Pre-Game Talk: Wings @ Nucks (J. Markstrom taking Leave of Absence)

[MBH]

Right, but the question isn't "would this be a good line", it's "contextually speaking, could these lines be more beneficial and/or illuminating than making no changes"

Either way, I'm not advocating for Erne or Hirose. I haven't seen a moment of play from them that makes me think they are sustainable NHLers. They've been so poor at puck possession that I've wanted them out of the lineup all along. But I do think switching their roles could at least be the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning for one or both of them. Either way, AA is in a solo effort, counter punching role.

If Blashill hadn't earned some big credibility, I'd be crying about how it's obvious that Smith should take Erne's spot, and Svech Hiroses for the next 5 games.

I don't know what the f*** Blashill has earned.

 

[guinness]

But wasn't it Yzerman that traded for Erne? Ask him why he thought highly enough to trade for him...

Looking it up, he did trade for him, a 4th rounder in next year's draft. I haven't been that impressed in the couple games I've seen Hirose in, but a small sample size probably isn't the best. Why Helm or Abdelkader too, but they're paid to do something (I guess).

 

[TheMule93]

I think someone made a point about it, probably TZE, in a previous GDT. The difference between a week’s pay in Detroit and in GR is massive. He’s missed what, two games in GR? Keeping him around to soak up as much NHL pay as possible before sending him down isn’t horrible.

Maybe someone is on thin ice and nearing replacement in the lineup, maybe not. In the meantime, Geno himself said it means a lot to him to be up with the NHL and he still can take a lot out of his time here.

That was the theory on the winged wheel podcast, but that was before they scratched him for two games in a row. That was when GR wasn't playing for like a week so he wasn't missing any games down there.

I don't buy it anymore. I have no clue what they are doing with Svech.

 

[Hen Kolland]

That was the theory on the winged wheel podcast, but that was before they scratched him for two games in a row. That was when GR wasn't playing for like a week so he wasn't missing any games down there.

I don't buy it anymore. I have no clue what they are doing with Svech.

He missed two games. It’s not the end of the world.

 

[TheMule93]

He missed two games. It’s not the end of the world.

Nobody said it was, I just have no clue what their plans are for him.

 

[Winger98]

But wasn't it Yzerman that traded for Erne? Ask him why he thought highly enough to trade for him...

Looking it up, he did trade for him, a 4th rounder in next year's draft. I haven't been that impressed in the couple games I've seen Hirose in, but a small sample size probably isn't the best. Why Helm or Abdelkader too, but they're paid to do something (I guess).

with Helm and Gator, at least their line is doing something. It might not be in line with their salaries, but it's an effective line for its role. The middle6 is just a mess, though. It seems Blashill is trying to use Flip-Nielsen as another defensive matchup pair that handles a lot of stuff in their own end. Athanasiou/Hirose makes sense as the only other guys available who can reasonably be expected to provide any offense. But they're not working.

At some point, someone will just have to be benched. Outside of injuries, I figure, Flip/Nielsen/Athanasiou/Glendening are safe. Not sure the lines can be successfully re-worked enough with the guys available, though. Maybe something like:

Athanasiou-Flip-Erne
Ehn-Nielsen-Glendening

That Nielsen line becomes just a straight up defensive line without any real hope of providing offense.

 

[Gniwder]

But wasn't it Yzerman that traded for Erne? Ask him why he thought highly enough to trade for him...

Looking it up, he did trade for him, a 4th rounder in next year's draft. I haven't been that impressed in the couple games I've seen Hirose in, but a small sample size probably isn't the best. Why Helm or Abdelkader too, but they're paid to do something (I guess).

The 4th line (Helm-DLR-Abby) has been the most effective line outside of the first line. They're ridiculously overpaid, but I can't complain about their play. Might be because they set the expectation really low, but at least Helm and DLR have scored goals.

 

[Ghost of Ethan Hunt]

Maybe AA LGD & Hirose shouldn't be a line?

 

[MBH]

Maybe AA LGD & Hirose shouldn't be a line?
View attachment 264667

Look at their stats together last year.
Same thing.
The only thing was AA scored some crazy goals to mask it.

 

[vladdy16]

I don't know what the **** Blashill has earned.

How has he not had a great start to the season?

I thought he totally botched the preseason and in camp competition, and all of his 'guys' have looked poised, determined and beyond fringe level players(65,22,51,81,41 have had tremendous starts, and 43,8,61 have been better than expected), and he was in the right in emphasizing scheme and practice time over fitness and game rhythm to start the year. The coach deserves a lot of credit for where our record stands due to that imo.

Beyond that, he is showing new in game flexability. He's managed Cholowskis ice time and match ups beautifully, and is letting him come back from bad shifts, and lead the charge in general. Cholowski is a player that has earned special consideration imo, and in the past I would never expect the team to see that, but here we are with the coach essentially juggling 5 defensemen on Cholowski's account. He's pulled the plug on Hirose a couple times, and he's played Mantha down a line a couple times in an effort to not go out quietly.

He is mixing it up and going aggressively for the win at the end of games. Challenges, timeouts and goalie pulls have been on point.

And even further, the structure of our gameplan has made our opponents look amateurish and unprepared at times. The trap is working well, and it's not just a drag, it's opening up seams and a way forward for our offense. The offense has been efficient but creative, with strong builds against the goalie.

Blashill is Indiana Jones against the boulder in this job, but he's looking a lot more coordinated and collected out of the gate than I expected.

 

[vladdy16]

Nobody said it was, I just have no clue what their plans are for him.

I would bet that he's nursing some rehab pains, and they are trying to insulate him from the media and fans while giving him a stress free week of ice baths.

If he can clear this last hurdle, something special is on the horizon from Svech I think.

 

[vladdy16]

with Helm and Gator, at least their line is doing something. It might not be in line with their salaries, but it's an effective line for its role. The middle6 is just a mess, though. It seems Blashill is trying to use Flip-Nielsen as another defensive matchup pair that handles a lot of stuff in their own end. Athanasiou/Hirose makes sense as the only other guys available who can reasonably be expected to provide any offense. But they're not working.

At some point, someone will just have to be benched. Outside of injuries, I figure, Flip/Nielsen/Athanasiou/Glendening are safe. Not sure the lines can be successfully re-worked enough with the guys available, though. Maybe something like:

Athanasiou-Flip-Erne
Ehn-Nielsen-Glendening

That Nielsen line becomes just a straight up defensive line without any real hope of providing offense.

I don't want to hang my hat on Nielson, but I think the games him and Fil played together went really well for us in general.

Now that AA has his legs, maybe go an extra click forward from what you were saying, and let AA pick up and transition all the loose pucks that the 51/81 trap have been spitting out? AA is deathly afraid of working the D in the ozone. Playing with 51 and 81 getting beat out and then outmuscled in every spot in the ozone might help him get familiar with working the D into the cycle.

Glendening has been awesome so far imo. Having him on the misfit checking line isn't out of character, but he's being assertive and dynamic enough that I'd like to see him keep his ice-time, and get a few games to audition some new linemates, to see if he can forge a line identity around his forecheck possession skills.

Plus there's always the idea that Mantha has developed into a player that can drive his own line. It hasn't looked good when Blashill has tried it, but they weren't serious attempts yet.

Hopefully we don't stand too still here. The ANA loss was an ok loss, but the MTL win was pretty lackluster and that carried over to the TML game. I know we don't have many options, but I hope the plan is to try and somehow sustain some success here until we can start peppering in some more creative additions down the road. If Svechnikov and Smith can step up over the next few weeks, everyone below them having 8 games to play with. we might be able to pretend we aren't lacking depth on D and the W to a near catastrophic extent.

 

[Marky9er]

I'm just excited to see Pettersson. Maybe someday this team can draft a player like that.

I just hope Pettersson can start producing like Mantha is in my pool. So, there.

 

[NickH8]

I don't want to hang my hat on Nielson, but I think the games him and Fil played together went really well for us in general.

Now that AA has his legs, maybe go an extra click forward from what you were saying, and let AA pick up and transition all the loose pucks that the 51/81 trap have been spitting out? AA is deathly afraid of working the D in the ozone. Playing with 51 and 81 getting beat out and then outmuscled in every spot in the ozone might help him get familiar with working the D into the cycle.

Glendening has been awesome so far imo. Having him on the misfit checking line isn't out of character, but he's being assertive and dynamic enough that I'd like to see him keep his ice-time, and get a few games to audition some new linemates, to see if he can forge a line identity around his forecheck possession skills.

Plus there's always the idea that Mantha has developed into a player that can drive his own line. It hasn't looked good when Blashill has tried it, but they weren't serious attempts yet.

Hopefully we don't stand too still here. The ANA loss was an ok loss, but the MTL win was pretty lackluster and that carried over to the TML game. I know we don't have many options, but I hope the plan is to try and somehow sustain some success here until we can start peppering in some more creative additions down the road. If Svechnikov and Smith can step up over the next few weeks, everyone below them having 8 games to play with. we might be able to pretend we aren't lacking depth on D and the W to a near catastrophic extent.

I think Fil would add a lot more than Hirose does to the AA/Glendening line. He can pass better than Hirose and is way better all around.

 

[TatarTangle]

Over-Under for Quinn Hughes comments in the GDT is locked at 20, place your bets.

 

[Konnan511]

1st line and 4th line are doing great. Put the rest of the players in a blender and see what comes out. I'd prefer not to have AA as center, though, let him wheel and deal.

 

[MBH]

How has he not had a great start to the season?

I thought he totally botched the preseason and in camp competition, and all of his 'guys' have looked poised, determined and beyond fringe level players(65,22,51,81,41 have had tremendous starts, and 43,8,61 have been better than expected), and he was in the right in emphasizing scheme and practice time over fitness and game rhythm to start the year. The coach deserves a lot of credit for where our record stands due to that imo.

Beyond that, he is showing new in game flexability. He's managed Cholowskis ice time and match ups beautifully, and is letting him come back from bad shifts, and lead the charge in general. Cholowski is a player that has earned special consideration imo, and in the past I would never expect the team to see that, but here we are with the coach essentially juggling 5 defensemen on Cholowski's account. He's pulled the plug on Hirose a couple times, and he's played Mantha down a line a couple times in an effort to not go out quietly.

He is mixing it up and going aggressively for the win at the end of games. Challenges, timeouts and goalie pulls have been on point.

And even further, the structure of our gameplan has made our opponents look amateurish and unprepared at times. The trap is working well, and it's not just a drag, it's opening up seams and a way forward for our offense. The offense has been efficient but creative, with strong builds against the goalie.

Blashill is Indiana Jones against the boulder in this job, but he's looking a lot more coordinated and collected out of the gate than I expected.

Wow.
You say he's earned credibility based on 5 games?
I'll say his first four years have more weight than five years. But you can have your five games.

I think that unless Blashill gets his shit straight, there's a real good chance this team finishes worse than last year.

 

[Oddbob]

Why did they even call up Svech if he isn't going to dress? Wouldn't it be better for him to be playing games in the AHL rather than keeping the press box warm?

Edit - Ok, didn't see that he is getting sent down. Still should have suited up at least once.

 

[vladdy16]

Wow.
You say he's earned credibility based on 5 games?
I'll say his first four years have more weight than five years. But you can have your five games.

I think that unless Blashill gets his **** straight, there's a real good chance this team finishes worse than last year.

This is a nothing post. If Blashill does an excellent job, there's still a good chance the teams performance falls off a cliff due to lack of depth and injuries.

 

[ridilon]

This is a nothing post.

To be fair this can be said of the vast majority of posts on this forum. Present post included.

 

[vladdy16]

To be fair this can be said of the vast majority of posts on this forum. Present post included.

Astonishing

 

[MBH]

This is a nothing post. If Blashill does an excellent job, there's still a good chance the teams performance falls off a cliff due to lack of depth and injuries.

The guy who says a 3-2 record after 5 games is "built credibility" after three straight losing seasons is lecturing others about "nothing posts?" OK.

Love the way you've built your argument...
If the team sucks. Not his fault.
No-lose arguments are the only way to make arguments for losers like Blashill.

 

[vladdy16]

The guy who says a 3-2 record after 5 games is "built credibility" after three straight losing seasons is lecturing others about "nothing posts?" OK.

Love the way you've built your argument...
If the team sucks. Not his fault.
No-lose arguments are the only way to make arguments for losers like Blashill.

Another nothing post. My post about Blashill had opinions, asides, digressions, contextual precedents and actual talk about hockey. You offered a response to none of it, and instead are framing a strawman.

Variables are an important aspect of hypothesis and argumentation. If your argument can't account for the variables of depth and injury, it's a shallow, self aggrandizing exercise imo.

Your use of strawmen and generalizations, and your insistence on cherry picking and misrepresenting the tone and intention of my posts leads to absolutely nothing.

You should try framing your own opinions, and constructing your own paragraphs, rather than relying on a style of rebuttal that constantly introduces strawmen and generalizations into the conversation, imo.

 

[ManwithNoIdentity]

Glad Nielsen is okay, his last play where he got injured looked brutal

 

[Henkka]

It's also insane that Blash keeps rolling the AA-Hirose line

It's probably not insane.

It's just sane of giving like 5 games for Athanasiou to get in game shape, and if nothing is still happening, then make a change. Athanasiou is the line driver and his impact is the biggest. Until we see AA in a good game shape, we don't know how good the line would be. You have to experiment it first.

Everything doesn't have be something extreme or fundamental.