GDT: Game 4 | Vancouver @ Columbus | 7 PM EST | Someone’s 0 Must Go

[Halberdier]

I like how Blankenburg acted on ice, on bench and on the interview like an assistant captain. Very mature guy on that sense and I guess he keeps up the great spirit and makes people around him better by example.

As said, some of his decisions weren't good, but he is brave, he is a fighter and that's good. I hope he stays in the lineup for long and keeps his spirit up.

 

[DEF]

Getting some love on Sports Center this morning.

 

[koteka]

Blankenburg pleases eye. However the 2-0 was his fault and he almost gave up another. Some decisions were not good, though I'd say all his decisions were pretty brave.

Blankenberg does things fans and teammates like. Like hit bigger guys hard. I don’t know if anyone can measure the impact of Blankenberg hitting (former Buckeye) Dakota Joshua on team morale. He does make mistakes, but I think people are willing to look past them because he is like a defensive Matt Calvert. I just wonder how many bigger guys he can hit without hurting himself.

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

I watched the game a bit here and there last night and I swear I kept noticing Blankenburg and hearing his name every single time I turned back to the game

I was shocked to notice this was his first game this season.

 

[Doggy]

Blankenberg does things fans and teammates like. Like hit bigger guys hard. I don’t know if anyone can measure the impact of Blankenberg hitting (former Buckeye) Dakota Joshua on team morale. He does make mistakes, but I think people are willing to look past them because he is like a defensive Matt Calvert. I just wonder how many bigger guys he can hit without hurting himself.

Let's not forget this is also a guy who has only played ten NHL games. Sure he's a little older but that doesn't mean he has more NHL experience. Let's see if he is still making all the same mistakes halfway through the season...the kid appears to be hockey smart and I bet he still has room to improve.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Watched the 3rd + OT on record after seeing the highlights.

Gaudreau really took over jeez. Could have easily had 2-3 more points.

Once Laine comes back look out. He's gonna miss 10 games and still score 50.

Blankenburg also had to a noticeable game for you guys. Reminds me a bit of Kevin Bieksa. Not afraid to mix it up despite not being the biggest guy, and loves to jump up as a 4th forward. Has to settle down a bit in his own zone but that'll come with experience.

 

[GoJackets1]

Blanks might have been “at fault” for the 2-0 goal, but let’s be real. That was a really lucky goal.

Sometimes there are things advanced stats can’t measure. Blanks had a huge impact on the team tonight, and was noticeable every time he was on the ice.

I really hope he can keep a regular spot. I also hope that Gud or Bean is the guy whose spot he takes.

 

[MAHJ71]

 

[spintheblackcircle]

Blanks might have been “at fault” for the 2-0 goal, but let’s be real. That was a really lucky goal.

The percent of goals the Jackets have given up this season that have gone off skates or butts is about 33%. Crazy puck luck

 

[GoJackets1]

The percent of goals the Jackets have given up this season that have gone off skates or butts is about 33%. Crazy puck luck

Yep. Just crazy bad luck.

It reminds me of my f***ing beer league team. Or maybe we’re just bad.

 

[NotWendell]

Blankenberg does things fans and teammates like. Like hit bigger guys hard. I don’t know if anyone can measure the impact of Blankenberg hitting (former Buckeye) Dakota Joshua on team morale. He does make mistakes, but I think people are willing to look past them because he is like a defensive Matt Calvert. I just wonder how many bigger guys he can hit without hurting himself.

Defensive Matt Calvert is an excellent description!

 

[NotWendell]

Voracek was so good last season, that his current state is quite shocking. But I expect him to bounce back. He might have some nagging injury.

Gudbransson is also slowly getting better. Not a 4M guy, but like 3rd pair 2-3M guy if he can get better.

Some guys just start slowly for whatever reason (Bobrovsky for example). Can't discount the fact he's playing a new system with new teammates. I suspect he'll continue to improve.

 

[Marioesque]

That is the reason he has to be the 1st line center. It's a great advantage to start with the puck that often, and offensive players need to have the puck to be most useful.

 

[Monk]

That is the reason he has to be the 1st line center. It's a great advantage to start with the puck that often, and offensive players need to have the puck to be most useful.

There's a lil joke here about the correlation between the #1 center's excellent FO percentage and the poor record of the team, given how important faceoffs are, but I'll let it go.

 

[Johansen2Foligno]

Defensive Matt Calvert is an excellent description!

Let's hope he is not up and down like a toilet seat!

 

[Monk]

Let's hope he is not up and down like a toilet seat!

How dare you.

 

[majormajor]

Unfortunately still not able to watch the damn games.

Most seem to agree Blanks was one of (if not the best) the best Jackets dmen tonight, now would be nice to hear from Scheig or Bob how surprising that is...

"Don't be surprised if D Nick Blankenburg is back in the lineup again this year. He's small but plays with energy".

Also let's give a tiny bit of respect to Hedger who projected Blanks as Werenski's D partner for this year. Who knows if it will stay that way, but Hedge was closer to the mark than all the bozos who pigeonholed Blanks as a #7 guy.

Let's take a look where Blankenburg is on that "Impact Card" chart... hmm, 4th to last. That's fascinating.

...........



You think there's any chance Dom's Impact Cards are in some ways faulty?

Blanks wasn't our best player last night. He gets the kepi because he dragged everyone into the fight.

 

[stevo61]

Hopefully that was the spark the team needs. Crazy how out of sync everyone looked for damn near 10 periods of hockey but the last couple were encouraging

 

[Fred Glover]

"Don't be surprised if D Nick Blankenburg is back in the lineup again this year. He's small but plays with energy".

Also let's give a tiny bit of respect to Hedger who projected Blanks as Werenski's D partner for this year. Who knows if it will stay that way, but Hedge was closer to the mark than all the bozos who pigeonholed Blanks as a #7 guy.



Blanks wasn't our best player last night. He gets the kepi because he dragged everyone into the fight.

And sometimes dragging everyone into the fight is just what this team needs

 

[cbjthrowaway]

That is the reason he has to be the 1st line center. It's a great advantage to start with the puck that often, and offensive players need to have the puck to be most useful.

there were 181 skaters last year who took 200+ face-offs. quite a few 1Cs were near the bottom of the list. jack hughes was 179th in face-off win percentage last year. zegras and stutzle were both in the bottom ten with him, and malkin, kuznetsov and pettersson were all in the bottom 30.

fun stat time from that dataset:
- guys in the top 30 for FO% with under 20 points last year: 10
- guys in the bottom 30 for FO% with under 20 points last year: 10

in other words, there doesn't appear to be a correlation between a center's face-off percentage and their production. of course, production from the 1C spot is the jackets' biggest missing piece right now.

prowess in the dot is a luxury for 1C rather than a requirement. that's not to say that face-offs aren't important at all, just that their importance is overstated at the top of the lineup. most shifts start on the fly, and good supporting play can win the puck back after a FO loss.

what you need from a 1C is production, which largely comes from a blend of vision, hockey IQ, and skill. hughes and bergeron – at opposite ends of the face-off spectrum – both have those traits; that's what makes them 1Cs.

if the jackets' solution to the 1C problem is in-house, it's far more likely to come from kent johnson channelling pettersson/zegras than it would from wishing boone jenner would turn into anze kopitar.

 

[majormajor]

I liked that last night they went for a more balanced attack with a lot more dump and chase mixed in. They were still opportunistic in rushing when they had open ice but they didn't force it as much and bypassed the neutral zone when the Canucks got in the way. Dump and chase has a bad name around here but fans seem pretty happy when the team embraces it and you see guys attacking on the forecheck in unison.

I want to connect the dots to why some of our weaker breakout passers (Peeke and Gudbranson) looked better last night but I'll admit it's hard to prove those connections in one game. Theoretically though it's much easier for those D to connect with the forwards on a chip play where the forward just has to tip the puck in than it is on a breakout pass where the forward is expected to receive and carry the puck in motion. We don't have the passing talent from the back end to try and be pretty all the time.

 

[stevo61]

I liked that last night they went for a more balanced attack with a lot more dump and chase mixed in. They were still opportunistic in rushing when they had open ice but they didn't force it as much and bypassed the neutral zone when the Canucks got in the way. Dump and chase has a bad name around here but fans seem pretty happy when the team embraces it and you see guys attacking on the forecheck in unison.

I want to connect the dots to why some of our weaker breakout passers (Peeke and Gudbranson) looked better last night but I'll admit it's hard to prove those connections in one game. Theoretically though it's much easier for those D to connect with the forwards on a chip play where the forward just has to tip the puck in than it is on a breakout pass where the forward is expected to receive and carry the puck in motion. We don't have the passing talent from the back end to try and be pretty all the time.

Dump and no chase I think was the issue. I dont think any of us complain when they are actually laying the body and retrieving pucks. I kind of miss the energy lines of the past, especially a line like Calvert-Dubinsky-Atkinson

Also I think Gudbranson embraced the KISS method last night of keep it simple stupid and looked a lot better for it. Was also making more of an effort clearing lanes which was nice to see. Its scary Bean was the one standing out in a bad way to me. Had decent expectations for him after last year but he just looks lost.

 

[Marioesque]

if the jackets' solution to the 1C problem is in-house, it's far more likely to come from kent johnson channelling pettersson/zegras than it would from wishing boone jenner would turn into anze kopitar.

I agree, and that is where it's heading. Hopefully at some point this season. I would use him as 2nd line center first. But right now Boone has the faceoff ability over others, even though he isn't the most skilled center available. I'd like them to try Johnson there when Laine comes back and let them build a bit of chemistry.

 

[Doggy]

there were 181 skaters last year who took 200+ face-offs. quite a few 1Cs were near the bottom of the list. jack hughes was 179th in face-off win percentage last year. zegras and stutzle were both in the bottom ten with him, and malkin, kuznetsov and pettersson were all in the bottom 30.

fun stat time from that dataset:
- guys in the top 30 for FO% with under 20 points last year: 10
- guys in the bottom 30 for FO% with under 20 points last year: 10

in other words, there doesn't appear to be a correlation between a center's face-off percentage and their production. of course, production from the 1C spot is the jackets' biggest missing piece right now.

prowess in the dot is a luxury for 1C rather than a requirement. that's not to say that face-offs aren't important at all, just that their importance is overstated at the top of the lineup. most shifts start on the fly, and good supporting play can win the puck back after a FO loss.

what you need from a 1C is production, which largely comes from a blend of vision, hockey IQ, and skill. hughes and bergeron – at opposite ends of the face-off spectrum – both have those traits; that's what makes them 1Cs.

if the jackets' solution to the 1C problem is in-house, it's far more likely to come from kent johnson channelling pettersson/zegras than it would from wishing boone jenner would turn into anze kopitar.

While I understand your argument, its a little disingenuous to choose 200+ face-offs as the bar....especially when you consider six guys have already taken 90+ face-offs this year and we are just 3-5 games into the season. Stutzle (463), Zegras (544), Malkin (376), Petterson (540) and Hughes (343) may be the team's 1C or 2C but their team isn't trusting them to take their line's own face-offs more than half the time. I don't follow the league closely enough but someone else is taking them or the coach is not sending those lines out to take face-offs.

On the flip side Bergeron (1600), Tavares (1342), Giroux (1216), Toews (1336), Barkov (1252), Kopitar (1509), O'Reilly (1585), Mathews (1229)...you get the picture.

Clearly Laine and Gaudreau will not be taking face-offs so I assume you are suggesting we send Boone out to take more than half the face-offs when KJ91 is centering the top line. I guess while Laine is out if you play Danny with Gaudreau and KJ you could have Danny take the face-offs and then have him switch to wing right after the puck drop.

Winning face-offs is important but it sounds like you are discounting them all together. If they weren't so important then the guys you named at the bottom of the FOW% list would be taking the same number of face-offs as the guys at the top of the list. Which they are not. So I guess the coaches around the league do not fully agree with your argument.

 

[NotWendell]

Blankenburg pleases eye. However the 2-0 was his fault and he almost gave up another. Some decisions were not good, though I'd say all his decisions were pretty brave.

He did bring a lot to the team, but no way he was the "best player" or even the best D. The most visible D, for sure.

Impact cards / game scores tend to reflect the results or "what actually happened", not so much the "what could have happened". Eg. had Blankenburg not messed up the 2-0 and had him also been able to score from his sneaky attempt, his game score would have been pretty high. But that didn't happen.

Statistical data do not measure psychological impact - like Blank's two big hits, Olivier's kinda-fight, or the individual jaw-dropping effort of Gaud's goal (only that it was a goal, SOG and HDCF).