GDT: RATS FROM SPACE IN RALEIGH

[Joe McGrath]

Typical NHL coach: picked an NA player instead of Russian one, the player looked terrible, and still played more, than Russian one in his only game, where he looked not as terrible...

He played like 4 of the last 7 minutes when it was over. Nikishin didn’t play in the last 10 minutes of his game because they were holding a lead. It was the same usage.

 

[OG]

Thank God Brindy went with the good ol NA kid instead of the Russian super prospect. Could you imagine if Nikishin had a bad game?

Thankfully, we avoided that landmineView attachment 1039843

Not many things on hf hcanes make me gawk but this graph, it did. Holy ****

 

[MrazeksVengeance]

You led us well, fearless leader. I think @AhosDatsyukian is up next for GDT? Bring out yer best.

I mean I felt it. My purpose was to see Capitals shitcanned.

I can bring RIVERS of hate for Florida… I HAD OCEANS FOR WASHINGTON.

 

[CanesUltimate11]

If it’s any consolation, Florida did this to Tampa, a team with Championship DNA.

When the goalie gives up 5 and you can’t say he cost them the game, that’s the other team executing at a high level.

They also always seem to struggle coming off a long break when the other team is "fresher". So I think Thursday will be a better gauge of where they stand compared to Florida.

 

[hangman005]

I did not like the part you didn't win. Need to bounce back next game.

 

[TheBigLetowski]

Is it true the Canes have NEVER won game 1 of the ECF?

Yep. We lost game 1 against BUF in 2006 ECF and still won in 7. Anything can happen!

 

[UNCCHcane]

Aho's reaction to the penalty they called on him after he retaliated against Lundell said it all to me. We didn't have our heads on right for this game.

 

[Nikishin al Gaib]

Maybe playing a guy because he's been here longer isn't the right play, Brindy



I love Brindy but he gets way too high on his own shit sometimes.

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

Yep. We lost game 1 against BUF in 2006 ECF and still won in 7. Anything can happen

 

[CanesFanBudMan]

Took till the conference finals for our shit defense to be exposed. Can’t blame Morrow. Slavin, Chatfield, Walker, and Nikishin are the only guys I want back next year. At minimum you need to add both a right and left handed walker type guy. Pure OFDs are losers in the playoffs

 

[dogbazinho]

Maybe we should have squeezed games in for Nikishin during the playoffs or even Morrow during the year with our depth concerns and a 40 year old D. Still don't understand how you don't go with the larger D against a team like Florida, even if he had a rough game previous.

RD is a pressing need now in the offseason.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Maybe playing a guy because he's been here longer isn't the right play, Brindy



I love Brindy but he gets way too high on his own shit sometimes.

It’s not so much that “he’s been around longer, so he plays”, it’s that because he’s been around longer, he’s more familiar with our system, so he plays. Which does make sense.

But either way, you’re playing a rookie against a very experienced team and they’re likely going to get exposed because of that. Which is why the talk about having 3 rookies on defense next year is bonkers.

 

[User13452]

Maybe we should have squeezed games in for Nikishin during the playoffs or even Morrow during the year with our depth concerns and a 40 year old D. Still don't understand how you don't go with the larger D against a team like Florida, even if he had a rough game previous.

RD is a pressing need now in the offseason.

Should of but apparently Ironman streaks are more important then teams success

 

[bleedgreen]

Can’t say I was surprised with Rod’s choice. RD that had already been working hard for him in and out all season. He’s was always going to play him, Im a little surprised he didn’t play him first.

Not surprised with the performance either. All three 5v5 goals against with Morrow wandering in the middle not picking anyone up. Ghost was only on the ice for two of them and was actively defending on both plays. Morrow doesn’t know who to cover and when. He makes for a wonderful screen. Playoffs against the Panthers isn’t going to give Morrow much chance to carry the puck, which is his strong suit. Against the Panthers it’s all about being aggressive defensively and making quick choices, being rock solid in your own end. They’re a handful for our top guys let alone Morrow with Ghost trying to cover for him when that’s not his strong suit either. I heard people say he’s gotten better this season defensively….

No he hasn’t.

Not enough to be more than a heavily sheltered third pair guy. Rod is always going to Rod though. The plus side is he follows his code until something bad happens and Morrow should be done in the battle of prospects. We’re better with AHL guys over Morrow.

 

[htdoc]

Sigh…. Stayed away last night to let it settle a bit. That was a lot of money spent to watch us crap the bed.

As many have already said, including myself in the roster building thread when referencing next seasons roster makeup and things to avoid, Ghost / Morrow is a train wreck and should not be allowed to happen. Figured they would play 6 minutes 5v5 max and we were going to play 4 D all night. The problem was that Orlov/Walker got handled all night as well.

I can’t believe we are in a seemingly dire situation again due to our shutdown right D man being injured. Pesce last year and Chatfield this year and we don’t have a ready replacement as Brindy decides to play the more offensive leaning dman that can’t play defense. Walker is fine for less physical smaller players during the regular season on the top 2 pairs. He can’t handle bigger bodies in playoff hockey on heavy minutes. If Chatty can’t go, we have an issue the rest of the way here and something we need to address in the offseason.

I’d normally say just flush this one as there was so much bad about this and we just did not show up to play. I didn’t recognize the team in the ice last night. Sloppy sloppy and not matching the effort for long stretches. We didn’t win a puck battle all night it felt like. Florida skated without the puck directly to spots where we were going to put the puck. They enforced their game on us, not the other way, and it showed everywhere. Florida has mastered pick plays that are not being called for interference. We aren’t fighting through them to make the refs see and call it. Freddie came down to earth because Florida went high and he couldn’t cover that compared to all his low saves in previous rounds. Florida hit their spots and finished their chances. We whiffed over and over on our chances. Florida got free power plays and we stunk up the ice on our PK. That was not the #1 PK out there.

It was an a$$ whoopin and we need to show up to play better in game 2 or this will be a short series,

 

[Big Daddy Cane]

Maybe we should have squeezed games in for Nikishin during the playoffs or even Morrow during the year with our depth concerns and a 40 year old D. Still don't understand how you don't go with the larger D against a team like Florida, even if he had a rough game previous.

RD is a pressing need now in the offseason.

Morrow was in the lineup for 12 of the 23 games in March and April.

 

[Nikishin al Gaib]

Morrow was in the lineup for 12 of the 23 games in March and April.

And I didn't see anything out of him during that time that would have me believe him and Ghost as a pair would be anything short of a complete disaster

 

[To Be Determined]

The paranoid part of me feels like the over abundance of morrow anger is just setting us up for nikishin to draw in thursday and get caves, too. Defending florida is a different animal than the caps slow asses.

Yeah, he sucked. Move on and win 4.

SIde note - nikishin played on the road in a potential series clincher over morrow. Morrow played at home in an opener with plenty of runway (and time for the offense to remember they need to score). If you think that usage is 'always favoring the NA guy' i don't get it.

Again, he sucked out loud. But saying he didn't deserve to be on the ice at all? There are some viable reasons to give him the chance. Though it is fair game to disagree with those reasons. If chatty can't go, hopefully nikishin makes the decision look even worse.

Just wish my kids hadn't blown $$$$$ on that game...

 

[dogbazinho]

Even at his best Morrow is not a defensive nor physical D. Just seems like w/ the system and heaviness Florida plays with you go with the player that could fall back on his strength and size. Whatever I'm not a coach. I hope Daniels was consulted and his decisions evaluated at the end of the year.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

The paranoid part of me feels like the over abundance of morrow anger is just setting us up for nikishin to draw in thursday and get caves, too. Defending florida is a different animal than the caps slow asses.

Yeah, he sucked. Move on and win 4.

SIde note - nikishin played on the road in a potential series clincher over morrow. Morrow played at home in an opener with plenty of runway (and time for the offense to remember they need to score). If you think that usage is 'always favoring the NA guy' i don't get it.

Again, he sucked out loud. But saying he didn't deserve to be on the ice at all? There are some viable reasons to give him the chance. Though it is fair game to disagree with those reasons. If chatty can't go, hopefully nikishin makes the decision look even worse.

Just wish my kids hadn't blown $$$$$ on that game...

That's the thing. Nikishin has issues in a unfavorable situation, but outside of the turnover for the goal (which lucky for him didn't end up counting), he wasn't completely lost out there.

Morrow struggled in a more favorable situation (though against a tougher opponent) and as Bleedgreen pointed out earlier, didn't even seem to realize where he was supposed to be half the time.

I understand giving Morrow the opportunity. Well, suffice to say, he didn't seize it in the way I'm sure he and the coaching staff hoped he would. He shouldn't be put back out there over Nikishin, if Chatfield remains out.

Ultimately, pairing them both with Ghost is also asking for trouble. I understand that Rod/Gleason is sticking them with the bottom pairing to lessen their minutes, but that's a defensive disaster for the minutes they're out there, almost every shift.

 

[DaveG]

The paranoid part of me feels like the over abundance of morrow anger is just setting us up for nikishin to draw in thursday and get caves, too. Defending florida is a different animal than the caps slow asses.

Yeah, he sucked. Move on and win 4.

SIde note - nikishin played on the road in a potential series clincher over morrow. Morrow played at home in an opener with plenty of runway (and time for the offense to remember they need to score). If you think that usage is 'always favoring the NA guy' i don't get it.

Again, he sucked out loud. But saying he didn't deserve to be on the ice at all? There are some viable reasons to give him the chance. Though it is fair game to disagree with those reasons. If chatty can't go, hopefully nikishin makes the decision look even worse.

Just wish my kids hadn't blown $$$$$ on that game...

It's more the idea of pairing him with Ghost that was the bigger issue. Putting a prospect dman with the most concerns about his d-zone coverage with our roster dman that has the most concerns about his own d-zone coverage. Rod, this is simple physics, you can't try to put two objects with the same polar charge together like that, it doesn't work.

 

[FlyingSquirrels]

100% agree that the Morrow deployment was very odd and deserves heavy scrutiny and criticism. Rod is the culprit here, Strangely enough I don't blame Morrow. The kid is young with significant upside. Defensemen take time to figure it out. I think if we toss him out with the bath water it would be regretful. Put him in a situation to succeed, not fail. Rod did the absolute opposite.

 

[chaz4hockey]

That's the thing. Nikishin has issues in a unfavorable situation, but outside of the turnover for the goal (which lucky for him didn't end up counting), he wasn't completely lost out there.

Morrow struggled in a more favorable situation (though against a tougher opponent) and as Bleedgreen pointed out earlier, didn't even seem to realize where he was supposed to be half the time.

I understand giving Morrow the opportunity. Well, suffice to say, he didn't seize it in the way I'm sure he and the coaching staff hoped he would. He shouldn't be put back out there over Nikishin, if Chatfield remains out.

Ultimately, pairing them both with Ghost is also asking for trouble. I understand that Rod/Gleason is sticking them with the bottom pairing to lessen their minutes, but that's a defensive disaster for the minutes they're out there, almost every shift.

I feared all year that our D was too small for a deep run in the playoffs.....yesterday, showcased why (that plus losing a D-man hurts given our system complexity but perhaps given Fl's size, Chatty would be caved too).

Canes got regular season value in their pickups this off season but it's not deep run playoff capable. Mgt. failed in not picking up another veteran D at the TDL. Walman would have been a good pickup.

Morrow as presently configured is not a guy I ever want to play regular minutes on the Canes. He is trending as a 3D at best and doesn't skate fast enough, make the right reads nor brings the physicality needed as a 3rd pair.

Granted, he is a rookie but unless he commits to the weight room and improves his skating there are dozens of 3rd pair Dmen floating around the NHL that would be better fits.

Fl's bottom 3 of Mikkola, Schmidt, Kulikov cost only $4.5M and are much better suited for playoff hockey than our 3rd pair. Heck even throw in Jones' $7M (Chi retained 26%) and at $11.5M that's good value for their bottom 2 pairs.

It's only one game but trend lines sure look awful.

btw: we had only one C playing at his potential yesterday & that was Staal. Canes really need an upgrade this offseason as running JR and KK as your 2C and 4C is just not good enough.

btw2: I hope they give Legault some parent time next year to see what he can do as his size and physicality is more to my liking for a 3D.

btw3: Leafs have got a lot of stick for being caved in Games 5 & 7 but I believe their roster was better constructed to face the Cats (size). If Canes want to get past Florida, they will need to move away from the Smurf approach.

Rant out.......

 

[Nikishin al Gaib]

100% agree that the Morrow deployment was very odd and deserves heavy scrutiny and criticism. Rod is the culprit here, Strangely enough I don't blame Morrow. The kid is young with significant upside. Defensemen take time to figure it out. I think if we toss him out with the bath water it would be regretful. Put him in a situation to succeed, not fail. Rod did the absolute opposite.

Yeah I mean to your credit, its not Morrow's fault he got put into a position he couldn't handle. Pairing him with Ghost against Florida was always going to end badly.

I'm just scratching my head on why the coaches went with him over Nikishin after the last game. I mean yeah, Nikishin wasn't perfect but he wasn't a complete disaster out there. He had his moments but looked better as the game progressed. Playing Morrow seems like a bit of a panic or out thinking yourself kind of move, and I really don't like that from the coaches.

But to pair a rookie defenseman who we already accepted needs to be paired with a shutdown defenseman because of questions about his defensive responsibilities with the one defenseman on the everyday roster who has the most questions about his defensive responsibilities..... I mean that's just an unfathomable mistake from our coaches.

 

[hblueridgegal]

As always, wish our Canes had FL's assurance...in finishing, preventing, intimidating and closing out. The confidence vibe is just different but not as large a gap as in the past.

I did like seeing that the Canes looked like they were playing to win instead of trying not to lose at the start, at least.

As for the coach and his decisions, he's been a factor in the playoff losses through the years but that's not open for discussion.