Sorinth
Registered User
- Jan 18, 2013
- 11,829
- 6,576
Seems like a strange time to make these claims. Our most recent good result was very much from guys like Dach and Newhook succeeding even though Evans did score again.Not sure if I'd call Evans shooting at 27% "our young core succeeding". I'd be 100% off team tank if the recent good results came from the likes of Slafkovsky, Dach or Newhook playing at a newfound elite level, but that is just not the case. Aside from Hutson being a bright new spot, every U23 player on the team has either stagnated in their development or even regressed, and yet the team is clawing wins with good goaltending and bottom-6 players suddenly finding a new gear during a contract year. That's not a recipe for success, that's a recipe for disaster.
People overreact all the time when the pendulum swings in either direction, but the underlying numbers have stayed essentially the same during the whole season, and a bottom 5 finish is still the most likely course. Just got to hope that the goalies won't steal too many wins and that the likes of Evans or Armia either cool down or get traded for picks/prospects.
And the underlying numbers have changed fairly significantly over the past month and a half. During the first 15 games of the season we were 31st in CF%, 29th in GF%, and 31st in xGF%, since then we are 20th, 18th, and 23rd respectively. We were bottom-3 to start the season and have moved up to just outside the bottom-10, that's simply not "staying essentially the same during the whole season, and a bottom 5 finish is still the most likely course".