OT: Team Defence Discussion - 2022/23

[Adrianopolous]

I am concerned with our team defence and our knack for being extremely sloppy in our end. We've already seen that during the preseason. Are we going to be those high scoring teams that wins/loses 6-5 / 4-3 games every night? If so then DJ Smith needs to go.

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[Union2017]

Can we let these guys play at least one game this season before we start with the witch-hunt and running players/coaches out of the town? Is that too much to ask? One game with the full roster. Talking about the glass half empty….

 

[milkbag]

If we don't crush every team 8-1 then I want DJ Smith fired too

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

We lead every team in preseason goals. We also allowed most goals in preseason.

To be fair, we never deployed our full defense. One of our top 2 pairings was missing I believe in every game. I think just one game we did and Chabot-Zub had a stinker but we still won.

We displayed significantly better structure in last couple games but that was against MTL.

I won't display any notable worry until the 10 game mark. I am cautiously keeping an eye on it though.

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

I am concerned with our team defence and our knack for being extremely sloppy in our end. We've already seen that during the preseason. Are we going to be those high scoring teams that win games 6-5 / 4-3 every night? If so then DJ Smith needs to go.

I agree there is something wrong with our D coaching. We haven’t lost that panic system.

 

[Senovision]

We do not have a lot to work with back there.
Hamonic was a Vancouver cast off and has been shuffling around the NHL. Zub was a find from the Russian league.
Holden is not strong.
Brannstrom is so so.
Sanderson is a rookie.
Zaitsev yikes....where do I begin
Chabot is good but plays too many minutes.
Jeez.....
Your system is only as good as your players you have in the system.
So our defence will be cause for concern.

 

[Micklebot]

We're a young team that has brought in a number of new pieces, so there will be a learning curve.

Having said that, I find our team defense gets scapgoated a bit, it's not perfect by any means, but I don't find we ever get the Benny Hill music playing like we did with McLean

 

[jbeck5]

You don't need to have amazing personnel on defense to make the playoffs.

Look at the D Ottawa has when they first made the playoffs.

1)Duschesne
2) rookie redden
3) York
4) laukkanen
5) pitlick
6) Olsson
7) Musil

Oh, and 2 journeyman 1b/ backups in Rhodes and tugnutt.

You just need a proper system.

 

[Cosmix]

We're a young team that has brought in a number of new pieces, so there will be a learning curve.

Having said that, I find our team defense gets scapgoated a bit, it's not perfect by any means, but I don't find we ever get the Benny Hill music playing like we did with McLean

Que the music!

 

[thinkwild]

Benny Hill Shifts / 60 mins will definitely be a key metric this year

 

[Dionysus]

Would like to see the team cover the points when defending in their own zone. Collapsing down low, then running out to the point way late as the opposition starts a new cycle is backbreaking.

 

[Alex1234]

You don't need to have amazing personnel on defense to make the playoffs.

Look at the D Ottawa has when they first made the playoffs.

1)Duschesne
2) rookie redden
3) York
4) laukkanen
5) pitlick
6) Olsson
7) Musil

Oh, and 2 journeyman 1b/ backups in Rhodes and tugnutt.

You just need a proper system.

Been a while since a saw that in Ottawa

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

We're a young team that has brought in a number of new pieces, so there will be a learning curve.

Having said that, I find our team defense gets scapgoated a bit, it's not perfect by any means, but I don't find we ever get the Benny Hill music playing like we did with McLean

I've always wondered how the Sens went from one of the best defensive teams in 2013 shorteed season to one of the worst in 2013-2014.

 

[GCK]

I've always wondered how the Sens went from one of the best defensive teams in 2013 shorteed season to one of the worst in 2013-2014.

2012/13
Anderson .941 sv%
Lehner .936 sv%
Bishop .920 sv%

2013/14
Anderson .911 sv%
Lehner .913 sv%

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

2012/13
Anderson .941 sv%
Lehner .936 sv%
Bishop .920 sv%

2013/14
Anderson .911 sv%
Lehner .913 sv%

Again though it's not like they were that much worse to post a drastically different save percentage. The 2013 played a lot more structured and keep in mind this was with a roster of mostly rookie Dman. The 2013-2014 played very unstructured.

 

[JackieDaytona]

Benny Hill Shifts / 60 mins will definitely be a key metric this year

Yakety sax should be zaitsev’s theme song, should dj opt to play him. Please dj don’t do it.

You don't need to have amazing personnel on defense to make the playoffs.

Look at the D Ottawa has when they first made the playoffs.

1)Duschesne
2) rookie redden
3) York
4) laukkanen
5) pitlick
6) Olsson
7) Musil

Oh, and 2 journeyman 1b/ backups in Rhodes and tugnutt.

You just need a proper system.

you might need to have a decent d corps in the Atlantic division this year.

That said, I agree that defensive issues we’ve seen are more attributable to lack of structure and systems than the players. I think that is especially true this year relative to previous ones.

I agree that we need to see some games played before passing judgment but it’s a valid concern and I believe if there are defensive issues, it’s on coaching and strategy rather than players. DJ should have a short leash.

 

[ottawah]

You don't need to have amazing personnel on defense to make the playoffs.

Look at the D Ottawa has when they first made the playoffs.

1)Duschesne
2) rookie redden
3) York
4) laukkanen
5) pitlick
6) Olsson
7) Musil

Oh, and 2 journeyman 1b/ backups in Rhodes and tugnutt.

You just need a proper system.

Well, in 97 we were 5 games under .500. Last year 17 games over .500 would not have made the playoffs. Heck 28 games over .500 was required just to be a top 3 in our division.

Of course no OT back then, but even if we had won 100% of those OT games in 97 it would have still left us far short of the playoffs last year in terms of record.

Plus the 97 team had a -8 goal differential, last year the number 8 team had a +30 goal differential.

Its an entirely different game from those ages.

 

[ottawah]

I've always wondered how the Sens went from one of the best defensive teams in 2013 shortened season to one of the worst in 2013-2014.

Shortened season. All Karlsson, for all his worth, really was one for a lot of goals against and missing much of the shortened season helped out GA. Going from 12GA (17 games) to 117 GA (82 games) was a massive factor.

 

[Yak]

Is it DJ's fault or Jack Cappy?

Defensive Structure has been chaotic and they failed to make the right adjustments.

We can blame the players but at some point we need a system that takes into account the personal we have to work with.

 

[Korpse]

Nobody is going to confuse this team for a defensive juggernaut. There is going to be fairly regular defensive miscues but that doesn't mean they can't keep pucks out of their own net. How effective they are defensively is going to be determined by how much they can push the play offensively. Think the opposite of the 16/17 team.

 

[Laphroaig]

I believe that the personnel we currently have on the blueline are perfectly adequate if we aren't interested in making the playoffs.

 

[Adrianopolous]

I believe that the personnel we currently have on the blueline are perfectly adequate if we aren't interested in making the playoffs.

This is exactly it. The sloppiness and just poor play in our end will not allow us to even get close to the playoffs if it keeps up.

 

[jbeck5]

Well, in 97 we were 5 games under .500. Last year 17 games over .500 would not have made the playoffs. Heck 28 games over .500 was required just to be a top 3 in our division.

Of course no OT back then, but even if we had won 100% of those OT games in 97 it would have still left us far short of the playoffs last year in terms of record.

Plus the 97 team had a -8 goal differential, last year the number 8 team had a +30 goal differential.

Its an entirely different game from those ages.

Still.

Fast forward 2 years to the 99 team that got 103 points and won the division.

1) York - 35pts
2) redden - 29pts
3) kravchuk - 25 pts
4) salo - 19 pts
5) laukkanen - 12 pts
6) traverse - 10 pts
7) pitlick - 9 pts

So once again, you just need a good system.

We literary had no offense from the back end. 2 young guys in redden and salo. A bunch of journeymen.

Yes, I agree times have changed. Nowadays you need more mobile defense. Point does remain that systems can be a big difference. You can have teams like the islanders be 100+ point teams with no stars. Look at Vegas their first year. Almost all cast offs that didn't make other teams top 6 or top 4.

Systems can make a big difference and most people agree we might have the deepest offensive group we've ever had.

No reason we can't be an average team and squeek in.

 

[ottawah]

No reason we can be an average team and squeek in.

Effectively average teams do squeak in, at lead the median teams (50% make the playoffs).

The issue is the D is not great, nor is it backed up by solid goaltending. We will need to make that up offensively. And in a division with Florida, Tampa and Toronto we are at best the 4th best offensive team. In a different division I'd have a different perspective.


But I think we are on the cusp of making the playoffs. I'm certainly expect we challenge for that going into the later part of the season.

 

[Micklebot]

Still.

Fast forward 2 years to the 99 team that got 103 points and won the division.

1) York - 35pts
2) redden - 29pts
3) kravchuk - 25 pts
4) salo - 19 pts
5) laukkanen - 12 pts
6) traverse - 10 pts
7) pitlick - 9 pts

So once again, you just need a good system.

We literary had no offense from the back end. 2 young guys in redden and salo. A bunch of journeymen.

Yes, I agree times have changed. Nowadays you need more mobile defense. Point does remain that systems can be a big difference. You can have teams like the islanders be 100+ point teams with no stars. Look at Vegas their first year. Almost all cast offs that didn't make other teams top 6 or top 4.

Systems can make a big difference and most people agree we might have the deepest offensive group we've ever had.

No reason we can be an average team and squeek in.

A little bit of context might help here, in 99, the top scoring D in the league had 66 pts, York was 20th in D scoring. As a team, we were 3rd in scoring from the D, so no, we didn't literally have no offence from the backend, it was a strength of the team