Defensive issues/Fix the defense thread

[eXile59]

They have been playing zone defense since 2010.

No they haven't. There is no zone defense where it requires the defense men to chase the puck carrier to the blue line & we do it almost every time. We play zone for a few seconds & then break down to chasing people. Just Friday I saw a couple scoring chances because were chasing instead of staying in their zone.

The original poster was right. We play some messed up hybrid of zone & man.

 

[#66]

You are my new best friend. I've been saying this exact stuff for almost a year now. People just response with "It's Paul Martin's fault."

The stretch pass stretches out our players as much as it stretches theirs leaving a massive opportunity for the other team if they counter. Bylsma's answers everything with "Be more aggressive" We need to collapse around the net like Columbus did to us & the Rangers have done so well. On break outs we need our forwards in our own end helping the defense with outlet passes not up at the other teams blue line.

I have no problem with the aggressive fore check but they way we defend & come out of our zone needs to change drastically.

I would see where the Pens are is 10-15 games. If the team is still a mess then bring in Chelios and Billy G on that bench.

 

[Ugene Magic]

The Pens system sucks when the other teams main goal is to suffocate the puck carrier and is more motivated than the Pens. Their system also try to eliminate the neutral zone play hence eliminating any structural neutral zone system.

When a team is like that, pressuring the puck carrier, then they need to switch not having the players leaving early for those stretch passes and actually work for their free ice.

 

[UnrealMachine]

Behindthenet finally posted 2013 stats on their site.

To break it down with respect to defenders:

http://www.behindthenet.ca/nhl_stat...=PIT&f7=1-&c=0+1+3+5+21+22+23+24+25+26+27+28#

Martin/Orpik have been fantastic in goals against. They play against the toughest competition and only start 35% of their shifts in the O zone. This has been lights out play to say the least. I did not realize how well these 2 have played after watching every game.

After that, pretty much crap among the remaining defenders. They are all very close, but 3 games aren't enough to accurately separate them in a Goal Against / 60min. Needless to say, they could all improve....starting with Letang. He should be "leading" this defensive corp.

To say Lovejoy has been "a train wreck" is completely ignoring the other equal train wrecks in Engelland and Depres. There isn't much separating them so far with respect to D play. Please tone down the Lovejoy hate. He's not the scapegoat. Which brings us to......

Forwards

http://www.behindthenet.ca/nhl_stat...5=PIT&f7=1-&c=0+1+3+5+21+22+23+24+25+26+27+28

This is very troubling issue again. Malkin, #1 (and his linemates) have been absolutely terrible defensively. He has to improve immediately for the Pens to get better. If not, this will be a long year. 5 goals against while he has been on the ice. Some of this is probably frustration with his 3rd linemate, and the rest is on his shoulders. We all agree that he has to be more careful with the puck and his assignments.

4th line is still being brought down by poor defensive play by Adams/Vitale/Glass, zero offensive production from them, AND Byslma being caught with them out on the ice against top lines. Opposing teams are eating their lunch off our 4th line by matching their 1st/2nd lines against them. Byslma really has to start hiding them from top opposition. These tough D minutes need to go to Crosby / Sutter lines. This 4th line needs to start more shifts in the offensive zone against weaker competition. There is no reason these guys can't have positive +-s. That should be the goal instead of filling this line with "role players". Get this line producing at 5v5 and it will have "role players" on it.

Adams is still the smoking gun here IMO to hate on. He always sticks out as our worst +- player / minute (historically, and currently). I still plea for him to be replaced by DJ who is at least a "0" influence on the team instead of a negative.


GOOD

DJ, Dupuis and Cooke have been rocks as usual. I wish there were more names I could put in this section.

GREAT
Sutter has been every bit as good defensively as Jordan Staal has been..0 (5v5) goals against while he's been on the ice. He only starts 30% of his shifts in the O zone (compared to Malkin's 72%). To even suggest the team is poor defensively due to Sutter's inability to replace Staal is not accurate. He's on the bench during the other team's goal celebrations.

Appreciate the update. I was wondering when they were going to start rolling out. Pretty much confirms what we have seen on the ice for the most part. Seems to have picked up a couple things that have been missed as well.