Post-Game Talk (GBU): We picked up the win

[TheMistyStranger]

Judging by highlights alone:

Reinhart was beastly.
Eichel was playing like a power forward on the rush.
Dahlin has magnificent poise with the puck. AND HE'S ONLY 18.

If those three guys are your best three players game in and game out, that goes a long way to being a contender.

 

[GrierIsGod123]

Sure he’s high effort but that doesn’t mean he isn’t slowing things down dramatically.

He's completely cooked. I truly feel they wanted to see if Jack could make him look better. Something tells me that this situation will be dealt with in the off-season, somehow, someway. Maybe I'm just being hopeful.

He's basically a bad 4th liner at this point. I'd rather see a 4th line with a guy like CJ Smith, Erod or someone else with some semblance of foot speed.

 

[Willgamesh]

He's completely cooked. I truly feel they wanted to see if Jack could make him look better. Something tells me that this situation will be dealt with in the off-season, somehow, someway. Maybe I'm just being hopeful.

He's basically a bad 4th liner at this point. I'd rather see a 4th line with a guy like CJ Smith, Erod or someone else with some semblance of foot speed.

Jersey dye please. want out of the cap hit.

 

[OkimLom]

I would try it, but what would the other 3 lines look like?

Skinner-Eichel-Girgensons
Smith-Reinhart-Mittelstadt
Sheary-Larsson-Thompson
Sobotka-Erod-Okposo/Pominville

 

[thewookie1]

Skinner-Eichel-Girgensons
Smith-Reinhart-Mittelstadt
Sheary-Larsson-Thompson
Sobotka-Erod-Okposo/Pominville

Reinhart will never play at center again in our lifetimes barring catastrophic injuries.

But do not despair as he can still run a line from RW

 

[1972]

Okposo has got to go, does a buyout cripple us? Is he tradeable?

 

[old kummelweck]

Skinner-Eichel-Girgensons
Smith-Reinhart-Mittelstadt
Sheary-Larsson-Thompson
Sobotka-Erod-Okposo/Pominville

I still think the two pairings I outlined make a lot of sense: Reinhart-Smith and Skinner-Mittelstadt and I wouldn't break those up. Keeping Eichel and Skinner apart makes a lot of sense given the lack of offensive depth on this team, they just need to find someone for Eichel. Maybe that's Nylander - maybe they need to bite the bullet and just pick up a rental and make a run for a playoff birth.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

More serious GBU:

G:
Reinhart
Eichel
Mittelstadt

B
Does anyone notice that at times when in the dzone, we can outnumber an opponent who's got the puck near, or pinned against the boards, and the 2nd sabre (usually a winger) will leave to 'be in his position'? This has to be coaching, and drives me nuts. I really wish I had the tape to display what I mean, but it seems like a lot of the time when we're playing defense, guys don't engage for the puck, they try to play this weird zone defense, and end up giving up wide open shots. This has infuriated me throughout Housley's tenure.

More Housley. His reason for playing Sobotka in OT? Defensive zone left-size drop. Stupid reason, as Sobotka has only ever cost us, or nearly cost us in OT. He doesn't leave the D zone without a goalie cover.

The compete throughout the night was embarrassing for a team off 3 days of rest. The 3rd min goal was the highlight of poor awareness and battle. Min wanted that goal. We wanted to play zone, 'cover our spot', nevermind giving up point-blank chances.

Okposo was killing any momentum on line 1. Mercifully, Housley saw this and blew that **** up.


U

The Pick. I was irate, and yelling. Still can't believe it was real. We almost lost the game there. WTF Refs?

Re: the bolded......

there are lots of resources out there - You Tube, etc. - on defensive systems and approaches. But my hockey bibles are:
Coaching Hockey Successfully - Dennis "Red" Gendron
The Hockey Play Book- Teaching Hockey Systems - Michael A Smith

The D zone is most frequently divided into zones of overlapping coverage where players have responsibilities - based on their situational awareness (hockey sense) of where they need to be on the ice in their own zone. Most teams play a variation of the Box +1 configuration that has particular responsibilities assigned to each player within their zone of coverage. Proper responses to tactical situations (like a 2 on 1) always take precedence as does the "closest man to the puck attacks the puck carrier" rule. But rarely, does anyone play a man for man coverage at the professional level. (You do see that now a lot on the 3 on 3 tho.)

A strong side winger is really only supposed to come lower into the zone (below the hashmarks along the boards) if the center isn't engaged. His job usually is to be halfway between the point and the face off circle hashmarks (strong side) either to cover the point or be ready to breakout. So for me, the Sabre winger leaving the play early is likely the result of being yelled at so much to "cover your point". OR, is an overeager anticipatory reaction to the Sabre D recovering the puck so they can transition to offense in the defensive zone.

Players should be able to seamlessly interchange position and easily assume their line mates responsibilities if they are well oiled and familiar and comfortable with one another.

And responsible for and to one another.

I don't think we are there yet with this latter benchmark.

Just my 2 cents. Sorry if I'm relating stuff that's already known and understood.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

Skinner-Eichel-Girgensons
Smith-Reinhart-Mittelstadt
Sheary-Larsson-Thompson
Sobotka-Erod-Okposo/Pominville

I like these lines. I don't care if Sam or Casey plays C on that line.

 

[Buffaloed]

While I like Reinhart with Mitts I hate Okposo with Rodrigues and particular Smith. Smith’s game is all about high energy, balls to the wall 40 second shifts where he creates as much havoc as possible by getting the puck to dangerous areas. Okposo just drags things down in the mud.

Rodrigues doesn't score on the PP without Okposo screening the goalie.

 

[Kyndig]

Ice time and why Housley has to go.

Sobotka 17:40 including some 3 on 3 time.

Smith 9:44

Pilut 11:37..apparently hes the only one ever held accountable nor allowed to make any mistakes and I don't think he even had a bad game...Bogosian was worse. Team gets scored on 7 times against Chicago and he wasn't on the ice for any of them, so obviously nobody gets scratched. Last time they scratched him the team lost to the Oilers 7-2. Housley has killed any creativity Pilut might've had because now hes just playing scared.

 

[Tsyolin]

Ice time and why Housley has to go.

Sobotka 17:40 including some 3 on 3 time.

Smith 9:44

Pilut 11:37..apparently hes the only one ever held accountable nor allowed to make any mistakes and I don't think he even had a bad game...Bogosian was worse. Team gets scored on 7 times against Chicago and he wasn't on the ice for any of them, so obviously nobody gets scratched. Last time they scratched him the team lost to the Oilers 7-2. Housley has killed any creativity Pilut might've had because now hes just playing scared.

I'm not a big Housley fan either but did you really expect Smith to get big ice time in his 1st game back in the lineup? That's something almost any coach would do, not just Housley.

Also Pilut has had his fair share of bad games, this game wasn't very good for him either. Let's not just ignore facts to make a point, there's plenty of other reasons to hate on Housley.

 

[Kyndig]

I'm not a big Housley fan either but did you really expect Smith to get big ice time in his 1st game back in the lineup? That's something almost any coach would do, not just Housley.

Also Pilut has had his fair share of bad games, this game wasn't very good for him either. Let's not just ignore facts to make a point, there's plenty of other reasons to hate on Housley.

Didn't say he hasn't had bad games but hes the only one ever held accountable for them.

I expect your best players to play the most minutes. If Smith is showing to be a better player then he should get more minutes..simple really. The guy has more points than Elie has all season already and more goals than Sobotka has scored in the last 36 games.

 

[Mit Yarrum]

Reinhart wow

 

[OkimLom]

I like these lines. I don't care if Sam or Casey plays C on that line.

Reason why I have Reinhart at center is because it engages Reinhart more (something you don't see when he is at wing), and allows Mittelstadt to develop to the speed of the game without the pressure of playing the center position. Less Responsibility might open him up for more creativity. Not saying you need to keep him there for his career, but just a soft quick reset for Casey playing in the NHL.

 

[OkimLom]

I'm not a big Housley fan either but did you really expect Smith to get big ice time in his 1st game back in the lineup? That's something almost any coach would do, not just Housley.

Also Pilut has had his fair share of bad games, this game wasn't very good for him either. Let's not just ignore facts to make a point, there's plenty of other reasons to hate on Housley.

Don't need to see him playing big minutes, but the guy scored a goal playing exactly they way you want him to. Reward him for that.

 

[GellMann]

First off I havent mentioned anything about Skinner and the shootout so I'm not sure why you keep bringing it up. I didnt have an issue with the shooters last night.

As far as overtime goes ..sure Skinner has issues with passing the puck... but he does have other attributes besides scoring "garbage goals"... He is a puck hound who relentlessly pressures the puck and creates turnovers... seems ideal for OT. He is also a great forechecker..which also seems ideal. I can name deficiencies in any player that Housley puts out there in place of Skinner.

So 3 of those wins of the 9 are directly attributed to Skinner himself. I think if we dig a little deeper into that 9 and 5 record we will see that some of those 9 are wins are from the shootout.

Again I ask... name another coach that doesnt play his leading goal scorer in OT?

It just defies all logic and is even worse when you consider the players he plays over Skinner.

No, I counted specifically OT wins, and ignored the shootout ones. I just included the shootout in my Skinner analysis because it's popular for people to complain about Skinner not shooting there either, but he has demonstrated to be more of a liability after sixty minutes than a help. I don't remember the numbers exactly and can't find them for the life of me, but I want to say he's -11 in terms of goals scored/against while out there in 3v3 since it began a couple seasons back. And two of the three wins Skinner had, again, were in situations where the other team was going to have zero scoring chances, on our 4v3 power play. I'm all for putting him out there when we have a PP in OT. But historically, he's just bad at 3v3 hockey for reasons that can be traced to what he does on the ice, and we are incredibly successful in OT without him there.

I'm sure I can find a coach who has a good player who is bad in OT and doesn't get used, but that would require enormous amounts of time that I don't have.

Now, this shouldn't be construed as any sort of defense of using, say, Sobotka in OT. But I have zero issue with the sitting Skinner aspect. And Skinner usually does get in, even though he didn't last night. He's just not one of the first two shifts usually.

 

[sabremike]

I'm not a big Housley fan either but did you really expect Smith to get big ice time in his 1st game back in the lineup? That's something almost any coach would do, not just Housley.

Also Pilut has had his fair share of bad games, this game wasn't very good for him either. Let's not just ignore facts to make a point, there's plenty of other reasons to hate on Housley.

I mean is it asking for too much to give him more minutes than Suckbotka?

 

[Mit Yarrum]

Reason why I have Reinhart at center is because it engages Reinhart more (something you don't see when he is at wing), and allows Mittelstadt to develop to the speed of the game without the pressure of playing the center position. Less Responsibility might open him up for more creativity. Not saying you need to keep him there for his career, but just a soft quick reset for Casey playing in the NHL.

Reinhart is the most engaged player on the ice right now IMO. I don't know where you get that part from. Dude is all over the place, paying the price. I've been so damn impressed with him this season. I wouldn't change a thing.

 

[pigpen65]

Pilut was a gas can.

 

[couture23]

That officiating in OT was bush league.

 

[dasaybz]

If Casey/Reino can get some kind of chemistry, it would be a really nice combo to have along with Jack/Skinner

 

[Der Jaeger]

Dahlin was ridiculous. Once he starts pulling off some of the moves he's trying, and converting shots, it's going to get ugly for other teams real quick.

 

[debaser66]

Sam Reinhart is twice the hockey player he was last November when he was playing centre, I think it’s time again. Not one player in this organization has developed close to the amount he has in the last 2 seasons. We may very well have a perennial PPG player on our hands.

One of Botts missed opportunities to not have the cap space because of taking on too much cap in trades like useless Hunwick.
Could have locked up a steal there before he broke out like many predicted.
That gonna cost us 2 to 3 mil in cap space down the road not to mention he could go to arbitration on his next deal so no leverage..

 

[debaser66]

I'm not a big Housley fan either but did you really expect Smith to get big ice time in his 1st game back in the lineup? That's something almost any coach would do, not just Housley.

Also Pilut has had his fair share of bad games, this game wasn't very good for him either. Let's not just ignore facts to make a point, there's plenty of other reasons to hate on Housley.

Smith should have never been sent down in the first place.
But thats just for teams without entitlement who want to actually win.