weren't we, 12 months ago or something, saying exactly the opposite, that the team played better with mac in? he's the same player, if not better. mac, in limited minutes, didn't cost a goal, had a takeaway on the PK and a few blocked shots
can we maybe blame some other common thread, like the gutless vets (doughty -3 with some atrocious giveaways btw), instead of the low hanging fruit? i guess its all "what have you done for me lately" around here
had every opportunity to make it 2-2 game, couldn't get it done. ain't gonna win shit if you can't bury the occasional grade A
Yes, the bigger problem is obviously the offense and the other 4-5 things I talked about across several posts.
Holy... he's getting blamed and scapegoated even when he's not on the ice for a goal against?
Where did I blame/scapegoat him? It's literally just a factual observation, is it not? Are we not allowed to talk about Kurtis Macdermid
at all? What is with the fanaticism for this guy?
Okay, if I'm going to take heat for just making a simple note--f*** it. Might as well earn it. MacDermid only being 'capable' of handling 11 minutes means Drew plays almost 30 and the d-pairings are absolutely f***ed all game with four righties and one lefty. That's a factor in the breakouts, which is a factor in the offense, which is a factor in the stupid puckhandling all over the ice.
Like I said, at some point, you have to stop making excuses for what happens throughout the lineup when MacD is in. It's like JMFJ's minuses at this point, the guy could be in the locker room changing and he'll get a dash somehow.
This lineup as a whole isn't good enough to absorb Kurtis Macdermid even when it's playing well; when it's a shitshow like it has been in large part vs. SJS especially over the last little stretch, it's only emphasized.
Yes, we have much
bigger problems right now, like an absent offense, the on-ice death of Jeff Carter, a continued inability to figure out the worst regular starter in the league, line chemistry. That doesn't mean Kurtis isn't one of them especially when the end result speaks for itself. I like the guy, I'm rooting for him, I was one who said the team plays bigger with him in the lineup, and as a whole, for HIS part, he was good last night--but that ripple effect throughout the lineup didn't help us last night. With Clague available, it was bad roster management, 11 minutes isn't enough. I'm not myopic enough to pin last night solely on Macdermid, but you guys are kidding yourselves to pretend he's not a factor, either. Simply 'existing' isn't good enough otherwise we'd be praising the everliving shit out of Trevor Moore for his CF% and scoring chance numbers last night but we're not--why? Because the expectation isnt' merely "be an NHLer capable of hanging for minimal minutes."
There's a handful of posters here who seem to either feel that 1. Macdermid is beyond reproach or 2. that those of us critical of him can't also be upset with many other things about this team. 1 would be stupid, 2 would be insulting to those of us who can walk and chew gum at the same time. It's not like we believe MacD is a problem to the exclusivity of any other team issue. I literally just mentioned him in passing and three of you who I have regular positive interactions with just went apeshit with snark. Chill.