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2022-23 Utica Comets and ECHL thread
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UticaHockey
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- Dec 20, 2018
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I am going to type a post here that I can no longer keep to myself. If I was talking to you, it would be a long diatribe. I can't. So instead of diarrhea of the mouth this will be a pen gone wild in the form of a keyboard out of control.
At this point in the season the Comets are clinging to a 2-point lead on 2nd place over the Syracuse Crunch and hold a 6-point lead over Rochester and 7 over Laval. That sounds like a dog eat dog race. It's not. This has been the case for like 3 weeks. The big change has been Syracuse catching and switching spots with Rochester. The difference is that the lead the Comets enjoyed has shrunk and 3 teams are easily within reach. At the same time the 2 slugs of the Division, Cleveland and Belleville, have crept to within 5 points of a playoff spot. There is little less than half of the season left to go so plenty of time to see a lot of positional changes, especially the way things have gone so far. At one point not long ago it looked like just which places Rochester, Syracuse, and Utica would end up occupying between 2 and 4. Now you have to wonder if 1 or more of them will miss the show all together.
The case is which of these teams can lose more often. Laval has been closing the gap, but not by a lot.
The Comets rattled along for most of the season trying to be a .500 team, but were often below that stat. Then they strung together 13 games in which they won 10, lost 2 in OT, and lost 1 outright. That was putting up 22 of 26 possible points and pushed them from 6th to 2nd place in the North Division where their biggest lead was I think 7+ points over Rochester.
I have consistently reported that the Comets are a very low scoring team. I joke at the games that if the opponent scores 3 goals the best the Comets can hope for is OT. You can go back through the season and see that pattern in a majority of their games. When they score more than 3 their success odds increase as it would with most teams. The problem is they don't do it very often and have actually lost games when doing such.
The last 11 games have seen this pattern jump out at us.
6 games scoring 1 goal or less, 4 1-goal games and 2 shutouts. 6 losses.
1 game scoring 2 goals. Lost
3 games scoring 3 goals. 2 losses and 1 OT win.
1 game scoring 5 goals. Won
You would think that would have plunged them back down the standings. Nope! The North is a weak Division and the rest of the Division has as much trouble winning as the Comets. Only Toronto in first continues to coast along. Not exactly setting the world afire but managing to stay 11 points out in front.
So, you might ask what's my problem? The problem is the game the Comets play. There isn't one. They are a team without direction. No acquisition of 37 players at this level of the professional ladder can possibly suffer the same inadequacies that make the game very difficult to play.
- Passing:
The Comets are the worst professional passing team I have ever seen in 6+ decades of playing and watching NCAA, AHL, or better teams play the game. They pass too far ahead, too far behind, way too hard or way too soft (based on the distance they are passing the puck), or impossibly too high and hard to field. When the pass is on target the guys at the other end too often flub it, lose it in their feet. or to an opponent rushing by. Often a perfect pass simply bounces off their rubber sticks and goes 10+ feet off their stick. Other times they lose it as they skate. I mean they simply lose control while skating unmolested.
Becoming available for a pass is an exercise in pure frustration as you watch them. Approaching the offensive zone and getting clear for shots is just bizarre. Let's say they are on a 3 man breakout and the puck carrier is in the middle. They stay as perfectly aligned like soldiers in a drill team. No one slows up no one tries to get ahead or 2 have to stop at the blueline because no pass was made. No one tries to get behind a defender. No one does a thing to make himself an option for a clean pass. The result is 1) the attempted pass has to go through a defender and it rarely doesn't get there as expected. 2) the puck carrier tries to make a move to stick handle through the defenders and runs into one of them turning over the puck or creates an offsides 3) just dumps it in and there ends up a board battle on the end boards 4) he passes it wide to one of his partners and it ends up a battle on the side boards or he just takes it to the corner and is stuffed 5) the original carrier drops it back to a hoped for trailer who has either been caught up to, arrives too late making it offsides, or doesn't even exist. The result is the Comets cannot establish any sort of attack. It's bring the puck in and battle, battle, battle slashing banging slapping at the puck and ping ponging it from mate to defender and back and forth until losing possession or it get sent to another location where a second mob collects to do the same thing. It's like watching little kids chase the puck en masse. The Comets surrender breakaways all the time from this mess when an opponent gets it and just flips it down the ice to be picked up by a hanger outside the blueline waiting for just such an occurrence.
- Stickhandling:
For the Comets that first simply means skating with the puck without losing control. Making a move to beat a defender causes an audible gasp by the fan base because it rarely happens. Unfortunately, when it does. it's usually out of range of creating any kind of scoring chance. They fake themselves out of the puck more than they get past the defender.
- Offensive zone play: The Comets don't spend much time actually creating havoc for the opponent while setting themselves up for multiple scoring chances. Most of their offense is one and done. The shots come from the points, side boards, tops of the circles or high slot. Other than the point shots which are usually wristers as the guy is trying to thread his shot to the net. Nemec is the best at that followed by Russo. Don't ever leave that up to Vukojevic because his passes and shots in the offensive zone are far more often to the stick blades of the opponents than any of his mates or to the goal front. The forward shots from the locations mentioned are more often off the rush than the result of a pass.
Guys battle on the end boards and finally gain control and send a perfect centering pass into the slot or net front and there isn't a Comet there to do anything with it. Those wristers from the points are more passes than scoring attempts for the purpose of redirects, but nobody is there or can't make the hand eye coordination to make the tips possible.
- Shooting at the net: Even the novice fans have been asking how come the Comets shots don't end up on the net? What are they trying to accomplish with all of those shots that go nowhere near the goal? (This 2nd question is more sarcasm on my part, but it's legitimate.) No matter how great the scoring opportunity, the number of shots that never make it between the 4x6 foot target is mind boggling.
I watch Thompson at the end of warmups practicing his one timer from the top of the left circle. Wotherspoon patiently feeds him passes and Tyce one times them with pretty high regularity into the far top corner. Tyce sends some back to Wotherspoon who is more in the high slot and his shots most often go in. Now it's game time and between PPs and Tyce simply setting himself up for the one timer pass he misses the pass, flubs the shot, whiffs, fires it high and wide. Rarely does it even resulting a shot on goal. He has shown night after night that he can do it, but come game time a different Tyce takes the same shot.
Foote is a king of the high and wide and he is joined by Dugan, Halonen, Stevens, Pinho, Walsh, OK, Vukojevic, and to an extent Clarke. I know the goalies are on their knees and the top corners are the target, but there is a time to pick your corner and others just hit the net. When a goalie is out of position, down and out, on the other side of the crease, etc. and you have the puck staring at a yawning space, shooting it high and wide is inexcusable.
Failure to find open space when on the attack is a cardinal sin of hockey. These guys all need to go to confession after every game.
- Breakaways: The Comets are not short on their breakaway opportunities. However, the lack of puck skills leap out at any observer. They obviously lack confidence in their own abilities to manipulate the puck with the result that they rarely make any move and just try to shoot the puck past the keeper, often missing the net or like Halonen last night just try to ram it past him. Brian broke in alone from the penalty box and just went right at the keeper all the way to the net front and attempted to slam the puck, without shooting it, right through his pads. But he held his ground and the attempt was achingly futile. We have seen them lose control and the keeper just smothers the puck. Six hole is another common target, We have also seen a move work with the shot only missing the open side.
Shootouts also reveal this handicap.
11/2/22
Clarke scored on the 3rd shot to prolong the shootout. Schmid, after being scored upon on the first Bruin attempt stopped the Bruins on 9 consecutive efforts. The Comets after Clarke's goal, had 7 attempts to win the game with a goal and another chance to keep it going after the second Bruin goal on their 11th attempt. The Comets failed.
Foote, Senyshyn, Clarke/GOAL, Walsh, Thompson, Dugan, Schmelzer, Laberge, Pinho, Halonen, Russo.
1/6/23
Clarke/GOAL on the first attempt.
Foote misses.
Daws stops all 3 shots.
Comets win.
At this point the Comets have had 13 Shootout attempts and Clarke has score their only 2 goals. 1 in each game.
2/1/23
Daws surrenders a goal on the Crunch's 2nd attempt. Stevens score=s on the Comets 3rd effort to prolong the shootout. Daws stopped 3 in a row with the Comets then having 3 chances to win. They all failed. Crunch score on effort # 7. Comets fail to match.
Daws gave the 3 chances to score and win. They failed and also failed to tie it.
Clarke, Dugan, Stevens/GOAL, Thompson, Walsh, Senyshyn, Schmelzer.
Comets have participated in 3 shootouts and lost 2 of them.
In total they have had 20 shootout attempts and scored 3 goals. 1 in each Shootout. They have lost 2 of them and their goalies gave them multiple chances to win the 2 they lost, but they can't score on breakaways.
- Power Plays:
The Comet PP entails the 5 Comets setting up in the 1-3-1 umbrella. That's if they can win a faceoff to gain control. Most often they lose it and it's down the ice. They use the drop back pass to a rushing puck carrier and have all kinds of trouble entering the zone. The most coomon entry is as hort side pass to a winger who was standing still and steps across the line as the puck carrier is met inside the blueline, The guy on nthe boards either just dumps it or loses it to the 2 defenders who create a board battle. Maybe he gets it to the halfboards and the trap puck battle happens there. In either case ir usually means the puck goes out and the Comets have to reset and bring it back again. If they get in clean and set up they are a stationary tabletop hockey game. They move around the perimeter with passes. They never shrink down the box. They never set up a 2 on 1 down low. Their cross ice passes are usually deflected or picked. Once they lose possession and have to fight to regain it it's just like I mentioned earlier with the puck moving from one battle cluster to another until it's sent down the ice or they get it back to the point and one pass results in a shot. If it's wide, rinse and repeat or worse a SH breakaway or 2 on 1 will occur. The same often happens when the cross ice pass is picked up high. Goals happen most often come off the rush, a shot that finds it's way in from the perimeter, or a rebound when somebody actually gets a shot on net.
- The PK:
The Comets PK just let's every opponent bring the puck into their zone and set up with no resistance. I guess this must be the NJ system, because it was exactly the same last year when the Comets had a superior team to the one they put out there every game this season. The points are open for the entire 2 minutes resulting in passes back to the point when the stuff down low fails and they can start all over again. A point man can also come down into the slot or the dot or farther and be wide open for one time bombs. It is a terrible system. The puck gets cleared when the opponent makes a mistake, shoots wide and it goes out on its own, There is a deflected shot out of play or the keeper holds on for a whistle and if the Comets by some slim chance win a draw they can clear it if the guy doesn't flub his effort which also happens a lot.
Where is the direction to fix much of this crap. How can 3 coaches watch what is point blank obvious to any eye, forget the trained one? This isn't a new set of inconsistencies in the way the game has been played for a century or more. Skate, stick handle, pass, shoot, forecheck, backcheck, play position, play the man not the puck, late in the game when protecting a lead get it out of your end and get it deep into the opponent's end,etc.
When you have obvious difficulties in how you do those things F**KING FIX IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is a coaching malfunction to the nth degree. The talent last season overcame much of these same issues due to system failures. It was enough until the last part of the season when injuries and callups slowed down the wagon and they never got it going again in the playoffs and went out in the first round 3 games to 2. This team doesn't have that offensive power to erase the defensive lapses and system failures. This season can end up even more disappointing than management believes partly due to poor team construction in the 1st place.
The lack of AHL competent centers has become more obvious every night to the point right now it is CRYSTAL CLEAR. It is killing this team.
The absence of actual historically competent goal scorers at this level is also crystal clear. Most prospects score goals because they have somebody on the ice with them that can feed them the puck. Thompson, Foote, and Clarke are actually the only scoring prospects in this lineup and none of the are guys who can put points on the board as the result of nothing but their own efforts. Clarke's success has been largely due to the reappearance of Joe Gambardella who demonstrates night in and night out the kind of effort it takes to be successful in pro hockey. This guy was screwed by genetics. He just doesn't have the wheels necessary to make it to the NHL. He has skills that just don't get him there without the speed. He has been setting up guys ever since he returned from early season injury and his points are equal to his historical numbers. He has been a .57 PPG AHL player. Currently he has 20 points in 35 GP for a .57 PPG. He's been in on a bunch of the points in Clarke's resurgence since he has become the setup man on his line centered either by Schmelzer or Stevens.
What about he centers?
Pinho - He's making $325K to score goals and set up his wings. He scored 8 goals in the Comets first 13 games and hasn't scored a goal since. He had only 3 assists in that same period. Over the next 27 games he had 7 more. His total number of assists in 37 GP is 15. It's not his fault NJ acquired him to play Center as he is better suited at RW at this level, but 8 goals isn't close to worth his salary either.
Schmelzer should be a 3rd/4th line center PKer at this level. He has been forced to perform at a higher He has 4 goals and his 18 assists are second only to Clarke's 19. That's #2 for assists on the team and #1 for centers.
AHL career LW Nolan Stevens playing center all season is 2nd with 15 and has chipped in 12 goals.
Talvitie on the final year of his contract has 7 in 34 GP and has yet to score a goal.
Thompson has played many games at center as well as on the wing and he has amassed a total of 11 to go along with his meager total of 7 goals. However only2 assists when he was playing center.
Hutchison has played a couple in the middle.
New acquisition Filip Engaras played center last night. He was acquired in a trade with Bakersfield, one of the Pacific Division's bottom feeders. He has split time between Bakersfileld and ECHL Ft. Wayne.
We won't say any more about these 2 as they are even inferior in the middle to the crew we have already listed.
That's a total of 57 assists by centers in 45 GP. That's just over 1 assist /game from the centers. That's just pitiful for an AHL hockey team. Considering this stat the 132 goals they have scored without center assistance is actually pretty good, but the total ranks #21 in the AHL.
There are a s**tload of other things I could go into but this has unloaded a bunch of crap I have been holding back on since day 1. It has just gotten worse and now it's started to fester. Had to get it out. Don't read it if you can't read past 2 or 3 lines. LOL
At this point in the season the Comets are clinging to a 2-point lead on 2nd place over the Syracuse Crunch and hold a 6-point lead over Rochester and 7 over Laval. That sounds like a dog eat dog race. It's not. This has been the case for like 3 weeks. The big change has been Syracuse catching and switching spots with Rochester. The difference is that the lead the Comets enjoyed has shrunk and 3 teams are easily within reach. At the same time the 2 slugs of the Division, Cleveland and Belleville, have crept to within 5 points of a playoff spot. There is little less than half of the season left to go so plenty of time to see a lot of positional changes, especially the way things have gone so far. At one point not long ago it looked like just which places Rochester, Syracuse, and Utica would end up occupying between 2 and 4. Now you have to wonder if 1 or more of them will miss the show all together.
The case is which of these teams can lose more often. Laval has been closing the gap, but not by a lot.
The Comets rattled along for most of the season trying to be a .500 team, but were often below that stat. Then they strung together 13 games in which they won 10, lost 2 in OT, and lost 1 outright. That was putting up 22 of 26 possible points and pushed them from 6th to 2nd place in the North Division where their biggest lead was I think 7+ points over Rochester.
I have consistently reported that the Comets are a very low scoring team. I joke at the games that if the opponent scores 3 goals the best the Comets can hope for is OT. You can go back through the season and see that pattern in a majority of their games. When they score more than 3 their success odds increase as it would with most teams. The problem is they don't do it very often and have actually lost games when doing such.
The last 11 games have seen this pattern jump out at us.
6 games scoring 1 goal or less, 4 1-goal games and 2 shutouts. 6 losses.
1 game scoring 2 goals. Lost
3 games scoring 3 goals. 2 losses and 1 OT win.
1 game scoring 5 goals. Won
You would think that would have plunged them back down the standings. Nope! The North is a weak Division and the rest of the Division has as much trouble winning as the Comets. Only Toronto in first continues to coast along. Not exactly setting the world afire but managing to stay 11 points out in front.
So, you might ask what's my problem? The problem is the game the Comets play. There isn't one. They are a team without direction. No acquisition of 37 players at this level of the professional ladder can possibly suffer the same inadequacies that make the game very difficult to play.
- Passing:
The Comets are the worst professional passing team I have ever seen in 6+ decades of playing and watching NCAA, AHL, or better teams play the game. They pass too far ahead, too far behind, way too hard or way too soft (based on the distance they are passing the puck), or impossibly too high and hard to field. When the pass is on target the guys at the other end too often flub it, lose it in their feet. or to an opponent rushing by. Often a perfect pass simply bounces off their rubber sticks and goes 10+ feet off their stick. Other times they lose it as they skate. I mean they simply lose control while skating unmolested.
Becoming available for a pass is an exercise in pure frustration as you watch them. Approaching the offensive zone and getting clear for shots is just bizarre. Let's say they are on a 3 man breakout and the puck carrier is in the middle. They stay as perfectly aligned like soldiers in a drill team. No one slows up no one tries to get ahead or 2 have to stop at the blueline because no pass was made. No one tries to get behind a defender. No one does a thing to make himself an option for a clean pass. The result is 1) the attempted pass has to go through a defender and it rarely doesn't get there as expected. 2) the puck carrier tries to make a move to stick handle through the defenders and runs into one of them turning over the puck or creates an offsides 3) just dumps it in and there ends up a board battle on the end boards 4) he passes it wide to one of his partners and it ends up a battle on the side boards or he just takes it to the corner and is stuffed 5) the original carrier drops it back to a hoped for trailer who has either been caught up to, arrives too late making it offsides, or doesn't even exist. The result is the Comets cannot establish any sort of attack. It's bring the puck in and battle, battle, battle slashing banging slapping at the puck and ping ponging it from mate to defender and back and forth until losing possession or it get sent to another location where a second mob collects to do the same thing. It's like watching little kids chase the puck en masse. The Comets surrender breakaways all the time from this mess when an opponent gets it and just flips it down the ice to be picked up by a hanger outside the blueline waiting for just such an occurrence.
- Stickhandling:
For the Comets that first simply means skating with the puck without losing control. Making a move to beat a defender causes an audible gasp by the fan base because it rarely happens. Unfortunately, when it does. it's usually out of range of creating any kind of scoring chance. They fake themselves out of the puck more than they get past the defender.
- Offensive zone play: The Comets don't spend much time actually creating havoc for the opponent while setting themselves up for multiple scoring chances. Most of their offense is one and done. The shots come from the points, side boards, tops of the circles or high slot. Other than the point shots which are usually wristers as the guy is trying to thread his shot to the net. Nemec is the best at that followed by Russo. Don't ever leave that up to Vukojevic because his passes and shots in the offensive zone are far more often to the stick blades of the opponents than any of his mates or to the goal front. The forward shots from the locations mentioned are more often off the rush than the result of a pass.
Guys battle on the end boards and finally gain control and send a perfect centering pass into the slot or net front and there isn't a Comet there to do anything with it. Those wristers from the points are more passes than scoring attempts for the purpose of redirects, but nobody is there or can't make the hand eye coordination to make the tips possible.
- Shooting at the net: Even the novice fans have been asking how come the Comets shots don't end up on the net? What are they trying to accomplish with all of those shots that go nowhere near the goal? (This 2nd question is more sarcasm on my part, but it's legitimate.) No matter how great the scoring opportunity, the number of shots that never make it between the 4x6 foot target is mind boggling.
I watch Thompson at the end of warmups practicing his one timer from the top of the left circle. Wotherspoon patiently feeds him passes and Tyce one times them with pretty high regularity into the far top corner. Tyce sends some back to Wotherspoon who is more in the high slot and his shots most often go in. Now it's game time and between PPs and Tyce simply setting himself up for the one timer pass he misses the pass, flubs the shot, whiffs, fires it high and wide. Rarely does it even resulting a shot on goal. He has shown night after night that he can do it, but come game time a different Tyce takes the same shot.
Foote is a king of the high and wide and he is joined by Dugan, Halonen, Stevens, Pinho, Walsh, OK, Vukojevic, and to an extent Clarke. I know the goalies are on their knees and the top corners are the target, but there is a time to pick your corner and others just hit the net. When a goalie is out of position, down and out, on the other side of the crease, etc. and you have the puck staring at a yawning space, shooting it high and wide is inexcusable.
Failure to find open space when on the attack is a cardinal sin of hockey. These guys all need to go to confession after every game.
- Breakaways: The Comets are not short on their breakaway opportunities. However, the lack of puck skills leap out at any observer. They obviously lack confidence in their own abilities to manipulate the puck with the result that they rarely make any move and just try to shoot the puck past the keeper, often missing the net or like Halonen last night just try to ram it past him. Brian broke in alone from the penalty box and just went right at the keeper all the way to the net front and attempted to slam the puck, without shooting it, right through his pads. But he held his ground and the attempt was achingly futile. We have seen them lose control and the keeper just smothers the puck. Six hole is another common target, We have also seen a move work with the shot only missing the open side.
Shootouts also reveal this handicap.
11/2/22
Clarke scored on the 3rd shot to prolong the shootout. Schmid, after being scored upon on the first Bruin attempt stopped the Bruins on 9 consecutive efforts. The Comets after Clarke's goal, had 7 attempts to win the game with a goal and another chance to keep it going after the second Bruin goal on their 11th attempt. The Comets failed.
Foote, Senyshyn, Clarke/GOAL, Walsh, Thompson, Dugan, Schmelzer, Laberge, Pinho, Halonen, Russo.
1/6/23
Clarke/GOAL on the first attempt.
Foote misses.
Daws stops all 3 shots.
Comets win.
At this point the Comets have had 13 Shootout attempts and Clarke has score their only 2 goals. 1 in each game.
2/1/23
Daws surrenders a goal on the Crunch's 2nd attempt. Stevens score=s on the Comets 3rd effort to prolong the shootout. Daws stopped 3 in a row with the Comets then having 3 chances to win. They all failed. Crunch score on effort # 7. Comets fail to match.
Daws gave the 3 chances to score and win. They failed and also failed to tie it.
Clarke, Dugan, Stevens/GOAL, Thompson, Walsh, Senyshyn, Schmelzer.
Comets have participated in 3 shootouts and lost 2 of them.
In total they have had 20 shootout attempts and scored 3 goals. 1 in each Shootout. They have lost 2 of them and their goalies gave them multiple chances to win the 2 they lost, but they can't score on breakaways.
- Power Plays:
The Comet PP entails the 5 Comets setting up in the 1-3-1 umbrella. That's if they can win a faceoff to gain control. Most often they lose it and it's down the ice. They use the drop back pass to a rushing puck carrier and have all kinds of trouble entering the zone. The most coomon entry is as hort side pass to a winger who was standing still and steps across the line as the puck carrier is met inside the blueline, The guy on nthe boards either just dumps it or loses it to the 2 defenders who create a board battle. Maybe he gets it to the halfboards and the trap puck battle happens there. In either case ir usually means the puck goes out and the Comets have to reset and bring it back again. If they get in clean and set up they are a stationary tabletop hockey game. They move around the perimeter with passes. They never shrink down the box. They never set up a 2 on 1 down low. Their cross ice passes are usually deflected or picked. Once they lose possession and have to fight to regain it it's just like I mentioned earlier with the puck moving from one battle cluster to another until it's sent down the ice or they get it back to the point and one pass results in a shot. If it's wide, rinse and repeat or worse a SH breakaway or 2 on 1 will occur. The same often happens when the cross ice pass is picked up high. Goals happen most often come off the rush, a shot that finds it's way in from the perimeter, or a rebound when somebody actually gets a shot on net.
- The PK:
The Comets PK just let's every opponent bring the puck into their zone and set up with no resistance. I guess this must be the NJ system, because it was exactly the same last year when the Comets had a superior team to the one they put out there every game this season. The points are open for the entire 2 minutes resulting in passes back to the point when the stuff down low fails and they can start all over again. A point man can also come down into the slot or the dot or farther and be wide open for one time bombs. It is a terrible system. The puck gets cleared when the opponent makes a mistake, shoots wide and it goes out on its own, There is a deflected shot out of play or the keeper holds on for a whistle and if the Comets by some slim chance win a draw they can clear it if the guy doesn't flub his effort which also happens a lot.
Where is the direction to fix much of this crap. How can 3 coaches watch what is point blank obvious to any eye, forget the trained one? This isn't a new set of inconsistencies in the way the game has been played for a century or more. Skate, stick handle, pass, shoot, forecheck, backcheck, play position, play the man not the puck, late in the game when protecting a lead get it out of your end and get it deep into the opponent's end,etc.
When you have obvious difficulties in how you do those things F**KING FIX IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is a coaching malfunction to the nth degree. The talent last season overcame much of these same issues due to system failures. It was enough until the last part of the season when injuries and callups slowed down the wagon and they never got it going again in the playoffs and went out in the first round 3 games to 2. This team doesn't have that offensive power to erase the defensive lapses and system failures. This season can end up even more disappointing than management believes partly due to poor team construction in the 1st place.
The lack of AHL competent centers has become more obvious every night to the point right now it is CRYSTAL CLEAR. It is killing this team.
The absence of actual historically competent goal scorers at this level is also crystal clear. Most prospects score goals because they have somebody on the ice with them that can feed them the puck. Thompson, Foote, and Clarke are actually the only scoring prospects in this lineup and none of the are guys who can put points on the board as the result of nothing but their own efforts. Clarke's success has been largely due to the reappearance of Joe Gambardella who demonstrates night in and night out the kind of effort it takes to be successful in pro hockey. This guy was screwed by genetics. He just doesn't have the wheels necessary to make it to the NHL. He has skills that just don't get him there without the speed. He has been setting up guys ever since he returned from early season injury and his points are equal to his historical numbers. He has been a .57 PPG AHL player. Currently he has 20 points in 35 GP for a .57 PPG. He's been in on a bunch of the points in Clarke's resurgence since he has become the setup man on his line centered either by Schmelzer or Stevens.
What about he centers?
Pinho - He's making $325K to score goals and set up his wings. He scored 8 goals in the Comets first 13 games and hasn't scored a goal since. He had only 3 assists in that same period. Over the next 27 games he had 7 more. His total number of assists in 37 GP is 15. It's not his fault NJ acquired him to play Center as he is better suited at RW at this level, but 8 goals isn't close to worth his salary either.
Schmelzer should be a 3rd/4th line center PKer at this level. He has been forced to perform at a higher He has 4 goals and his 18 assists are second only to Clarke's 19. That's #2 for assists on the team and #1 for centers.
AHL career LW Nolan Stevens playing center all season is 2nd with 15 and has chipped in 12 goals.
Talvitie on the final year of his contract has 7 in 34 GP and has yet to score a goal.
Thompson has played many games at center as well as on the wing and he has amassed a total of 11 to go along with his meager total of 7 goals. However only2 assists when he was playing center.
Hutchison has played a couple in the middle.
New acquisition Filip Engaras played center last night. He was acquired in a trade with Bakersfield, one of the Pacific Division's bottom feeders. He has split time between Bakersfileld and ECHL Ft. Wayne.
We won't say any more about these 2 as they are even inferior in the middle to the crew we have already listed.
That's a total of 57 assists by centers in 45 GP. That's just over 1 assist /game from the centers. That's just pitiful for an AHL hockey team. Considering this stat the 132 goals they have scored without center assistance is actually pretty good, but the total ranks #21 in the AHL.
There are a s**tload of other things I could go into but this has unloaded a bunch of crap I have been holding back on since day 1. It has just gotten worse and now it's started to fester. Had to get it out. Don't read it if you can't read past 2 or 3 lines. LOL
Last edited:
BurntToast
Registered User
- Dec 20, 2018
- 22,875
- 51,336
They don’t have the scoring center or play-driving winger type they need? (An addition of more than one would be even more helpful.)
AKA the problem that was obvious from pre-season? *shrug*
Also, Zach Senyshyn being pretty f***ing useless, in terms of production at least, sucks. I would have thought he would have been a solid tweener at his peak age here but I guess he really busted hard.
Hopefully a lesson learned.
AKA the problem that was obvious from pre-season? *shrug*
Also, Zach Senyshyn being pretty f***ing useless, in terms of production at least, sucks. I would have thought he would have been a solid tweener at his peak age here but I guess he really busted hard.
Hopefully a lesson learned.
PizzaAndPucks
New Jersey Angels diehard
- Nov 29, 2018
- 2,987
- 4,802
It sounds like the Comets are not a great team , yet they have a good shot at making the playoffs. It's been frustrating that regardless where our farm team plays (Albany , Binghamton, Utica) they can never atleast put a team capable of challenging for the Calder Cup. I imagine not having Holtz , Zetterlund , Ohoktyuk , Bahl etc hurts but those guys have NHL potential and are where they need to be right now. I remember John Cooper saying in an interview with The Hockey News saying everywhere he coached it was always about winning but that in the AHL the most important thing was development. I'm glad thos season so far Nemec , Clarke and Schmid are having good years. Guys like Thompson , Daws and Foote need to pick it up. Fitz didn't really get any good AHL free agents and also losing Greer + De Leo is a good loss as well. The team just isn't as good as they were last year , players kind of graduating to the NHL and being lost to free agency will do that to you. I really want Utica to go on a nice rum because that is a great little gocmey market up there that supports their team well. The fans deserve a winner but last year we were good despite the 1st round exit and this season the team is atleast in a playoff spot. The 2 Comets games I caught live this year (in Springfield & Bridgeport) they won both games. They embarssed the Bridgeport Islanders , that was the game Geersten had 2 goals lol. I want the AHL club to win but player development really is the biggest thing and they seem to be decent at it so far.
With some planning and effort they could probably do both win and develop players. It is no secret that NJ has plenty of prospects on the wing but really nothing viable at center right now (sorry Talvitie). NJ could have invested more in that position for the AHL. It wouldn't have blocked any of the important prospects and might have pushed the wingers to more success. Frankly they could also have sent Holtz down for some more games had they wanted to. I'm not sure where the slight disconnect is but if the fans can see the issues the team really should be able to as well.
Louskoolaid89
Let's Go!!!
- Oct 14, 2017
- 3,126
- 3,875
PizzaAndPucks
New Jersey Angels diehard
- Nov 29, 2018
- 2,987
- 4,802
Yeah ibagree that Holtz should of been down there playing more games. If we don't trade our 1st round pick than a center is what really should use the pick on. I always think BPA is the way to go but right now we are stocked on defense. The prospect pool would be very balanced if we went bit forward heavy this draft. The thing is whoever we take is going to be w years away from the AHL so it doesn't really help them that much. Artem Shlaine is only a junior this year so I imagine he will play anther year of college hockey and possibly be signed to a contract. Could be a good add for Utica next year and maybe carve out a NHL role sometime down the line.
The Devils still have 6, that's SIX, contract spots open. They could have easily used, say, 2 of them to provide their forward prospects with some center help. Thompson and Foote on 1 line and Clarke and Gambardella on another would have boosted the scoring on this team up the ladder quite well. Then Schmelzer could have served the 3rd with aplomb, especially with the addition of Johnsson on his wing and then Dineen could have had his choice of players for the opposite wing (Pinho, Halonen, Dugan, Stevens, etc.) If desired Johnsson could have fit onto one of the top 2 lines and Gambardella with one of the above listed in parentheses would have been a strong 3rd line and now you put Stevens (Sorry Aarne, but you just aren't producing anything.) between whomever of the remaining and the 4th line becomes a threat as well.
Amazing what the addition of 2 guys of the DeLeo and Greer quality could have meant to this team. There was a large number of them on the free agent market this past summer like there is every year. All NJ had to do was sign a couple.
They blew the money on Dugan and Pinho, 2 wings and tried to pigeon hole one of them, Pinho, into the team's top center at $325K and that move was a disastrous waste of $$$. His comparison to DeLeo stops with the time it takes to type their names. The Devils only paid DeLeo $300K to lead the Comets in points. The comparison in their production is night and day and that doesn't even mention the leadership chase brought to the team.
On the same note Dugan was the other major (?) off season acquisition for the farm. They gave him $125K compared to Greer's $130K. Again a comparison between the play, production, and leadership quality Greer brought can't even be made.
They could have hired the centers instead of Dugan and Pinho and still harbored their 6 contract spots! There were also better scoring wings available than Hutchison and Senyshyn.
Dragging one's feet and then having little left to select from was the same crap we went through with Vancouver. When you have nothing but dregs the team doesn't find a lot of success especially when your prospect pool is small.
Without spending any more than last season, the Comets could have been much better constructed. Russo and Gambardella were already on the payroll so they were no extra cost.
Wotherspoon was on an AHL contract last season so his $300K this season was new, but it was still cheaper than the total paid out to Gauthier ($175K) and Bryan Flynn ($280K). Thus, all I have suggested would not have been any more money than they spent the previous season and the result would have been much better.
If a guy like me can construct a better roster for less money, I can't for the life of me see how the Devils couldn't have done as well. It was inexcusable.
Actually, I don't think they really care as I don't think they consider any of the prospects down here this season as too good to waste.
Amazing what the addition of 2 guys of the DeLeo and Greer quality could have meant to this team. There was a large number of them on the free agent market this past summer like there is every year. All NJ had to do was sign a couple.
They blew the money on Dugan and Pinho, 2 wings and tried to pigeon hole one of them, Pinho, into the team's top center at $325K and that move was a disastrous waste of $$$. His comparison to DeLeo stops with the time it takes to type their names. The Devils only paid DeLeo $300K to lead the Comets in points. The comparison in their production is night and day and that doesn't even mention the leadership chase brought to the team.
On the same note Dugan was the other major (?) off season acquisition for the farm. They gave him $125K compared to Greer's $130K. Again a comparison between the play, production, and leadership quality Greer brought can't even be made.
They could have hired the centers instead of Dugan and Pinho and still harbored their 6 contract spots! There were also better scoring wings available than Hutchison and Senyshyn.
Dragging one's feet and then having little left to select from was the same crap we went through with Vancouver. When you have nothing but dregs the team doesn't find a lot of success especially when your prospect pool is small.
Without spending any more than last season, the Comets could have been much better constructed. Russo and Gambardella were already on the payroll so they were no extra cost.
Wotherspoon was on an AHL contract last season so his $300K this season was new, but it was still cheaper than the total paid out to Gauthier ($175K) and Bryan Flynn ($280K). Thus, all I have suggested would not have been any more money than they spent the previous season and the result would have been much better.
If a guy like me can construct a better roster for less money, I can't for the life of me see how the Devils couldn't have done as well. It was inexcusable.
Actually, I don't think they really care as I don't think they consider any of the prospects down here this season as too good to waste.
Don't sell Nemec short. If nothing else, they care deeply about his development. My guess is they also care about Daws and Schmid. Foote's star is fading at this point even if the door isn't closed. Clarke is a bit of a surprise but I just don't get why they don't send Holtz down for a few weekends to get in some games.
Sorry I didn't clarify. I meant the forwards.
They certainly care about Nemec, but none of the other D fit into the plans as Devils with Luke coming in and Nemec on the horizon, though not sure he will be ready next season. He would have to be a regualr game day player to make sense having him in NJ. 7th D-man like Bahl has been wouldn't make sense for a 19-yr-old kid.
The keepers take care of themselves. They play well or they don't.
I agree with your premise that giving the better prospects a better cradle is a worthwhile investment. On some level the makeup of the prospect pipleline isn't lost on NJ seeing how they drafted a bunch of right handed defenders last year once they realized Walsh wasn't cutting it as an NHL prospect. if you see the problem with roster construction the team has to as well. Hopefully they do something about it in the offseason. There are no immediate center prospects on the way to NJ so adding some good AHL talent will not block anyone and maybe helps the wingers they still have to develop. I expect Stillman will be there next season even if Gritsyuk isn't. Foote will be back most likely. Clarke most likely. Thompson has a one way deal for next year so we will have to see if he can stick in NJ.
New Jersey Devils Utica Comets Update: Golden Graeme Edition
As the Utica Comets turn its season around, one player who has clearly elevated his game to the next level is Graeme Clarke. This posts highlights Clarke’s rise and updates on all the other happenings in Utica.
www.allaboutthejersey.com
Clam Jensen
Registered User
I’m intrigued to see how he looks in camp next year. I know he has a great shot and is a volume shooter, so that’s never a bad thing.New Jersey Devils Utica Comets Update: Golden Graeme Edition
As the Utica Comets turn its season around, one player who has clearly elevated his game to the next level is Graeme Clarke. This posts highlights Clarke’s rise and updates on all the other happenings in Utica.
2/11/23
utica Comets at Laval Rocket
Forwards:
15 Gambardella/26 Schmelzer/ 11 Johnsson
79 Laberge/ 77 Talvitie/ 24 Halonen
25 Foote/ 12 Thompson/ 92 Clarke
90 Senyshyn/ 16 Engaras/ 10 Dugan
D-pairs:
8 Blujus/ 7 Nemec
82 Okhotyuk/ 5 Russo
23 Wotherspoon/ 22 Walsh
Goal - 50 Daws
Scratches:
Schmid (BU)
Groleau (H)
Rivera (H)
Hutchison (H)
Stevens (I)
Pinho (I)
Geertsen (?)
Vukojevic (H)
utica Comets at Laval Rocket
Forwards:
15 Gambardella/26 Schmelzer/ 11 Johnsson
79 Laberge/ 77 Talvitie/ 24 Halonen
25 Foote/ 12 Thompson/ 92 Clarke
90 Senyshyn/ 16 Engaras/ 10 Dugan
D-pairs:
8 Blujus/ 7 Nemec
82 Okhotyuk/ 5 Russo
23 Wotherspoon/ 22 Walsh
Goal - 50 Daws
Scratches:
Schmid (BU)
Groleau (H)
Rivera (H)
Hutchison (H)
Stevens (I)
Pinho (I)
Geertsen (?)
Vukojevic (H)
Last edited:
Walsh hits the post at 19:08.
Thompson all alone in front off the faceoff and he's stopped.
Foote turnaround shot on net.
Goalie for Laval Cayden Primeau.
Thompson all alone in front off the faceoff and he's stopped.
Foote turnaround shot on net.
Goalie for Laval Cayden Primeau.
Daws a save after a turnover by Dugan at the blueline.
Another stop by Daws and he holds on.
Another stop by Nico.
Senyshyn stopped in front on a good save by Primeau.
Gambardella sent in alone by Johnsson and he forces his way to the crease and..........................
S------------------C------------------- O-----------------R----------------E---------S!!!!!!
1-0 Utica.
Another stop by Daws and he holds on.
Another stop by Nico.
Senyshyn stopped in front on a good save by Primeau.
Gambardella sent in alone by Johnsson and he forces his way to the crease and..........................
S------------------C------------------- O-----------------R----------------E---------S!!!!!!
1-0 Utica.
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Laberge shot deflected out of play by Primeau.
Laval ices the puck.
Big stop by Nico on a 1-timer from the bottom of the circle.
A real good chance by Laval, but the shot is over the net.
Nemec turnover at the Comets blueline and ensuing shot goes out of play.
TV TO
11:00 to go
Laval ices the puck.
Big stop by Nico on a 1-timer from the bottom of the circle.
A real good chance by Laval, but the shot is over the net.
Nemec turnover at the Comets blueline and ensuing shot goes out of play.
TV TO
11:00 to go
Primeau 2 saves on a shot and a rebound.
Ok a point wrister held onto by Primeau.
TV TO
9:16 to go
Ok a point wrister held onto by Primeau.
TV TO
9:16 to go
Laval called for X-checking.
Comets to the PP
Clrke rips a shot at the net and he hits Gambardella several feet off the post.
Gammer to the bench.
No shots in the 1sat minute
SH shot stopped by Daws and the rebound stopped as well. Par for the course for the a Comets PP. :36 seconds to go. Stationary Comets move the puck back and forth on top and a poor 1-timer pass attempt by Nemec ends the PP.
Comets to the PP
Clrke rips a shot at the net and he hits Gambardella several feet off the post.
Gammer to the bench.
No shots in the 1sat minute
SH shot stopped by Daws and the rebound stopped as well. Par for the course for the a Comets PP. :36 seconds to go. Stationary Comets move the puck back and forth on top and a poor 1-timer pass attempt by Nemec ends the PP.
Last edited:
TV TO
5:52 to go
Laval hits the post from the high slot. Daws sits on it.
Long wrister from the point gets through the net front traffic and Daws snatches it and holds on.
Daws a save off a clean shot in the low crease.
Thompson with an open net and shoots it on the ice and Primeau came diving acroos the crease and stopped it. Had Tyce just wired it into the yawning net he would have scored.
OK and Riley McKay go at it. This one is a donnybrook. Both landed some good ones.
Both get 5 for fighting.
5:52 to go
Laval hits the post from the high slot. Daws sits on it.
Long wrister from the point gets through the net front traffic and Daws snatches it and holds on.
Daws a save off a clean shot in the low crease.
Thompson with an open net and shoots it on the ice and Primeau came diving acroos the crease and stopped it. Had Tyce just wired it into the yawning net he would have scored.
OK and Riley McKay go at it. This one is a donnybrook. Both landed some good ones.
Both get 5 for fighting.
2 on 1 and Wotherspoon a great stick stop in the crease.
Save by Daws on wrister from the point.
1st is over.
Comets owned the first half and hela a 12 -2 shot advantage at one point.
Laval owned the 2nd half.
SOG for the period ended up 16-13 Laval.
Both keepers were strong.
Save by Daws on wrister from the point.
1st is over.
Comets owned the first half and hela a 12 -2 shot advantage at one point.
Laval owned the 2nd half.
SOG for the period ended up 16-13 Laval.
Both keepers were strong.
2nd is under way.
Comets to the PK 20 seconds in. Blujus for interference.
Daws a stop and holds on.
Comets clear it.
Big chance in the crease and Daws reaches behind him to keep it out.
Comets clear :40 to go.
Comets clear it again.
Daws a huge save from in front.
PK successful. Or should I say Daws?
Comets to the PK 20 seconds in. Blujus for interference.
Daws a stop and holds on.
Comets clear it.
Big chance in the crease and Daws reaches behind him to keep it out.
Comets clear :40 to go.
Comets clear it again.
Daws a huge save from in front.
PK successful. Or should I say Daws?
- Status
