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IMO Morrison has been one of Canada's most consistent players, along with the top line. Until today's game, Doan and Heater hadn't done much. The guys that really need to pick it are most of the defenders (Hannan, Jovo, Souray, Regehr). It would also be nice to get some offensive production from the bottom two forward lines.
i said early on that canada's top line is what would seperate them from the rest of the teams...i just didn't think it'd be practically the only reason they're where they're at
Yes our 2nd line needs to pick it up big time offensively. It would be nice to get some production from the bottom 2, but they are more defensive lines. Our 4th line has played like crap. Smyth has been invisible. Doan needs to throw his weight around more. Our 2nd line has alot of potential.
Doan (big size, hitter, grit, scorer)
Mo (speed, playmaking)
Heater (scorer, speed)
Our 2nd line could easily be as good as our top line. I agree Jovo is playing like crap, I just dont feel confident with him out there. If only we had the norris trophy winner, nieds. I mean we were up against a very weak Swedish team today (no peter, nazzy, sundin, lids, etc), we should have blown them out of the water.
Doan (big size, hitter, grit, scorer)
Mo (speed, playmaking)
Heater (scorer, speed)
Our 2nd line could easily be as good as our top line. I agree Jovo is playing like crap, I just dont feel confident with him out there. If only we had the norris trophy winner, nieds. I mean we were up against a very weak Swedish team today (no peter, nazzy, sundin, lids, etc), we should have blown them out of the water.
I've seen some of these guys in post game interviews. Is it just me or do some of these guys need to cut down on desert more often? A few of them look chubby.
The 2nd line was sharp in parts of the game today....particularly the first half of the game...having seen the game tape a couple of times now...I think we should have called off the dogs when we were up 3-1 in the 2nd period.
There were a pile of penalties,getting the game into an "odd man scramble"...and Habshied put Nash on the ice (not a renowned defensive player)...he came very close to making it 4-1...but ultimately made a bad/greedy/risky decision to leave his feet just inside the off. blue line...Swedes got the puck and went up ice with an adv. rush...Jonsson set up Pahlsson to make it 3-2 and things went downhill from there (for awhile). I was suprised not to see some more exp. on the ice in that situation....I'm thinking we should have had our 3 and 4 lines more involved at this juncture...thoughts??
There were a pile of penalties,getting the game into an "odd man scramble"...and Habshied put Nash on the ice (not a renowned defensive player)...he came very close to making it 4-1...but ultimately made a bad/greedy/risky decision to leave his feet just inside the off. blue line...Swedes got the puck and went up ice with an adv. rush...Jonsson set up Pahlsson to make it 3-2 and things went downhill from there (for awhile). I was suprised not to see some more exp. on the ice in that situation....I'm thinking we should have had our 3 and 4 lines more involved at this juncture...thoughts??
Marc Habscheid is the guy to blame for this team's performance. Canada's defence is symptomatic of poor pairing chemistry. You want to get the best out of Regehr? You pair him with a guy like Boyle, who is most like Leopold on Team Canada, who can play a two-way game while Regehr uses his muscle to control his zone deep and then dish it off to his defensive partner to make an oulet pass. Right now, Regehr works his ass off to get puck control deep and dishes it to Jovo and Jovo just gives it back to the opposition! When Regehr has to worry about his own zone AND the rush you've got problems, he's doing the work of two defenceman and I don't think you can expect that of any player, no matter how good he might be. Jovo is probably a better fit with a guy like Souray or Phillips -- god I don't know, Jovo just blows, I'd hate to burden any of Canada's d-men with him. Give him PP time and let the other six do the real heavy lifting.Everest said:
Habsheid needed to shake things up TWO GAMES ago, and still hasn't changed a thing. Aside from the no-brainer Thornton-Nash duo, he hasn't accomplished much of anything coaching-wise.
Well,its getting awfully late for mixing up the pairings(as you pointed out)...should have been done already. Your right about Jovo' on the PP only...no way I would have him on the ice,when leading by 2 goals in a 4on4 sit. We should have been trying to avoid a "chaotic shootout" and thats excatly what you get with Nash and Jovo on the ice at the same time.kolanos said:
I think the players need to shoulder the blame...but I also expect top level decision making from the bench. The team will come out on fire again tommorow,but we must respect our opponents (like Habshied has said so often) that translates into the coach managing his bench according to the scoerboard...not the scoring leaderboard!
VanIslander
20 years of All-Time Drafts on HfBoards
How about just a lack of great defensemen. This is the weakest Canadian blueline I've seen in a long time. Yeah, yeah, yeah.... good youngsters, but their time to dominate hasn't arrived yet and Boyle looked as silly as he did determined.kolanos said:
Sweden, Czech and Slovakian bluelines are playing better in this tourney.... sad really.
And Brodeur hasn't been one of the best players on the ice at any point. Put Luongo in net. Mezin and Vokoun have been much better, and Lundqvist, Lasak and Norenna have been no worse.
The second, third and fourth lines aren't to blame for giving up 4 goals a game.
Canada may finish out of the medals. Not our best year.
I'm not throwing in the towel...The boys will suck it up tommorow and so should YOU! Redden is capable of leading the team back to a respectable level of play...give him some more minutes and slip Jovo in there for 4 or 6 minutes/game...thats a good start to settling things down out there!VanIslander said:How about just a lack of great defensemen. This is the weakest Canadian blueline I've seen in a long time. Yeah, yeah, yeah.... good youngsters, but their time to dominate hasn't arrived yet and Boyle looked as silly as he did determined.
Sweden, Czech and Slovakian bluelines are playing better in this tourney.... sad really.
And Brodeur hasn't been one of the best players on the ice at any point. Put Luongo in net. Mezin and Vokoun have been much better, and Lundqvist, Lasak and Norenna have been no worse.
The second, third and fourth lines aren't to blame for giving up 4 goals a game.
Canada may finish out of the medals. Not our best year.
VanIslander
20 years of All-Time Drafts on HfBoards
Of course they could still do it. But they haven't played like the best team in the tourney, not even close. I'm a Canadian presently working outside of Canada so I've been able to watch EVERY game of the tourney (some live, some on-demand) and I tell you Canada is in for a real rough ride to a medal of any colour.Everest said:
But GO Canada!
They will now have to go a harder route...but thats ok. I think Brodeur should start tommorow...at this point he is still our top name...we need to be patient and work at getting everyone working in-sync. Team Canada is in tough...but todays outcome begs for a classic "gut-check"...and that is something (adversity) that can be turned into a positive. Past Champion Canadian teams have always relished the task of "rallying around one another" and that is what this squad must do!VanIslander said:
VanIslander
20 years of All-Time Drafts on HfBoards
Yeah. But he had better defense in front of him in New Jersey than he has in this tourney.Everest said:
We don't need Mr. Steady. Brodeur hasn't been as solid as he usually is but he's never been a game stealer. We need Mr. Stand On His head.
Play Luongo.
Give me a break.VanIslander said:
Boyle - Was a key contributor to winning a Stanley Cup on a weak defensive corps
Regehr - Lead the league in minutes in playoffs, helped carry injury riddled team to SC Finals
Redden - Top pairing d-man on a deep defense and parennial playoff team
Hannan - Defensive workhorse that was crucial to getting his team to the Conference Finals
Souray - Top-pairing d-man and helped push his team to Semi-Finals
Phillips - #3 in a deep defensive system, could be a top-pairing d-man on a weaker NHL team
4/7 of them are guys that won Canada a gold medal in the WCH. Sure the Niedermayers, Footes, etc would be useful. But don't discount this young group, chemistry plays a big role on a team, and any coach worth his knock-off suit knows this -- matching incomptible players together can kill a team, no matter how good they are.
kolanos said:
I agree very bad defensive pairings. Does Haschfield even know what he is doing? Agree again, that Jovo is so overated, he shouldnt even be on the team, we could use Niedermayer.
I would do these pairings
Hannan-Jovo (Hannan is the best defensive dman we have, pair him to cover up for the sloppy Jovo)
Boyle-Reghr (agree with you on this one)
Redden-Souray
Im not a fan of Jovo or Phillips but right now, I would put Phillips in as 6th and even play Brent freaking sopel as 7th if we have to.
jovo, philips and souray have not been impressive...but at least souray had that nice play in the game against sweden
VanIslander
20 years of All-Time Drafts on HfBoards
Understatement, IMO. Give us at least a Pronger!kolanos said:
I agree they are the future. But they aren't getting it done. Blaming it on chemistry is a way to avoid pointing out that the youngsters aren't playing as well as other team's blueliners, though better than that sad sack of USA defensemen!
Slovakia also lost their game because of goaltending (Stana was subpar) not because their defensemen: they're playing on all cylinders. Visnovsky and Chara have been great, perhaps tourney all-stars, and Strbak surprisingly effective.
To me it seemed like one of the biggest problems for the canadian defensemen was mobility. They had problems in keeping up with the Swedes on the big ice. Not being able to adjust to the big ice good enough, also lead to bad positioning at times.
VanIslander
20 years of All-Time Drafts on HfBoards
I agree. And I'm not a big fan of his.Color@do @v@l@nche said:
I personally think Russia would be a contender if Nabokov and the good Fedorov brother were playing. Goaltending is also Slovakia's weakness.
So Canada could have a competitive advantage over those teams if Luongo stands on his head as he's done before in international play and be a game star. Brodeur has been adequate at best in this tourney, less than that in some people's eyes.
kolanos said:
Are you kidding me?
Regehr has been just as bad, if not worse than Jovo all tournament. Of course he can't do the job of 2 defencemen, he's having a hard enough time doing his own job.
Sorry man, but you want to name off a bunch of players not carrying their own weight, Regehr should be up there.
Shareefruck
Registered User
The last person anyone should be blaming is Brodeur. If Luongo got hung up to dry like Brodeur is right now, he'd probably be doing just as bad.
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