Proposal: Fire DJ Smith

[Micklebot]

Don't tell me DJ doesn't hold players accountable... Healthy scratching Joseph with 50 friends and family in to see him and his brother.

Puzzling given the need for NHL players in the bottom 6.

Joseph has 2 goals in 25 games (1 on the PP, 1 SH.) and has had few games where you came away with. Good game from Joseph but still puzzling.

with 39 games left , Lets say 6 goals on the season , 4 more... Do you take the over or the under?

Signed to a 4 year 2.95 AAV contract in the summer of Pierre.

Could be a potential trade, keeping him out to ensure he doesn't get hurt and scuttle Dorion's Joseph for Dumba deal...

 

[Sens Vader]

DJ Smith Sucks

Just get him the hell out of here

 

[Alf Silfversson]

For a player's coach like DJ to do this, I'm inclined to believe it's something sort of serious.

It better be. If not this is the kind of thing that loses rooms (if ours hasn't been lost already).

 

[BankStreetParade]

I don't see how this really serves as strong support for your position, Bert simply claimed Zub looked better away from Chabot,.

He doesn't have 50 mins with any other partner, but he does have 103 total away from Chabot.

Zub	w chabot	W/o Chabot
Cf%	49.26	54.17
xGF	53.46	52.5
Scf%	49.48	54.02
Hdcf%	56.1	54.5

That's with anybody else, when you remove Zaitsev Holden, JBD, Thomson, Larsson and Hamonic who aren't realistically options, you get 61 mins split between Brannstrom and Sanderson

	Toi	cf%	xGf%	scf%	Hdcf%
Brannstrom	42.31	63.16	69.14	67.5	71.43
Sanderson	19.28	50	58.55	63.64	66.67
Total	61.6	59.61	66.8	66.66	70.0

I believe it's this time that Bert would have been referring to when he said Zub looked better away from Chabot. Holden is the only other guy that he could have been referring to however if that's the case I would not agree, Holden hasn't looked great with Zub and numbers back that up.

A. Those are tiny sample sizes, especially compared to the nearly 300 minutes of Chabot-Zub that we can consider.
B. xGF and xGA also need actual GF and GA to compare to. Sanderson-Hamonic have a 26.6 xGF and 25.1 xGA vs. 17 GF and 26 GA. Their expected goal ratio tells us they should be a plus pairing but the reality is they have been solidly negative. Brannstrom-Holden similarly has a positive differential in xGF/xGA but in reality have been solidly underwhelming in GF/GA.
C. In the tables I posted, Chabot-Zub had far and away the best GF/60 of any of the pairings that had played any considerable amount of time together.

If we're going to consider sample sizes around the amount of TOI you're looking at, the numbers say Sanderson-Brannstrom, Chabot-Hamonic, Holden-Larsson give you the best xG%.

But none of this matters anyway because I'm not making the argument that the team shouldn't try different pairing combos.

Maybe we need some posters here questioning Brady's leadership.

I guess you're joking but I'm not sure what this has to do with Brady and the leadership group. Sounds like it's between DJ and Joseph.

 

[Joeyjoejoe]

The only logical explanation for this is because Joseph is on the verge of being traded. THERE IS NO OTHER EXPLANATION.

This sub .400 bum thinks he is Mike Babcock or something.

 

[DaveMatthew]

Healthy scratching Joseph coming off an extended injury, in a game that obviously means a lot to him and his family, where he might be extra motivated, while the entire bottom 6 (and most of the top 6) of this team is playing like shit and the team is losing, is a clueless move by DJ.

Par for the course with him. Very low IQ.

Him and Dorion are a match made in heaven.

 

[Alf Silfversson]

I guess you're joking but I'm not sure what this has to do with Brady and the leadership group. Sounds like it's between DJ and Joseph.

Well, according to some lockerroom issues room are solely the purview of the team captain (see Karlsson, Erik).

 

[JackieDaytona]

is it possible he's being traded? Like 2 games he was supposed to play in, and gets scratched without much warning - maybe a deal is close to being done and they are keeping him out for precautionary reasons? Either way - Yikes.

 

[DaveMatthew]

Well, according to some lockerroom issues room are solely the purview of the team captain (see Karlsson, Erik).

Don't you dare question the vibe of the boys in the room! Vibes are strong*!

*Until someone is traded/sent down/waived. Then we can talk about how shitty they were in the room.

 

[cudi]

Joseph refused to sing 'Mr.Brightside' and now is an outcast in the room

 

[L'Aveuglette]

Does feel like DJ didn't like something Joseph did or said because otherwise this really does not make any sense. Still, this drama had to happen mere minutes before last game as he was good to go all day Monday and as mentioned, DJ had good things to say about Mathieu. So strange.

 

[DaveMatthew]

Joseph refused to sing 'Mr.Brightside' and now is an outcast in the room

DJ is scratching Joseph to send a message to Chabot.

 

[cudi]

DJ is scratching Joseph to send a message to Chabot.

"if you dont play better...Brannstrom is next!!"

 

[Micklebot]

It better be. If not this is the kind of thing that loses rooms (if ours hasn't been lost already).

Why are we jumping to locker room drama as the culprit?

A. Those are tiny sample sizes, especially compared to the nearly 300 minutes of Chabot-Zub that we can consider.
B. xGF and xGA also need actual GF and GA to compare to. Sanderson-Hamonic have a 26.6 xGF and 25.1 xGA vs. 17 GF and 26 GA. Their expected goal ratio tells us they should be a plus pairing but the reality is they have been solidly negative. Brannstrom-Holden similarly has a positive differential in xGF/xGA but in reality have been solidly underwhelming in GF/GA.
C. In the tables I posted, Chabot-Zub had far and away the best GF/60 of any of the pairings that had played any considerable amount of time together.

If we're going to consider sample sizes around the amount of TOI you're looking at, the numbers say Sanderson-Brannstrom, Chabot-Hamonic, Holden-Larsson give you the best xG%.

But none of this matters anyway because I'm not making the argument that the team shouldn't try different pairing combos.

Actual GF/GA aren't compelling evidence when samples are under 200 mins, even at 200 mins you're not really getting great predictability for future results, but the numbers are zero goals for and zero against away from Chabot, so even in about 100 mins away from Chabot.

Chabot doing better with Zub makes sense, Zub is easily our best RHD. He also tends to get the more offensive deployment in terms of being out there with the top 6.

 

[JungleBeat]

Joseph probably did something dumb, if not DJ is a bozo.

 

[DaveMatthew]

Why are we jumping to locker room drama as the culprit?

Thinking of the alternative is worse - that DJ actually thinks keeping Joseph out of the lineup and continuing to ice this miserable bottom 6 gives the team a better chance to win.

Assuming there was some sort of bad behaviour is giving Smith the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Alf Silfversson]

Joseph probably did something dumb, if not DJ is a bozo.

 

[Pierre from Orleans]

Keeping Joseph out for a Matt Dumbaa trade.

 

[The Devilish Buffoon]

Keeping Joseph out for a Matt Dumbaa trade.

Wild have 9mil next season to sign a backup (Goose), at least 1 D, and at least 4 forwards. Adding Joseph would bring that down to 6mil. Only way I can see them having interest is if they move Greenaway, but not sure why they would do that and even still, not sure why they would want Joseph. They really need to stretch their dollars for the next two seasons.

 

[Micklebot]

Thinking of the alternative is worse - that DJ actually thinks keeping Joseph out of the lineup and continuing to ice this miserable bottom 6 gives the team a better chance to win.

Assuming there was some sort of bad behaviour is giving Smith the benefit of the doubt.

The alternative is broader, Joseph might not be ready from a conditioning perspective or he might be involved in a potential trade and they need to protect the asset until it goes through.

I don't see how DJ goes from playing Joseph on his third line to thinking he should be a healthy scratch while he's out due to injury and we've been losing since he got hurt.

 

[Alex1234]

Chabot-Joseph for Chychrun-Maccelli

 

[Micklebot]

Wild have 9mil next season to sign a backup (Goose), at least 1 D, and at least 4 forwards. Adding Joseph would bring that down to 6mil. Only way I can see them having interest is if they move Greenaway, but not sure why they would do that and even still, not sure why they would want Joseph. They really need to stretch their dollars for the next two seasons.

It may be a case of us moving Joseph to a third team to make room in our budget for Dumba, or some other player.

 

[The Devilish Buffoon]

It may be a case of us moving Joseph to a third team to make room in our budget for Dumba, or some other player.

That I could definitely see, although its not what I'd hope

 

[DaveMatthew]

The alternative is broader, Joseph might not be ready from a conditioning perspective or he might be involved in a potential trade and they need to protect the asset until it goes through.

I don't see how DJ goes from playing Joseph on his third line to thinking he should be a healthy scratch while he's out due to injury and we've been losing since he got hurt.

The "not elaborating further" makes it seem like it's not just that he's not quite ready yet. Otherwise, DJ would have said something like "we want to get him in a few more practices" which he's said often when players are almost ready to return.

The trade aspect could be it, but honestly, I think it's unlikely. Especially in a Wild/Dumba scenario. I can't see Minnesota, considering their salary situation for the next couple of years, wanting to take on Joseph's $2.9m.

And considering he's already been out for more than a month, I think it's more likely a team would WANT to see him play before pulling the trigger on a trade. It's not like he's an established star where you know what you're getting. He's a bottom 6 player coming off a lengthy absence with a relatively large salary and commitment, who had a disappointing start to his season.

If it was nothing, DJ could have made comments that made it obvious it was nothing. But he didn't. He created the speculation with his answer to the question, and now it's a story (especially since this game is obviously meaningful to Joseph and his family, it's not just a Wednesday night in Arizona.)

 

[BankStreetParade]

I could see it being as simple as Joseph was late to a group session going over video/preparing for the game tonight and DJ decided to scratch him for it. People are constantly talking about how the guys aren't ready to play/missing details during games and DJ is making an example out of him.

The trade idea makes less sense to me because if something was that close I feel like they'd let the player know and he wouldn't invite 50 family members for the game.