Post-Game Talk: WCQF: Game 6 Whales @ Perds 5/3/24 6PM CT

[Loyal Legion]

0-6 in our last 6 home playoff games. I get excited this time of year for playoff hockey only to feel like this.

Have we ever had a good powerplay in the playoffs?

 

[Armourboy]

0-6 in our last 6 home playoff games. I get excited this time of year for playoff hockey only to feel like this.

Have we ever had a good powerplay in the playoffs?

It's a problem that is going to start undermining support sooner or later. People will forget that they may have overachieved, what they will remember is that they lost 3 times at home during the playoffs and got bounced.

 

[wadesworld]

I'm scared to ask, but what was our final stat for PP performance for the series?

 

[drwpreds]

I'm scared to ask, but what was our final stat for PP performance for the series?

2-22 I believe

 

[Adz]

Well, not the way I wanted the season to end but it has been a fun season over all. I hope the boys spend their off season practicing hitting the net and scoring on power plays. If they can get those two things working, this team could have a very bright future.

Go Preds!

 

[GeauxPreds1]

It's a problem that is going to start undermining support sooner or later. People will forget that they may have overachieved, what they will remember is that they lost 3 times at home during the playoffs and got bounced.

I’m not understanding the overachieving statement. Last year with Josi and forsberg hurt at the end of the season the team push to only miss the playoffs by 3 points. You can argue if they didn’t get hurt they would have made it. Then you add 3 players in free agency to help close the gap which we did. We were the 1st wild card. But with the same result as years past a 1st round exit. We need to add more top notch players in the offseason and less of the zuckers and Beauvillier if this team wants to advance

 

[GeauxPreds1]

2-22 I believe

2? I must of missed one. I think we only had 1 pp goal
Never mind we had 2 you was right on the money

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

I’m not understanding the overachieving statement. Last year with Josi and forsberg hurt at the end of the season the team push to only miss the playoffs by 3 points. You can argue if they didn’t get hurt they would have made it. Then you add 3 players in free agency to help close the gap which we did. We were the 1st wild card. But with the same result as years past a 1st round exit. We need to add more top notch players in the offseason and less of the zuckers and Beauvillier if this team wants to advance

Duchene, Johansen, Granlund, Nino all gone. First full season without Ekholm. While ROR and Gus filled in a lot of that production hit, track record would have suggested that highly unlikely. On paper this team was likely a 10-14 in the conference, and potentially worse than everyone in the conference except the Sharks and Hawks--zero scoring depth, top 2 heavy on D, reliant on goaltending.

 

[Kat Predator]

Duchene, Johansen, Granlund, Nino all gone. First full season without Ekholm. While ROR and Gus filled in a lot of that production hit, track record would have suggested that highly unlikely. On paper this team was likely a 10-14 in the conference, and potentially worse than everyone in the conference except the Sharks and Hawks--zero scoring depth, top 2 heavy on D, reliant on goaltending.

I'd add Arizona and Anaheim. Arizona because they really weren't trying to do anything but sell the team and Anaheim because they're still trying to put together the pieces after blowing the team up.

But we certainly didn't look like a team ready to compete with Vegas, Dallas, Colorado, or Edmonton. That group of the middle 8 in the conference was always where we figured to be. Some good puck bounces and we finished in the top half of that. It could've very easily gone the other direction, like the Kraken did with their injuries and offense coming apart.

 

[torontoblood]

How schenn and RoR played on your team? Did they make positive and productive contributions for the preds?

 

[Armourboy]

How schenn and RoR played on your team? Did they make positive and productive contributions for the preds?

ROR did during the season, much less so in the playoffs. Schenn was probably the opposite, not much in the season, better in the playoffs.

 

[GeauxPreds1]

Duchene, Johansen, Granlund, Nino all gone. First full season without Ekholm. While ROR and Gus filled in a lot of that production hit, track record would have suggested that highly unlikely. On paper this team was likely a 10-14 in the conference, and potentially worse than everyone in the conference except the Sharks and Hawks--zero scoring depth, top 2 heavy on D, reliant on goaltending.

We didn’t have those named players when we went on the run to barely miss the playoffs last year with the exception of duchene even though he did miss the last few games when he almost lost he finger. We’ll have to agree to disagree because after the addition in the off-season this was once again a team that was gonna barely gonna miss the playoffs or be a wild card team.

 

[Predsanddead24]

End of the day we as an organization need more young high end talent on the roster and the most straightforward path is to develop our prospects. We had a lot of guys who looked like they could make that leap and none of them really improved much over what we saw out of them last year with the exception of Evangelista (and even then from a rates perspective he still regressed). I’m willing to entertain the idea that the blame falls primarily on the players but that excuse will wear thin if other guys can’t make the leap soon. And if our players really don’t have what it takes than we need to find a way to get some that do via trades.

In some ways you can call this season successful but for me personally a WC slot and a first round exit doesn’t impress me much. Plus I don’t feel like we’re any closer to winning a Cup than we were last offseason so it’s hard for me to be too excited. We do have a decent amount of cap space and assets so we will see what Trotz is able to do in the offseason. I still would rather bite the bullet and force feed young players opportunities which I guess some will mischaracterize as tanking but oh well. Trotz and Bruno will get their chance to mold this team into their vision but Im still having a hard time seeing the path out of the mushy middle.

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

I'd add Arizona and Anaheim. Arizona because they really weren't trying to do anything but sell the team and Anaheim because they're still trying to put together the pieces after blowing the team up.

But we certainly didn't look like a team ready to compete with Vegas, Dallas, Colorado, or Edmonton. That group of the middle 8 in the conference was always where we figured to be. Some good puck bounces and we finished in the top half of that. It could've very easily gone the other direction, like the Kraken did with their injuries and offense coming apart.

I expected the Ducks and Yotes to be a lot better than they were. We saw flashes of that from theYotes, before a really horrific streak. The Ducks were hugely disappointing this season, IMO. Despite all the young talent they've acquired, there has been no progress there.

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

We didn’t have those named players when we went on the run to barely miss the playoffs last year with the exception of duchene even though he did miss the last few games when he almost lost he finger. We’ll have to agree to disagree because after the addition in the off-season this was once again a team that was gonna barely gonna miss the playoffs or be a wild card team.

Young teams with no expectations go on runs like that a lot at the end of seasons. It is usually an outlier that is regressed upon when they start the next full season. Buffalo is notorious for that. And if we hadn't had ROR and Gus having such great seasons, in conjunction with FF, we would have been the same.

 

[ShagDaddy]

I expected the Ducks and Yotes to be a lot better than they were. We saw flashes of that from theYotes, before a really horrific streak. The Ducks were hugely disappointing this season, IMO. Despite all the young talent they've acquired, there has been no progress there.

If the Preds played their all their young prospects, they’d be far worse off that the Ducks. The Ducks young players are highly skilled players that could potentially be star level players, the Preds don’t have any of those. Yet we have people here on the board that would be thrilled at the thought of playing them all on the NHL roster. Of course I’m sure those same people would be whining about the god-awful product the Preds were icing and complaining about how the fans deserve better when that roster full of young players has a 27-50-5 season.

The reason the Ducks players aren’t progressing is because that organization threw kids that weren’t ready to compete at the NHL level on the ice all together. They can’t succeed because they’re just trying to survive. They’re not learning anything because they’re more focused on trying to not mistakes or lose the game.

 

[wmupreds]

If the Preds played their all their young prospects, they’d be far worse off that the Ducks. The Ducks young players are highly skilled players that could potentially be star level players, the Preds don’t have any of those. Yet we have people here on the board that would be thrilled at the thought of playing them all on the NHL roster. Of course I’m sure those same people would be whining about the god-awful product the Preds were icing and complaining about how the fans deserve better when that roster full of young players has a 27-50-5 season.

Are you having fun building that strawman

 

[ShagDaddy]

Are you having fun building that strawman

What strawman, the one of why the Ducks young players are not developing or the one that people would whine about the record of a team icing a full roster of young players less talented than the Ducks?

 

[wmupreds]

What strawman, the one of why the Ducks young players are not developing or the one that people would whine about the record of a team icing a full roster of young players less talented than the Ducks?

That people are saying we should ice a team with "all of their young prospects" and not have any vets. Who is complaining about the top line? I see people saying they'd rather see prospects than AHL tweeners. That isn't gonna tank the team to 27-50-5.

Although now that you mention it it's also way, way too early to claim that the Ducks' young players aren't developing.

 

[101st_fan]

What strawman, the one of why the Ducks young players are not developing or the one that people would whine about the record of a team icing a full roster of young players less talented than the Ducks?

It took the Oilers how many seasons to finally advance in the playoffs in spite of so many top three overall picks? There is a correlation to them finally bringing in vets to go with the kids they drafted and them advancing ... E. Kane and Keith both over 30 when they came in and the Oil finally made it past the first round.

The Wings threatened to make the post season for the first time in seven seasons after bringing in P. Kane and Debrincat (Perron added last season).

All kids doesn't work.

 

[Predsanddead24]

Good thing no one is arguing for all kids then.

 

[101st_fan]

Good thing no one is arguing for all kids then.

We just get play the kids no matter what posts rather than play the kids who earn ice time posts.

 

[Armourboy]

If the Preds played their all their young prospects, they’d be far worse off that the Ducks. The Ducks young players are highly skilled players that could potentially be star level players, the Preds don’t have any of those. Yet we have people here on the board that would be thrilled at the thought of playing them all on the NHL roster. Of course I’m sure those same people would be whining about the god-awful product the Preds were icing and complaining about how the fans deserve better when that roster full of young players has a 27-50-5 season.

The reason the Ducks players aren’t progressing is because that organization threw kids that weren’t ready to compete at the NHL level on the ice all together. They can’t succeed because they’re just trying to survive. They’re not learning anything because they’re more focused on trying to not mistakes or lose the game.

You really need to stop creating a narrative that other people aren't saying at all. No one has said we need to strip every Vet out of the roster and bring everyone from Milwaukee up. You are 100% fabricating that in your own mind.

What has been said is that we would rather see young guys given opportunities over playing the Sherwoods, Smiths, McCarrons, Jankowskis and Beauvilliers of the league.

Most of us understand you gotta keep Vets around to mentor the younger guys or you end up with an Ottawa or Buffalo situation. What you do is let your young guys be your depth rather than a bunch of AHL tweeners that are only on the roster because you think the young guys need to burn all of their RFA years in the AHL.

Afanasyev is a perfect example. That's a guy that put up points in the AHL this season and has much of what we we are looking for in the bottom half of the roster. He earned his chance for a look and didn't get it. The one game he got was the Dallas game, and he was one of the few that didn't stink that night but is the one that got the shaft.

Some of the other guys should have been given opportunities with Novak and Evangelista instead of a guy like Jankowski, which we all know is going nowhere long term. If they didn't produce or play well then fine, send them back down. Atleast they get a taste of the league and see where they need to go. Heck who knows, maybe you get lucky and get a guy that beats expectations.

Then you get to a guy like Parsinnen who they need to figure out what they want him to do. They can't keep bouncing him between winger and center, up and down the line up, and from Nashville to Milwaukee and expect the guy to show anything. The GM and Coach need to get their crap together when it comes to him because they have been doing him and the organization a disservice with how he has been handled.

 

[GeauxPreds1]

Young teams with no expectations go on runs like that a lot at the end of seasons. It is usually an outlier that is regressed upon when they start the next full season. Buffalo is notorious for that. And if we hadn't had ROR and Gus having such great seasons, in conjunction with FF, we would have been the same.

We were also missing our 2 best players when we went on that run last year where we only missed by 3 points. As I said add a healthy forsberg and Josi to that team and they make the playoffs easy just like this year. I don’t think this team overachieved it was exactly where they was supposed to be a wild card team and 1st round exit.

 

[PredsV82]

We were also missing our 2 best players when we went on that run last year where we only missed by 3 points. As I said add a healthy forsberg and Josi to that team and they make the playoffs easy just like this year. I don’t think this team overachieved it was exactly where they was supposed to be a wild card team and 1st round exit.

AKA exactly what Trotz claimed he didn't want us to be