Vatanen

[rollingdux]

I think people are way too focused and disappointed in Fowler's play on the power play.

Take him off the power play if you want. It needs a shake up anyway, but don't take him out the game.

 

[TheJoeMan]

Id be happy seeing sbisa come back and downgrade fowler into more limited icetime, until he plays for it. infact, id be happy if fowler sat next game in favor of fistric.

You're clearly magnifying the effects of Folwer's "flubs" in regard to how it effects his and the team's overall game. But there's no way Fowler gets scratched, ever, for anything other than an injury. He has been so much better defensively this season and the occasion puck jumping over his stick doesn't diminish that. But Fistric is not very good. I don't like it when he's in the lineup (two of our three loses occurred when he was in the lineup) and he's definitely not an upgrade over Cam. I'm really puzzled by this statement. Cam leads the team in ice-time, how can you bring him out of the lineup in favor of someone who won't even be apart of this team by the end of the road trip?

 

[Sojourn]

You're comparing Fowler's flubs playing as the #1 to Sbisa's flubs playing as the #6? And how exactly does Sbisa returning make any impact on Fowler's ice time?

As far as Fistric over Fowler, literally the only way to interpret that is that you have a HUGE bet riding on Philly to win.

Think that about covers it.

I'm not sure what else to make of that post.

 

[AngelDuck]

People are going to be disappointed when Sbisa comes back and shows he hasn't magically gotten any better. The only chance Sbisa should have at getting back in the lineup is taking Lovejoy's spot. Everyone else deserves to stay where they're at.

 

[Bbird80]

Good to see that the fellow Ducks fans here don't see Sami's situation as bad as I did after watching the last two games. I've seen his every game in FEL and the national team as well as almost every NHL game, and I haven't seen him making that many bad passes in one game before. A goal would help. A lot.

His play in D-zone is better than ever (minus the "falling down without any apparent reason", hello Bobby Ryan) and the breakout passes are still there, but the amount of mistakes has risen during this road trip. It's really interesting to see how he handles the physical teams we have up next, Flyers and Bruins. In FEL he only played better when the games got tougher and was just flying in playoffs before getting injured. It's a mental thing, and he is a fighter. Bring on the physical play, and you'll see he likes it.

So there's light at the end of the tunnel. It's only a flashlight and the tunnel is long and scary, but there's light. At the end of the tunnel I wish to see Sami return to his old scoring form showcased here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CN6-PPkzFFc

And the criticism on Fowler: hey, I think the "kid" is doing a great job with those minutes. Let's not forget he is actually 6 months younger than our rookie Sami over here... They both have the same amount of pro hockey experience. How many teams have to give top minutes to someone that young anyway? We have Fowler (21), Lindholm (19) and Vatanen (22) playing +/- 20 mins a game. It's because of the injury situation, but considering the Ducks are 9-3-0 with 7 road games 4-3-0 with this defence, I have to say our D is doing pretty well! Our division is the toughest in NHL (3 out of top 4 teams from PD).

 

[JabbaJabba]

Sami should play with more patience, he sometimes looks overexcited which leads to errors and rushed decisions. I think that he will learn this over time. Great to see that his size hasn't become an issue even though everyone was sceptical about it the most.

 

[douglast5]

We have 9 players who can fit in our defence right now. Unless he can generate some offense (especially pp), hes not doing anything one of our others can do, while being bigger and stronger.

 

[JabbaJabba]

We have 9 players who can fit in our defence right now. Unless he can generate some offense (especially pp), hes not doing anything one of our others can do, while being bigger and stronger.

He does a lot good things in the defensive zone as well, he and Fowler are the best puck carriers. Size and strength don't mean everything, or would you bench him to play Fistric instead?

 

[Theridion]

You're comparing Fowler's flubs playing as the #1 to Sbisa's flubs playing as the #6? And how exactly does Sbisa returning make any impact on Fowler's ice time?

As far as Fistric over Fowler, literally the only way to interpret that is that you have a HUGE bet riding on Philly to win.

Let me defend myself.

My original statement was made with the BB mentality... if it aint working, randomly mix up the lines

 

[Vinegar Strokes]

We have 9 players who can fit in our defence right now. Unless he can generate some offense (especially pp), hes not doing anything one of our others can do, while being bigger and stronger.

None of Fistric, Souray or Sbisa can make a breakout pass or wheel it out of the zone like Sami can.

He had a rough game, young players are known to have them, but he still provides a lot more than you're giving him credit for. If he's out of the lineup, the transition game will suffer.

 

[One More Salami]

What a game by Sami!

 

[Bbird80]

It's really interesting to see how he handles the physical teams we have up next, Flyers and Bruins. In FEL he only played better when the games got tougher and was just flying in playoffs before getting injured. It's a mental thing, and he is a fighter. Bring on the physical play, and you'll see he likes it.

Well, at least his performance (as well as the whole team effort) was way better last night. That fighter aspect showed nicely just before the GWG by Palmieri, just refusing to give up.

Next up, Bruins. Krejci, Lucic, Bergeron, Paille. Bring it on.