The Negativity-**Only** Thread (A Place to go to vent)

[drwpreds]

Your pretending that nothing is flawed when we win is just as bad as those who see nothing good in our play when we're losing.

I am absolutely not doing that- its just not true- when we were 1-2-3, did you see me posting nothing but positive, sunshine-pumping, stuff? No, I did not.

Like you and many others, I am worried about our offense, puck possession and breakout. I have said so many, many times. It is probably going to be an issue for us all year. But we have been much, much better offensively the past few games, and once again, people were making the same dire predictions at this time last year, and we wound up just fine.

I guarantee you I am more balanced in my commentary than many, many people on here. I am not talking about you here, but if all you see are negatives when we are sitting here at 5-2-4, with points in all but 2 games, then they are the ones who are not balanced in their commentary. If we stink, I will say so, but we have absolutely NOT stunk this year. We've got flaws like every team, but we have had a very good start.

But what we have seen so far this year, in many ways, IS Predators hockey- we are never going to have a high scoring, puck dominating offense like the Kings or other teams have. What we have is a great, great defensive system and and elite goaltender- and that has carried us to a great start to this season. As I have said before, if we start stinking, I will be right on here saying we stink.

But I will continue to call out anyone who can only see negatives when we are off to a great start against a brutal schedule.

Finally, I keep hearing people saying things like "Vanek" outscores us by himself- can anyone tell me what Buffalo's record is?? That's right, its worse than ours- those individual stats mean nothing. I don't care if he has 20 goals- we have a better team than his- period.

And, people are now moaning about our PP- I'm sure you would all love to have guys like Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen, etc- right? Well, they are #26 in the league in PP, 5 spots behind ours- its called perspective- get some, people.

What I find funny about this back and forth, is I am actually a pessimistic sports fan by nature- my friends and family always give me grief about it. But on this Preds board, which I still say is one of the most negative boards I have ever seen, I am seen as a sunshine pumper- hilarious......

 

[hockey diva]

The loser point is why we look "good" not because we are actually playing well.

 

[PredsV82]

The loser point is why we look "good" not because we are actually playing well.

hard to make a case that we are playing all that poorly with only two regulation losses in 11 games.

to be more accurate, our PP is hideous, our forecheck is weak to nonexistent, and our offensive output is spotty at best.

but our team defense and goaltending are probably about the best in the league, otherwise we would be more like 2-8-1

 

[Legionnaire11]

What I find funny about this back and forth, is I am actually in a thread titled "Negativity Thread" and complaining about the negative nature of the posts.

Fixed that for you.

 

[Byrddog]

hard to make a case that we are playing all that poorly with only two regulation losses in 11 games.

to be more accurate, our PP is hideous, our forecheck is weak to nonexistent, and our offensive output is spotty at best.

but our team defense and goaltending are probably about the best in the league, otherwise we would be more like 2-8-1

Really snot slinger

Worst in the league in GF, SOG combined with 3 ROW. The team is shown little respect for the offense recall two first time NHL starters in net beat this team. We have went backwards in that teams now can look at the Preds and look to getthere starting goalie a rest and play the backup. Im sure you remember thoses days in the young years.

ANd your correct about the goaltending and defense they are 1st in the league there at 1.82 which is unsustainable.

This team is waiting for a bomb to go off against them offensivly. They dodged one in Sa Jose someone is going to blow this team out soon it may well be tonight.

 

[PredsV82]

Really snot slinger

Worst in the league in GF, SOG combined with 3 ROW. The team is shown little respect for the offense recall two first time NHL starters in net beat this team. We have went backwards in that teams now can look at the Preds and look to getthere starting goalie a rest and play the backup. Im sure you remember thoses days in the young years.

ANd your correct about the goaltending and defense they are 1st in the league there at 1.82 which is unsustainable.

This team is waiting for a bomb to go off against them offensivly. They dodged one in Sa Jose someone is going to blow this team out soon it may well be tonight.

the defense being best in the league and staying at its current level is no less likely than our offense remaining this woefully bad.

which one breaks first will determine whether we rise or fall from our current position

 

[Byrddog]

I agree to a point but defensivey we have much more talent than on the other side of the puck.

On a brighter note on NHL Tonight who has been the bioggest disappointment so far in the year???? The Wild and the biggest dissapointing player yup you got it Suter.

I just do not see the Preds have missed Suter short Weber who still just looks lost.

 

[101st_fan]

If our defense slips to merely the level of the usual top of the league for a season (usually just over 2 goals allowed per game of late), we're in trouble unless the offense picks up significantly. We've proven we're great against teams with goalies having a terrible night ... not so much if the goalie manages to stop at least nine out of ten shots he faces.

 

[PredsV82]

If our defense slips to merely the level of the usual top of the league for a season (usually just over 2 goals allowed per game of late), we're in trouble unless the offense picks up significantly. We've proven we're great against teams with goalies having a terrible night ... not so much if the goalie manages to stop at least nine out of ten shots he faces.

are the goalies having bad nights or are we beginning to find things that work, even if we cant make them happen every night?

chicken or egg?

time will tell....

 

[101st_fan]

are the goalies having bad nights or are we beginning to find things that work, even if we cant make them happen every night?

chicken or egg?

time will tell....

Bad nights. Look at Elliot ... it wasn't just us. Look at Quick ... it wasn't just us. No team finds something that works on over 27% of their shots for a prolonged period of time.

 

[hockey diva]

Soooo glad, I skipped this game.

 

[cleangene63]

After all these years with the core of the same players, why hasn't this same coaching staff been able to teach them how to pass the puck from stick to stick and not empty spaces or skates, and why hasn't this same coaching staff worked on the accuracy levels of shooting pucks INTO THE NET?

 

[sparkle twin]

ANd your correct about the goaltending and defense they are 1st in the league there at 1.82 which is unsustainable.

This team is waiting for a bomb to go off against them offensivly. They dodged one in Sa Jose someone is going to blow this team out soon it may well be tonight.

As bad as the game was, if it wasn't for Pekka and the defense tonight it very well may have been 10-0.

A number of times the defense was ready for Kane and the twirling **** he tries to pull. Josi was right on him and he got one pass off the first time but after that every time he tried it he was shut down. Hannan stopped him one time only to be punched in the face by Kane right in front of the ref, which of course was not called.



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We're playing too soft, too passive, too slow, too quiet, too individual, too small.



For a team that prides itself on being hardworking, we sure got outworked tonight. We were beat to almost every loose puck. And no communication out there either. A few times 2 Preds went for one puck but hesitated because they thought the other would get to it first. Meanwhile, the blackhawk player just cut between them and took the puck to other end for a scoring chance without getting a bit of resistance.

Did they change the rules of hockey to no-checking? Or did someone manage to convince the Predators that they now play in a no-checking league? Because outside of one Great hit on Toews by Klein, I didn't notice anyone even trying to take the body or play physical at all. Oh, well, at least not until the last 5 minutes of the third period when Chicago quit playing offense and was concentrating on preserving the shutout.

I have never seen a team that just refuses to put the puck on the net. Two of Chicago's goals were because they just threw it towards to the net. The Preds constantly look for the pass. Sometimes it OK to just TAKE THE SHOT! No one on the team is really a threat to score (maybe Wilson) because they just don't shoot enough to put any fear into the the defense or goalies.

We might just set a league record for fewest shots on goal in a season. I really had my doubts that we would even reach 10 shots for the game.

Why do none of our top line guys go to the net? They skate around it or just avoid it all together. The game in STL, look who got the goals and how they got them. By going to the net and getting rebounds. No one goes to screen the goalie, no one is there for passes. And if by some miracle someone does get there for more than a second, they don't see the puck and the pass goes right through their legs. Tonight Wilson made some great slick passes to an empty slot area. His line mates were all next to him BEHIND the net! Hornqvist is still at least 2 weeks away and he can't/doesn't play 60 minutes, so someone has got to step up and learn how to go to the net consistently.


There are about 5-6 guys on the team that are out there every shift trying to create something. And of those 5, maybe 2 actually have the talent to do it, but just haven't yet this year. The other 3-4 are out there working hard, but they just don't have the talent to bring the offense we need.





I don't understand the problem with this team. It's basically the exact same team that was a top 10 offense last season and a #1 PP. And don't tell me it's all Suter, he didn't play 60 minutes a night.

 

[wadesworld]

Why do none of our top line guys go to the net? They skate around it or just avoid it all together. The game in STL, look who got the goals and how they got them. By going to the net and getting rebounds. No one goes to screen the goalie, no one is there for passes.

Often when our guys do go to the net, it seems they often get too close to the goalie. A nice juicy rebound pops out and they whiff/miss because they're so close in they have no time to react. Or someone tries to sneak a pass in, but they're in so tight there's no way to get it there. They just have no space.

On the other side, I've never understood why our power-play strategy is to have the defenseman front the attacking player and let him stand right in front of Rinne. Knock him on his #$@#$ tail and tell him he's going to get worse if he comes back.

 

[preds1]

After all these years with the core of the same players, why hasn't this same coaching staff been able to teach them how to pass the puck from stick to stick and not empty spaces or skates, and why hasn't this same coaching staff worked on the accuracy levels of shooting pucks INTO THE NET?

Yep, I've noticed the same thing.

 

[Dave is a killer]

According to the stats guy on Twitter, we average 21.1 shots on goal/game ... 4 fewer than the 29th ranked team ... this just in our forwards suck at creating shots

 

[MrHenley]

I think we need to actually have an identity as an offense. The Blackhawks know and use their plan well, counter attack with speed, walk in from the half walls when in "half court".

A few years ago we really we a team that played good defense and used the same philosophy. We were quick and had a great young d-corp that would jump in to create odd man attacks.

If our focus now is to roll 4 lines of "crash the net", then these forward shots from the outside/half walls, with no one in front, arent going to work. I miss the days when Sully, Arnott, Dumont were working "behind the net" or when Legwand and Erat's line would really skate.

Right now we have no direction, and outside of Colin Wilson, no one to actually be selfish and say "**** this dump and change after 28 seconds, or relinquish possession by rolling it around the boards, I want to score"

You know most of your Top 6 is washed up when you want Wilson, Spaling, bourque, Blum, Ellis out there to get a big goal. Legwand and Fisher particularly, have looked like they have lost a step and are terrible.

 

[triggrman]

Hal Gill is as bad with the puck as any player I've seen in the NHL, he's painfully slow with his feet, hands and decision making.

 

[triggrman]

We had 3 shots on goal at the games halfway point against Chicago, 3.

We've been shutout in 25% of our games now right?

 

[PredsV82]

I have to admit even though I am usually fairly optimistic, I think extending Fisher for two years is going to bite us in the ass....

 

[nomorekids]

I'd be curious to know how many games reached the halfway point and the Predators had less than 10 shots on goal at that time. It seems like most of them.

I really struggle to recall a time when our puck possession was so horrendous. Even Erat, who is typically a puck-poss wiz--to a fault--is coughing the puck up if someone breathes on him wrong.

When there is sustained pressure in the O-Zone, it just generates endless cycling and no scoring chance.

Defensively, the team looks about as good as ever, but things are very, very ugly in terms of offense right now.

 

[nashpreds]

I think the problem is that there is no forecheck....ever

The only guys that have really put any pressure on the opposing D lately have been Wilson and Clune. Other than that everybody's just standing around waiting for the other team to break the puck out and bring it back to Rinne.

It would also be nice to see somebody throw a hit once in a while, I think the absence of Tootoo has effected this team more than anybody realizes

Also, they need to stop icing the damn puck, its starting to piss me off.

 

[Legionnaire11]

I have to admit even though I am usually fairly optimistic, I think extending Fisher for two years is going to bite us in the ass....

Our over 30 crowd definitely looks like they're still in lockout mode...

Legwand, Fisher, Gaustad and Gill have all looked pretty bad. Erat isn't terrible, but not up to his usual standards. Hannan probably is what we thought he was, though most of us speculated that he would be nothing more than 3rd pair and he's spend time on the 1st pair, so I don't think we can fault him for anything there.

Good thing this is practically a throwaway season. I like Wilson's progress a lot, hopefully Smith can follow the same path and start to find his way next season, then we've got Watson coming along in another season or two.

Of course, the problem remains up the middle. This has to be the lamest group of centers in the league. Wilson and Smith have more scoring talent than any of the four that we're skating, yet they have to skate on the wing because they don't fit the mold of a Trotz center. So as long as we've got this coaching staff, I don't know that we'll ever have scoring centers. But that's opening the "Fire Trotz" thing again, and that's been a pretty useless argument for the last 7 years now.

 

[kypredsfan]

I was at the game and it really was that bad. Why, why can't these guys hold onto a damn puck and pass it tape to tape? It was like hot potato out there. One of the worse games I've seen in person as far as hustle and hard work.

 

[NoNecksCurse]

I have to admit even though I am usually fairly optimistic, I think extending Fisher for two years is going to bite us in the ass....

we need to trade him. seriously. and its lord farquaad