Even the first year I was really not enjoying the lazy play and non-existent forecheck. Voracek was fun. At some point Gus and Jenner got fed up and started working super hard and raised the bar a bit, and they had a great line with Laine for a couple months. But so much lazy crap from guys like Domi and Roslovic and really low standards for kids like Boqvist and Sillinger. There was no bottom to it.
Confirmed with Link: Jackets hire Dean Evason as head coach
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Even the first year I was really not enjoying the lazy play and non-existent forecheck. Voracek was fun. At some point Gus and Jenner got fed up and started working super hard and raised the bar a bit, and they had a great line with Laine for a couple months. But so much lazy crap from guys like Domi and Roslovic and really low standards for kids like Boqvist and Sillinger. There was no bottom to it.
I think Evason being a better coach, Sean Kuraly’s icetime, both Laine and Gaudreau not being very good at forechecking, rebounds, or attacking the net, the physical and overall breakout of our young forwards, the addition of Sean Monahan, the resurgence of Zack Werenski, and the fact that Evason hasn’t gotten the patented terrible goaltending from Elvis/Tarasov that both the other coaches did get regularly, are relevant to this entire conversation.
Elvis and Tarasov not having as many meltdowns might be partly because they're not facing as many shot attempts. We were right up there with San Jose giving up the most in the league over the preceding three seasons. Even if there is a shot block it's still a squat or other intense body movement. We're league average on shot attempts against per minute so far this year. I don't think it's the main factor but it helps.
Kuraly for his part continues to be great at getting the puck into the offensive zone and getting a whistle. He has the best defensive stats on our team right now. And zero goals against (no other forward has less than two against). And that's really saying something because the wingers he's been placed with had very negative reputations for defense (less so for JVR recently) prior to coming here. Good 4C in my opinion.
Feel free to post his TOI numbers.
Other than Laine being removed, IMO, this is 1 of the most important factors regarding the “change” of the team.
He sucks.
You can also feel free to post his TOI numbers, since you're the one who thinks it matters to the point I was making. Regardless of whether a guy has 80 minutes or 300 minutes at this point in the season, it's still fantastic to have no goals against.
