I rarely start new threads but decided to do so this time. The truth with this team is that they are not as good on paper. The easy thing to do is to complain about Therrien and DD 24/7 and frankly this has made the forum quite unbearable.
Am I happy with the way DD is playing? No. He pisses me off sometimes. But he is not the reason why we are losing.
Therrien despite some decisions I don't agree with is not a bad coach. Not even close.
When when we look at this team, the main weakness is the lack of offense. I mean other than Pacioretty, name me a first line talent we have. Galchenyuk is getting there but other than that it's pretty sad.
Gallagher, Parenteau, Weise, Sekac, Prust on the wings is simply not good enough. Gally is an "OK" top 6 forward while Parenteau is a "mediocre" one but that's it. We simply don't have the depth on wings and it's a big reason why Galchenyuk is not at center.
At center, we have DD, Plekanec, Eller and Malhotra. I am not gonna comment on DD (you guys will do that I am sure) but having a 4th line center with ZERO point in 29 games is a problem no matter how many faceoffs he wins. Eller is right where he should be at 3rd line center. Plekanec is our most used center and he's playing with 2 of our 3 best wingers (Galchenyuk and Gallagher).
On defense, when you have Alexei Emelin playing 20+ minutes and he is your #3 D, you know you are in deep trouble. This guy can't handle speed at all. But what can you do, what other options Therrien has? Weaver, Gilbert, Gonchar are all #5 and #6 D-man. I also rather have Beaulieu in the AHL. He was awful and I have yet to see ANYTHING from him. Much better for him to be playing a lot of minutes in Hamilton. Tinordi I disagree with the organization I think he should be here playing instead of Emelin. But it's not a bad thing he's playing big minutes in Hamilton as well.
And let's talk about the goalie. According to many here, he is the only reason why our record is still good. Price has been very good but he has not been Vezina caliber. He struggled early in the season and even now he allowed some questionable goals in the last road trip. His 0.919 sv % is good indicator of how good he's been. Great but not Vezina like.
Last year, we were so good because we added another 1st line talent to help Pacioretty in Vanek. No matter how crappy he played, it helped other players because all the attention was on Vanek and Patches.
The team is on the right track... just be patient. We just need more TALENT.
Am I happy with the way DD is playing? No. He pisses me off sometimes. But he is not the reason why we are losing.
Therrien despite some decisions I don't agree with is not a bad coach. Not even close.
When when we look at this team, the main weakness is the lack of offense. I mean other than Pacioretty, name me a first line talent we have. Galchenyuk is getting there but other than that it's pretty sad.
Gallagher, Parenteau, Weise, Sekac, Prust on the wings is simply not good enough. Gally is an "OK" top 6 forward while Parenteau is a "mediocre" one but that's it. We simply don't have the depth on wings and it's a big reason why Galchenyuk is not at center.
At center, we have DD, Plekanec, Eller and Malhotra. I am not gonna comment on DD (you guys will do that I am sure) but having a 4th line center with ZERO point in 29 games is a problem no matter how many faceoffs he wins. Eller is right where he should be at 3rd line center. Plekanec is our most used center and he's playing with 2 of our 3 best wingers (Galchenyuk and Gallagher).
On defense, when you have Alexei Emelin playing 20+ minutes and he is your #3 D, you know you are in deep trouble. This guy can't handle speed at all. But what can you do, what other options Therrien has? Weaver, Gilbert, Gonchar are all #5 and #6 D-man. I also rather have Beaulieu in the AHL. He was awful and I have yet to see ANYTHING from him. Much better for him to be playing a lot of minutes in Hamilton. Tinordi I disagree with the organization I think he should be here playing instead of Emelin. But it's not a bad thing he's playing big minutes in Hamilton as well.
And let's talk about the goalie. According to many here, he is the only reason why our record is still good. Price has been very good but he has not been Vezina caliber. He struggled early in the season and even now he allowed some questionable goals in the last road trip. His 0.919 sv % is good indicator of how good he's been. Great but not Vezina like.
Last year, we were so good because we added another 1st line talent to help Pacioretty in Vanek. No matter how crappy he played, it helped other players because all the attention was on Vanek and Patches.
The team is on the right track... just be patient. We just need more TALENT.