GDT: Thanksgiving Leftovers: Vancouver Canucks @ Carolina Hurricanes | 1:00 PM | PNC Arena

[TheOllieC]

Muller is pretty much just openly asking for a trade now

Cardiac Cane ‏@CardiacCane 21m
Muller on the powerplay- "Maybe there are some guys who just can't make the plays".

Wait so he expected Harrison-Komisarek pairing to be able to make plays on the PP? Nice

 

[DougieSmash]

If they somehow acquire good PMD, they should sent Murphy to AHL where he belongs now.

 

[Anton Babchuk]

Our PP blows chunks.

The difference between the Vancouver Canucks' power play and ours was night and days. The reason being, they actually play it like a PP. We play it like ES.

When we enter the zone, the first thing E. Staal, or Gerbe, or Skinner do is:

--Try to skate it into traffic themselves, or;
--Pass to the nearest player.

In other words, they play it like even strength. They don't try to slow it down and find the open man. Once you find the open man, you can start to play keep away. Move the puck around, get some shooting lanes or good scoring opportunities. Semin actually tries to do this on the PP, which makes him one out of....?

Instead, they pass to someone who is covered or they dump it in, or they skate it themselves into a bunch of people. That works at ES because its a percentages game; it won't work 75% of the time, but you can try it again and again as the game goes on.

But on the PP? Since the other team can ice the puck, its not going to work. We aren't actually taking advantage of the numbers disparity that a PP presents us.

That's the skillset of our "top" players outside of Semin. Very limited playmaking/vision/creativity/whatever. Just the same predictable, "simple" plays over and over, panicking with any sort of pressure, and terrible low percentage shots that get blocked half the time. Icing entire PP units of glorified garbage goalscorers is what Muller is forced to do. And the guys on the point simply don't belong on an NHL powerplay in any capacity.

 

[DaveG]

Muller is pretty much just openly asking for a trade now

Cardiac Cane ‏@CardiacCane 21m
Muller on the powerplay- "Maybe there are some guys who just can't make the plays".

Good. About time we started pushing for this **** to happen.

 

[DougieSmash]

How much before Rutherford make a panic move and trade our only useful trade piece in Skinner?

 

[DaveG]

Even JR's not that dumb. I'm more worried about him making a panic move and giving up our first in what's likely to be yet another non-playoff season. Or one of our assets that's exceeding expectations like Rask or McGinn.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

After the game, Hurricanes captain Eric Staal put the loss on his shoulders. “I’ve got to be the best player on the ice, and I wasn’t,†he said. “It’s no fun. No excuse, I’ve got to be better than I was tonight. I’ve got to be there for our team and be the guy to step up in a situation when things don’t go our way.â€

http://hurricanes.nhl.com/gamecenter/en/recap?id=2011020494

This was from 2 years ago. I think, at some point, Eric needs to be reminded of this quote. That quote should be his motivation, it should be on his mind constantly. He should strive to be the best player on the ice (not the team, the ice) in EVERY GAME.

Just throwing that out there

 

[Sens1Canes2]

That's the skillset of our "top" players outside of Semin. Very limited playmaking/vision/creativity/whatever. Just the same predictable, "simple" plays over and over, panicking with any sort of pressure, and terrible low percentage shots that get blocked half the time. Icing entire PP units of glorified garbage goalscorers is what Muller is forced to do. And the guys on the point simply don't belong on an NHL powerplay in any capacity.

I agree, and it's ok to have a bunch of guys like that as long as they are complemented by skilled guys who can carry the puck into the zone and set up the PP. Semin should be the guy to do it on the first unit and Skinner on the second unit. Murphy on one unit, and maybe Sekera on the other. Problem is, too many times E Staal is the one carrying it into the zone, and that's a black hole.

 

[FlyingSquirrels]

Eric Staal may be the worst captain in the entire NHL. But he'll have a 3 point game one time within the next 2 weeks and all will be forgiven.

 

[Frank Booth239*]

Well, you won't hear me defending Westgarth ever again after this.

First off, there is an altercation when he is on the ice. And Harrison, who is now oddly a top pairing defenseman, has to drop the gloves, while this guy stands there with a slack jaw. And Harrison sucks at fighting.

And I don't care what your Captain says- if you are an Enforcer- you make the person who damaged his MCL pay. That's called being a good teammate.

This guy is paid to be an enforcer. His Twitter page says "Right Wing Enforcement". Start enforcing, or find some other place to suck.

And I agree- Staal is the worst Captain ever. Panic move inbound.

 

[Joe McGrath]

Typical post loss narratives. Whole team sucks. Ward sucks. No toughness. Staal worst captain ever. All 3rd line scrubs. Might be more predictable than the team at this point.

 

[FlyingSquirrels]

Typical post loss narratives. Whole team sucks. Ward sucks. No toughness. Staal worst captain ever. All 3rd line scrubs. Might be more predictable than the team at this point.

Well, when we see yet ANOTHER season going down the ******* I think most fans want to do something, ANYTHING to turn this around. Or we can keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect a different result.

And I apologize for criticizing Golden Boy.

 

[What the Faulk]

It's easy to see who Muller is calling a passenger when you look at the box scores. Who got bumped for half the game?

 

[Joe McGrath]

Well, when we see yet ANOTHER season going down the ******* I think most fans want to do something, ANYTHING to turn this around. Or we can keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect a different result.

And I apologize for criticizing Golden Boy.

Everyone has a different reason why they are losing. Don't you think if all of those things were true they'd be worse than they are? This isn't just you obviously it's adding all the different narratives together. And everyone has their own. Doesn't mean any of them aren't true or valid.

 

[Anton Babchuk]

thoughts on hcanes hockey powerplay: http://hfloungers.wordpress.com/201...play-because-they-have-bad-powerplay-players/

 

[tarheelhockey]

It's easy to see who Muller is calling a passenger when you look at the box scores. Who got bumped for half the game?

This made me curious enough to check the TOI log. Some amusing things going on there.

For example, Westgarth's game went as follows:

1st period
- 9 second shift ending in him watching Harrison fight.
- 29 second shift
- 37 second shift ending in him trying to agitate Edler while the Canucks score.
- 20 second shift to end the period.

2nd period
- 7-second, neutral zone shift that results in icing.

3rd period
nil


Total: 1:43 on five shifts

 

[What the Faulk]

Yep. Don't understand dressing Westgarth only to not play him. Nash hasn't been *that* bad.

Lindholm also played one two-second shift in the second half of the game and Tlusty barely played in the second period. There was a point where Muller was effectively rolling 9 forwards and one of the Staals came out almost every line change.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Yep. Don't understand dressing Westgarth only to not play him. Nash hasn't been *that* bad.

Exactly. Considering the way Muller has had to mix-and-match lines in most of our games, I don't understand the purpose of just throwing away a roster spot like that.

If he dresses Nash, it's easy enough to move Lindholm to the wing when he struggles. That way you don't get to the third period and have to bench a rookie center in addition to your useless goon, thus wiping out nearly the entire bottom of the lineup.

Remember what this team looked like when it was rolling four lines? Yeah, that is straight-up impossible with a lineup like what Muller put out there yesterday. We were right back to putting the entire game on the backs of 2 or 3 forwards.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

I agree that Westgarth is a waste of a roster spot, but Nash really was "that bad" against NJ. In a game where a lot of players stunk, he stood out IMO. Was very weak on the puck, making bad decisions (more than once not getting it deep when he should have), generally not in the right position, etc...

I doubt he'll ever be a guy that you notice (in a positive way) on a nightly basis, but he has to keep from showing up negatively or there's little room for him in the line-up.

 

[What the Faulk]

Then Muller/JR need to get players that they trust if Nash/Westgarth/whoever aren't the answer. Playing with 19 skaters because Westgarth is so bad in his 100 seconds of TOI is foolish. Especially if Muller has to bench other players.

Eric can't keep playing 24 minutes a night and they can't keep rolling 9 forwards for half of the game.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Then Muller/JR need to get players that they trust if Nash/Westgarth/whoever aren't the answer. Playing with 19 skaters because Westgarth is so bad in his 100 seconds of TOI is foolish. Especially if Muller has to bench other players.

Eric can't keep playing 24 minutes a night and they can't keep rolling 9 forwards for half of the game.

No disagreement here. Unfortunately, with Semin out and virtually no depth, there aren't a whole lot of options.

 

[What the Faulk]

Dare I suggest a return of Boychuk? He's got 6 powerplay goals this year for a terrible Checkers team and can ride the bench at least as well as Lindholm/Nash/Westgarth.

 

[Lazyking]

^Only if he replaced westgarth.. Really there is no need for westgarth.

 

[Oenatzu]

Dwyer missed todays practice so Westgarth took his place on the second line wing.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Dwyer missed todays practice so Westgarth took his place on the second line wing.

Now, now..you are just trying to start something with that comment.

Chip Alexander ‏@ice_chip 4h
Maintenance day for Dwyer. Sekera should be OK, Muller says. Sekera got through practice well.

Barbara Steakley ‏@tumpover 5h
@HMof2 @MSmithCanes @ice_chip Maybe Westy's a placeholder.

Chip Alexander @ice_chip
@tumpover Yep. Filling in today.