GDT: Carolina Hurricanes Vs Montreal Canadiens

[Sasha Cares]

I disagree Lazy. Boston is tough and I think we can play with them. Montreals toughness, balance scoring, and multiple lines that play good sound defense is a problem for us. The only way we beat Mon is if our 3rd line is scoring and Cam is on.

 

[tarheelhockey]

We've been a team of wee little nancies for a few years now. Shouldn't be shocking.

It's not shocking, but it's still unacceptable.

I mean, what are guys like Skinner and Semin supposed to think about Westgarth at this point? "Hey, there's that guy who got his job because he's buddies with the front office. He's supposed to stop guys like Prust from putting me on IR, but instead I get to fight my own fights while he skates 4 shifts and puts encouraging notes on Twitter."

It's ridiculous. The real-world comparison is the guy who dates the boss's daughter and never actually shows up to work, but gives everybody a high-five and tells them they're doing a great job when he's rolling through the office on Friday afternoon to pick up the company car.

If Jordan Staal is the guy we're counting on to take retaliation PIMs, we're in some deep trouble when we end up drawing Toronto in the playoffs.

Freakin' unacceptable. Disgraceful. An indictment of the entire team to have some 5'8" pipsqueak from Montreal show more balls than anybody on our bench.

 

[Ole Gil]

Having Pitkanen would be no small increment in talent. And with the beating our 3rd and 4th lines took, Brent/Larose/Nash should make them less of a liability defensively.

 

[Oenatzu]

Right now Tim Wallace is more physical and more of an enforcer than the rest of the team combined. Though he's never really been a fighter he retaliates with his hits. Last night after Skinner was hit by Weber Wallace finished a heavy (and clean, so no PIMs) hit on him the next chance he got and later took out a couple of more Canadiens.

 

[Unsustainable]

Right now Tim Wallace is more physical and more of an enforcer than the rest of the team combined. Though he's never really been a fighter he retaliates with his hits. Last night after Skinner was hit by Weber Wallace finished a heavy (and clean, so no PIMs) hit on him the next chance he got and later took out a couple of more Canadiens.

Wallace went through Weber like he wasn't even there.

He hits, cleanly, but very hard.

 

[Carolinas Identity*]

Wallace Smash

 

[tarheelhockey]

Right now Tim Wallace is more physical and more of an enforcer than the rest of the team combined. Though he's never really been a fighter he retaliates with his hits. Last night after Skinner was hit by Weber Wallace finished a heavy (and clean, so no PIMs) hit on him the next chance he got and later took out a couple of more Canadiens.

If I'm not mistaken, Weber was actually injured on that play. So kudos to Wallace for that.

Edit: kudos for throwing a hard hit, not for injuring an opponent.

 

[rocky7]

Like I said. Montreal is our worst match up in the East. They will sweep us and make us look bad any time we play them.

If that's the case, and at this point it appears so, then the coaching staff has to do their best to devise a system of play that will work. They aren't more talented. They shut the O down and took advantage of the D. It is how they play against the Canes and what they are doing has been successful obviously. So, Muller and the rest have to come up with a counter plan. Do something different. The second period may be a good starting point to use as a comparison. What was successful and what wasn't. Reminds me of Pittsburgh and the Flyers. The Flyers have the Pens number and it's not because they have a better team.

 

[Vagrant]

I think the problem is that we don't want to pay for what we need, in the financial sense. We would rather throw money at Larose, Brent, Dwyer, etc. for our bottom lines than really invest the money it would take to secure a guy like Chris Neil for example. So we end up getting stuck with guys who either can't skate well enough to use their hitting ability, can't be offensive enough (not just points) to justify a regular shift, or guys who are so braindead that to this point they've been AHL body movers.

Instead, we opt for the guy who can rove all over the 4 lines with a modicum of ability in every capacity despite being undersized and puts up 25-30 clean points every season from a limited role.

 

[StormCast]

I mean, what are guys like Skinner and Semin supposed to think about Westgarth at this point? "Hey, there's that guy who got his job because he's buddies with the front office. He's supposed to stop guys like Prust from putting me on IR, but instead I get to fight my own fights while he skates 4 shifts and puts encouraging notes on Twitter."

It's ridiculous. The real-world comparison is the guy who dates the boss's daughter and never actually shows up to work, but gives everybody a high-five and tells them they're doing a great job when he's rolling through the office on Friday afternoon to pick up the company car.

I'm not getting the analogy. Who is Westgarth buddies with in the front office? Did Bill Cowher take a role there?

 

[Novacane]

I didn't see this yet. Sorry if I missed it.

Hurricanes reassign Sutter, Welsh; Brent activated

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/hurricanes-reassign-sutter-welsh-brent-activated/12199590/

 

[NorthStar4Canes]

We've been a team of wee little nancies for a few years now. Shouldn't be shocking. Adding jstaal made us a little bigger but not much tougher. We're smurfs up front, little tenacity physically. Too me its been that way since at least lavi, who really preached getting pp time.

So often people just skate away from confrontation on this team, I don't even look for it anymore.

Wallace has been a plus.

Need a Scott Walker on this team, not afraid to tune someone up at the appropriate time and doesn't make stupid promises to his wife he won't fight anymore (Gleason).

 

[tarheelhockey]

I'm not getting the analogy. Who is Westgarth buddies with in the front office? Did Bill Cowher take a role there?

Cowher is evidently cozy with the organization, considering all the times they've rolled him out as a celebrity endorsement. Sounding the siren, appearing in videos, publicly backing the team over the Pens, etc. It's kind of hard to imagine that he is doing all of that from the perspective of NOT being in close with management.

Westgarth is, and I'm not exaggerating here, one of the best connected players in the league relative to his status as a player. Aside from being one of the only NHL'ers with an Ivy league diploma, he was one of the core insiders in the NHLPA during CBA negotiations and one of the very few who seemed able to cross the lines and speak to the NHL side with credibility. He just won a Stanley Cup in Los Angeles, then spent his summer skating in Raleigh where he was promptly traded. He is married to the daughter of an NFL coach, and has parlayed that into a close relationship with a Duke basketball player who dates a different daughter in the same family. He's received a full write-up in the New York Times for goodness sake... the guy who skates 2 minutes a night for this team was written up by the New York Times. He's starting to approach the Sean Avery level of parlaying a scrub career into a golden safety net built from personal and professional connections.

And I wouldn't hold any of that against him, if he did his job. But the fact that he basically networked his way into an NHL roster spot, only to come here and collect the paycheck and chirp from the bench, that pisses me off. It's either his fault, or Muller's, or JR's. Pick one, doesn't matter. The nepotism within this organization is getting to the point of absurdity.

 

[TheBigKahuna]

Westgarth is most likely a lifer. And was brought here as a favor to someone! He plays plays 2:30 a night, doesn't do anything while on the ice, and is riding the gravy train in the 1st class seats! Even lives with his father in law!

 

[StormCast]

Cowher is evidently cozy with the organization, considering all the times they've rolled him out as a celebrity endorsement. Sounding the siren, appearing in videos, publicly backing the team over the Pens, etc. It's kind of hard to imagine that he is doing all of that from the perspective of NOT being in close with management.

Westgarth is, and I'm not exaggerating here, one of the best connected players in the league relative to his status as a player. Aside from being one of the only NHL'ers with an Ivy league diploma, he was one of the core insiders in the NHLPA during CBA negotiations and one of the very few who seemed able to cross the lines and speak to the NHL side with credibility. He just won a Stanley Cup in Los Angeles, then spent his summer skating in Raleigh where he was promptly traded. He is married to the daughter of an NFL coach, and has parlayed that into a close relationship with a Duke basketball player who dates a different daughter in the same family. He's received a full write-up in the New York Times for goodness sake... the guy who skates 2 minutes a night for this team was written up by the New York Times. He's starting to approach the Sean Avery level of parlaying a scrub career into a golden safety net built from personal and professional connections.

And I wouldn't hold any of that against him, if he did his job. But the fact that he basically networked his way into an NHL roster spot, only to come here and collect the paycheck and chirp from the bench, that pisses me off. It's either his fault, or Muller's, or JR's. Pick one, doesn't matter. The nepotism within this organization is getting to the point of absurdity.

I get and know that but still think it's a stretch to say he's there because he's buddies with the front office. Keep in mind that his role with the NHLPA was one of a negotiating adversary although he did play the role of "peace broker" pretty well. Then again, I also understand that your frustration with him on-ice is tempering the interpretation.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I get and know that but still think it's a stretch to say he's there because he's buddies with the front office.

Then why is he here?

 

[Oenatzu]

I wonder which Hurricanes front office job Westgarth will assume once he decides to hang them up since the position of Director of Usefulness has been reserved for Chad LaRose.

 

[StormCast]

Then why is he here?

Why he is here and how he got here may be two different things.

Aside from being part of the move to rid the roster of AStewart, he's cheap, he's physical, he was familiar with Canes players, and he can play the role of enforcer that the team lacks and the fighting option needed with the departure of Allen. Now he hasn't really been used in that role but nonetheless.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Aside from being part of the move to rid the roster of AStewart,

Thanks for reminding me that we acquired him in the process of paying the Kings to fix a different mistake

he's cheap

True.

he's physical

Even if he were playing enough to actually be a presence on the ice, he's too poor a skater to check effectively.

he was familiar with Canes players

A Jim Rutherford special.

and he can play the role of enforcer that the team lacks and the fighting option needed with the departure of Allen.

He can do it, but he isn't doing it, so what actual role is he playing?

Now he hasn't really been used in that role but nonetheless.

I just don't see a defense of him in that line. At all. He's either doing the job or he isn't. It's a simple role. If he isn't doing it, why is he even in the NHL? There are literally thousands of people who are better hockey players, and thousands more who are just as good AND are willing to fight for an NHL paycheck.

Last night was the final straw for me. If the guy won't step in when Skinner is out there getting run and manhandled by the likes of Prust, he needs to find another line of work. I haven't been this embarrassed of a Hurricane since Boulerice.

 

[Lucky Lindy]

Well, after Westgarth being ripped apart here, I expect him to score tomorrow, like Bowman and Jokinen did.

 

[TheBigKahuna]

Well, after Westgarth being ripped apart here, I expect him to score tomorrow, like Bowman and Jokinen did.

Is he going to throw one in from the bench?

 

[Roboturner913]

I haven't been this embarrassed of a Hurricane since Boulerice.

The only thing I'm embarrassed by is some of the posters on this board. Team is, what 4-1 in its last 5, has fought through a ton of injuries, is playing without its starting goaltender, two key forwards and its best defenseman and you people are griping about everything from attendance on a Thursday night to the quality of the arena's hot dogs to the way Skinner wears his helmet skewed slightly to the right.

You sound like a bunch of Islanders fans. The difference is they actually have reasons to be upset.

 

[tarheelhockey]

The only thing I'm embarrassed by is some of the posters on this board. Team is, what 4-1 in its last 5, has fought through a ton of injuries, is playing without its starting goaltender, two key forwards and its best defenseman and you people are griping about everything from attendance on a Thursday night to the quality of the arena's hot dogs to the way Skinner wears his helmet skewed slightly to the right.

You sound like a bunch of Islanders fans. The difference is they actually have reasons to be upset.

What do you mean, "you people"?

 

[DaveG]

What do you mean, "you people"?

 

[Roboturner913]