After the first road trip, more or less exactly where we expected them to be
3-2-2, last wild card in the west
23rd ranked PP, 26th ranked PK
5th overall in shot attempt percentages, 3rd overall in xGF%, 8th in scoring chances for %
27th in all situations goaltending
20th in all situations shooting %
And aside from Anaheim, lose to all teams above 16th, beat all teams below 16th--continuation of last years
Observations:
-Generally solid at 5v5--but stats don't capture catastrophic breakdowns. This team is the Muzzin-Martinez pairing of teams--98% of the time they're solid systematically but the breakdowns are huge and don't get sorted out. They're also not getting bailed out by goalies.
-TERRIBLE special teams;
-Goaltending is awful--but like above, getting no help. The
volume of chances trends the Kings' way, but the support for chances against is nonexistent;
-shooting skill is awful. Big guns need to get going. Kempe, Fiala in particular have been trash; Byfield hasn't been right since the injury (getting kind of sick of saying that though); Kopitar is old.
-Some players haven't even started the season yet. If anyone sees Trevor Moore doing anything but getting blown up and Phil Danault doing anything but tie his skates let me know.
-Bless the d-men, they're all slotted wrong by at least one position. But will ANYONE step up? Not one above-the-head performance from the bunch.
-The 'tough to play against' 'uncomfortable' stuff was bullshit. It's like Jeannot neutered himself after the Zub hit; the tough guys are trying to play hockey and sucking at everything instead of just hockey.
-Play Akil. There's no shortage of guys who could use a night off to watch, especially with all the travel and strange start times.
-Glad to see Turcotte-Laf-Foegele having some success. Not just for Turcotte's sake, but those guys are all basically prototypical 3rd liners and watching them cruise night after night through hard has been an early pleasure and should be a good example for others (ie they aren't just FIala having some success dangling two guys).
in summary--I don't hate Hiller. he's trying to make chicken soup out of chicken shit. The play vs. results is just a team that's not good enough to break thru on either end--they're not going to win with a "B" game with the lack of scoring talent and lack of net talent on the D side. They can generate and suppress chances at a top tier rate, but they can't pop one in or keep one out. That's a talent/construction issue, not a coaching issue.
edit: lol goalies pls
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