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GDT: #47 ⋅ FLA @ ANA ⋅ 7:00 PM PST (Game is on Tuesday 01/21)

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HanSolo said:
I don't know why you keep bringing up young defensemen like I'm talking shit specifically about Lacombe and you need to get ahead of it. It's a combination of factors. Sure it doesn't help that Zellweger and Mintyukov are inexperienced and in the latter's case, he seems to be suffering from confidence issues. But we have vets too. Our structure is dogshit. Our players aren't ready to battle for position or they make stupid defending decisions. Our forwards aren't properly trained to help the defense, and the numbers speak for themselves.

(before updating with tonight's numbers:)

They slipped past San Jose for second to last in goals saved above average after San Jose had a couple shit games.

Second to last in shots on goal against per game, again, a hair better than San Jose.

First in medium danger shots on goal against

Second in high danger shots on goal against (only four fewer than San Jose)

Second to last in takeaways from opponents. Somehow Washington is bad at this.

Dead last in faceoff percentage which does matter for defense.

I wasn't expecting this team to be some defensive fortress but considering how much emphasis they claim to be putting on defense, these numbers are unacceptable. And yes, the fact that offense is being suffocated to league worst numbers in the bid to try to improve defensive performance is also unacceptable. It's all unacceptable.
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I broke down our issues with development between forward and defensive youths. Why bring up LaCombe and neglect that I brought up Helleson in the same paragraph? Because you are too busy jumping everywhere so you can CYA b/c you condescendingly ignorant of what I was talking about. Only this time, you're wanting to save face by putting up even more stats and shit than me. Why a hypocrite response.

We're both on the same boat of not liking Cronin. I called out Cronin's inability to know how to win due to several factors last season. I got lots of pushback from it and still do despite being correct about in year 2 of Cronin. Also, it was so boring to watch last season that we meme'd "We are not entertained." in the GDTs, provided we didn't pass out from watching it. Verbeek was happy with last year's production and I said he was crazy, but the majority on the board didn't want to believe Eakins was better than Cronin back then. I am not surprised with the similar production this season, whereas you are coming off emotionally devasted.

We don't have a top-pairing D-man on our roster. We have one top-line forward on the team. The rest are third liners or below. Verbeek traded away two of our top-3 FO specialists at last year's TDL and didn't replace them. I really don't know what you were expecting with all the limiting factors listed along with Cronin's coaching, but it feels like you've set them exceedingly high.

Simply put, the biggest difference between last year and this year is that our goalies have been standing on their heads to help us earn more points and stay in games longer than we should.
 
Hockey Duckie said:
I broke down our issues with development between forward and defensive youths. Why bring up LaCombe and neglect that I brought up Helleson in the same paragraph? Because you are too busy jumping everywhere so you can CYA b/c you condescendingly ignorant of what I was talking about. Only this time, you're wanting to save face by putting up even more stats and shit than me. Why a hypocrite response.

We're both on the same boat of not liking Cronin. I called out Cronin's inability to know how to win due to several factors last season. I got lots of pushback from it and still do despite being correct about in year 2 of Cronin. Also, it was so boring to watch last season that we meme'd "We are not entertained." in the GDTs, provided we didn't pass out from watching it. Verbeek was happy with last year's production and I said he was crazy, but the majority on the board didn't want to believe Eakins was better than Cronin back then. I am not surprised with the similar production this season, whereas you are coming off emotionally devasted.

We don't have a top-pairing D-man on our roster. We have one top-line forward on the team. The rest are third liners or below. Verbeek traded away two of our top-3 FO specialists at last year's TDL and didn't replace them. I really don't know what you were expecting with all the limiting factors listed along with Cronin's coaching, but it feels like you've set them exceedingly high.

Simply put, the biggest difference between last year and this year is that our goalies have been standing on their heads to help us earn more points and stay in games longer than we should.
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No I was genuinely trying to understand your point because you twice led off with complimenting/affirming Lacombe and his progression which you've done in at least four responses to my complaints about Cronin the past few days. I think everyone is in agreement that Lacombe is on the right track and every time I discuss the team's failures in developing the kids I always qualify it by saying that Lacombe is an exception.

Your point in the last post, at least as I understand it, is that our defense group is young and inexperienced so of course there's going to be defensive woes. In this response, you're claiming that the roster is still under par and being built and that I'm placing expectations too high. I don't think I am.

We've been told repeatedly that the organizations primary and overriding focus in both youth development and changing the culture and approach of this team as a whole is better defense and defense first. We've been told that Greg can't and won't change the offensive systems because doing so would compromise the defensive systems he's been building up. With this roster do I expect this team to be one of the defensive stalwarts of this league that opposing offenses universally loathe to play against? Not really. But do I expect better than damn near league worst defense? Yeah and I think it's fair to. That was the point of my reposting the defensive metrics as they stand.

I didn't post them to one up you. I posted them two days ago to make the exact same point. Our offense is league worst because of this emphasis and impetus on defense first play. With that being such a heavy focus, we should be doing better than just barely better than the last place team in the league (San Jose), especially given that this commitment to defense first has resulted in neglect and inability to change the offense which is, again, dead last league wide. San Jose may have the worst defensive metrics in the league, barely worse than us, but their offense isn't suffering as badly as ours.

I don't buy that roster inexperience and suboptimal players is enough to account for how poorly our defense is performing. The league is littered with examples of depth players and middle 6ers who are adequately or more than adequately prepared to play proper defensive systems and to win defensive puck battles. Hell, the Habs team that made the cup finals in a year that they wouldn't have even made the playoffs with where they finished in the standings (got in through the play in) is a good example. They really didn't have the talent to go as far as they did. They went on that run playing an effective neutral zone trap and a hybrid collapse/1 man heavy puck press defensive system that suffocated other teams' offense enough that Price standing on his head the few times teams managed to penetrate and create good chances, it helped them win enough games to advance to the finals. That wasn't a good team and it wasn't a good lineup. It's a team that got coached and bought into a defense first approach that actually performed defensively because that's what they were prepared to do by their coaches.

Again, am I expecting this team to shut down and suffocate offense perfectly night after night? No. But with so much emphasis on defensive play, I expect to be better than the bottom of the league with San Jose when it comes to these defensive metrics. Cronin's systems and coaching are a failure in all respects. Not just offensive output.
 
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Between the horrible play of the team and the horrible layout of this forum's software update, this is quite possibly the longest stretch of time in the past 10+ years, in which I have cared so few about the club and couldn't really bother posting on here as well.
 
Mintyukov has a lot of potential still. He needs to be sent down for a reset though for his own good
 
I long for the day where I'm not constantly upset after Ducks games. Barely mustering up the energy to post in game threads these days cause it's just so depressing.
 
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