Observations XXI

[Flgatorguy87]

You really think another offensive weapon will make a difference? It's not the personnel, that's not the issue here.

Yeah that's a fair point. They'd probably put Simmonds behind the net or on the half wall even if they traded for him.

 

[Roman Yoshi]

Devils advocate: I truly believe getting another left handed option on the PP would do us wonders especially when Subban, Arvy and Forsberg come back.

We have way too many right handed shots which limits our passing on the PP and ability shooting angles.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Flgatorguy87]

Further Hartman evidence.

 

[Roman Yoshi]

I think you mean further Grimaldi evidence. Can we please give this guy more ice time?

 

[Flgatorguy87]

I think you mean further Grimaldi evidence. Can we please give this guy more ice time?

Yeah I noticed that, and he was noticeable last night. I don' think he necessarily creates scoring chances directly, but I am starting to see him drive possession more which makes me want to see him with better line mates for a longer stint.

 

[TitansVolsPreds615]

Hartman is having a killer year so far.

 

[Roman Yoshi]

Honestly, I'd play Grimaldi over Fiala right now on the top line.

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

You really think another offensive weapon will make a difference? It's not the personnel, that's not the issue here.

The next time I hear how much we NEED a "net-front presence" the mouse goes through the monitor.

 

[101st_fan]

Honestly, I'd play Grimaldi over Fiala right now on the top line.

For now that makes sense ... until Fiala returns to the level of play we've seen from him in the past.

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

For now that makes sense ... until Fiala returns to the level of play we've seen from him in the past.

I know most 40-60 point scorers are streaky (otherwise they'd be 80+ point scorers) but Fiala seems to need an exceptional amount of demoting to the 4th line to get his shit together. I'm not sure it's all that unusual (Smith needed quite a few years to be a more consistently-effective player when not scoring) but so very frustrating.

 

[Flgatorguy87]

I don't really get the Fiala hate. He produces scoring chances at a higher rate than about any on the team.

 

[101st_fan]

I don't really get the Fiala hate. He produces scoring chances at a higher rate than about any on the team.

I wouldn't call it hate. He has the talent ... most of us acknowledge that. The issue is that he isn't producing points. Chances are nice. Points matter.

 

[MrJoshua]

My frustration with Fiala has very little to do with his offensive production. It's his tendency to turn the puck over in very dangerous areas. He has a ton of offensive skill but a propensity to make very risky plays. He doesn't clear the zone well. He's a very frustrating player to me because the offensive skill is there, but the rest of his game isn't coming along at all like I'd hoped. If anything he seems to have gotten worse.

 

[GoldOnGold]

I had really hoped Fiala would take a step forward and become a solid ~60 point player this year. Considering he's under .5 PPG and the worst minus on the team by a huge margin (seriously, how is he -7 worse than the next worst player?), that doesn't seem likely to happen.

On the plus side, his contract should be cheap.

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

I don't really get the Fiala hate. He produces scoring chances at a higher rate than about any on the team.

For both teams!

 

[Flgatorguy87]

For both teams!

Ha, yeah I get the turnover frustration. He does really seem to push his game when he gets demoted on a line. Maybe that's the answer, as mentioned above.

 

[PredsV82]

So apparently All Star fan voting is getting under way soon. As much as I like having PK there (via the Montreal voters, it seems)I kinda hope Josi or Ekholm get to go this year. Rinne should be one if the Central goalies. FF9 could have made it as a forward this year but obviously not now.

 

[GoldOnGold]

Sissons is on pace for a 20/20 kind of season right now. Wonder how much money we'll give him this summer.

 

[PredsV82]

Sissons is on pace for a 20/20 kind of season right now. Wonder how much money we'll give him this summer.

Hes an RFA so it's a question of whether he thinks he can hit an even higher ceiling or he will be happy with security. I think Poile would be willing to give him 4 or 5 years at 2.5 to 3 per and I think hed be smart to take that.

 

[INDhockeyfan]

Sissons is on pace for a 20/20 kind of season right now. Wonder how much money we'll give him this summer.

Once Forsberg and Arvy are back his ice time is going to go down and he's not going to be on that pace. Same thing with Hartman. Don't be looking at the pace right now as it isn't going to be accurate once Sissons goes back to being a role player and not looked at to score.

 

[Scoresberg]

I had really hoped Fiala would take a step forward and become a solid ~60 point player this year. Considering he's under .5 PPG and the worst minus on the team by a huge margin (seriously, how is he -7 worse than the next worst player?), that doesn't seem likely to happen.

On the plus side, his contract should be cheap.

Agreed, though I'm not concerned as long as I can see the talent there. He's still young, I truly believe he can still become that 55-60p winger we hope. He has all the tools for it.

 

[glenngineer]

I wouldn't call it hate. He has the talent ... most of us acknowledge that. The issue is that he isn't producing points. Chances are nice. Points matter.

Wins matter.

When Fiala plays with Johansen, they don't seem to click for whatever reason. He and Hartman seem to have some chemistry. Find a center to put between them and let the dice roll. The other option is have him on the third line where he's the main offensive focal point. He becomes more selfish in a good way with the puck and seems to drive the play more. When playing with better skilled players, I see him wanting to get them involved as opposed to driving the play on his own.

On a different note, when the team gets healthy, I'm sure we'll go back to JOFA, Turris/Smith/Fiala and Bones/Sissons/Watson as our top 3 lines. I hate the way these lines are constructed as we have a ton of size but lack speed with the Bones line and the Turris line lacks size but has good offensive output and speed. The JOFA line has a good balance to me. I'd love to see more balance in these other two lines and whether or not that means breaking up the JOFA line or not is debatable but the sum of the lines needs to be more balanced from a size, speed and offensive output standpoint for this team to succeed once the playoffs roll around.

I'd also pair PK with Josi and Ellis with Ekholm to balance out the d pairings as well. While Josi and Ellis are good defensively, they lack size against some of the bigger forward lines we'll see through the playoffs.

 

[adsfan]

For both teams!

When he came to Milwaukee, that was absolutely true. I would never duck out for a drink or a popcorn when he was on the ice.

Milwaukee had a player in the IHL days named Jeff Rohlicek. He could score 25 G, 20 A and be a -10 on the season. He didn't play defense.

 

[LCPreds]

Looks like Saros is starting tonight. I don’t like that I now have a feeling of ‘well, crap’ when I see that.

 

[Preds Partisan]

Looks like Saros is starting tonight. I don’t like that I now have a feeling of ‘well, crap’ when I see that.

I guess that means Saros gets CHI on Tuesday on the backend of the B2B with Rinne on Monday v. Ottawa.