Analyzer*
Guest
The other one was at 1000 posts. Here's the last 4 posts.
Dogs next game is Saturday I believe and then they're off until the 24th (?) when they play 3 games in 3 nights.
And yet, still manages to keep relatively good NHL competition off the board and away from scoring chances at a very good pace. If Diaz were 6'3 and bruising, nobody would question his effectiveness. And let me remind you, playstyle !> effectiveness.
I just hate his incredible regression with the puck on his stick. My frustration mounts with him because, with the rest of the team, he's terrible along the boards. Combine that with an inability to hold the line, make an accurate hard shot or accurate hard pass in the offensive zone.. I just have little patience for him right now. Again, like I said, a situation compounded mainly by the overall ineptitude of our current D core.
Diaz isn't necessarily garbage, but i find him incredibly inconsistent in his offensive game. He actually reminds me a lot of Stephane Robidas when he first broke in with the Habs. He never did anything that really got on my nerves, but he also seemed pretty useless at the same time. That said, Robidas kept getting playing time, and little by little he improved, to the point where by the time he was about 30-31, he was a really decent d-man. I don't really feel like waiting that long for Diaz to improve though, especially with guys with more upside in the minors waiting for their shot.
Honestly i'm going to keep saying this til the cows come home: trade Diaz, and trade him like now when he's getting consistent ice-time and looking like a decent d-man. In the near future (like 1-2 years) i find it very hard to believe that he'll be part of our D corps. If we wait til then to trade him, we'll get far less than what we'd get now. This is how you improve a team for the future.
Yeah, his offensive regression has really baffled and enraged me this season. The guy will miss the easiest opportunities to put a good shot on net and his play in the offensive zone has been on the Gorges/Bouillon level thus far this season. I'd say that he's playing like a less gritty (or less prone to put himself in a situation where he needs to take a hit to make a play) right-handed Gorges these days which is not a bad thing if we manage to re-sign if for a fair price.
Dogs next game is Saturday I believe and then they're off until the 24th (?) when they play 3 games in 3 nights.