GDT: Game 16: Blue Jackets @ Coyotes - 7PM - FSAZ+

[RABBIT]

I truly believe we need to work on shots. I don't watch practices but i guarantee based off of what we watch on game nights that we heavily focus on passing drills rather than shot selection

 

[SR]

Kessel, Keller and OEL are f***ing horrendous. None of them have been good to what they should be this year.

No one can hit the net, either. Wouldn’t be surprised to see a loss Saturday against Minnesota.

 

[SR]

OEL is playing like I expect him to in year 8 of his contract. He looks like he had the flu and two bum knees. You wouldn't know it but he's 28.

Kessel is in his "fat Stepan" stage of Coyote gestation. He's weak on and off the puck, makes bad decisions, and just doesn't try like even Pittsburgh Kessel would.

Keller thinks he's Lionel Messi out there with his super adorable tika-taka style passes. The other team just plays the pass because Keller isn't going to opt into traffic and take it to the net. Him and Phil are like dividing by zero, it shouldn't be done.

Team isn't deep enough for those 3 to **** around like they are.

This is a great f***ing post.

 

[cobra427]

No Demers/Hammer is catching up with us.

 

[BigJCaRoach]

Imagine if Grabner finishes even HALF his chances the last two games and saves us this fu**ing frustration

 

[TheLegend]

Killed about 20 seconds of 2-man advantage time doing so too. Vet move

The alternative was shoot the puck into the collapsed D and give up an empty netter. YMMV.

 

[Muppet]

Need to clone Schmaltz and put him on every line. He's the only player on this team that can actually drive the play right now.

Grabner needs to spend an extra 30mins in practice just shooting 1 on 1 with a goalie. Find a Vrbata-esque move that works for him and perfect it.

 

[RABBIT]

The alternative was shoot the puck into the collapsed D and give up an empty netter. YMMV.

I disagree. Our positioning blows. We had a two man advantage and looked worse than any other team does 1 man up. We try and force shots through 2 players and throw muffins toward the goal. They play like they are nervous, so antsy and jittery. It's consistent, has been for years

 

[TheLegend]

I disagree. Our positioning blows. We had a two man advantage and looked worse than any other team does 1 man up. We try and force shots through 2 players and throw muffins toward the goal. They play like they are nervous, so antsy and jittery. It's consistent, has been for years

You have to "force" shots no matter what. Kessel's one of the few who can thread needles. CBJ just did a good job of clogging the lanes.

Otherwise we sit out at the points and try to drive a puck through people or get lucky.

Also..... teams rarely practice 6 on 4. That last PP was right off the chalkboard.

 

[rt]

OEL, Kessel and Keller are supposed to be the difference makers on this team. They haven’t made a difference at all.

 

[rt]

OEL, Kessel and Keller are supposed to be our three best players. I wouldn’t rank any of the three in our top three right now.

 

[WrinkledPossum]

Everytime Kessel has the puck he skates to the half wall and hesitates. It's either a poor pass or a poor shot. I'd rather him play downhill, take a shot and follow up for a potential rebound. He has a good shot and should use it.

Keller looks like a 2nd liner, maybe even a 3rd with how unphysical his game is. He seems to play confident but his game is not working.

OEL has been incredibly mediocre. I think Goligoski has been equal or better than him the last few games.....

Chychrun is by far our best defensemen right now. Has stepped up defensively and is confident in the ozone. OEL should try to mirror his game...

 

[0point1]

I liked when Chychrun went end to end, took a shot, and then got his own rebound. I believe it was in the 3rd period.

 

[Prarievarg]

Dvo feels a deep seated shame when he scores, for that goal belongs to someone else on the ice he could have passed to if only he was stronger

Haha. Post of the night. Weirded out a whole bus as I lol'd reading this.

 

[CNYCrunchfan1]

No Demers/Hammer is catching up with us.

It's more than that though. If we're truly a playoff worthy team we can't just sit back and hope D And Keumper wins it for us every night. We are a couple players short in the O zone just yet. The league just has to many scorers and we have to few.

 

[RemoAZ]

It's more than that though. If we're truly a playoff worthy team we can't just sit back and hope D And Keumper wins it for us every night. We are a couple players short in the O zone just yet. The league just has to many scorers and we have to few.

This is exactly who we are though. A fringe playoff team that needs good goal tending and defense to win. We hoped with the acquisitions and some health we'd score a little more. We have. We are who we thought we were imo. Team is more fun to watch and more competitive but still not a contender. Need a #1 center, LW that can score goals consistently and probably two more physical guys, one on D and one on O. That's a lot of missing parts and I think that's the minimum to become a solid contender.

 

[jmichael7753]

Not discounting Keumps but I think we need to score at least 4 tonight to have a shot

Well I wasn't wrong...

 

[jmichael7753]

Chychrun has really made me eat my own words. Really earning that contract now. I really hate pulling the goalie on the powerplay. You rarely practice 6 on 4 situations. Should've started that PP with Keumps still in net and pulled him at the 1 min mark. Also Garland needs to be on the powerplay, and Soda should've been on the ice at the end as well for the net front presence. Just a terrible game from Coaching on down.

 

[BUX7PHX]

I truly believe we need to work on shots. I don't watch practices but i guarantee based off of what we watch on game nights that we heavily focus on passing drills rather than shot selection

Theoretically, if we are moving the puck right, we should have more shots like Soderberg's into a half empty net.

But I think that we need to work on this, and also how to redirect the puck better - specifically are our forwards just poor at it, or is it also a combination of the defensemen not giving a good shot to try and get to our traffic? I feel like we are hitting the opposition more than we are getting pucks through.

Penalties were all bad penalties - at least, what, 3 holding calls? Columbus came in with the energy that we had come to expect us to.

OEL is a mystery. He is making some great defensive plays out there. But, he is also our best player, and the best player should not be giving up shots that easily to send it to Schmaltz or Kessel at slightly worse angles with just as much distance to the goalie. I think that at some point in his 4 or 5 passes off to the wings, he could have taken a shot. On a 2 man advantage, we should be able to corral the puck if it gets between the circles. Time to pull the 'member berries out, but there was a time when he would shoot that every time. Now, he almost looks like he doesn't want that. He is playing big minutes, but other players are just as tired.

The good news is there still hasn't been the "burn it to the ground" type game, although if it is going to happen, it will likely be this month with all of the travel. We are still competitive even when getting out played. Still not hitting any panic button yet, but if we start to trend like this over the next 3 or 4 games, then we may need to re-evaluate.

 

[cobra427]

It's more than that though. If we're truly a playoff worthy team we can't just sit back and hope D And Keumper wins it for us every night. We are a couple players short in the O zone just yet. The league just has to many scorers and we have to few.

Richardson being out along with Demers/hammer, I should have said. Our D play in all 3 zones has been worse the last few games which allows our opponent to enter our zone easier and keep the puck longer. That is the core problem right now along with our PP. Our strong forecheck and D is what generates the turnovers and more offensive zone time for us. We gave up 3 goals and it could have been a lot more. We also had plenty of great chances but didn't capitalize.

Its 2 losses in a row by 1 goal, could have won both games, so no worries (yet).

 

[Jakey53]

OEL is playing like I expect him to in year 8 of his contract. He looks like he had the flu and two bum knees. You wouldn't know it but he's 28.

Kessel is in his "fat Stepan" stage of Coyote gestation. He's weak on and off the puck, makes bad decisions, and just doesn't try like even Pittsburgh Kessel would.

Keller thinks he's Lionel Messi out there with his super adorable tika-taka style passes. The other team just plays the pass because Keller isn't going to opt into traffic and take it to the net. Him and Phil are like dividing by zero, it shouldn't be done.

Team isn't deep enough for those 3 to **** around like they are.

OEL played a lot of heavy and physical minutes in Alberta. He is the least of our worries.

 

[Jakey53]

Theoretically, if we are moving the puck right, we should have more shots like Soderberg's into a half empty net.

But I think that we need to work on this, and also how to redirect the puck better - specifically are our forwards just poor at it, or is it also a combination of the defensemen not giving a good shot to try and get to our traffic? I feel like we are hitting the opposition more than we are getting pucks through.

Penalties were all bad penalties - at least, what, 3 holding calls? Columbus came in with the energy that we had come to expect us to.

OEL is a mystery. He is making some great defensive plays out there. But, he is also our best player, and the best player should not be giving up shots that easily to send it to Schmaltz or Kessel at slightly worse angles with just as much distance to the goalie. I think that at some point in his 4 or 5 passes off to the wings, he could have taken a shot. On a 2 man advantage, we should be able to corral the puck if it gets between the circles. Time to pull the 'member berries out, but there was a time when he would shoot that every time. Now, he almost looks like he doesn't want that. He is playing big minutes, but other players are just as tired.

The good news is there still hasn't been the "burn it to the ground" type game, although if it is going to happen, it will likely be this month with all of the travel. We are still competitive even when getting out played. Still not hitting any panic button yet, but if we start to trend like this over the next 3 or 4 games, then we may need to re-evaluate.

Weren't you saying awhile back that you loved this team, and saw us a a contender, and now you are talking about burning it to the ground in the next 3 or 4 games if we don't win?

 

[Jakey53]

Richardson being out along with Demers/hammer, I should have said. Our D play in all 3 zones has been worse the last few games which allows our opponent to enter our zone easier and keep the puck longer. That is the core problem right now along with our PP. Our strong forecheck and D is what generates the turnovers and more offensive zone time for us. We gave up 3 goals and it could have been a lot more. We also had plenty of great chances but didn't capitalize.

Its 2 losses in a row by 1 goal, could have won both games, so no worries (yet).

So you are finally admitting our PP is a core problem. Our PP is sinking faster than the Titanic, and the only reason it looked half assed for awhile was that two or three game hot streak it had. Our PP has been a problem for the last two years. We added Kessel and Soderberg to help the PP, and that hasn't helped. Why isn't Hayton on the PP? Why is Stepan even on any PP? I don't think we miss Richardson at all. If he was playing like the Richardson of last year, yes, but not the way he was playing this year.

 

[CNYCrunchfan1]

I get the points about what we are but I just dont think we can sustain that model through a whole season. It's wearing (also factoring injuries) to depend on keeping teams to two goals or less. I hate to be negative nelly but I see us being like 4 points shy again and hopefully we address the need for two or three guys in the off season.

 

[absolute garbage]

I don't think Tocchet is giving the team its best chance to win.

Putting OEL there in key offensive situations instead of Chychrun is just dumb. OEL's skating and mobility has went into the toilet, he can't get any shots off anymore and is more or less a liability on the point at this point. Meanwhile Chychrun is skating and shooting like a beast and creating offense left and right. If you are trying to score a goal, there should be no question about who goes on the ice. Even Goligoski would be a better option than OEL.

Not having Garland there is also unacceptable. Keeping by far the team's best goalscorer on the bench is inexcusable. Kessel and Keller combined have 50% of Garland's compete level.

Also using Stepan on the PP over Hayton is braindead. Hayton is certainly a work in progress but with his skill and creativity PP is the one thing he absolutely should be playing regularly. Stepan on the other hand is totally hopeless offensively. It makes no sense.