I think things came to easy for the team last year and this year they're learning the importance of an 82 game effort. Next season I'm expecting an out of the gate good performance, especially from the young stars (still on the team).
Both Duchene and Landeskog look more right now than they did a month ago. They're faster and stronger. Landeskog doesn't lose his edge all the time. Duchene manages to hold off players when he's got his back against them.
I thought Duchene has been doing well holding off opponents. He was holding off Hedman a lot and Hedman is no marshmallow.
He's just barely hanging on a lot of the time doing everything he can to shield the D man away from the puck, but he's not moving his feet quick enough, so they don't lead to anywhere near as dangerous scoring chances as they used to. Sometimes that's due to his linemates, but he's also not giving himself much room with his skating, and he's not making good shots or passes on most plays. It's a confidence issue and he's trying to work his way through it, but he's not there yet. He seems like he's trying to will his way to a scoring chance on every play, which speaks to how hard he's working, but he's not a power forward like Landy. He's got a different skill set.
Bingo. There it is. Thats what I noticed aswell. Matts not as strong or thick as foppa to be able to just protect and glide to the front of the net. Matt needs to move his feet alot more and hes not. When he moves his feet while shielding he is a handful and one of two things usually happens. 1) A scoring chance 2) Defenders are forced to hold or trip him unless they want him going to the front of the net.
Duchene seems like he's barely holding off guys lately though. He tries to play a similar Peter Forsberg spin/protect the puck game, but Peter was able to play this game because of how brutally strong on his skates he was. Dutchy has his success with that style through quickness. He's gotten away from that though.
He seems to make the move and then stop skating, and tries to just shield the puck. Probably because he's lost confidence from running into guys after telegraphing the move, and now he's just trying to keep from turning the puck over. He's got to be unpredictable again, and explode out of the move and keep moving his feet. That's how his spin moves have worked for him in the past.
I'm not sure where they keep the stat (maybe it was on one of the stat sites that's no longer updated) but I believe Duchene last year was among the leaders in penalties drawn. I bet you he's waaaay down on that stat this year because of his approach to his down low play. He's just not exploding away from the coverage forcing the opposition to trip or hold him as much. He just shields the puck like a power forward and the opposing player is able to stay close to him and block the shooting and passing lanes, because they're not as worried about getting burned on a play with his quickness.
We used to look that up on ExtraSkater. I'm sure some other site tracks it but most of them make my eyes bleed. Maybe the NHL has it somewhere in their new stat section.
A little different way to look at it, penalties drawn per 60. Duchene was 1.5 last year, 1.3 this year but only down from 16th in the league to 22nd. MacKinnon is 7th and surprised me who was 12th, Everberg?? I can't even recall one penalty he drew. I even filtered guys who had at least 30 games to take the small sample sizes out.
http://www.behindthenet.ca/nhl_stat...+3+5+4+6+7+8+13+14+29+30+32+33+34+45+46+63+67
I've seen you bring this up a few times but I feel like you must not be paying attention lately. He physically overpowered Hedman several times last night and has shown a lot of power lately. Sure he's gotten stopped sometimes because other teams don't give him room anymore. They know the spin move and are prepared. Any time they give him an inch of room between them and the boards he manages to power through though.
I'm watching every game. I think you're confusing not turning the puck over, with generating scoring chances the way he used to with his spin moves. He doesn't give himself nearly the room he used to with his quickness, and isn't making as accurate of passes or shots.
Guys ,
we need someone to make tonight's GDT against the Preds . a volonter would be really appreciated
i'm in. i'll get started now
i'm in. i'll get started now
Didn't catch the game, missed the MacK hat trick.
How did Elliott and Redmond look as a pairing?
Judging from the highlight reel, Brad Stuart didn't have a great game.
Major props to whoever is rocking a visor. Either somebody was late leaving their shift at dairy queen and couldn't change in time for the game or they're just a ****ing legend.