I know I'll get bashed for this but all of you are acting like Luongo was God or something today. He wasn't tested all that much but to his credit he made good saves when he's needed to. He also got lucky with the BJ's missing the net or hitting the post. He was good and great in the shoot out but seriously don't get this talk of Lu >>>>> Schneider.
Schneider's performance in Chicago was the best goalie performance of the season. And this was only the Blue Jackets today. I like BOTH goalies but it just bugs me to see people switching over and ready to throw Schneider under the bus so fast. Luongo was good today but not amazing either like everyone is saying.
I agree. Luongo was good, and he easily earned another start. But it's not like he stood on his head today. Some good saves, poised and did well in the shootout, but wasn't challenged a huge amount. No an 'omg trade Schneider' sort of outing.
I really do think this 'win and you're in' system is a really disruptive way to manage a goaltending tandem of this calibre. Especially when you're talking about a young 'first year starter' who was told he was going to be 'the guy' and that was the general expectation out there...and then we go to essentially a 'win and you're in' setup, where it looks like neither guy is really the 'number 1'. Tough on a young guys psyche.
Regardless of goaltending, which is not an issue at all, the team needs work.
I saw a lot more hustle tonight, and a lot more effort, but I still need to see some offensive creativity for the players we have on this team. It's getting ridiculous watching the dump and chase over and over to no avail.
Not even gonna talk about special teams.
It was nice to see the improved effort and intensity tonight. That's been a serious issue lately, and it was much better for most of tonight. But outside the Twins, we're far more of a 'blue collar team' than the Blue Jackets right now. Part of that due to injuries and guys missing, but the offensive creativity with this team in the bottom-9 is just zilch.
I also like Garrison and Hamhuis, but that means one of two things
1) We will have Edler and Bieksa together, which is pretty scary despite them having some success in the past if my memory serves me right
2) Edler/Bieksa on the third pairing which imo will never happen, Would obviously be Tanev coming up to probably be paired with Edler
I think we will probably go with
Hamhuis-Bieksa
Edler Garrison
Ballard Tanev
2 pairings that have been solid in the past and I have faith in Edler Garrison becoming a great pair
I like that the Hamhuis-Garrison pairing has been working, but i agree with what you've got there for when Bieksa is back.
Ultimately, for the long-term, Bieksa is half the player he can be when he's away from Hamhuis. And in that regard, i think we really need to see if that Edler-Garrison pairing can actually work, with Garrison on the Right side this time. Because if that isn't going to work, and we've got $9.2M worth of NTC blueliners who need to play with Hamhuis to get the most out of them...and that's a problem.
Maybe we can let it ride for a few games with Bieksa on the bottom-pairing to send a message...but sooner or later, something's gotta give there. And it would be nice to know where we stand with that Edler-Garrison pairing well before the deadline. If Garrison can't babysit Edler...our defence looks like a mess of guys clambering to play with Hamhuis.