Around the League - 2023/24

[NOTENOUGHRYJOTHINGS]

I get why it happened - he was a free player with a good playoff reputation.

However, looking at the makeup of this team I think it's obvious there was a disconnect between CMac and Bednar. Johansen's playing style doesn't mesh with Bednar's preferred playing style.

Bednar prefers passable NHL level players on his second line.

 

[Mr Zappalanche]

Did you guys know that Nemec means Nazi in Russian?

No, it does not It means german. Or am I missing a joke or something?

 

[myperbixhurts]

No, it does not It means german. Or am I missing a joke or something?

No I just screwed up my Russian. Nazist means nazi

 

[UncleRisto]

No, it does not It means german. Or am I missing a joke or something?

Potato, potato.

 

[Pokecheque]

I'd say that is an early declaration. He's playing better now, but players go on hot streaks all the time. Along with that though, Drouin needs to produce. He's not a defensive guy, not a physical guy, not a PK guy. His role is going to be offense, and that hasn't been there yet. Even in this stretch he's played well in, he has just 2 points in his last 7 games where both of those came in one game. In his last 13 games, he has 5 points while only scoring in 3 games. If you include the prior two games where he scored points... he has 7 in 15 with points in 5 games. That's a ~38 point pace coming over ~33% of the games. That's not nearly a consistent enough of an impact for me to consider it a success. Maybe unfair a bit to put so much on production, but that's what he's brought here to do.

We give RyJo (deservedly mind you) a lot of shit for his 5v5 production... but he's got 5 points (4G 1A) and Drouin has just 6 points (2G 4A). That's kinda a wash.

Is that really on Bednar though? Thing is, those players have not only proven themselves to be unreliable scorers, they've also been a travesty on the defensive side of the ice, especially Johansen. It's bad enough that, well, frankly ALL of the lines have proven to be erratic AF defensively but they're on another level.

Bednar has tweaked his system in the past, the trio of Nieto-Soderberg-Comeau was way more dump-and-chase and not a puck possession type of line that Bednar prefers. He also at least TRIED something radically different with that crazy lineup the other night with O'Connor on the top unit.

I'm disappointed though that he went with the Rantanen-back-at-center experiment for maybe five shifts before abruptly shifting back to status quo.

 

[redacted]

Is that really on Bednar though? Thing is, those players have not only proven themselves to be unreliable scorers, they've also been a travesty on the defensive side of the ice, especially Johansen. It's bad enough that, well, frankly ALL of the lines have proven to be erratic AF defensively but they're on another level.

Bednar has tweaked his system in the past, the trio of Nieto-Soderberg-Comeau was way more dump-and-chase and not a puck possession type of line that Bednar prefers. He also at least TRIED something radically different with that crazy lineup the other night with O'Connor on the top unit.

I'm disappointed though that he went with the Rantanen-back-at-center experiment for maybe five shifts before abruptly shifting back to status quo.

I'd argue it is... the coach's job is to put the players in the best position to succeed and be at their best in the playoffs. We have guys who should be on our 2nd line on the 4th or being scratched. Instead of finding the tweaks that will work and allowing the team to play through the bumps of that (which would include more losses). Bednar is over playing the top guys and the 3rd line significantly, running the risk of wearing them out and increasing their chances of injury... just so they win games now.

I think that is an outlook that isn't seeing the forest through the trees. Yeah this team and especially the 2nd line is flawed, but if you can find a tweak that works sometime between Nov and Feb, you can better establish your needs or at least minimize some. That way the front office can have a better target for the stretch run. It probably wouldn't work, but at least you'd have better data to evaluate the team as constructed.

 

[Pokecheque]

I get why it happened - he was a free player with a good playoff reputation.

However, looking at the makeup of this team I think it's obvious there was a disconnect between CMac and Bednar. Johansen's playing style doesn't mesh with Bednar's preferred playing style.

I think it gets more telling by the day that Barry Trotz and the Preds chose to eat $8 million in dead cap over the next two years (BTW the dead cap hit for Nashville next year is gonna be over $12 million... ) and took literally NOTHING in return to flip him to a division rival.

I agree, I understand why the Avs took a chance, but it ain't panning out and it's highly unlikely he pans out later. That said, I have no earthly idea how they fix it.

 

[Chiarelli]

Is that really on Bednar though? Thing is, those players have not only proven themselves to be unreliable scorers, they've also been a travesty on the defensive side of the ice, especially Johansen. It's bad enough that, well, frankly ALL of the lines have proven to be erratic AF defensively but they're on another level.

Bednar has tweaked his system in the past, the trio of Nieto-Soderberg-Comeau was way more dump-and-chase and not a puck possession type of line that Bednar prefers. He also at least TRIED something radically different with that crazy lineup the other night with O'Connor on the top unit.

I'm disappointed though that he went with the Rantanen-back-at-center experiment for maybe five shifts before abruptly shifting back to status quo.

Rants isn't the solution at 2C either we've tried this before

 

[Pokecheque]

Rants isn't the solution at 2C either we've tried this before

I understand that but then why did he even bother starting the game that way?

 

[Chiarelli]

I understand that but then why did he even bother starting the game that way?

masochistic tendencies

 

[Pokecheque]

masochistic tendencies

Here's my pet theory: Bednar told Rantanen he was starting the game at center to try and get him going but if he played harder and created chances he'd move him back to Nate's wing, which he did in pretty short order. It was never meant to be a game-long thing.

 

[Balthazar]

I think it gets more telling by the day that Barry Trotz and the Preds chose to eat $8 million in dead cap over the next two years (BTW the dead cap hit for Nashville next year is gonna be over $12 million... ) and took literally NOTHING in return to flip him to a division rival.

I didn't agree when they signed ROR to change their culture but I fully understand why they were ready to pay big bucks just to have RyJo and Duchene out of their locker room.

 

[Pokecheque]

I didn't agree when they signed ROR to change their culture but I fully understand why they were ready to pay big bucks just to have RyJo and Duchene out of their locker room.

Much as I still like Duchene, even then I thought it was a really bad move by Poile to hand over that much money for a guy who wasn't really a center anymore (and in some ways never really WAS a center even when he was with Colorado).

 

[Balthazar]

Speaking of culture, Torts is showing once again that the old school "nobody is more important than the team" culture is still working with today's athletes.

Hockey is a team sport and everyone in the team is important.

 

[Pokecheque]

Speaking of culture, Torts is showing once again that the old school "nobody is more important than the team" culture is still working with today's athletes.

Hockey is a team sport and everyone in the team is important.

Let's be honest though--is any other team taking a different approach? Columbus is doing the same "cultural shift," in fact Vincent was quoted saying something similar, and that hasn't quite panned out.

Torts rightfully deserves mad props for the job he's done. But the biggest reasons IMO the Flyers are looking like a different team is the return of Couturier (and to a lesser extent, Atkinson) from injury, they bought out DeAngelo so now they only have to shelter one shitty defenseman instead of two, and they're actually getting competent goaltending this season.

As someone else pointed out on Twitter, it's pretty funny that the Flyers paid Arizona a hefty price to take Shayne Gostisbehere off their hands, they used the cap savings on Tony DeAngelo, and then bought him out the following season (fun fact, TDA is the first player in NHL history to be bought out more than once).

 

[Balthazar]

Let's be honest though--is any other team taking a different approach?

Avalanche, Oilers, Leafs to name a few. Do you think Bednar is a team first coach? He coaches his team like it's the NBA.

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

 

[The Abusement Park]

I didn't realize Dobson was basically PPG this year. Damn.

 

[Balthazar]

Vlasic healthy scratch 8 of the last 11 games. He's 36, completely washed, and has 2 more seasons after this one at 7M per.

Wish GM's would learn their lesson but Doug Wilson knew that Vlasic would be someone else's problem when he offered that terrible contract.

 

[sethro109]

Should've been 4 games longer.

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

 

[sethro109]

Makes sense. Throwing punches to the back of a guy's head who's already turtling can't be happening. But at the same time it's also bullshit. This never happens if the refs would have done their job properly. That crew should at the very least get some of their playoff opportunities taken away.

 

[Avs_19]

Perron deserved even more. He got off easy.

One too many for Gudbranson. He wouldn't need to take matters into his own hands if NHL officiating and the DoPS were competent, which they are not.

 

[Balthazar]

First time that Perron gets suspended and he has 1081 NHL game played.

 

[dahrougem2]

Perron has a noted concussion history. The fact that he attacked a guy's head with a cross check is insane.

Should have been minimum 10.