GDT: TB @ Car

[VAcaniac]

Are you guys actually surprised we lost to Tampa? Really?

Jokes on you lol.

 

[tarheelhockey]

And that's exactly it. What can we do to improve upon this? Games like tonight will continue to be the norm this year because we don't have any finishers. So how do we get one?

Until we make a major offensive addition, through draft or trade, there’s no realistic choice but to play the long game... to suppress scores and hope the offensive odds break in our favor.

On a more tangible level, we need Aho to stop fanning on every pass and to become a 50 point player. We need Lindholm to do more than just bang around. And we need Rask to break out of his funk. Right now, those three guys alone have the offensive odds breaking against us. We’re not going to win 2-1 games with Skinner scoring every goal. We HAVE to get depth scoring and rely on Darling to hold down his end of the bargain. That’s the only formula for this team to be successful.

 

[Novacane]

I mean, our biggest offseason move was to address goaltending.

Other than that we added a 36 year old, 40-50 point winger. That’s not going to raise the bar for a below average offensive team. If that’s just pissing a season away, then we knew it in August and shouldn’t have had our hopes up.

To the extent that we have a chance to make the playoffs, it’s because we have the ability to throw a blanket over the best players in the league (which Slavin did) and to get good enough goaltending to keep us in the game (which Darling did) and then hope we get the breaks offensively. Tonight we didn’t get the breaks. Predictable result is predictable.

Well you also hope to see progression from your Nth youngest roster but we haven’t seen that either. Who knows what planet Aho is currently floating out to? Again, they look like October can come and go and teams won’t be ahead of them. We know that’s not true, we’ve lamented it for years. I’ve ranted on “one goal games” too, AKA ones like today where they do just enough to make it seem close but don’t come away with anything. That’s the result we’re getting. IF we’re a playoff team, that can’t happen. They have to put the pedal down from puck drop until 0:00 reaches the clock every period. There should be no excuse for them with how young they are. Mental lapses I can forgive, lazy and sideline watching I can’t. If you’re arguing we aren’t a playoff team, then it’s Francis’ job to fix that. For once, we have the pieces. Talking about being a playoff team is organizational speak, sure, but it’s up to Francis to make that a reality.

 

[Wolfpuck]

I'll step back from the ledge and say that the schedule has done us zero favors so far. If we start crapping our pants against bottom feeders or within the division, then we're ****ed.

 

[Roboturner913]

The thing to me is, we've seen Aho, Teravainen and even Rask score some nice goals. We know they're capable of finishing. It's just not happening right now. For some reason. Faulk's not scoring either. It's like everybody's offense, except Skinner's, of course, dried up at the same time.

I don't expect any of those guys I mentioned above to be 40 goal players, but 20-25 at least? Yeah. I also don't think it's all their fault. We lack creativity on the whole. We're robotic. Chug up and down the wing, dump and chase. There's not an ounce of original thought going into playing offense here. We actually show far more creativity in terms of the defensive effort.

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

all life is pain

You know I actually find it f***ing ridiculous psychologists try to find so called "evidence" that death isn't the end, when it's technically more humane to end some people's lives (Those in extreme pain and suffering).

 

[tarheelhockey]

Well you also hope to see progression from your Nth youngest roster but we haven’t seen that either.

Aho’s the guy who really seems to have taken an inexplicable step back this season. We assumed he would drive his line, and instead he’s been an anchor most of the time. That’s absolutely killing us on more than one level.

Rask turns 25 this year. He is what he is, and doesn’t seem to me that he’s likely to progress much unless he starts getting better defensively. 20-20-40 will probably always be a good year for him... he’s not the answer to our problems.

They have to put the pedal down from puck drop until 0:00 reaches the clock every period.

I’d argue they’re flat-out not good enough to do that. They are managing games by necessity. You want to see them go pedal down against a team like Tampa, get ready for a REAL 5-1 loss.

 

[My Special Purpose]

The thing to me is, we've seen Aho, Teravainen and even Rask score some nice goals. We know they're capable of finishing. It's just not happening right now. For some reason. Faulk's not scoring either. It's like everybody's offense, except Skinner's, of course, dried up at the same time.

I don't expect any of those guys I mentioned above to be 40 goal players, but 20-25 at least? Yeah. I also don't think it's all their fault. We lack creativity on the whole. We're robotic. Chug up and down the wing, dump and chase. There's not an ounce of original thought going into playing offense here. We actually show far more creativity in terms of the defensive effort.

I actually think we have too much "creativity." Go to the f***ing net. Watch Crosby. Watch McDavid. Watch Kucherov. They go to the net with a purpose and *stay there*. We play around the perimeter, looking for "that's hockey, baby" type goals. Look at our only goal tonight. The fourth line crashed the net, created havoc and we score. The top nine has been playing like wussies. If I were calling anyone up right now, it would be Zykov. We just can't stay outside the dots all night and whine because we can't score. Same thing with the power play. We're counting on 35-foot blasts beating unscreened goalies. GO TO THE f***ING NET.

 

[Ole Gil]

The teams offense is driven by accurate passes. Tonight, so many good opportunities were lost because of a puck into the skates. The good news, I think this is a problem that will work itself out quickly as there are plenty of decent passers on the team.

 

[the halleJOKEL]

IT'S OKAY GUYS WE GET TO PLAY TORONTO AND ST LOUIS NEXT

 

[Roboturner913]

I actually think we have too much "creativity." Go to the ****ing net. Watch Crosby. Watch McDavid. Watch Kucherov. They go to the net with a purpose and *stay there*. We play around the perimeter, looking for "that's hockey, baby" type goals. Look at our only goal tonight. The fourth line crashed the net, created havoc and we score. The top nine has been playing like wussies. If I were calling anyone up right now, it would be Zykov. We just can't stay outside the dots all night and whine because we can't score. Same thing with the power play. We're counting on 35-foot blasts beating unscreened goalies. GO TO THE ****ING NET.

I see what you mean, in that sense. I'm thinking more about transitional offense - which we should be the bomb.dot.com at because of how the defense tends to create turnovers and get it moving fast the other direction - but there's no natural flow there. cycles and power play are another thing, they tend to pass too much.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

Just checking in to see how we all feel after basically losing 2-1 to the best team in the NHL...

...oh, and we're already out of the playoffs on October 24th, are we?

People. There's a reason this team has the best record and goal differential in the league.

f***ing relax.

 

[Kaako Kappo]

Should we send Aho to AHL? I don't think he has what it takes.

In all seriousness, seems like he is just a mere mortal, instead of the perfect hockey robot he sometimes appears to be. I hope he finds his game soon.

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

I actually think we have too much "creativity." Go to the ****ing net. Watch Crosby. Watch McDavid. Watch Kucherov. They go to the net with a purpose and *stay there*. We play around the perimeter, looking for "that's hockey, baby" type goals. Look at our only goal tonight. The fourth line crashed the net, created havoc and we score. The top nine has been playing like wussies. If I were calling anyone up right now, it would be Zykov. We just can't stay outside the dots all night and whine because we can't score. Same thing with the power play. We're counting on 35-foot blasts beating unscreened goalies. GO TO THE ****ING NET.

That's the mentality players have when their own goalies give up those type of goals often.

 

[Roboturner913]

Just checking in to see how we all feel after basically losing 2-1 to the best team in the NHL...

...oh, and we're already out of the playoffs on October 24th, are we?

People. There's a reason this team has the best record and goal differential in the league.

****ing relax.

I only find myself frustrated because it seems like every step forward this team takes, other teams are taking two. Already behind the 8-ball in this brutal division, now here comes Philly and NJ looking much better. The good news is, at least we've only played 7 games whereas most of the other teams in the east have played 9 or 10.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

That won't count for much if we don't start scoring goals.

 

[SaskCanesFan]

So is the ice dog**** or is it just the Canes lack of hands? Whiffing on one timers, passes into skates, bouncing over sticks, no puck control. On a team that's gonna struggle to score anyways, that just kills offense. Plus it's bad enough to hit the goalie in the chest, now they're taking too long to shoot and are hitting sticks and shin pads instead.

I didn't think Rask was as bad tonight, but at the same time that's a low bar and he didn't really contribute anything either. Way too many invisible forwards lately.

The ****ing button hook. How about one time, somebody tries driving the outside hard to the net? Just once, if for no other reason than to sell the button hook the next 15 ****ing times. It's so predictable that teams are just playing the Canes with incredibly tight gaps from the blueline in. And they have no answer. Drive the net. Get to the net more, period.

Seeing Hanifins name come up in respect to trades in this thread, and just for the sake of bitching to let off some steam... Sergachev scored tonight, looks solid, and has put up a ton of points to start the year. Is this another young D that has surpassed Hanifin? Provorov and Werenski being better so far is bad enough, this trend better not continue. When you talk about the team not being quite good enough, and you can look back at the past 4-5 drafts and argue that the player picked directly behind the Canes first rounder is better than the Canes pick every single one of those years, that is a large factor. I don't know if you want to blame scouting or player development, but either way its a problem that can't continue to happen. Replace Lindholm, Fleury, Hanifin, and Bean with Monahan, Nylander, Werenski (Provorov? Can't remember) and MacAvoy, and tell me this isn't a playoff team.

 

[Ulysses31]

Helli friends..looking to make a move on a hurricane *besides skinner*..

Need points goals assist for a fantasy pool.

Who is ripe to break out next 4 games? Aho? Staal? Thanks in advance

 

[DougieSmash]

Nothing against Darling because he's nothing short than tremendous addition for us but .898 SV % is not good.

 

[Negan4Coach]

This is getting disgusting. I mean, in a vacuum, it appears to us that the team incrementally improves each year with the development of young players and the addition of a couple of others, and seemingly good drafting.

But relatively speaking, there is no improvement compared to the rest of the league. Tampa was crap last year, and even lost Big Ben, but now they are so much better. I mean how do they wind up with TWO awesome goaltenders? How do all these other teams that don't get high draft picks wind up improving so much on the cheap? The Devils? Really? How did Philly turn it around so quickly? This rebuild has been going on for years now with nothing to show.

The Peters system, which seemed great to me at first, with the team actually cycling the puck and winning board battles for once, has apparently been figured out. It seems on every offensive zone possession the opponents just clog up the slot with bodies which just block every cross pass and block every shot before it gets near the goaltender. while on the attack they always seem to have a clear lane to our net.

IDK why Lindholm hasn't been traded- he is just incapable of finishing. Rask has shown flashes of brilliance but what we need is consistancy. Hanafin vastly overrated. Could the 3 of them plus a 1st rounder get Duchene or comprable? Bring up Gauthier, Zykov, ect?

Meanwhile, the owner has the audacity to continuously jack prices up year after year for a failure of a team and then furrow their brows in a vain attempt to understand why only 8K people show up.

 

[varano]

Guys what are the thoughts on darling... I watched a bit of the game last night and he looks like he flounders a lot in the net. Is he comfortable? Is he playing well?

 

[Wolfpuck]

Guys what are the thoughts on darling... I watched a bit of the game last night and he looks like he flounders a lot in the net. Is he comfortable? Is he playing well?

He's playing...serviceable. His numbers have not been helped by the Minnesota and Dallas games (where we didn't play defense), and the garbage time Kucherov goal with 4 seconds left last night.

Flailing around seems to be an aspect of his game when the play breaks down in front of him. If you're going to have someone doing that in goal, it might as well be someone who is 6'6", but I'd rather he not do it at all. I'm still not sure what he was doing on the Sergachev goal.

 

[varano]

He's playing...serviceable. His numbers have not been helped by the Minnesota and Dallas games (where we didn't play defense), and the garbage time Kucherov goal with 4 seconds left last night.

Flailing around seems to be an aspect of his game when the play breaks down in front of him. If you're going to have someone doing that in goal, it might as well be someone who is 6'6", but I'd rather he not do it at all. I'm still not sure what he was doing on the Sergachev goal.

That goal specifically was a mess.

 

[Unsustainable]

We need a Wayne Simmonds type of player and a 1C

 

[varano]

This is getting disgusting. I mean, in a vacuum, it appears to us that the team incrementally improves each year with the development of young players and the addition of a couple of others, and seemingly good drafting.

But relatively speaking, there is no improvement compared to the rest of the league. Tampa was crap last year, and even lost Big Ben, but now they are so much better. I mean how do they wind up with TWO awesome goaltenders? How do all these other teams that don't get high draft picks wind up improving so much on the cheap? The Devils? Really? How did Philly turn it around so quickly? This rebuild has been going on for years now with nothing to show.

The Peters system, which seemed great to me at first, with the team actually cycling the puck and winning board battles for once, has apparently been figured out. It seems on every offensive zone possession the opponents just clog up the slot with bodies which just block every cross pass and block every shot before it gets near the goaltender. while on the attack they always seem to have a clear lane to our net.

IDK why Lindholm hasn't been traded- he is just incapable of finishing. Rask has shown flashes of brilliance but what we need is consistancy. Hanafin vastly overrated. Could the 3 of them plus a 1st rounder get Duchene or comprable? Bring up Gauthier, Zykov, ect?

Meanwhile, the owner has the audacity to continuously jack prices up year after year for a failure of a team and then furrow their brows in a vain attempt to understand why only 8K people show up.

Duchene would be pretty perfect for the canes. Hanifin would be great to dump. His upside seems very limited. Pesce and Slavin are the future.