I actually agree with that. Frederic reminds me of Nick Ritchie at this point. A big guy, capable of physicality, but that seems to greatly prefer standing around waiting for the puck to come to him. It's just strange given how different his attitude was when he first came into the league. I understand he was trying to impress and keep a spot with the big club, but did potting some goals really change his view of himself that much? 99% of the time he looks not engaged and/or confused. It's very frustrating. Granted, Fred has given me that same "not sure how he has gotten all those points" vibe that Jimmy Hayes did in his first year here for many years now. Statistically, he's been an overachiever, and it's all but killed off the root of what got him here.
Maybe he's not the best example to criticize Montgomery, but there are plenty of others. As I was saying in the GDT, he's a coach who has been quoted as saying "I favor quality over quantity" in terms of shots. That philosophy seemed to be fully on display during the PP's against Philly last night. An all-out obsession with setting some guy up for an open net and forcing passes that are 100% not there, but that players WANT to be there. It's one thing to struggle to gain entry into the zone or to just be snakebitten on the PP. But it shouldn't be that difficult to change the guys to a shoot mindset when they're turning the pucker over incessantly despite extended zone time. Unfortunately, he's already expressed that's not what he believes so I have doubts he's doing anything of that sort.
