Injury Report: Karlsson - Achilles Tendon - Practicing w Team, May Return to Lineup Soon - Part II

[Milan the God*]

The Rangers didn't neutralize Karlsson at all. Check the stats. He had the most shots on goal and by a wide margin.

Lundqvist was the difference. Nobody could beat him. The chances were still there.

This x10.

Karlsson was brilliant in that series. If you can't go back and watch the games, at least turn on the highlights. You see Karlsson set up many chances each game. We ran into a red hot goalie, plus an insane collapsing defense who blocked everything.

Karlsson was magnificent in the playoffs. He was also strong in the Pittsburgh series in 2010. Anyone remember when he logged 40+ minutes as a rookie defenseman in the triple overtime? I bet if he was at his current level he would be logging close to 50 minutes in that game.

 

[Beville]

Think about this...

Obviously a doctor/surgeon must'be told the Sens staff or Karlsson how severe his injury was...

Let's imagine the first person told was EK, with his language barrier (of sorts)...

What if said Dr/Surgeon said you've got 70% of your Achilles left, but EK misinterpreted it to him saying you've lost 70% of it...

Conspiracy theory

 

[McManked]

Karlssons Impact on Defence

Will Karlsson bump out Wiercioch or Gryba?

To me it's not close and he bumps out Gryba, but if McLean chose Gryba over Wiercioch we would have 3LD and 3RD which would be nice.

What do you think?

 

[Yokai]

The pairings would be tough to put together due to how Wiercioch has played this season. Ideally I think PM would want Wiercioch in to provide the 2nd PP unit with a good puck mover, however, when it comes to even strength pairings I'm not sure how good a Phillips-Wiercioch pairing would be. I'd assume the other pairings would be:

Methot-Karlsson
Cowen-Gonchar

They could run:

Methot-Karlsson
Wiercioch-Gonchar
Cowen-Gryba

We've seen all of these pairings this year and they have worked to some degree. The only issue with them is that now your assistant captain is sitting in the press box. I'm guessing they will just have to play around a bit to see who fits best with Phillips or Gonchar. Only real advantage to sitting Wiercioch is that he could help Binghamton while Gryba is now subject to waivers I believe.

 

[LuckyPierre]

Gryba is outstanding...when he doesn't handle the puck. Weircioch is mediocre aside from when he handles the puck.

Gryba plugs in, as Karlsson is a puck mover extraordinaire.

 

[John Holmes*]

Assuming that they were not using advanced calculus to measure the amount of the tendon cut, you could ballpark it at more than half.

A clean slice, repaired immediately in a young professional athlete's body...

Rehabbing with the best available technology and methods.

Its not hard to believe that he is ahead of the projected time frame to heal.

Plus, he is not back yet.

 

[YNWA14]

I'm a big Spezza supporter, and if he comes back for the playoffs, that would be huge, but Spezza was god awful in the playoffs last year. To me, Spezza and Michalek were the main reasons we didn't get by the Rangers last year.

Mmk. Led our team in points, created most of the offence on our team, 54% face-off percentage and an on-ice CORSI of 28.53 (for what it's worth Karlsson's CorsiON was only 23.95)...if you say so. Spezza drove possession when he was on the ice. But I guess if he's not giving the puck away at centre ice nobody notices the good things he does.

The Rangers didn't neutralize Karlsson at all. Check the stats. He had the most shots on goal and by a wide margin.

Lundqvist was the difference. Nobody could beat him. The chances were still there.

Ok. Having the most shots on goal from bad angles is deceptive. Karlsson didn't look at all like the dominant Karlsson we're used to in the playoffs last year. It's ok though, he's the golden boy and Spezza is the whipping boy and the cycle continues. It was always the same with Alfredsson. Even if Alfredsson was playing like **** he was way better than Spezza no matter what.

 

[H2O]

Will Karlsson bump out Wiercioch or Gryba?

To me it's not close and he bumps out Gryba, but if McLean chose Gryba over Wiercioch we would have 3LD and 3RD which would be nice.

What do you think?

I have a feeling Wier is the odd man out. Not a bad thing to have 4 big defensive Ds.

 

[WhiteLight*]

Well I didn't see the Caps game. But I heard Phillips - Methot did a great job against Ovechkin.

So, why not keep them together as the shutdown pair? I too would rather keep Wiercioch in over Gryba, so playing Methot on the right would allow the Sens to do that.

I suggest the same pairings as they are now, except Gryba --> Karlsson.

Cowen - Karlsson
Phillips - Methot
Wiercioch - Gonchar

With the 2nd pair getting all the tough matchups, the other 2 pairs will dominate against weaker competition.


Methot - Karlsson was solid, but that's because both guys are solid (to say the least). I think their chemistry is overstated though. I think Cowen could have amazing chemistry with Karlsson, we've seen it before.

 

[Pierre from Orleans]

Am I missing something here? Karlsson is already ready to get back on the ice to play some games?

 

[Kickabrat]

Well I didn't see the Caps game. But I heard Phillips - Methot did a great job against Ovechkin.

So, why not keep them together as the shutdown pair? I too would rather keep Wiercioch in over Gryba, so playing Methot on the right would allow the Sens to do that.

I suggest the same pairings as they are now, except Gryba --> Karlsson.

Cowen - Karlsson
Phillips - Methot
Wiercioch - Gonchar

With the 2nd pair getting all the tough matchups, the other 2 pairs will dominate against weaker competition.

Methot - Karlsson was solid, but that's because both guys are solid (to say the least). I think their chemistry is overstated though. I think Cowen could have amazing chemistry with Karlsson, we've seen it before.

So Methot and Phillips end up getting more ice time than Karlsson? Putting Karlsson on the ice with the other team's top line, effectively neutralizes that top line because they now have to play more defense than offense. PW is the odd man out because in the playoffs, defense always trumps offense, so Gryba gets the nod. Next year, PW takes over Gonchar's spot.

 

[SlapJack]

Gryba should stay in over Weircioch, no question. Gryba can play tough minutes and Karlsson will bring enough offence back to replace 3 Weircioch's

 

[guyzeur]

When Karlsson is back to 100% it's going to be awesome. His endurance is really underrated. He can play two minute shifts and still look fresh. He can play 30 minutes a game and still look fresh.

I think next season we should play Karlsson 32-35 minutes per game. We're a much, much better team when he's on the ice.

Because when skating at 80% he's faster than most players in the NHL. He doesn't need the same amount of oxygenation as everyone else.

 

[YNWA14]

When Karlsson comes back, if he comes back, I'd like to see this:

Methot - Karlsson
Cowen - Gonchar
Phillips - Gryba

I like the idea of pairing Karlsson and Gonchar each with someone that is very defensively responsible and physical because it allows them to take a few more chances offensively which is something we desperately need on this team moving forward.

 

[BeerandHockey]

Gryba should stay in over Weircioch, no question. Gryba can play tough minutes and Karlsson will bring enough offence back to replace 3 Weircioch's

Or in medical terms triphalic terata

 

[WhiteLight*]

So Methot and Phillips end up getting more ice time than Karlsson? Putting Karlsson on the ice with the other team's top line, effectively neutralizes that top line because they now have to play more defense than offense. PW is the odd man out because in the playoffs, defense always trumps offense, so Gryba gets the nod. Next year, PW takes over Gonchar's spot.

Well no. 1st line forwards don't play half the game. 20-22 minutes for Phillips - Methot would allow them to be on the ice against 1st lines most of the time. That way the 1st line can be neutralized... and Karlsson can wreck havoc on the low end players. Also, giving Karlsson 25-27 min right off the bat like you're implying might not be best.


Let's say Karlsson spends 70% of his time with the puck/on offense and 30% on defense when he face top players. Well when he would face worse players he could spend 90% of his time on offense.

Last year, the Sens simply had no other options. Karlsson was the clear cut best option to play vs top players. Now Karlsson may still be the best option, but the rest of the D corps have proven they can do a mighty fine job of playing D without him. Just let Karlsson focus on offense and rip the other team to shreds.



As for Wiercioch vs Gryba.... if Gryba is in then he is likely paired with Phillips. I don't know if I want that. It's an OK 3rd pair but it's not ideal and Wiercioch's puck movement is more important. PW's PP presence would also be important. Seriously though, there are enough defensive d-men.

 

[delchief]

There were a lot of people throwing in the towel on this season (not on THIS site, of course.... ) after Spezza, Karlsson, Michalek, and Anderson went down. I heard more than one person say "Well, we're in a rebuild anyway. Let this season go, get a great pick, and come back strong next year.".

Ridiculous job by the coaching staff and management to keep the team competitive. I'm glad that they realize there really is no such thing as a "rebuild". You try to win ALL the time because you never know when the stars might align. I wanted the boys to keep griniding out wins simply because a winning culture trumps a losing culture every time. I wanted the team to work their ***** off all the time and continue to play the system PM had implemented even with lesser skill in the lineup. I could live with losses if they did this. But even I never expected this level of success on top of the return of Cowen, Michalek, and Karlsson. Perhaps those stars are indeed aligning.....

..... man would an ass-kicking of the Leafs put a cherry on top of this fun little ride.........

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

Mmk. Led our team in points, created most of the offence on our team, 54% face-off percentage and an on-ice CORSI of 28.53 (for what it's worth Karlsson's CorsiON was only 23.95)...if you say so. Spezza drove possession when he was on the ice. But I guess if he's not giving the puck away at centre ice nobody notices the good things he does.



Ok. Having the most shots on goal from bad angles is deceptive. Karlsson didn't look at all like the dominant Karlsson we're used to in the playoffs last year. It's ok though, he's the golden boy and Spezza is the whipping boy and the cycle continues. It was always the same with Alfredsson. Even if Alfredsson was playing like **** he was way better than Spezza no matter what.

Alfredsson was a whipping boy in the playoffs all the way up until 2007.

 

[DylanSensFan]

When Karlsson comes back, if he comes back, I'd like to see this:

Methot - Karlsson
Cowen - Gonchar
Phillips - Gryba

I like the idea of pairing Karlsson and Gonchar each with someone that is very defensively responsible and physical because it allows them to take a few more chances offensively which is something we desperately need on this team moving forward.

It would be nice to have to D-line power play units, rather than one.

Karlsson-Gonchar
Wiercioch-Cowen.

 

[sens613]

If Karlsson is indeed able to play game 1 , I have a feeling wier sits. Not a huge Gryba fan but he has played a lot of big minutes so far this year and done OK. That being said I would not rule out their being a bit of a revolving door at the 6 spot where they take turns watching from the press box.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Weireriecoch should be sent down once Karlsson returns IMO

Although I haven't keep track of his ice-time he was playing the easiest minutes on the team not too long ago; if that is still the case send him down to Bingo and let him dominate for the rest of the year and hopefully in the playoffs and then re-evaluate next year.

Alfredsson was a whipping boy in the playoffs all the way up until 2007.

Very much so

He was the one Pominville blew past by to score the shorthanded goal in OT that would eliminate us in the 2006 playoffs
He promised a win against Toronto in 2004 prior to Game 7 (that's fine, I loved the gusto) and played a pretty bad game (this though; not so much)

He came up short on a fairly regular basis prior to the Cup Run but I still liked him, but that SH OT goal was as damning as they get. He made up for it in the following year though!

 

[malcolmedge]

IF Karlsson comes back for the playoffs or a couple regular season games expect them to run a 7D roster. Gryba and Weir will be rotated, depending on the seeding and matchup either could be valuable.

Say we play the Jets, I believe a more offensive approach would be better. Play the Caps and you need a more balanced game. Habs you can go a little more offensive on the back end as it is mainly the Habs D leading them in both zones. Bruins, way more defensive.

No matter where the Sens fall, 5th-6th-7th I am comfortable and confident playing any of the 4, with Karlsson. Without him we all know what teams we do not want to play.

Erik and Andy can win series themselves. Erik can control a game with what looks like ease.

 

[OgieO]

Will Karlsson bump out Wiercioch or Gryba?

To me it's not close and he bumps out Gryba, but if McLean chose Gryba over Wiercioch we would have 3LD and 3RD which would be nice.

What do you think?

My personal opinion is we'd see both, but Gryba would play more than Weircioch. Something like 2/3rds for Gryba 1/3rd for Weircioch. Not sure MacLean really trusts Wiercioch yet.

 

[V for Voodoo]

No sending anyone down, whether its Wier or Gryba. Theyve both earned the chance to stay up and soak in the playoff atmosphere, even if they have to take a seat. Plus you cant have enough depth if you are gearing up for a run.

 

[HockeySens]

Waive Lundin, keep wier and Gryba, Put weir against a team that doesnt score often and Gryba against a potent offensive opponent

EDIT: didnt the sens make gryba and hoffman eligible for ahl playoffs a few weeks ago