Around the League Thread | November Rain

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MarkusNaslund19

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Dec 28, 2005
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Nobody is claiming that his skating isn’t crap right now. It’s hardly some sort of revelation that those numbers are bad. But those numbers don’t really tell us anything about WHY. Maybe he’s cripplingly hurt? Or maybe the sort of mental funk he’s in right now just means he isn’t competing and maxing himself out right now the way he normally does.

If we had proper data from the first half of the 21-22 season to compare, then we could actually make some judgements about why his skating is bad. But we don’t, that I have seen.
You think a mental funk leads to a guy who can shoot it 97 in games suddenly having a singular high of like 82 mph in a season?

You think him moving from like 90th to below 50th percentile in various skating metrics is because he just doesn't care?

None of that makes any objective sense.

If he was hitting some of the same highs but doing so far less frequently, that would be one thing.

But his metrics are like going from being Sebastian Aho to Anders Lee. It can't JUST be mental.

Now, his mental response to his physical infirmity is clearly making things exponentially worse. But to argue he's not hurt and just doesn't care is just strange to me.
 

Brookbank

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Nov 15, 2022
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I thought the Preds' offseason was a pretty good gamble. Not looking like it so far.
They were in the top 10 in a lot of pre season predictions. Ahead of the Canucks, but that's not a surprise. It just isn't trendy to ever be bullish on the Canucks.

Stamkos is 34. Which shouldn't be fall off territory. But I guess he's worse than everyone assumed.

These flashy signings are what shook loose Sherwood.
 

VanJack

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I thought the Preds' offseason was a pretty good gamble. Not looking like it so far.
So far, the Preds (4-7-1) and the Oilers (6-6-1} are proof of what can happen when you overhaul your roster too far, too fast. Neither squad looks anything like the teams they were a year ago.

I think as the season grinds onward, eventually both teams could right the ship and be in the playoff hunt. But in the Preds case, I'm no so sure.

That's why I'm cutting the Canucks some slack right now. Given all the changes they were forced to make in the off-season, it's going to take more time.
 

MarkusNaslund19

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Why? Because you say so?
Because, again, if he just 'didn't care' he may well have far less peaks in shot speed and skating speed. But he wouldn't suddenly lose 15 miles an hour on his shot across the board, and go from fast to mediocre in speed ALL OF THE TIME. I can't make it more clear than this.
 
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andora

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Because, again, if he just 'didn't care' he may well have far less peaks in shot speed and skating speed. But he wouldn't suddenly lose 15 miles an hour on his shot across the board, and go from fast to mediocre in speed ALL OF THE TIME. I can't make it more clear than this.
You can lose all those things and have it be strictly mental
 

tantalum

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You can but consistently all the time? You would think if it was strictly mental he'd have flashes of speed or moments of his old self.
I'd agree. In one of the recent games there was a turnover and EP was trying to back check. The effort was clearly there but the power wasn't. And I don't believe it was late in a shift.

I know he says there is nothing wrong etc etc. It's what athletes always say when an injury is such that you can still play. I do know from having the same issue that it is sometimes fine and like a bolt of lightning it comes back and then it goes away again. But taking a stride and having it all of sudden fire is very hard to work through. If it's in a flare up it is just hard to skate well.

I also suspect "we have a work around" is really only applicable to off ice training/recovery where they will control the loading and types of movements he does in order to not aggravate the area. On the ice there isn't a work around. There will always be tremendous strain put on that tendon. For normies like us you would concentrate on building up your muscles around the knee...well elite hockey players already have that area very well supported that I imagine this can be a frustrating thing to get healed properly. And really there is no timeline for it. Some get better with no/limited activity for a few weeks others it would take months and months. And still being recovered and pain free might not actually last. Again from experience...wasn't an issue for me for the last few months. Until one shift halfway through a game on Sunday night. It's back.
 
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SeawaterOnIce

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Sooooo....Pettersson, Marcus. Averaging 23 min a night.

This is the guy to target.
 

StreetHawk

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So far, the Preds (4-7-1) and the Oilers (6-6-1} are proof of what can happen when you overhaul your roster too far, too fast. Neither squad looks anything like the teams they were a year ago.

I think as the season grinds onward, eventually both teams could right the ship and be in the playoff hunt. But in the Preds case, I'm no so sure.

That's why I'm cutting the Canucks some slack right now. Given all the changes they were forced to make in the off-season, it's going to take more time.
When you sign your top guys to longer term deals, it means that you will be constantly turning over the bottom of the roster. Just the reality of the sport.

It's a challenge to constantly hit in free agency.
 
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