So what happens if this team is actually bad?

[Troy McClure]

But Jeff K should stop with all of his the "The CAPTAIN!!!" stuff until Benn strings together a couple good weeks where he does more than soak up assists on Seguin's goals. Last night, there was one goal he called as "Tyler Seguin goal assisted by THE CAPTAIN Jamie Benn!" Come on, Jeff...

 

[dechire]

But Jeff K should stop with all of his the "The CAPTAIN!!!" stuff until Benn strings together a couple good weeks where he does more than soak up assists on Seguin's goals. Last night, there was one goal he called as "Tyler Seguin goal assisted by THE CAPTAIN Jamie Benn!" Come on, Jeff...

You mean like 3 games ago when he had 2 goals and an assist on Klingberg ?

 

[Troy McClure]

Yes, I'm aware that he'll have the occasional good game.

 

[Hull Fan]

Benn is not the problem with this team. Yeah everyone wants him to be a little more consistent but guess what, if he was he'd be the best winger in the league, so that's not exactly a fair demand.

Play the kids. Take your lumps. Sell the vets at the deadline. Find another defenseman at the deadline or this summer. Draft McDavid. Get Nemeth and Nichushkin healthy and see how it goes in March. Oh and fire the assistant coaches.

 

[M88K]

Benn is not the problem with this team. Yeah everyone wants him to be a little more consistent but guess what, if he was he'd be the best winger in the league, so that's not exactly a fair demand.

Play the kids. Take your lumps. Sell the vets at the deadline. Find another defenseman at the deadline or this summer. Draft McDavid. Get Nemeth and Nichushkin healthy and see how it goes in March. Oh and fire the assistant coaches.

Or all that and we fire the head coach too. He's equally at fault as any of the assistants

 

[Alistar]

Best case scenario right now is we follow down the same path as the NY Islanders took. Miss the playoffs for many years, then make it with a surprisingly good team that almost beats the Penguins in round 1. The next year everything goes wrong and they finish bottom 10. They have a great offseason where their GM makes several spectacular trades and signings and now they are right back on track and one of the more likely teams for the Stanley Cup in my opinion.

There's a lot that needs to go right for us to have it work out like that though, and the number of ways things could fall apart or go bad are numerous.

 

[SolidusAKA]

As cowardly as it is to say...this is the PERFECT year to have a crappy year.

Cut out the fat and bring in a top 10 pick

 

[glovesave_35]

Yes, I'm aware that he'll have the occasional good game.

We all have our favorites and stuff but why you insist on bagging on Benn as if he is part of the problem with this team is beyond me. You key on all of his negatives while turning a blind eye to the negatives of the guy you've put the permanent knee pads on for. Seguin has one fewer pointless games than Benn, so the consistency argument is moot. It's not as if Benn is merely soaking up secondary assists on Seguin goals, either.

Seguin's shooting % is well above his career average and Benn is sitting below his right now. Things will even out.

 

[beepeearr]

I really don't understand why people are putting this all on the players. A lot of the blame rest on the coaches. Constantly playing guys you know shouldn't be on the top lines on the top lines. Failing to adapt your system when its clear the rest of the league has adapted to yours. Mix and matching the lines so much that all your lines are trying to play the same way. Out third line shouldn't be trying cutesy little drop passes.

Last year when a team tried to hit us into submission we responded, this year it seems like we are just taking it. Some of the decision by the coaching staff just makes no sense. Have a great game, get scratched the next, constantly insisting on playing rookie Dmen together.

Call up McKenzie but for the most part buried him on the fourth line. Constantly swapping things around in practice then swapping things around for a game.

Our PP and backup goaltending have been atrocious for ages, Kari looks to be struggling, Campbell appears to be struggling in the AHL too, maybe we should start with the coaches there.

If Eakin is the line fixer then put him on the second line, thats the one thats broke. And until Ritchie is healthy, why the hell not at least give Glennie or Stransky a shot at the Benn Seguin RW. They cant possibly worse option the Eaves, who is a great third-fourth liner type, but shouldn't be on the top line.

I would rather see guys with potential get placed on the top two lines. Look at teams who constantly seem to find young scoring talent, it because they put them in positions to succeed, not put them on the fourth line and wonder gee, guess this guy just can't score at this level.

This season has just been beyond frustrating. If Lindback isn't sent down soon, ill realize that the tank is indeed on and adjust my expectations accordingly.

Not sure how much that would help, its pretty much just a rant

 

[TrillMike]

Paragraphs would make this readable ^.

 

[Habs76]

StarsTX,

OMG, I would hope its a coaches decision as to who to play. However, it is possible Nil had some input, without being a Jerry Jones type GM and they had open discussions about it. It seems they discussed the Dillon trade, as a coach and GM on the same page would.

Even before the last few moves, I didn't view the Stars as a bottom 4 team, just by looking at the roster. Your opinion might vary.

It is amazing however, to see a GM really reshape a team. Nil is almost textbook, and other than Gainey from 96-99, for whom we know the results, it is the most impressive display of GMery that we have seen around here.

I am in the camp that says we will have one more D here sooner than later, and probably a different second goalie, even if only Rynnas.

If you need another D, Habs will give you Tom Gilbert, backup goalie? Joey MacDonald

 

[beepeearr]

Paragraphs would make this readable ^.

Better?

 

[TrillMike]

Better?

Yes! Solid post.

 

[beepeearr]

Yes! Solid post.

Woke up saw Ruffs comments, and needed to vent. I really do think we need to let go of our PP coach, too much talent to have it look that bad night after night.

We are on the verge of having 4 1st rounders busting. Jerking Oleksiak in and out of the lineup and playing him with Jordie or a fellow rookie isn't putting him in a position to succeed or build confidence.

No clue what's happening with Campbell, but it isn't good. Neither Glennie or Faksa has looked good this year either.

With Campbell, cant help but wonder if thinking he could win the back up role in Dallas, only to find himself the backup in CP hasn't caused a regression, especially if he thinks he outplayed them in training camp.

Same could possibly be said about Glennie. If people are never rewarded for their efforts they can get discouraged and stop seeing the point. In juniors he's shown he plays better when he's with better players. Its not like he's going to hurt his trade value or development getting a couple of games and some practices with Benn and Seguin. If he is absolutely terrible, then ok, at least we gave him a shot.

I like to think Ritchie would have been called up already if he weren't injured and sick, hopefully if nothing else we will see him called up soon

 

[Troy McClure]

We all have our favorites and stuff but why you insist on bagging on Benn as if he is part of the problem with this team is beyond me. You key on all of his negatives while turning a blind eye to the negatives of the guy you've put the permanent knee pads on for. Seguin has one fewer pointless games than Benn, so the consistency argument is moot. It's not as if Benn is merely soaking up secondary assists on Seguin goals, either.

Seguin's shooting % is well above his career average and Benn is sitting below his right now. Things will even out.

It was kind of meant as a joke. My bad.

Really, the only "bagging" I've done on Benn all season is to say Seguin is better, which is true.

 

[dechire]

If Eakin is the line fixer then put him on the second line, thats the one thats broke.

The thing that confuses me most is that Eakin is solid defensively so they put him on a line that already has a good defensive player in Benn while leaving an extremely weak line in Spezza and Hemsky with Cole who is not good defensively. Ideally we'd have multiple defensive players to spread around but since we don't it makes no sense to keep leaving a very weak line vulnerable.

This is further shown when you look at the goal differentials for each line. Jamie is a +5 and Seguin is a +7. They are 1st and 3rd on the team. They do not need an additional defensive presence. Aside from Eakin and Eaves (who have both played with the top line) all other forwards are minus players. Spezza and Hemsky are notable bad. They need extra defensive help so why not put Eakin who is a +4 on that line. Of course +/- is a flawed stat but I think we all know that Spezza sucks at defense and Eakin doesn't.

If you just look at goals scored against relative to ice time it's obvious that the biggest problems on the team come from the bottom 3 lines. Sceviour and Moen played for 9 and 7 minutes last night and were on the ice for a combined 3 goals (2 separate, 1 together). Meanwhile Jamie lead the forwards in ice time and was on the ice for zero goals against even with 3:30 on the PK. Our problem isn't just that we have too many bottom 6 guys. It's that our bottom 6 guys aren't even playing particularly well. We ignore it because "they're just 4th liners" but at some point we have to expect them to either contribute or not be on the ice.

This part isn't directed at you but criticizing Jamie of all players is stupid. He has more responsibility than any other player on this team and he's playing well. Move him down to Spezza's line and see how long it takes before Seguin's little defensive cheats become a problem. Actually I wouldn't mind trying Benn-Spezza-Hemsky but I don't know who Seguin could be paired with. Maybe Roussel-Eakin-Seguin could work. It's time to shake up the lines in a way that makes the team better instead of switching up the lines to new ones that have the exact same problems. Spezza and Hemsky need a goal scoring LW who doesn't suck at defense. There's only one of those on this team. Seguin can score with anyone as long as they keep up with him and can get him the puck. It's not ideal but it's better than ****ing Cole-Spezza-Eaves

edit: sorry I posted before seeing your comment Troy. Still leaving that part in but as long as you weren't serious then it's cool.

 

[Troy McClure]

And in another thread, I just posted how I want Benn put on Spezza's line to help Spezza out. This psychic connection is creepy.

 

[dechire]

And in another thread, I just posted how I want Benn put on Spezza's line to help Spezza out. This psychic connection is creepy.

Now we just need to make it work on Ruff

 

[MetalGodAOD*]

So what's with this team having a non-existent cycle game? Is it a product of not having the largest group on the forward end and losing board battles? Is the coaching staff actively discouraging it?

Seems like the only way we can score goals is on the rush or via the occasional point shot.

 

[Elysian]

I'm honestly starting to think we're trying to tank without looking like we're trying to tank...

 

[TrillMike]

So what's with this team having a non-existent cycle game? Is it a product of not having the largest group on the forward end and losing board battles? Is the coaching staff actively discouraging it?

Seems like the only way we can score goals is on the rush or via the occasional point shot.

This is something I've noticed as well. It has to be a coaching decision. The pittbulls and Horcoff/Fids play better cycling. The top 6 have always been overload-focused.

I haven't paid enough attention to their forechecking lately. Are they running a 1-2-2 mostly? I know they don't dump and chase a lot, but looking at those types of plays is the easiest way to tell.

 

[OttMorrow]

Gotta love watching the destiny of this team to slowly drift out of the "sweet spot" of the draft and into the "**** spot" of the draft, slowly come to reality over the course of the season...as if it were in slow motion.

We wanna be damn sure we're solidly in that lovely 3rd or 4th tier of the draft with only the shred of hope for a faller.

 

[SolidusAKA]

I'm honestly starting to think we're trying to tank without looking like we're trying to tank...

Nill...you genius

 

[ElGuapo]

Yeah I've also been frustrated with no cycling game. I do like fast, puck moving, rush teams but man you can't just hope you get a perfect play off the rush then nothing at all. And who doesn't like to watch a good cycle?

 

[OttMorrow]

As cowardly as it is to say...this is the PERFECT year to have a crappy year.

Cut out the fat and bring in a top 10 pick

I'd shoot for a top 5 if we're gonna tank.

"Anything worth doing is worth doing right."

- Raoul Duke, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas