Pre-Game Talk: So We Meet Again

[I am not exposed]

How Bruno keeps Weegar there is baffling. Maybe Weegar told him ok ok mister, I won’t make those mistakes again. Weegar would be lucky to dress tonight if Q was in charge.

Nonsense. Weegar is still one of our top defensemen. He made a terrible play, but no coach is going to drop him because of that. Especially when the alternative is Hagg!!!

 

[KW]

Nonsense. Weegar is still one of our top defensemen. He made a terrible play, but no coach is going to drop him because of that. Especially when the alternative is Hagg!!!

Actually he made two terrible plays, causing the 5-on-3 and causing the breakaway, both of which resulted in goals.

He is not one of our top D. Before him are Ek, Fors, and Chia. Weegar needs to be on third pairing.

 

[FlaPanthers11]

Wilson out for the Caps

 

[Panteras]

Nonsense. Weegar is still one of our top defensemen. He made a terrible play, but no coach is going to drop him because of that. Especially when the alternative is Hagg!!!

Who says replacing him with Hagg? I’m talking about demoting him down the lines lol

Forsling>>> Weegar 100%

 

[iam76]

screw the marketing bs.. back to normal lets see if it helps LOL

 

[zeroG]

Actually he made two terrible plays, causing the 5-on-3 and causing the breakaway, both of which resulted in goals.

He is not one of our top D. Before him are Ek, Fors, and Chia. Weegar needs to be on third pairing.

he has been one of our top D but yeah, he made some costly mistakes. i'm worried about his confidence but he's gotta bounce back.

there's absolutely zero chance Q or any coach would *sit* weegar tonight. about the most you'd see is a juggling of pairings, which i'd like. i would prefer to see him with forsling on the 2nd pair.

 

[cotopaxi]

Nonsense. Weegar is still one of our top defensemen. He made a terrible play, but no coach is going to drop him because of that. Especially when the alternative is Hagg!!!

He's been making nothing but terrible plays for months now, can't believe how some of you still see him as a "top defensemen".

 

[zeroG]

Wilson out for the Caps

source?

He's been making nothing but terrible plays for months now, can't believe how some of you still see him as a "top defensemen".

classic example of availability bias.

 

[violaswallet]

i knew acciari would be in.

rest of the line changes.... whatever. top 9 are almost interchangeable. i'm sure they'll all go into the blender anyway once the game starts.

i'm most concerned about weegar's state of mind right now.


lundell was a non-factor. maybe an attempt to help acclimate him to the pace/pressure?

I love our baby goat but he was a bit overwhelmed: I also think that this makes the second line a bit heavier

 

[FrolikFan67]

Weegar has been a top pairing guy, and is still capable of it, but as of right now he’s not. A goal, an assist, maybe a hit or even some big defensive play on a 2 on 1 or something, I hope there’s something that’ll boost his morale. Get his head in a better place. I’d have him with Gudas on the 3rd atm

Don’t really care for dropping giroux to the 3rd. Still prefer Marchment on the 1st as Duclair I think is more of a regular season mercenary but won’t be as effective in the playoffs. I wouldn’t want to tinker too much, but hell on paper I wouldn’t mind doing:

Huberdeau-Barkov-Marchment
Giroux-Bennett-Reinhart
Verhaeghe-Lundell-Duclair/Acciari
Lomberg-Loustarinen-Mamin

Our board game really sucked last game. Marchment and Acciari are both really good in that regard. We need strong board play in the playoffs, it seemed like everytime it’d get shortly broken up and Washington was easily able to skate it out of the zone

 

[violaswallet]

I love our baby goat but he was a bit overwhelmed: I also think that this makes the second line a bit heavier

I also want to follow up that all but the second line was shut down by the trap. I think Bennett and Giroux most consistently broke through it so I like the idea here.

Im more concerned that Barkov was shut down than Lundel:
This was AL15’s first game against the trap…

 

[FlaPanthers11]

source?




classic example of availability bias.

 

[pantherbot]

Putt G on the 3rd line is probably an attempt to get that line going. Both Benny and Giroux played well, they have good playoff experience. Normal line three with march/lundell/reinhart are all playoff rookies. Worth a try for one game to see how that was going to go, but good idea to put a vet on that line.

Hate to Lomberg out because he's such a little spark plug, but there's nobody else you'd scratch if Acciari goes in, and I think he should.

Weeg/Ek pair is not going to change. They need the chance to get things going. No point splitting them now. Weegar is who he is, those mistakes will happen. Demoting him doesn't change that and there's no way he's coming out of the line up.

 

[Prominence Problem]

Wilson out for the Caps

Because of this, I'm fine with no Lomberg tonight.
If Wilson played, Lomberg plays. If Wilson doesn't play, Sit Lomberg and put in more skill.
I have been vocal before in the past this Season about Lomberg on the PK in the Panthers zone, he does a lot of turning in circles. Never stops and starts. He's a good F1 with speed, but not worth much in his own end.

 

[I am not exposed]

Who says replacing him with Hagg? I’m talking about demoting him down the lines lol

Forsling>>> Weegar 100%

You said he would be lucky to dress tonight under a different coach. So you were implying he should be replaced by one of our depth defensemen.

 

[zeroG]

I also want to follow up that all but the second line was shut down by the trap. I think Bennett and Giroux most consistently broke through it so I like the idea here.

Im more concerned that Barkov was shut down than Lundel:
This was AL15’s first game against the trap…

oy... i really think folks are blowing the trap thing out of proportion.

i will try to track the number of times we see it tonight and i'll wager that it's less than a handful per period.

the fact that weegar stepped on his dick in front of it has freaked people out. weegar had options on both wings and plenty of time to move the puck. he just choked. it wasn't a masterful defensive strategy that won the game. it may have slowed the game a bit but we were still winning.

and (good) trapping is part of the game that players see from, i'll guess high level midget and up. i've used 1-2-2 traps with bantam level town hockey teams. lundell has certainly gone against a trap before.

my .02 - if they hadn't before the series (and it might've been overlooked, as han said the caps haven't really used it this year), the video coaches will have been up late tuesday night reviewing a bunch of game film. they will have broken down how teams have had success against the caps version and the coaches, then team will have met and reviewed the video. they probably spent 20 minutes on it yesterday.

 

[Prominence Problem]

oy... i really think folks are blowing the trap thing out of proportion.

i will try to track the number of times we see it tonight and i'll wager that it's less than a handful per period.

the fact that weegar stepped on his dick in front of it has freaked people out. weegar had options on both wings and plenty of time to move the puck. he just choked. it wasn't a masterful defensive strategy that won the game. it may have slowed the game a bit but we were still winning.

and (good) trapping is part of the game that players see from, i'll guess high level midget and up. i've used 1-2-2 traps with bantam level town hockey teams. lundell has certainly gone against a trap before.

my .02 - if they hadn't before the series (and it might've been overlooked, as han said the caps haven't really used it this year), the video coaches will have been up late tuesday night reviewing a bunch of game film. they will have broken down how teams have had success against the caps version and the coaches, then team will have met and reviewed the video. they probably spent 20 minutes on it yesterday.

When I assistant coached, I ran the defense and PK.
PK would always do the 1-1-2. Worked really well.

 

[Chaos2k7]

How Bruno keeps Weegar there is baffling. Maybe Weegar told him ok ok mister, I won’t make those mistakes again. Weegar would be lucky to dress tonight if Q was in charge.

Weegs has been top pair for us for over 3 seasons, one playoff game wont get him pulled from the lineup.

 

[zeroG]

When I assistant coached, I ran the defense and PK.
PK would always do the 1-1-2. Worked really well.

yeah, makes sense. it's a high-frequency strategy - you'll get to set up at least once or twice, maybe more each PK. AND, forcing a dump-in really impacts the PP. i don't have any numbers to back that statement up but you can imagine that top-line players are going to expend a lot more time and energy retrieving the puck in order to get set up if they have to chip it in to get past the trap.

was thinking about this the other day - the drop that almost every team uses on their PP breakout now is designed to pull F1 back towards the defensive blue line and reduce their ability to force the puck carrier into the trap. successful entry nowadays seems mostly determined by the skill of the puck carrier.

 

[Prominence Problem]

yeah, makes sense. it's a high-frequency strategy - you'll get to set up at least once or twice, maybe more each PK. AND, forcing a dump-in really impacts the PP. i don't have any numbers to back that statement up but you can imagine that top-line players are going to expend a lot more time and energy retrieving the puck in order to get set up if they have to chip it in to get past the trap.

was thinking about this the other day - the drop that almost every team uses on their PP breakout now is designed to pull F1 back towards the defensive blue line and reduce their ability to force the puck carrier into the trap. successful entry nowadays seems mostly determined by the skill of the puck carrier.

Yeah teams weren't doing the power play drop pass when I coached.

F1 went to the park carrier.
F2 read if there was going to be a pass in the neutral zone and anticipated it.
The defense stood up at the blue line, but the far-side defenseman retrieved the dump in if there was one.

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

I've always wanted Ekblad and Weegar split up. Some of these issues that are in the spotlight right now have been there all along IMO. Put Weegar on the right side, so he has a chance to see the ice better. And Forsling I think would do well paired with Ekblad.

 

[Gentle Man]

ECSF

Oh that felt good baby

If our PP and PK improves I love our chances. PP can only improve and honestly, PK is what, 68% I believe. They can do it.

Probably going to be a less defensive game as well. Although, we could play a defensive game to improve our chances

 

[violaswallet]

I've always wanted Ekblad and Weegar split up. Some of these issues that are in the spotlight right now have been there all along IMO. Put Weegar on the right side, so he has a chance to see the ice better. And Forsling I think would do well paired with Ekblad.

I think there’s a reason why Zito overpaid for Chiarot: he’s an ideal complement to Ekblad

 

[Gentle Man]

Forsling was flawless for all but 1 minute and 10 seconds across all 6 games

The goal against and the penalty. Was our best dman far and away

 

[WaitingForThatCab]

Put me on record as saying that Lomberg needs to be in the lineup on a regular basis.