Post-Game Talk: Preds vs Edmonton Oilers (Oct 31 - 7:00)

[Armourboy]

No, but somehow I'm sure we'll screw that up too. "You want Tomsino for a conditional 6th round pick *next year*? DONE!"

Nah we will just waive him and lose him for nothing.

 

[Kat Predator]

Nah we will just waive him and lose him for nothing.

As long as we feel we tried him everywhere, it's all good.

 

[Mass]

Somehow they're going backwards. So sloppy with the passes, running into each other, don't even know what to call their attempts at defense. Feels just as bad as watching a Hynes team, or somehow worse. It's really hard to envision what Brunette wants this specific group to do on the ice. Other than pinch with no regard for human life and hope it works out.

 

[101st_fan]

The worst 5on5 goal scoring in the league correlating to a terrible record = least shocking fact combo you'll encounter today.

 

[Armourboy]

Somehow they're going backwards. So sloppy with the passes, running into each other, don't even know what to call their attempts at defense. Feels just as bad as watching a Hynes team, or somehow worse. It's really hard to envision what Brunette wants this specific group to do on the ice. Other than pinch with no regard for human life and hope it works out.

It's worse than Hynes. At least with Hynes if the guys were struggling he would circle the wagons, have his Dmen be more conservative, he would drive home to his forwards to be more responsible and then he would just hope we could get a goal or two somehow.

Brunette has literally changed nothing other than to roll players around. His Dmen continue to pinch, try and dig pucks out of corners and drive the net. He continues to try and play an uptempo game with an older team that should be playing smart rather than to try and run with the best skaters in hockey.

 

[nullednumbed]

Not one to usually call for a coaching change...but this season is quickly slipping away.

Might as well try and get a shot in the arm before there's just too much ground to catch up.

With the standard 'its still early' caveat, I am putting a lot of this on Trotz personally. From the beginning I was not thrilled with signing all of these old dudes to big money no-move deals. And I suppose I will always be sore over the way things turned out with giving Saros that bad contract and giving up on Askarov. Not saying it's easy, but prior to moving him was there not any single option out there to use him and the boatload of picks/prospects they have to find a decent Center?

As far as the team, the 4th line is as bad as I've seen in a long time, and while hoping its gets better, Stamkos does not look comfortable at all in Brunette's system. All in all some very good players, but they are not adding up to be a very good team.

 

[BigFatCat999]

So we call the Deutschland daddy?

 

[Kat Predator]

Somehow they're going backwards. So sloppy with the passes, running into each other, don't even know what to call their attempts at defense. Feels just as bad as watching a Hynes team, or somehow worse. It's really hard to envision what Brunette wants this specific group to do on the ice. Other than pinch with no regard for human life and hope it works out.

Just adding that the spacing a lot of times is poor and disorganized. You'll often see two or more of our guys trying to be in the exact same spot on the ice, guys taking themselves completely out of plays inexplicably, guys giving little effort, etc.

Also we can't score in part, because for long stretches of games all that we can manage to do is run around in the defensive zone—chasing clean, crisp passes—and then maybe get possession just to clear the puck for a change only to do it all over again.

 

[herzausstein]

As long as we feel we tried him everywhere, it's all good.

Tried him for 3 games in the bottom 6. What more do you want. Doesnt matter that we are absolutely last in the league in goals for at even strength. Wouldnt want to try too much different in the top 6.



Honestly to stop bleeding goals against, we might need to jettison the top line, bottom line, top pairing, and lauzon pairing. Theyve all just been ass defensively

 

[originalpredfan]

I have come to the realization that Bruno's "system" simply doesn't work when you have the second oldest team in the NHL. Whatever happened to the concept of you play to your teams strengths not its weaknesses. You don't put plow-horses to race with thoroughbreds. Either Bruno must change his "system" or Bruno needs to be changed. This team plays dazed and confused.

 

[Armourboy]

I don't think Brunette's system is that screwy compared to the rest of the league, but I think its in the little details of it that are throwing things for a loop.

Defensemen always crashing in, well except Schenn it seems. I'm sure in his head it sounds great, but in reality it is leaving the other Dman hanging out there and means you are depending on one of your forwards to cover. Now as a system that makes sense, but why in gods name do you want Carrier or Lauzon down by the goal when you could have Nyquist or Forsberg down there? That's where it doesn't make sense. This team doesn't have the Dmen to with the offensive skill set to be doing that to begin with. Heck even Josi hasn't been good this season.

He also seems highly inflexible, meaning it doesn't appear he is willing to adjust anything to the players he has on the ice. Heck maybe that's part of the young guys issues, they want to zag because it is what makes sense to be doing, but nope, Brunette always wants to zig, even if zigging ( this is getting a bit silly sounding ) makes zero sense.

I never thought I would see a coach that would make me happy to have Hynes back, but we are getting pretty damn close.

 

[glenngineer]

The comment Brunette made about how the players should be playing, with desperation, that's not a good word to be hearing this early in a season. Are they playing with desperation to win the game or to save his job or both?

 

[Flgatorguy87]

The comment Brunette made about how the players should be playing, with desperation, that's not a good word to be hearing this early in a season. Are they playing with desperation to win the game or to save his job or both?

Maybe it's just me, but I am so freaking sick of the team just needing to be more "desperate" after a loss. Is there a way we can get an actual tangible comment from the staff about where they are seeing deficits, so we have faith they are watching the same game??

 

[Predsanddead24]

Maybe it's just me, but I am so freaking sick of the team just needing to be more "desperate" after a loss. Is there a way we can get an actual tangible comment from the staff about where they are seeing deficits, so we have faith they are watching the same game??

That would require self reflection on the part of the coaching staff. Perhaps the problem isn’t a lack of effort but rather bad coaching and poor personnel decisions.

 

[101st_fan]

Maybe it's just me, but I am so freaking sick of the team just needing to be more "desperate" after a loss. Is there a way we can get an actual tangible comment from the staff about where they are seeing deficits, so we have faith they are watching the same game??

The real desperation is with the staff.

 

[herzausstein]

Doesnt desperation raise the probability of errors? I wouldnt think youd want to play with desperation as it would cause you to take unnecessary risks which can lead to more goals against. We dont have the speed to be constantly chasing the puck. Bruno's system seems like it would heavily favor younger and faster players but instead his coaching decisions seem to favor older and slower players. I honestly have no clue what he is trying to accomplish with his system.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

I can see the attraction in having a fast team which pressures and also provides an exciting on-ice product. But... again, as everybody is saying, do we actually have the players to execute this? I don't see it.

I think even in that system you could live with having a player like Stamkos as something of a lone ranger who doesn't have the same speed/tempo, but still serves a purpose as a PP trigger man. You don't necessarily need ALL 18 guys perfectly fitting the system and executing flawlessly. However, our problem is that maybe half or more of our team doesn't really fit it? We have slower depth players, less talented D, it's just hard to see the fit here.

So then sure, if you really want that system... go with the young guys. Live with their screwups while they learn. But at least they have the speed and talent to possibly grow into that system. Whereas we just have a critical mass right now of more plodding veterans who won't ever be able to and are essentially just blocking and delaying our ability to ice a lineup that could one day actually fit that style of play.

 

[glenngineer]

I will say this, while the game was still a game, Evangelista, Novak and Parssinen looked really good together, cycling the puck and having control in the offensive zone. We don't see this consistently. If we did, we'd wear other teams down, forcing them to make mistakes and resulting in penalties against them or goals. This is what we were really good at during our Cup run. That coupled with a relentless forecheck is hard to play against.

 

[Flgatorguy87]

I will say this, while the game was still a game, Evangelista, Novak and Parssinen looked really good together, cycling the puck and having control in the offensive zone. We don't see this consistently. If we did, we'd wear other teams down, forcing them to make mistakes and resulting in penalties against them or goals. This is what we were really good at during our Cup run. That coupled with a relentless forecheck is hard to play against.

I liked Pars game last night as well, and Novak. Vange is still too indecisive for me. He played a good game on the boards for the most part, but coming into the zone he tends to peel back and wait and wait and wait...then just turn the puck over. He's got to react and make a play faster.

Pars showed a little of that strong possession type game that I had hoped we'd see to start the year, and to me Novak was competing more with 50/50 pucks than he has been recently.

 

[originalpredfan]

I would hope that Bruno will keep that line intact for a while at least. Sad when injuries cause a coach to make a sensible line change.