. Not another Barrie.

If we are bring in Yandle we might as well save RoR and play Noreau instead.

Sure, the AHLer journeyman can bring what one of the highest scoring defencemen in the NHL does.

Why not just bring up Smith and replace O'Reilly?

 

[bohlmeister]

Rumour has it that Joe Sacco made a call to Roy last night to offer some tips on motivating these players.

 

[RockLobster]

I am surprised at Barrie's play thus far this season. Yes, he scored a goal last night but his play at both ends of the ice, especially the Defensive end, has been really bad.

There is just nothing going right with this team so far and they need to get it turned around.