The Affect of Injuries Obvious

[SpikeDDS]

Well lookee here. For several games, we look bad again. And when we don't look bad, we still don't win.

 

Over the weekend, we started getting some of our wounded players back. Helm comes back. Scores in his first game back. Mantha returns and scores a very nice goal on individual effort in his second game back.

 

But more importantly, we look better as a hockey team. Mike Green came back, and he did look a bit like he's not up to game pace, but over the next few games, I think that will improve. Even against Washington--a team that CLEARLY has far more talent than we do, we stayed with them until they took over in the third and won. We are not a Cup-competing team. We are not even a playoff-competing team. But we are playing well enough to make a game with Washington interesting, when we have a full squad, or close.

 

But our hockey is still improved over how we were playing, say, 8 games ago. It was getting unwatchable again. And now it isn't. We are playing better.

 

It is easy to judge Blashill because we are losing games, but the fact is that we just don't have the talent yet. And when you have injuries like we have had, it's tough to compete and look like a decent hockey team. The young talent is there, but it still needs more development to achieve closer to their potential on a fairly consistent basis.

 

I DO think that Ras needs to play more minutes. I would rather him develop his net-front skills now, even if it is done in losing efforts. He can't do it if he doesn't play much. IF the objective is to develop the talent of these young players and get them playing better--and yes, that means that winning games is NOT the most important thing, because you have to do the playing better thing FIRST in order to win more consistently--then you actually have to PLAY the young players and  let them figure things out.

 

But when our players return, we DO look like a better hockey team. Still lacking in talent, but better. And if you judge Blashill on how we play, you have to give him credit for when we play well as well as judging him when they suck. They did suck. He deserved blame for that. They are playing better now. He gets credit for that too.

 

I almost wish we would either really suck or compete and not go back and forth, especially in conjunction with our injuries. It makes it harder to judge whether Blash's coaching is bad enough to warrant dismissal vs. having insufficient talent making competing in this league very difficult to do, if not impossible.

 

It IS frustrating when we have a period like the first period against Washington, where we look like a VERY good hockey team. But to think we can maintain that level of play consistently with the roster we have is probably a foolish thought at this point.

 

Do you blame lack of developed talent or coaching for our inconsistency?

[yave1964]

@SpikeDDS

 

Great write up. Seriously, GREAT. 

  First I want to agree, it would be better if we were really bad and got into the Jack hughes Sweeps, everyone compares him to Kane out of Chicago and he obviously would be a great fit wherever he goes but it would be nice for us to get one of those guys to go with our current bunch of kids.

 

  What sucks the most as far as injuries this season is the difference we are as a team when Green specifically is in there. He takes all the offensive pressure from the blueline off Cholowski and Hronek and allows them to learn the game with Green in we looked like a playoff team, with him out, we are borderline bad. Take Daley and Dekeyser out as well and we are more than borderline, we are just unable to keep up with most other teams. That is arguably our three best defenseman all out at the same time leaving untested kids and aging vets. We could have survived losing one, losing al three? Impossible. That isn't even counting losing Mantha and Helm at the same time among the forwards.

 

 So anyway, the season started slow, then showed promise and now is a lost cause. Here is what I would like to see going forward.

 

 Trade Howard, Abdelkader, Nyquist and Vanek for picks/prospects the sooner the better. Howard and Nyquist are having very solid seasons, worth at least a second rounder each, possibly a first. Abby probably nets a second or a third, Vanek, probably a fifth. Extra talent to add to the rebuild.

 

  Give kids Rasmussen, Hronek, Cholowski, Bertuzzi, Larkin, Athanasiou all big time minutes to make certain what we have. Consider the rest of the year extended spring training where we give the kids a chance to show us what they are made of. Along those lines recall Zadina, give him 16 minutes a night and let him get his feet wet at this level. After a slow start at the AHL level he has been solid for awhile now. If there are man games available give a look at Holmstrom Turgeon and Ehn.

 

  A big one, give Mantha top line minutes after moving out gus to see what we have. If he is a 23 goal a year 3rd liner so be it, lets find out if that is all or if he has more. We need to decide what he is.

 

  So move the pending UFA's out to give room for the kids to see what they are,  find out what Mantha is, FIRE BLASHILL at seasons end and bring in Quenneville as the next coach and aggressively go after a goalie in the offseason and possibly a top pair defender if one can be had. 

 

 

[SpikeDDS]

@yave1964

 

I would think we would be quite fortunate to get a second for Abby. Third is much more realistic in my view. But I also don't see KH letting go of him. He was given term which, to me, sounds like they think he's at least part of "the future." <sigh>

 

More in response later.