Player Discussion Brady Tkachuk (LW) - Part XI

[umma gumma]

We don't have another 6 years to wait. That's the problem.

Detroit waited, they got a few cups out of it.

Then the players should back check. Save percentage is a team stats, not a goalie stat

How does a backcheck prevent a stoppable slapshot?

 

[PlayOn]

That's not what I see. I see a team where half the skaters aren't backchecking, the defense is horribly inconsistent, and there's barely any puck support in the defensive zone at all. All that takes a toll on any netminder.

We have maybe 3-4 guys on this team that work hard every night to play a complete game. And that's not good enough.

This was basically true vs Edmonton/Vegas/Vancouver, but for the most part this team is light years ahead defensively of where they were a year ago.

They got better under Jacques and they’ve gotten better again under Green. Goaltending has been below average and our scoring has been a bigger issue than our defensive play.

Still a work in progress but this team is more committed defensively than we have seen in ages.

 

[Knave]

You literally made a post saying everything has changed except the captain and we keep losing. What is that but blaming Brady for the failure of the team?

Stand by your beliefs, don't back pedal. If you're going to have Brady as your little whipping boy and are constantly waiting for him to make a mistake so you can blame him and say why the team needs to move him then at least stand by it, don't backtrack.

It is pointing out that after massive changes 3 years in a row that may be this core is not good enough.

Guys like Brady Tkachuk and Josh Norris are in this no man's land of not being good enough offensively for us to out-talent teams like Toronto does and neither of them play a hard enough two way game to out compete teams like Florida or Carolina do.

Knowing this maybe it's time to trade one or both.

 

[umma gumma]

Who here is saying this is ultimately all Brady Tkachuk's fault? You are arguing a strawman because you can't actually argue reality that leadership might play a role. That the captain being a culprit of the subpar defensive play of our forwards more nights than not might play a role.

You literally listed off a bunch of things that changed with this team and specifically pointed out the only constant is Brady.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

It is pointing out that after massive changes 3 years in a row that may be this core is not good enough.

Guys like Brady Tkachuk and Josh Norris are in this no man's land of not being good enough offensively for us to out-talent teams like Toronto does and neither of them play a hard enough two way game to out compete teams like Florida or Carolina do.

Knowing this maybe it's time to trade one or both.

And the problem is, we wouldn't get much of a return for Norris. Not with that shoulder history. Maybe if the reconstructive surgery was done a year earlier, and he had a full healthy season under his belt...but trading him this season is a guaranteed loss. Going to be another tough job for Staios.

 

[Relapsing]

Guys, Brady is basically Jesus 2.0, so any criticism of him just isn't warranted. I slept on it, and let me tell you, I have seen the light, and heard the good word of the gospel of "never shall thou voice a valid criticism"

Misses an assignment? Forest for the trees mate. What about those goals that he scores!

Takes a bad penalty? Look at how many hits he has!

Gives up on a play leading to a chance or goal against? Are you even a fan? You're just looking for a whipping boy.

Cheats the zone for offense only to leave his line a man down in the zone and we fail a breakout? You're the worst kind of "fan" and don't understand hockey at all.

Not satisfied with his growth as a player? Guys, it takes like, a decade to figure out how to play south of the puck. It's like, really hard and stuff.

See you in the other player threads. I've got some hyperbole hay to sow, and boy howdy, those fields have laid fallow too long.

 

[Micklebot]

Are we also going to ignore that nearly every goalie plays worse after being traded here and then magically improves once they're gone, and that maybe the problem isn't exclusively between the pipes?

Forsberg currently has a .901 sv%, which is pretty much league average. He's was a journeyman before coming here, and has really only had the one bad season coming off a double ACL injury to end the previous year.

We really should be our backup goalies as the control, not just assuming that because our starter struggled, it's the team in front of him at fault.

Backup(s)	Year	GP	Sv%	League avg
Nilsson	2018-19	24	0.914	0.91​
Nilsson	2019-20	20	0.908	0.91​
Forsberg	2020-21	8	0.909	0.908​
Gustavsson	2020-21	9	0.933	0.908​
Hogberg	2020-21	14	0.876	0.908​
Forsberg	2021-22	46	0.917	0.907​
Forsberg	2022-23	28	0.902	0.904​
Forsberg	2023-24	30	0.89	0.903​
Forsberg	2024-25	9	0.901	0.901​

Basically, the only year our backup(s) was way off the mark was last year, and Forsberg was coming off a double ACL injury.

Ottawa has certainly been porous defensively in the last few years, but to let bad goaltending off the hook when the journeymen backups did fine suggests that maybe these guys were just legitimately playing poorly, the eye test (all those soft goals we moaned about every GDT) seem to confirm that.

Then, going beyond that, you can look at the marked improvement in our underlying defensive metrics,

Team	CA/60	SA/60	xGA/60	SCA/60	HDCA/60
Green	54.28​	26.1​	2.18​	26.1​	9.13​
DJ (2021-24)	58.56​	30.52​	2.64​	28.89​	11.34​

The difference is stark, and is backed up by the eye test. we are not allowing the chances we did under DJ, yes there are still breakdowns, but this team has drastically improved the defensive game in front of the netminders.

The reality is the skaters are doing their part, Ullmark needs to do better.

 

[Tuna99]

Forsberg currently has a .901 sv%, which is pretty much league average. He's was a journeyman before coming here, and has really only had the one bad season coming off a double ACL injury to end the previous year.

We really should be our backup goalies as the control, not just assuming that because our starter struggled, it's the team in front of him at fault.

Backup(s)	Year	GP	Sv%	League avg
Nilsson	2018-19	24	0.914	0.91​
Nilsson	2019-20	20	0.908	0.91​
Forsberg	2020-21	8	0.909	0.908​
Gustavsson	2020-21	9	0.933	0.908​
Hogberg	2020-21	14	0.876	0.908​
Forsberg	2021-22	46	0.917	0.907​
Forsberg	2022-23	28	0.902	0.904​
Forsberg	2023-24	30	0.89	0.903​
Forsberg	2024-25	9	0.901	0.901​

Basically, the only year our backup(s) was way off the mark was last year, and Forsberg was coming off a double ACL injury.

Ottawa has certainly been porous defensively in the last few years, but to let bad goaltending off the hook when the journeymen backups did fine suggests that maybe these guys were just legitimately playing poorly, the eye test (all those soft goals we moaned about every GDT) seem to confirm that.

Then, going beyond that, you can look at the marked improvement in our underlying defensive metrics,

Team	CA/60	SA/60	xGA/60	SCA/60	HDCA/60
Green	54.28​	26.1​	2.18​	26.1​	9.13​
DJ (2021-24)	58.56​	30.52​	2.64​	28.89​	11.34​

The difference is stark, and is backed up by the eye test. we are not allowing the chances we did under DJ, yes there are still breakdowns, but this team has drastically improved the defensive game in front of the netminders.

The reality is the skaters are doing their part, Ullmark needs to do better.

This is true, Ullmark has been bad.

but I still think it’s TBD of the team is doing their part every game. We saw them stick with it for about 15 games and they got away from it, they’ve no showed a few times this season already - you like to see them stick with it versus Calgary but I don’t think they are fully stress tested yet.

 

[umma gumma]

Guys, Brady is basically Jesus 2.0, so any criticism of him just isn't warranted. I slept on it, and let me tell you, I have seen the light, and heard the good word of the gospel of "never shall thou voice a valid criticism"

Misses an assignment? Forest for the trees mate. What about those goals that he scores!

Takes a bad penalty? Look at how many hits he has!

Gives up on a play leading to a chance or goal against? Are you even a fan? You're just looking for a whipping boy.

Cheats the zone for offense only to leave his line a man down in the zone and we fail a breakout? You're the worst kind of "fan" and don't understand hockey at all.

Not satisfied with his growth as a player? Guys, it takes like, a decade to figure out how to play south of the puck. It's like, really hard and stuff.

See you in the other player threads. I've got some hyperbole hay to sow, and boy howdy, those fields have laid fallow too long.

Good. Take your toys and go home.

 

[Relapsing]

Good. Take your toys and go home.

Dude, lighten the f*** up

 

[Micklebot]

This is true, Ullmark has been bad.

but I still think it’s TBD of the team is doing their part every game. We saw them stick with it for about 15 games and they got away from it, they’ve no showed a few times this season already - you like to see them stick with it versus Calgary but I don’t think they are fully stress tested yet.

We're at 21 games now, I don't think we ever had a stretch that good under DJ.

Even if you want to cherry pick the games where they "got away from it" it's still way better than under DJ

Team	CA/60	SA/60	xGA/60	SCA/60	HDCA/60
Green last 6	52.34​	27.19​	2.21​	26.28​	8.38​

No team plays perfect defence every game, all game. Feels like other teams get graded on a curve.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

Forsberg currently has a .901 sv%, which is pretty much league average. He's was a journeyman before coming here, and has really only had the one bad season coming off a double ACL injury to end the previous year.

We really should be our backup goalies as the control, not just assuming that because our starter struggled, it's the team in front of him at fault.

Backup(s)	Year	GP	Sv%	League avg
Nilsson	2018-19	24	0.914	0.91​
Nilsson	2019-20	20	0.908	0.91​
Forsberg	2020-21	8	0.909	0.908​
Gustavsson	2020-21	9	0.933	0.908​
Hogberg	2020-21	14	0.876	0.908​
Forsberg	2021-22	46	0.917	0.907​
Forsberg	2022-23	28	0.902	0.904​
Forsberg	2023-24	30	0.89	0.903​
Forsberg	2024-25	9	0.901	0.901​

Basically, the only year our backup(s) was way off the mark was last year, and Forsberg was coming off a double ACL injury.

Ottawa has certainly been porous defensively in the last few years, but to let bad goaltending off the hook when the journeymen backups did fine suggests that maybe these guys were just legitimately playing poorly, the eye test (all those soft goals we moaned about every GDT) seem to confirm that.

Then, going beyond that, you can look at the marked improvement in our underlying defensive metrics,

Team	CA/60	SA/60	xGA/60	SCA/60	HDCA/60
Green	54.28​	26.1​	2.18​	26.1​	9.13​
DJ (2021-24)	58.56​	30.52​	2.64​	28.89​	11.34​

The difference is stark, and is backed up by the eye test. we are not allowing the chances we did under DJ, yes there are still breakdowns, but this team has drastically improved the defensive game in front of the netminders.

The reality is the skaters are doing their part, Ullmark needs to do better.

Yes, Ullmark does need to do better...but it's not all on him, either.

 

[Relapsing]

We're at 21 games now, I don't think we ever had a stretch that good under DJ.

Even if you want to cherry pick the games where they "got away from it" it's still way better than under DJ

Team	CA/60	SA/60	xGA/60	SCA/60	HDCA/60
Green last 6	52.34​	27.19​	2.21​	26.28​	8.38​

No team plays perfect defence every game, all game. Feels like other teams get graded on a curve.

Most people just don't watch other games if their team isn't playing, and they seemingly forget hockey has an ebb and a flow within a game.

The key ingredient this team continues to miss is consistency. Yep, 100% playing better under Green, but still big highs and lows in their play from game to game, or to wit, a run of outstanding play, backed by a run of doing basically the opposite.

Just even out the highs and lows, both in play, and emotional response.

 

[umma gumma]

Dude, lighten the f*** up

Back at ya.

 

[DueDiligence]

Again, I point to this being the thread specifically made to discuss Brady Tkachuck. Did Giroux or Norris change their names and no one told me?

Maybe go back to the game thread and compare the number of rants you had about Brady with your comments about other players screwing up. Objectively there were far worse defensive transgressions by players who "play better defense" than BT and they also make mistakes with regularity but you seem to take them in stride. In the last couple of minutes Giroux and Sanderson had huge mistakes but you completely ignore them. Why is that???

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

Guys, Brady is basically Jesus 2.0, so any criticism of him just isn't warranted. I slept on it, and let me tell you, I have seen the light, and heard the good word of the gospel of "never shall thou voice a valid criticism"

Misses an assignment? Forest for the trees mate. What about those goals that he scores!

Takes a bad penalty? Look at how many hits he has!

Gives up on a play leading to a chance or goal against? Are you even a fan? You're just looking for a whipping boy.

Cheats the zone for offense only to leave his line a man down in the zone and we fail a breakout? You're the worst kind of "fan" and don't understand hockey at all.

Not satisfied with his growth as a player? Guys, it takes like, a decade to figure out how to play south of the puck. It's like, really hard and stuff.

See you in the other player threads. I've got some hyperbole hay to sow, and boy howdy, those fields have laid fallow too long.

You know...it's funny. I was exactly like that when it came to Erik Karlsson. Dude was the Bobby Orr of this generation and no way in hell I'd let anyone say a bad word about him. Even after games where his defense play was...lacking, nope. Look past it, make excuses, look at those stats....dude may get PPG, dude may get 100 points. I still wish we had never traded the guy (even after Hoffman and Melynk issues).

So....I get it. Brady is a fun and exciting guy to watch. Great personality.

As long as we're all Sens fans and we all have our faves. I guess it's best if we all don't take this stuff personally.

 

[Wondercarrot]

Yes, Ullmark does need to do better...but it's not all on him, either.

Just mostly.

 

[DueDiligence]

Forsberg currently has a .901 sv%, which is pretty much league average. He's was a journeyman before coming here, and has really only had the one bad season coming off a double ACL injury to end the previous year.

We really should be our backup goalies as the control, not just assuming that because our starter struggled, it's the team in front of him at fault.

Backup(s)	Year	GP	Sv%	League avg
Nilsson	2018-19	24	0.914	0.91​
Nilsson	2019-20	20	0.908	0.91​
Forsberg	2020-21	8	0.909	0.908​
Gustavsson	2020-21	9	0.933	0.908​
Hogberg	2020-21	14	0.876	0.908​
Forsberg	2021-22	46	0.917	0.907​
Forsberg	2022-23	28	0.902	0.904​
Forsberg	2023-24	30	0.89	0.903​
Forsberg	2024-25	9	0.901	0.901​

Basically, the only year our backup(s) was way off the mark was last year, and Forsberg was coming off a double ACL injury.

Ottawa has certainly been porous defensively in the last few years, but to let bad goaltending off the hook when the journeymen backups did fine suggests that maybe these guys were just legitimately playing poorly, the eye test (all those soft goals we moaned about every GDT) seem to confirm that.

Then, going beyond that, you can look at the marked improvement in our underlying defensive metrics,

Team	CA/60	SA/60	xGA/60	SCA/60	HDCA/60
Green	54.28​	26.1​	2.18​	26.1​	9.13​
DJ (2021-24)	58.56​	30.52​	2.64​	28.89​	11.34​

The difference is stark, and is backed up by the eye test. we are not allowing the chances we did under DJ, yes there are still breakdowns, but this team has drastically improved the defensive game in front of the netminders.

The reality is the skaters are doing their part, Ullmark needs to do better.

Great contribution. Basically if Ullmark can get his act together this team can make the playoffs.

 

[jbeck5]

And yet you're silent when he plays great for the rest of the game and scores the game winner. Crickets.

Honestly the worst kind of Sens fan. Again, embarassing behavior.

I also watched him live tonight from the 100s. Guy was involved defensively all game. But crickets. The people need their whipping boy. What a joke.

One good game does not cancel out all the times he gives up defensively.

Someone posted a video the other game where he was in the same area as the eventual goal scorer, but coasted back the whole way, and the guy he was beside ended up scoring in the slot all alone with Brady coasting at the blue line.

He needs to get rid of those Ovechkin like defensive plays before the criticism will go away.

We saw stutzle back check like a mad man to stop a chance against.

I want to see that from Brady. Not occasionally, but all the god damn time. He's a captain. He needs to lead by example.

Having a physical game and scoring a goal doesn't do anything to cancel out the 9/10 games where he has had moments where he lacks effort defensively.

 

[Big Muddy]

Most people just don't watch other games if their team isn't playing, and they seemingly forget hockey has an ebb and a flow within a game.

The key ingredient this team continues to miss is consistency. Yep, 100% playing better under Green, but still big highs and lows in their play from game to game, or to wit, a run of outstanding play, backed by a run of doing basically the opposite.

Just even out the highs and lows, both in play, and emotional response.

Ya, I’m not going to get too excited right now. The Senators need to get a win streak going to get above those we are competing against for a wild card spot, and then play decent hockey consistently after that. Right now that would boil down to .600 hockey until the end of the year. I posted a spreadsheet with the calculations in another thread.

 

[Micklebot]

Yes, Ullmark does need to do better...but it's not all on him, either.

Of course not, it's a team sport so it's never all on one player, but frankly the evidence suggests it's mostly on him given Forsberg seems to be doing just fine.

Our differential between GA and xGA at 5v5 is the worst in the league at -0.64 per 60. Ullmark himself is -0.96/60 while Forsberg is +0.06

Goalies can have the biggest impact on games, positive or negative. if there was a stat on "bad goals/60" I have no doubt Ullmark would be way up the list this year, which is a shame since he had been so reliable earlier in his career.

 

[Relapsing]

Maybe go back to the game thread and compare the number of rants you had about Brady with your comments about other players screwing up. Objectively there were far worse defensive transgressions by players who "play better defense" than BT and they also make mistakes with regularity but you seem to take them in stride. In the last couple of minutes Giroux and Sanderson had huge mistakes but you completely ignore them. Why is that???

Since you've got a lock on my post history, go ahead and count it out. Ive got nothing to hide... Well, on here at least.

While you're at it, maybe you can explain why you're not ripping those guys in their player threads either? Strange. Very strange.

Back at ya.

I mean, I really, really feel like I'm actively demonstrating that in the tenor of my posts right now, but maybe it's a case of missing that because I said some very mean things about one player and not enough about some other players, so now everyone is being all defensive and stuff because it's just super unreasonable and beyond the pale (excellent beers) to point out when someone f***s up.

You know...it's funny. I was exactly like that when it came to Erik Karlsson. Dude was the Bobby Orr of this generation and no way in hell I'd let anyone say a bad word about him. Even after games where his defense play was...lacking, nope. Look past it, make excuses, look at those stats....dude may get PPG, dude may get 100 points. I still wish we had never traded the guy (even after Hoffman and Melynk issues).

So....I get it. Brady is a fun and exciting guy to watch. Great personality.

As long as we're all Sens fans and we all have our faves. I guess it's best if we all don't take this stuff personally.

Man, ain't that the truth. These players aren't our buddies, and as far as I'm concerned you're all bots anyways, so what's to take personally?

 

[jbeck5]

Nope, it's guys who cheer against their own team's players. I'll take a gatekeeper over a guy who is rooting against the team any day.

No way..gatekeepers are annoying.

Winning will make the people rooting against their team go away.. you only ever develop those fans by constantly tanking.

 

[Micklebot]

Most people just don't watch other games if their team isn't playing, and they seemingly forget hockey has an ebb and a flow within a game.

The key ingredient this team continues to miss is consistency. Yep, 100% playing better under Green, but still big highs and lows in their play from game to game, or to wit, a run of outstanding play, backed by a run of doing basically the opposite.

Just even out the highs and lows, both in play, and emotional response.

Oh yeah, we certainly still have some issues, I think the consistency will come, I also think years of poor goaltending from our starters has a lingering effect on the emotions of this team..

 

[umma gumma]

You know...it's funny. I was exactly like that when it came to Erik Karlsson. Dude was the Bobby Orr of this generation and no way in hell I'd let anyone say a bad word about him. Even after games where his defense play was...lacking, nope. Look past it, make excuses, look at those stats....dude may get PPG, dude may get 100 points. I still wish we had never traded the guy (even after Hoffman and Melynk issues).

So....I get it. Brady is a fun and exciting guy to watch. Great personality.

As long as we're all Sens fans and we all have our faves. I guess it's best if we all don't take this stuff personally.

You can stay stuff about him. He's not perfect. Its the absolving (or ignoring) of others players with similar issues, and pinning the results of the last 7 years on one player that's a little much.