Well a number of things need to be fixed with this group:
Special teams are an unmitigated disaster right now. Our PP setup just makes zero sense to me and as a result it leaves us using Blake "muffin of a shot" Wheeler as the triggerman. Honestly who comes up with this.
Our PK looks like a bunch of chickens running with their heads chopped off. Passive and no one knows who they are supposed to pick up. Also is Maurice purposefully trying to wear our vets out by using Blake and Paul as a regular PK rotation? He needs to wake up and trust the kids that have been developed on the Moose to do some of these jobs otherwise he's going run his top players into the ground by the halfway point.
I get that we are trying to win this year but his special teams schemes and deployment have been absolutely horrendous this year and this team will dig a massive hole for itself if these things aren't fixed.
Players:
Helle's rough start continued with another poor first few goals before he locked things down. Those first two goals can't go in, changed the momentum of the entire game.
Morrissey and Schmidt: Played a solid game, didn't give up much but also didn't really generate much either. I want to see more aggression from them jumping into play.
Dillion and Pionk: Dillion was doing what he's supposed to be being hard on pucks and throwing the body. Pionk had a pretty rough night though. Not playing well with the puck and was out of position a number of times.
Stanley and DeMelo were fine at 5 on 5. Stanley was back playing a simpler game and was having more success. DeMelo wasn't too noticble which for him is a good thing.
CSW needs to stop, after a good first they got absolutely caved in. Mark Scheifele isn't making it anywhere near team Canada with the horrendous attention to detail he showed in his own end tonight. Wheeler started fine but faded through the night. Conner was probably the only player who looked decent on that line through the entire game.
Dubois played a hard and physical game, had some good looks and tilted the ice tonight. Still needs some refinement at times but I like that he is getting into a more power type hybrid speed game. Ehlers was off tonight, not as good as he usually is at handling the puck and generating chances. Copp got a nice shorty but doesn't fit on that line.
Perfetti did some more nice things and got unjustifiably benched by Moe. If we are only going to use him for under 10 a game he needs to go down even if he is smart enough to play at this level. Lowry and Paul did nothing out there imo. Paul looks slow and can't seem to get his passes through in most instances. This line doesn't really work and doesn't have enough speed.
Nice the see Harkins get a goal but none of these guys played enough.
This is a team that doesn't look like it has a lot of chemistry yet. Some of that is unfamiliarity and some of that is the coach constructing lines that just don't mesh well together.
