The mistake off the glass was forgivable. However, as you pointed out, the defending in front of the net afterward was typical of Holl. Big man who doesn't use his body to his advantage at this level and constantly misses coverage. He has some good tools that he can't seem to put together on a consistent basis. He thinks he's a finesse Dman. If he's on our third pairing and playing limited minutes I can handle him on this roster. Not in our top 4.
In playoffs that would have created da loss .. hockey is a game of mistakes but those kinda mistakes where you lose your man in front of net are typically made by finese defense looking for offense and we have too many of those types .. we need 3 guys who play DEFENSE and 3 guys who can play more offensive role in playoffs .. right now MIX is bad .. Muzzy plus 2 defensive big guys incoming is required .. Sandin Dermy and Lily need to sit out these playoffs
He did the exact thing against New Jersey the other night. Obvious weak link and the team should be very concerned having him in the top 4 come playoff time.
Yes most times but last night he opted not to ENGAGE at all .. in fact he skated towards puck carrier who already had 2 guys on him and left his guy wide open
This isn't true. The only guy on the player who got the puck after the bounce was Tavares, and Tavares was chasing the play. That puck carrier became Holls man, not the man going to the net. Sandin even points to Holl to take puck.
Watch da replay it is crystal clear .. are you kidding with me? .. JT was chasing puck carrier wide, Sandin moved up from bottom of circle to defend/attack puck carrier which is correct position as a left side D and Holl is watching whole thing in a complete daze and does not even turn his head to cover his man on right side D who was at net .. he does absolutely NOTHING ZILCH except skate forward .. like I said he might as well have shot puck in his own net .. he is one of those guys who is in NOWHERE LAND on defense .. anyhow he learned his hockey somewhere in States where who da h*ll knows what they teach to defenders .. but it has nothing to do with proper defensive play
I don't think hes terrible, he just needs to be sheltered on the 3rd pairing. He's just not good enough as a #4 on a contender.
I mean if Muzzin comes back and finds his form I see absolutely no issue with that being our 2nd pairing. I would like more depth on the backend to insulate us from injuries or let us rotate based on specific match ups but I really do think people overlook what Holl actually is relative to the rest of the league. I consistently see people list replacements for him that are basically what he already is...or a worse player. Typically in our past a player like Holl gets chased out of town because they aren't good enough eventually land themselves on a different good team....and they win. As a fanbase we seem to need a whipping boy on defense. Just the way it is. I don't think it is exactly a coincidence that our worst defensive stretch of the season was with both Holl and Muzzin out of the lineup btw.
I've heard that American hockey coaches teach defenders completely off what they learned in Mighty Ducks movies.
