News & Notes XLIV: Revenge of the Seth

[Blueline Bomber]

Honestly, I find Walker's appearance on the other two columns much more surprising and impressive. He's never really seemed like he was skating that fast to me.

 

[chaz4hockey]

Slavin's still got it..Walker zipping along as well



Necas doing ok as well

Was just going to post this.....I didn't realize how fast Tro was and Rangers have 3 on the list.

 

[CandyCanes]

Slavin's still got it..Walker zipping along as well



Necas doing ok as well

Honestly surprised that Chatfield is not on this list. Always seemed fast and seems to use his speed constantly to cover ground

 

[Svechhammer]

 

[chaz4hockey]

RBA--time to add Blake to the shootout list?

 

[chaz4hockey]

RBA blender at work today:

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Oh my God, would you just reunite the Robinson - KK - Necas line? It's getting ridiculous. And breaking up Aho and Jarvis doesn't seem wise either.

 

[baconandbread]

Oh my God, would you just reunite the Robinson - KK - Necas line? It's getting ridiculous. And breaking up Aho and Jarvis doesn't seem wise either.

Right?!!! Also the best Svech has looked this season was playing with Staal

 

[Big Daddy Cane]

You wonder when Rod and/or Gleason shakes up the defense. The 3rd pairing has great underlying numbers, but the end results have been ass over the past few weeks. 5v5, Gostsisbehere - Walker is -8 over the past 10 games. Without either on the ice, they were +4 in that sample.

 

[Svechhammer]

You wonder when Rod and/or Gleason shakes up the defense. The 3rd pairing has great underlying numbers, but the end results have been ass over the past few weeks. 5v5, Gostsisbehere - Walker is -8 over the past 10 games. Without either on the ice, they were +4 in that sample.

lol shake up the defense?

Nah man those lines are carved in stone. It would take an act of god or an injury to change any of that.

But with the forward lines, you're always one sideeye from Brindy away from everything going into flux because.... reasons?

 

[WreckingCrew]

RBA blender at work today:

Damn KK had like 1 bad game and instantly got 4C demotion. Jarvy does everything right and gets saddled with Staal...again. Svech has struggled mightily and gets 2LW, but with guys he probably has 0 chemistry with which seems doomed to fail.

We should maybe try overload the first line Svech - Aho - Jarvy? Go back to the Robinson - KK - Necas 2nd line that was really clicking. Nookie - Staal - Roslo/Carrier & Blake - Drury - Roslo/Carrier?

 

[robbieberns]

Those lines feel like a collective punishment for Saturday’s result. Don’t want to show up? No chemistry lines for all!

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

The line of Robinson-KK-Necas hasn't been as good 5v5 as many of you think.

Of the 6 line combinations with 50+ minutes together 5v5:
- they have the worst xGF%
- they are 4th out of 6 for GF%. (They've scored the most goals, but given up the most goals against).

All while being sheltered and facing the easiest competition with the most ozone starts, and still having the worst possession numbers (CF%, xGF%, etc..) of all 12 forwards. KK also has the worst FO% of any center by a full 6% points.

Necas has been on fire and shooting well above his statistical average, which covered up many of that line's sins.

 

[Svechhammer]

In case anyone wonders why Brindy will never get into the HoF

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

In case anyone wonders why Brindy will never get into the HoF

Do we know that Francis doesn't like Brindy? They were next door neighbors in Raleigh.

Certainly Francis and Olczyk don't like Dundon, but Rod had nothing to do with the Canes moving on from Francis or even Forslund.

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

RBA--time to add Blake to the shootout list?

Is that Svech talking crap? lol

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Is that Svech talking crap? lol

I think that’s KK. Clearest image at 19 seconds

 

[hblueridgegal]

Thoughts? It is starting to sound a little like the Haula situation again.

Is he gonna spank everyone for Saturday's sh*tshow, too?

The thread continues for several more posts.

I saw some commentary that folks are getting tired of RBA's post-game word salads instead of just stating how things are re: team play and individual performances.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Rod plays favorites. We know that.

KK had a bad game with two turnovers leading to goals against. Roslovic has done that consistently for 4-6 games now. Drury was promoted to the 2nd line, but has only 2 points in his last 10 games. And it was a lost faceoff by Drury that led directly to Florida's last second goal in the 2nd period on Saturday. Why RBA went with Drury (who was struggling in the dot that game) vs Staal (who was around 70% at the time), I couldn't tell you.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Let's keep some of facts in the forefront though. This is how KK ranks among Canes Forwards:

1) KK has been the MOST sheltered of any center.
2) KK has the worst 5v5 CF% of any forward.
3) KK has the worst 5v5 xGF% of any center (and 2nd worst xGF% of any forward)
4) KK has the worst 5v5 HDCA of any center (and 3rd worst of any forward.
5 ) KK has the worst 5v5 FO% by six percentage points over any other center.

Like I said above, Necas's shooting % way above the norm is hiding a lot of sins of that line.

If all his metrics were great, even with sheltered minutes, then people would be justified in complaining about his usage, but they aren't.

 

[A Star is Burns]

Oh good, a couple of rough games with perfectly reasonable excuses/reasons in an otherwise excellent season and we've reached the bash Brindy's every decision stage of things. Production or not, I still don't see a ton of difference in Koko. He's fine. I don't think he's above moving up or down when trying to find chemistry on as many lines as possible instead of just one or two lines.

Big fan of @Boom Boom Apathy dropping kick ass bombs on the narrative machine.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Oh good, a couple of rough games with perfectly reasonable excuses/reasons in an otherwise excellent season and we've reached the bash Brindy's every decision stage of things. Production or not, I still don't see a ton of difference in Koko. He's fine. I don't think he's above moving up or down when trying to find chemistry on as many lines as possible instead of just one or two lines.

How can anyone expect to build chemistry if they're with a different linemate every game? Sometimes even every period? Sure, there are some instances of instant chemistry, but we kept the same lines/lineup for about a month, and now we're using the blender every game.

Now don't get me wrong, the performance last game was Pathetic with a capital P and rolling with the same lines next game doesn't make sense. So I get switching them up. But there's got to be a rhyme or reason for the new lines, or else it just seems like he's throwing things together to see what sticks.

Right now, the only constants in the forward group is "Aho is on the top line, Staal is on the 3rd, KK is on the bottom with Blake". Every other forward has jumped around.

 

[chaz4hockey]

FWIW: I stand by my earlier comment that JR or KK are the moves that Tulsky should consider to improve the team by the trade deadline

 

[Borsig]

FWIW: I stand by my earlier comment that JR or KK are the moves that Tulsky should consider to improve the team by the trade deadline

Espiecally KK. Time to go. I'm sick of waiting.

 

[MinJaBen]

How can anyone expect to build chemistry if they're with a different linemate every game?

I think Rod would probably argue that chemistry is not necessary if everyone is playing the system the right way. Look at how well Martinook plays when elevated to a higher line than usual. He doesn’t instantly get chemistry with those new guys, but he plays the system the way Rod wants and it usually gets results.