What happened to the offense?

[DackellDuck]

There's no doubt that this team has buttoned up defensively this year, and for the most part, our goaltending has been good. For stretches, it's been great. So we're in the wild card race. Woo!

But what's happened to the offense?

We've scored 77 5v5 GF this year, which puts us 29th in the league (Tied with Anaheim!). We've been shut out more than any other team (5 times in January!). Our PP was good for the first couple months, but that's also bottomed out now.

Is there a way out of this? Or will we be white knuckling it hoping to win 2-1 for the rest of the year? With the amount of money we have committed to this forward group... it's pretty brutal.

Click to read more...

 

[Agent Zuuuub]

Seems like good offense was hinged on barely playing any d for some of our players.

 

[The Devilish Buffoon]

Once they can play a tight defensive game without thinking about it, they will be able to play a fluid offensive game without thinking about it. An experienced, legit 2nd liner and a bigish, skilled-ish 4/5 D would go a long way to building us a contender’s offense, but most of the answers will come from that internal shift.

 

[Random Comment]

I don’t know but Dorion needs to fix it

 

[PlayOn]

IMO it’s a combination of a bunch of things

1. I think the roster is still somewhat poorly constructed, though it’s better than last year. Chabot is phenomenal in transition, but he’s not great in the o-zone. What you need from the #2 dman to complement Sanderson is someone that can really drive offence from the backend and is a real shot threat. Chabot is, on a true contender, probably a #3 imo. Not elite offensively, not elite defensively, but as of this season solid all around. Hopefully Yak can be that eventually.

2. Our top 6 have no chemistry. We are missing a true play-driving star level player up front. Don’t know where we are gonna get that. I think our forwards are talented but when you’re missing a piece people end up being slotted incorrectly. Alternatively more speed on the wing and offensive depth would be a decent substitute for the time being.

3. Green knows we are not a high-end offensive team so he’s overcompensating by having us essentially playing above our heads defensively. I think this will level out as they adjust some of the roster over the years and as the players get more accustomed to the system.

4. Some of this recent stretch is probably just bad luck.

 

[ottawagm]

We really need a true offensive threat from the back end.

 

[Filatov2Kovalev2Bonk]

There's some bad luck, some regression and non-Toronto teams are tightening up a lot and the Senators aren't completely used to this tight-checking playoff-style stuff. On top of that, wondering if Ullmark being out is taxing on the players, like gripping sticks too tight.

Anyway, Saturday is Toronto so goal party inc.

 

[Ouroboros]

They are being coached to be an extremely low-event team at 5-on-5. Look at the numbers:

xGF/60 - 2.33 [24th]
xGA/60 - 2.27 [6th]
Scoring Chances/60 - 25.6 [21st]
Scoring Chances Against/60 - 25.13 [11th]
High Danger Chances/60 - 9.29 [28th]
High Danger Chances Against/60 - 9.84 [10th]

They generate very little and they concede very little. The change from previous seasons is actually remarkable, even if it's kind of boring to watch. It's also probably worth noting that they're 31st in the NHL at 5-on-5 SH%, and are 28th in all-strength SH%.

Under DJ they would score off the rush almost exclusively, but they can't do that anymore because of the demands of the new defensive structure. So they're going to have to find a way to get the puck off the boards and into the slot. Apparently they're 28th in the league in rebound chances. Probably really low in slot shots as well, but that's just a guess.

 

[DrEasy]

Lots of good points made already, here's another potential factor: playing through injuries.

- Norris not shooting as often, and not being set up for shots as often, cannot be (solely) due to everyone being dumb. A shoulder is clearly still missing in action.

- Stutzle has not returned to being the dynamo he was two years ago. By now he should be even better than that! I bet he's far from 100%.

- Brady is still playing his physical style, but we haven't seen him park himself in front of the net as much. Again, this cannot be (solely) due to everyone being dumb. If the coach is not putting him there or he's unwilling to play there, there must be some physical limitation, not sure what it is.

- Chabot has his head (up his arse and) inside an aquarium; this can't be helping with quick decision-making.

- Jensen missing practice recently, and not playing the rest of the game.

- Sanderson missing today altogether, and not playing up to his standard all season.

- Giroux suddenly got old. Perron is old.

Hanlon's Razor: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."
DrEasy's Razor: "Do not attribute to stupidity that which is adequately explained by injury."

 

[Maraz]

Rotating Gaudette, Amadio, Cousins, Greig in top line/top 6 is part of the problem. Even Giroux at this point but he at least has hockey IQ and experience to his advantage. Perron at 2nd PP is far from ideal.

And there is no internal solution with Halliday, Reinhardt and Crookshank being the best that offensive depth can offer. Montgomery/Moore are far from sure things and at least 2-3 years from being ready.

This team needs to bring top line scoring winger ideally 2 of them asap and I admit I don't know how to make it possible cap wise but I am also not being paid to know.
137 minutes (almost 7 periods) without scoring single goal and being shutout 5 of the last 11 games in the most crucial part of the season when race for wild card is that tight.