Pre-Game Talk: Stars @ Sens Monday 10/15 7:30

[Sens of Anarchy]

Stars have a star studded top line that can score and a strong PP. If the Sens plan on lining Harpur and Boro up against they could get over matched in a hurry.

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[God Says No]

Man, I really don't like the Boro - Harpur combo. For a number of reasons. One: Boro. Two: Harpur playing on the off-side, Three: they both have trouble moving the puck. Wish a puck mover was paired with each of them.

 

[Boud]

Man, I really don't like the Boro - Harpur combo. For a number of reasons. One: Boro. Two: Harpur playing on the off-side, Three: they both have trouble moving the puck. Wish a puck mover was paired with each of them.

That pair got hemmed in the Dzone a ton last game and the Kings had a really hard time staying in our zone when the two other pairs were out there. The Kings had a terrible game yesterday, if we play this pairing against any other team that doesn't have an off night we're getting murdered when they're on the ice.

When you have Boro out there you absolutely need a guy that can get the puck out of the zone.

Chabot-Demelo
Harpur - Wideman
Lajoie - Boro

Is the only way I can see this working out.

Would still dress Jaros and give him moderate ice time. Not a fan of dressing 7 Dmen but it's a good way to get a young Dman in the game without putting too much pressure on him

 

[Tuna99]

Win this game and the team could be onto something, it'll mean the goaltending and depth is there to start the season.

 

[God Says No]

That pair got hemmed in the Dzone a ton last game and the Kings had a really hard time staying in our zone when the two other pairs were out there. The Kings had a terrible game yesterday, if we play this pairing against any other team that doesn't have an off night we're getting murdered when they're on the ice.

When you have Boro out there you absolutely need a guy that can get the puck out of the zone.

Chabot-Demelo
Harpur - Wideman
Lajoie - Boro

Is the only way I can see this working out.

That could actually work.

 

[Peptic Balcers]

Would be nice to keep the shots against to less than 40

 

[HSF]

Dallas is stronggg

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Would be nice to keep the shots against to less than 40

Unlikely to happen very often this year.

We need to be all offense to have success and our players, on average, aren't very good defensively.

 

[Xspyrit]

Would be nice to keep the shots against to less than 40

Well they did 3 times out 5

Chicago : 43 shots against
Toronto : 37 shots against
Boston : 30 shots against
Philly : 45 shots against
LA : 37 shots against

No seriously, have to find way to be less corsi generous. Although with so many injuries, it's hard to ask that from such a young and inexperienced line-up

In terms of scoring chances For and Against, this is how it looks after 5 games at Even Strength :

Corsi : 202-287 (41.31%)
Shots : 110-147 (42.80%)
Scoring Chances : 101-133 (43.16%)
High Danger Scoring Chances : 40-47 (45.98%)
Goals : 15-17 (46.88%)

And all strengths (including PP and PK) :

Corsi : 246-361 (40.53%)
Shots : 137-192 (41.64%)
Scoring Chances : 123-162 (43.16%)
High Danger Scoring Chances : 57-64 (47.11%)
Goals : 20-21 (48.78%)

Interesting that the team does better in terms of scoring chances % than corsi/shots %. IIRC it has been the case for years, focus is to keep "shots to the outside" but well, we can agree it would be better if they could have more puck possession.

 

[Multigrain]

Man, I really don't like the Boro - Harpur combo. For a number of reasons. One: Boro. Two: Harpur playing on the off-side, Three: they both have trouble moving the puck. Wish a puck mover was paired with each of them.

I don't either but the coach loves it . Two of his pet projects together.

 

[Multigrain]

Dallas is stronggg

But Ottawa has Harpur and Boro!

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

11x7x2

 

[Multigrain]

Rad

11x7x2

Dallas Lines
BENN-SEGUIN-COMEAU
NICKUSHKIN-SPEZZA-RADULOV
JANNMARK-FAKSA-PITLOCK
DICKINSON-SHORE-RITCHIE

LINDELL-KLINGBERG
METHOT-HONKA
HEISKANEN-CARRICK

BISHOP IN GOAL

 

[aragorn]

Stars have a star studded top line that can score and a strong PP. If the Sens plan on lining Harpur and Boro up against they could get over matched in a hurry.

Who do you propose should take the majority of defensive zone faceoffs/time on D if not Boro & Harpur? Who is better at defending against the other teams best players & some of those guys are big & strong & tough, who else on this team or in this organization can do that on defence for this team? If you don't like those guys they need to bring in better defensive defencemen, they are not going to spend the whole game at the other end, they need someone to fight in front of their own net & defend for at least half the game, if not more especially against Dallas who are another big western team. Chabot & Lajoe are great OFFENSIVELY & get the most offensive zone starts, but they are neither big enough or strong enough yet to move out the bog bodied forwards in the NHL.

BTW Harpur played the right side for most of his four yrs in junior in Guelph & played most of the last two yrs in the AHL on the right side. I imagine he is quite used to it by now & had a pretty good afternoon against LA since he was awarded the hard hat after the game. Both Boro & Harpur played a lot of minutes defensively & kept the LA top line off the score board, not sure what else they could have done better.

 

[God Says No]

Who do you propose should take the majority of defensive zone faceoffs/time on D if not Boro & Harpur? Who is better at defending against the other teams best players & some of those guys are big & strong & tough, who else on this team or in this organization can do that on defence for this team? If you don't like those guys they need to bring in better defensive defencemen, they are not going to spend the whole game at the other end, they need someone to fight in front of their own net & defend for at least half the game, if not more especially against Dallas who are another big western team. Chabot & Lajoe are great OFFENSIVELY & get the most offensive zone starts, but they are neither big enough or strong enough yet to move out the bog bodied forwards in the NHL.

BTW Harpur played the right side for most of his four yrs in junior in Guelph & played most of the last two yrs in the AHL on the right side. I imagine he is quite used to it by now & had a pretty good afternoon against LA since he was awarded the hard hat after the game. Both Boro & Harpur played a lot of minutes defensively & kept the LA top line off the score board, not sure what else they could have done better.

Not Boro nor Harpur. Boro has never shown he can defend against the other teams best players. Harpur is young and that's a tall ask to do that. Right now, the best duo to do that is Chabot and Demelo.

Boro and Harpur kept LA off the scoreboard, but that's not because they played great defensively nor cleared the zone successfully. LA was just unlucky/anemic and didn't score with the multitude of shots they got when Boro and Harpur "tried" to play D.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Who do you propose should take the majority of defensive zone faceoffs/time on D if not Boro & Harpur? Who is better at defending against the other teams best players & some of those guys are big & strong & tough, who else on this team or in this organization can do that on defence for this team? If you don't like those guys they need to bring in better defensive defencemen, they are not going to spend the whole game at the other end, they need someone to fight in front of their own net & defend for at least half the game, if not more especially against Dallas who are another big western team. Chabot & Lajoe are great OFFENSIVELY & get the most offensive zone starts, but they are neither big enough or strong enough yet to move out the bog bodied forwards in the NHL.

BTW Harpur played the right side for most of his four yrs in junior in Guelph & played most of the last two yrs in the AHL on the right side. I imagine he is quite used to it by now & had a pretty good afternoon against LA since he was awarded the hard hat after the game. Both Boro & Harpur played a lot of minutes defensively & kept the LA top line off the score board, not sure what else they could have done better.

I would not go with a shut down pair.. I would go with who ever is fresh. Chabot, Demelo; I am ok with Harpur or Jaros with Lajoie again who ever is fresh, I would not treat Boro and Harpur as defensive wiz kids that are better at anything; they aren't. LA is big, slow and methodical ., they try to push their way in.. Dallas has more finesse , especially Sequin. You don't want two lumbering skaters out there against them.

 

[Back in Black]

Hopefully, we are still considered the "underdogs"....

 

[Sensators]

Dallas is super exciting, disappointed I will miss this one. Go sens!

 

[aragorn]

I would not go with a shut down pair.. I would go with who ever is fresh. Chabot, Demelo; I am ok with Harpur or Jaros with Lajoie again who ever is fresh, I would not treat Boro and Harpur as defensive wiz kids that are better at anything; they aren't. LA is big, slow and methodical ., they try to push their way in.. Dallas has more finesse , especially Sequin. You don't want two lumbering skaters out there against them.

Boro has been put out against the best lines in the league so far this yr in defensive zone coverage & throughout his career. I assume that Harpur & Jaros will or would be used in the same way by GB. I doubt Chabot & DeMello could handle that kind of defensive responsibilities & then have the strength & stamina to also produce offensive pts at the other end on the same shift & who knows how long they could last an entire game having to defend against the best players & then try to also produce pts every game. IMO they are still too young & not strong enough or heavy enough to maintain that kind of stamina. I just don't think people know how grueling it is to play defensively in the NHL & how much energy it takes to be fighting against big guys in front of your own end when it looks so easy on TV.

I don't mind a matchup of PMD with a stay at home or defensive defenceman & he's tried that with Wideman & Boro. The problem is that on defensive zone coverage Wideman isn't big enough or strong enough to handle big forwards & Boro isn't good enough offensively to produce pts. That's why no team has a defensive core of just offensive defencemen & every team has at least one or two defensive defencemen. Chabot will eventually fill out & should be able to handle assignments at both ends soon & DeMello has shown that he can handle some but it's a guy like Boro who game in & game out is always out there against the best of the best working his arse off to stop them. I imagine that if GB was to put out offensively skilled players more often that they would have even more problems handling the NHL's best forwards & would be too tired to produce pts at the other end. IMO you need both kind of defencemen & Boro gets the dirty assignment that the others don't really want since it doesn't pay all that well & isn't all that glamorous & takes a lot of hard work while they are allowed to play the easy offensive minutes & get all the pts, glamour & fame. People don't see that, don't understand it & want six PMD & don't really care about defensive zone coverage & on this team the point is exaggerated because they lead the league in shots against & goals against. You can't tell me that is all Boro's fault? Show me your three pairings.

 

[Ouroboros]

We are in the Ben Harpur era now.

 

[God Says No]

Boro has been put out against the best lines in the league so far this yr in defensive zone coverage & throughout his career. I assume that Harpur & Jaros will or would be used in the same way by GB. I doubt Chabot & DeMello could handle that kind of defensive responsibilities & then have the strength & stamina to also produce offensive pts at the other end on the same shift & who knows how long they could last an entire game having to defend against the best players & then try to also produce pts every game. IMO they are still too young & not strong enough or heavy enough to maintain that kind of stamina. I just don't think people know how grueling it is to play defensively in the NHL & how much energy it takes to be fighting against big guys in front of your own end when it looks so easy on TV.

I don't mind a matchup of PMD with a stay at home or defensive defenceman & he's tried that with Wideman & Boro. The problem is that on defensive zone coverage Wideman isn't big enough or strong enough to handle big forwards & Boro isn't good enough offensively to produce pts. That's why no team has a defensive core of just offensive defencemen & every team has at least one or two defensive defencemen. Chabot will eventually fill out & should be able to handle assignments at both ends soon & DeMello has shown that he can handle some but it's a guy like Boro who game in & game out is always out there against the best of the best working his arse off to stop them. I imagine that if GB was to put out offensively skilled players more often that they would have even more problems handling the NHL's best forwards & would be too tired to produce pts at the other end. IMO you need both kind of defencemen & Boro gets the dirty assignment that the others don't really want since it doesn't pay all that well & isn't all that glamorous & takes a lot of hard work while they are allowed to play the easy offensive minutes & get all the pts, glamour & fame. People don't see that, don't understand it & want six PMD & don't really care about defensive zone coverage & on this team the point is exaggerated because they lead the league in shots against & goals against. You can't tell me that is all Boro's fault? Show me your three pairings.

Newsflash: In the new NHL all D need to be PMDs. That doesn't mean they are all 5'6" and weigh 150 lbs. But ALL defensemen need to move the puck to be successful. Hence why Boro and Harpur are bad.

 

[danielpalfredsson]

Let's try this again....

All you guys who rag on Ceci are going to miss him after seeing this D-core without him!

 

[danielpalfredsson]

Newsflash: In the new NHL all D need to be PMDs. That doesn't mean they are all 5'6" and weigh 150 lbs. But ALL defensemen need to move the puck to be successful. Hence why Boro and Harpur are bad.

Boro has a good first pass. He can generally get by because of it without having to carry the puck up the ice, but he needs to be paired with someone who can do that.

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

We are in the Ben Harpur era now.

EK65 was a minus 1, with one giveaway yesterday vs the Devils

 

[Sensinitis]

We are in the Ben Harpur era now.

What a time to be alive!