Temp Check Rod Brindamour

[MyLuckyPuck]

Conference finals aren’t the time to be doing things strategically different.

If we want to do it a different way, that starts in training camp. But the way we play got us to the playoffs and two series wins, so it’s awfully hard to sell that we should be switching things up.

No one here would’ve taken Burns off of PP1 after being dog stomped in games 1-3? Or Switched away from Ghost/Morrow? Im NOT talking about fundamentals like oh we played an entire season running a 1-1-3 offense to all of a sudden going 3-1-1. It just seemed stagnant for far too long during the series, and by the time we got something going, it was too late. That’s all I’m saying.

Edit- Ihave nothing wrong with the way we structurally play. Clearly it’s very affective. But more folks than myself characterized the Panthers in the exact way….they play the same way we do except they are faster, larger, and more talented up and down the lineup. If you are doing the exact same things and getting smacked in the face over and over, doing the same thing….isn’t that the definition of insanity?

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Edit- Ihave nothing wrong with the way we structurally play. Clearly it’s very affective. But more folks than myself characterized the Panthers in the exact way….they play the same way we do except they are faster, larger, and more talented up and down the lineup. If you are doing the exact same things and getting smacked in the face over and over, doing the same thing….isn’t that the definition of insanity?

I think you are over-exaggerating this a bit. The team has been one of the most successful NHL franchises over this time so, no, it's not "insanity" to keep playing the same way. Clearly they haven't been able to get over the ECF hump or win a cup, but your comments above are more an indictment of the front office not getting enough talent to get over that hump.

 

[Stickpucker]

Love and respect the man.

He has "his people" so we tell him we're bringing in Ray Whitney to run the pp and xos and he can keep all his other buddies too.

 

[Ole Gil]

The biggest problem on the PP, is that the Canes have noone who can hit the net on a one-timer. Jarvis/Aho/Svech and whoever else missing the net from the Ovechkin spot pretty much ensures you're going to be at 15%. If you don't capitalize on that, it doesn't matter who's designing the powerplay.

 

[chaz4hockey]

The biggest problem on the PP, is that the Canes have noone who can hit the net on a one-timer. Jarvis/Aho/Svech and whoever else missing the net from the Ovechkin spot pretty much ensures you're going to be at 15%. If you don't capitalize on that, it doesn't matter who's designing the powerplay.

That should change going forward with Nikishin & Nadeau. Looking at their shots this year makes me very optimistic next year and beyond.

 

[Discipline Daddy]

That should change going forward with Nikishin & Nadeau. Looking at their shots this year makes me very optimistic next year and beyond.

Incidentally, I thought our powerplay actually looked really good from what I saw in game 5. Of course it didn't score, and results are results. But we were moving the puck around. The puck carrier was constantly switching lanes with other players on the outside, the inner pass options were creating chaos, and we were getting some good looks on Bob. I'll take that anyday, especially against an elite PK in Florida with an elite goalie in Bob.

Thing about small sample sizes is, they're small. We were 0-6, but one of those PPs was with 29 seconds left and the game already out of hand. Let's say we went 0-5. A really good playoff powerplay is 25%. There's a 1/4 chance that a 25% PP team goes 0-5. Game 5 felt like a "we had our chances" kind of day, and not like our end-of-the-season-might-as-well-decline-the-PP binge. We went 23.1% in the PP this postseason, which is actually better than average. Florida? 23.2%.

I'm actually glad this year we didn't get goalied to a playoff loss, or didn't lose because of special teams. Now it feels like our good players actually played well, but we lost because our team wasn't good enough. Part of this was from losing 2 RD, which just throws our whole system in the shitter at the worst possible time. And part of it is we need more help. From an offseason perspective, I'd rather have clearly fixable issues than walk out with our hands up like we did in 2023, which was the most perplexing and frustrating playoff loss I've ever experienced.