GDT: Game 20 | Islanders @ Columbus | 8 PM EST

[I3LI3]

he's saying Lars' decision make no sense

maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. the post doesn’t really give any context. so idk. i’m just saying if theyre saying he’s not good enough for 13 mins a night then I disagree wholeheartedly

Read my post(s) again over-reacty. He should be playing 18 minutes per night. It’s baffling that Lars trusts him to be the 6th man, but refuses to play him more - especially given the injuries.

hard not to overreact when I couldn’t tell if your post was sarcastic or not.

 

[MoeBartoli]

Not rooting for losses but I'm fine with ones like this. Team is playing better structurally. Hope Lars maximizes the lines soon tho. Give Chinny and KJ T6 minutes. They've earned it.

Bjork has potential to stick around. He looks so much more comfortable on the man advantage than his first few in that spot. Physical and solid at exits

I agree our structure has been a bit better but I also think part of it has been better goaltending in the last few weeks.

 

[majormajor]

91 and 59 were good, it was an exciting final two periods, and we had zero points in the standings. Everything you could ask for.

 

[MoeBartoli]

91 and 59 were good, it was an exciting final two periods, and we had zero points in the standings. Everything you could ask for.

Didn’t Chinakov play some RW last year? Has Kent played RW at any time?

 

[majormajor]

Didn’t Chinakov play some RW last year? Has Kent played RW at any time?

They can both play RW.

 

[VT]

Didn’t Chinakov play some RW last year? Has Kent played RW at any time?

Chinakhov played RW in Russia. Marchenko LW.

 

[majormajor]

I understand why Lars likes the Kuraly line. They are a nice 4th line who in some games work well as a 3rd line. But playing them as your second line is indeed a non-winning tactic. It’s coaching defensively - not to be confused with using a defensive line.

I want 91 and 59 playing more than the Kuraly line but I really don't mind at all Kuraly's line playing more than Sillinger, Meyer, TFW, or Roslovic. Kuraly has a much better scoring rate than any of them.

 

[MoeBartoli]

They can both play RW.

Then play one (59 or 91) with 13 and 38 and the Gus with the other. Or of course play 91 at center with Johnny.

 

[KJ Dangler]

maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. the post doesn’t really give any context. so idk. i’m just saying if theyre saying he’s not good enough for 13 mins a night then I disagree wholeheartedly



hard not to overreact when I couldn’t tell if your post was sarcastic or not.

Go back and read my post again … it’s inexcusable the player utilization Larsen is using .. Chinakov , Johnson have been w of our best players

 

[CBJx614]

Then play one (59 or 91) with 13 and 38 and the Gus with the other. Or of course play 91 at center with Johnny.

Or better yet a line of 59 - 91 - 86

 

[stevo61]

Or just really stop being scared and play
Gaudreau-Johnson-Chinakhov. Go big or go home.

 

[VT]

To Kent Johnson. I remember once they asked Július Šupler, then CSKA coach, why Kucherov doesn't play more. To which he replied that he had to get stronger. It's not just giving big minutes, every player's organism is different. Maybe that's why Kent played not so big minutes in 5:5, but more and more in PP, 6:5. And I think he'll play more and more in 5:5.

 

[stevo61]

To Kent Johnson. I remember once they asked Július Šupler, then CSKA coach, why Kucherov doesn't play more. To which he replied that he had to get stronger. It's not just giving big minutes, every player's organism is different. Maybe that's why Kent played not so big minutes in 5:5, but more and more in PP, 6:5.

Its just a lazy coaches answer though. Johnson is never going to be the strongest player on the ice, thats as bad as us telling Gaudreau to get stronger.
What he needs is experience and you get experience by playing.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

My takeaways from the evening.

1. I'm going to stop coming to games the night before the OSU-Michigan game. it's an NHL game, not an OSU pep rally.
2. Why does this team need physical play and a fight to get them to play with energy? It was a snoozefest until Olivier took justice into his own hands for the hit on Peeke. Then there were many hits and it got a bit chippy to get the Islanders to take some penalties. I think this team can be successful if they let the big guys hit and the young guys play with the skill that they were drafted for. The rest of the time they all play like robots where nobody hits with authority and nobody plays with skill.
3. On the final goal Korpisalo really should have froze the puck. The Islanders were bearing down into the zone and then he weakly played it off the side where they were coming in with speed and easily got control of the puck back.
4. I honestly never saw Carson Meyer on the ice tonight. Don't remember seeing him at all.

 

[VT]

Its just a lazy coaches answer though. Johnson is never going to be the strongest player on the ice, thats as bad as us telling Gaudreau to get stronger.
What he needs is experience and you get experience by playing.

It's not about strength per se, it's about getting your body used to NHL.

 

[ThirdPeriodTurtle]

It's not about strength per se, it's about getting your body used to NHL.

Yeah I also thought about this - maybe Lars/FO are "conservative" because they think their bodies can't handle an 82 game schedule yet? It is Johnson's first season after all, and Chinny got bigger and is going fast. Maybe they try to save them for next season? Dunno how that goes but it could make sense as to why you wouldn't tell that to the media as such. They have all the conditioning data at least...

Do we remember how Sillinger's end of season went last year? Could be a model for conservatism if his level dropped a bit towards the end. And of course - could they think that overplaying Sillinger last year led to this year's slump?

 

[VT]

Yeah I also thought about this - maybe Lars/FO are "conservative" because they think their bodies can't handle an 82 game schedule yet? It is Johnson's first season after all, and Chinny got bigger and is going fast. Maybe they try to save them for next season? Dunno how that goes but it could make sense as to why you wouldn't tell that to the media as such. They have all the conditioning data at least...

Do we remember how Sillinger's end of season went last year? Could be a model for conservatism if his level dropped a bit towards the end. And of course - could they think that overplaying Sillinger last year led to this year's slump?

The example, Juraj Slafkovský. He's a big boy but Martin St.Luis is "conservative" too. We, fans, want to see to play youngs but don't know conditioning data.

 

[stevo61]

The example, Juraj Slafkovský. He's a big boy but Martin St.Luis is "conservative" too. We, fans, want to see to play youngs but don't know conditioning data.

Or the much more realistic option. He doesnt play more because hes not good enough yet. Johnson is good enough.

 

[EDM]

VT, you have been a zealous advocate for Foudy. Other then establishing that being a fast skater is not enough to be an NHL player, how is that going?

 

[Cyclones Rock]

To Kent Johnson. I remember once they asked Július Šupler, then CSKA coach, why Kucherov doesn't play more. To which he replied that he had to get stronger. It's not just giving big minutes, every player's organism is different. Maybe that's why Kent played not so big minutes in 5:5, but more and more in PP, 6:5. And I think he'll play more and more in 5:5.

I think that this is the model the CBJ are following with him. There's absolutely no reason to give him 18 minutes per game at this point. 12-13 is just fine. He also doesn't need to be playing against the opponent's first line.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

I think that this is the model the CBJ are following with him. There's absolutely no reason to give him 18 minutes per game at this point. 12-13 is just fine. He also doesn't need to be playing against the opponent's first line.

I don't think 15 a night should be out of the question for young talent.

 

[VT]

Or the much more realistic option. He doesnt play more because hes not good enough yet. Johnson is good enough.

He can play in NHL but still not big minutes.

 

[VT]

VT, you have been a zealous advocate for Foudy. Other then establishing that being a fast skater is not enough to be an NHL player, how is that going?

Unfortunately, Liam regressed. I think he's better than TFW or Meyer (Corson has the advantage of being a warrior though), there are certain parts of matches he can create moments, but overall he's not it. I think injuries have hampered him and that little time.

It's one example. Pavel Schen. He was a big Russian talent, a player of Salavat Yulayev. But coaches did a big mistake. Because KHL has a rule that a team can only have 20 players on the ice if there are two who are under a certain age, he was on the roster instead of playing in VHL. But either he didn't play, or he only played a few minutes. Now he might not even be an average player.

To Liam. I don't know, maybe a change of scenery or playing in Europe would help him, see Danforth.

 

[NotCommitted]

I'm not a fan of how KJ is used at the moment, but then again out of his 13min TOI he spent 3.20 on the PP with the best, so at least there's that. I think it's a bit early to judge his usage. Long term it makes no sense to play him with bottom-6 grinders, but for now I think it could be ok. I don't know Larsen's reasons, I can think of a couple myself, like managing his workload over a 82 game season and giving him a bit more time to adapt to the NHL game in smaller role with less expectations and pressure. It might very well just be Larsen is seeing a couple of niggles in his game which he wants him to fix before he'll give him the big minutes.

There's 65 games left in the season, there's no rush. Parts of his game absolutely look top line worthy already, like it seems to me he's already clearly the best fit with Gaudreau offensively (aside from/with Laine perhaps). His vision seems top notch, but I also see him make some mistakes I think might just be a matter of getting adjusted and understanding how much time he has in the NHL and the plays he can and can't get away with. Then again everyone makes mistakes and his might stick out a bit more to me simply because I'm playing closer attention.

I think things are ok for now, but going forward I'd like to see him play more minutes and with more talented players, but whether that happens 20 or 50 games into the season doesn't necessarily make a big difference to me, this season to me is all about development with KJ.

 

[VT]

I'm not a fan of how KJ is used at the moment, but then again out of his 13min TOI he spent 3.20 on the PP with the best, so at least there's that. I think it's a bit early to judge his usage. Long term it makes no sense to play him with bottom-6 grinders, but for now I think it could be ok. I don't know Larsen's reasons, I can think of a couple myself, like managing his workload over a 82 game season and giving him a bit more time to adapt to the NHL game in smaller role with less expectations and pressure. It might very well just be Larsen is seeing a couple of niggles in his game which he wants him to fix before he'll give him the big minutes.

There's 65 games left in the season, there's no rush. Parts of his game absolutely look top line worthy already, like it seems to me he's already clearly the best fit with Gaudreau offensively (aside from/with Laine perhaps). His vision seems top notch, but I also see him make some mistakes I think might just be a matter of getting adjusted and understanding how much time he has in the NHL and the plays he can and can't get away with. Then again everyone makes mistakes and his might stick out a bit more to me simply because I'm playing closer attention.

I think things are ok for now, but going forward I'd like to see him play more minutes and with more talented players, but whether that happens 20 or 50 games into the season doesn't necessarily make a big difference to me, this season to me is all about development with KJ.

Gaudresu and Johnson are playmakers more. So we can make two strong lines, Gaudreau playing with a young Chinakhov and Johnson playing with Laine with whom he had great chemistry in the preseason? To KJ a PL Roslovic, although I would like to see a strong winger with good hitting and similar like Lawson Crouse, and KJ to play center later.