Whaddagoal
The Sheldon Keefe Era Begins
Logan Thompson was the better goalie
Tonight, definitely. Slightly concerned with Marky looking like a good version of blackwood here. High highs and low lows.
Logan Thompson was the better goalie
I'm not sure. Maybe the long-term solution is to somehow find a center and put him on wing. Other than that, I would say, I'd like to see him be more assertive with carrying the puck out in the dzone, but he kind of has, he's just been fumbling the puck left and right. idk how you fix that lol. Maybe he needs Luke back to tell him to stop sucking or something
Ya not sure how you make it work though. Kovalchuk was a very different player.If Lemaire and DeBoer could make it work with Kovalchuk, Keefe should eventually be able to make it work with Jack. It's just a matter of how soon Jack embraces that change. Kovalchuk had already been in the league a decade without any real success so he might have been more amenable to it than Jack could be now.
He does it more and it’s more noticeable when he’s not skating as much. Because he overstickhandles and doesn’t make up for it with his skating.He’s always fumbled pucks left and right. That happened constantly even when he was good.
Who in here is saying anything close to that?It's insane to me to have any take that believes Jack is never going to figure it out and is just a junk average forward for good now.
That's get off the ledge shit and people are gonna look stupid when he is doing Jack shit in a month
I think I just misunderstood the initial point, apologies! I don’t disagree with that statement so hopefully you weren’t talking about me there!Don't really need to say anything. Just stating that the extra games in hand is giving them cushion right now. No one really disagreed with that other than 1 person, so not a big deal
He does it more and it’s more noticeable when he’s not skating as much. Because he overstickhandles and doesn’t make up for it with his skating.
As I alluded to above. He does always fumble pucks but I think it’s worse when he’s not playing through his skating. When he thinks he’s a Kane type hands guy it becomes very apparent that he isn’t IMOI'm not sure. Maybe the long-term solution is to somehow find a center and put him on wing. Other than that, I would say, I'd like to see him be more assertive with carrying the puck out in the dzone, but he kind of has, he's just been fumbling the puck left and right. idk how you fix that lol. Maybe he needs Luke back to tell him to stop sucking or something
I think I just misunderstood the initial point, apologies! I don’t disagree with that statement so hopefully you weren’t talking about me there!
Agree to disagree here. It’s not a disconnect with linemates that’s the problem right now. He can start to slowdown at times more once he’s pushing the game with his skating first and backing D off with his speed. Right now he’s not doing that and just trying to play through his hands and passing. Which is never gonna work for him IMO.I tend to think slowing is better sometimes as his linemates aren't always anticipating his high IQ plays that he can generate that they aren't expecting by default. Only Bratt is closest adaption to that (peanut butter and jelly) and they seem to have ridiculous chemistry when things are really firing on all cylinders.
Although I agree he fumbles the puck more the one would expect from a player of his ilk, his hands and passing are still strengths in general.Agree to disagree here. It’s not a disconnect with linemates that’s the problem right now. He can start to slowdown at times more once he’s pushing the game with his skating first and backing D off with his speed. Right now he’s not doing that and just trying to play through his hands and passing. Which is never gonna work for him IMO.
Edit: Also in agreement with @Whaddagoal I've always thought it's not easy to be on Hughes's wing. We've seen a ton of guys, starting with Palms struggle playing with him. I do think it takes high end offensive ability to really thrive with Hughes.
He put up strong defensive results by driving possession and spending a lot of time in the ozone. He’s still always cheated to offence at times and he doesn’t exactly play very structured defensively. But that’s something you probably just live with if what he brings offensively from playing that outweighs it as it most likely does when he’s playing well.I feel like there’s this weird revisionist history going on with Jack because he’s not been himself for such a long time now. People are acting like he needs to overhaul his game and become this responsible guy that plays within the confines of the system and adjusts his game to be his best. I don’t want that guy. I want the 21-22 and 22-23 Jack that was out there doing his thing and pummeling the competition. He wasn’t some freewheeler that just only cared about offense. He was engaged defensively and posted strong defensive results. Sure the guy wasn’t Bergeron out there but that’s not what you want from Jack Hughes.
So in all, my time watching this game was disjointed. Keefe ended up putting Palat with Jack and Bratt and moved Cotter down to the 4th line right? I have to wonder what he does with those 3 lines going into next game.
I honestly would try Noesen with Bratt and Jack if it's doable. He makes shit happen.
He put up strong defensive results by driving possession and spending a lot of time in the ozone. He’s still always cheated to offence at times and he doesn’t exactly play very structured defensively. But that’s something you probably just live with if what he brings offensively from playing that outweighs it as it most likely does when he’s playing well.
I don’t think it’s a thing where people think he doesn’t care defensively. More so just that he was aloud leeway to cheat to offence a fair bit by Ruff. As I said the positives from that may very well far outweigh the negatives but it does seem like Keefe may be snuffing that out of him a bit. Which may be affecting his offence a bit although I don’t think it’s even close to the sole reason.Cotter with them was really bad tonight. They didn't even register a CF. Granted part of that was Jack was really bad in the first and Bratt being under the weather but it was not working and the 4th line with Palat was miserable yet again. At this point I think you have to try Palat with Nico. That's the one place he hasn't been tried and he's already dragged down the 3 other lines. With how Nico is going if Palat manages to drag him down then he's truly cooked.
Yes that's primarily why he did but it's also not like guy has ever been some Kane type that doesn't give a single f*** defensively. Just because he doesn't play defense in the way Nico does in the DZ doesn't mean Jack was some disengaged floater defensively.
I don't agree with this. Superstars elevate others, not the other way around
Like someone else said, that guy was playing in a system that didn't exactly structure him on paper. This is a structured system, he'll have to evolve somewhat. If he can't then he's not as good a player as we all thought two years ago.I feel like there’s this weird revisionist history going on with Jack because he’s not been himself for such a long time now. People are acting like he needs to overhaul his game and become this responsible guy that plays within the confines of the system and adjusts his game to be his best. I don’t want that guy. I want the 21-22 and 22-23 Jack that was out there doing his thing and pummeling the competition. He wasn’t some freewheeler that just only cared about offense. He was engaged defensively and posted strong defensive results. Sure the guy wasn’t Bergeron out there but that’s not what you want from Jack Hughes.
Like someone else said, that guy was playing in a system that didn't exactly structure him. This is a structured system, he'll have to evolve somewhat. If he can't then he's not as good a player as we all thought two years ago.
That is often the case, but not always the case. He didn't elevate Palms. Shara was better with Zajac. No one likes Timo with Hughes.I don't agree with this. Superstars elevate others, not the other way around
Not sure it’s nearly this simple. I think the style of play he thrives in makes it more difficult to fit into more strict structures. He’s best when he’s free wheeling flying around.Jack certainly has the talent to play in any system. Whether he excels in it or not is up to him.