Mustard and Blue

I bet that ended quick.... it did for me.

LOL. Yup. Short passes. Long passes. Made no difference tonight. They were simply crap!!

Yea, it ended pretty quickly alright.
That's the first time I've ever left a game early that wasn't kid related.

OK, the way they've been playing, a point in a shoot-out loss to the caps is big. Held them to only two regulation goals. Great.
Callahan was saying after the game that our #8 looked a lot better, more relaxed, more poised...so my question.
Is #2 the real problem f'ing up that D pairing or is it #8? I know #2 is capable and eats alot of minutes but I really don't think he is a top 4 Dman. I've never really been thrilled with his play and really started to get even more disgusted over the last two seasons. He makes way too many stupid plays for my liking.

Am I completely off here? What sez you?

Well, I don't think it is limited to individual players. The players we have are better than they are showing and for me, the reason that they under-perform is down to the Big 6 headed up by Trotzie. Hammer has skill, but what is it going to take to get him to use it consistently? For example, we all know what Weber is capable of but how many big shots has he taken so far? How much has he used his weight and size to push attackers to the sides? Why isn't the coaching staff addressing all of the issues like this in order to get more out of the players that we have? Look at Peverley. Trotz couldn't get the performance out of Pevs, but the moment he was snatched up and away from us he has become a real asset. Change the coach, or coaching staff, and the same players will perform differently.

Well until Poile is fired, Trotz won't go anywhere. And the ownership group doesn't seem to have the will to get rid of any of them. I'm frustrated with the offensive talent we've drafted. Only a couple of these guys have developed into anything and we haven't been able to keep them. I know some of it is our draft position has been such that we have never been in line for a superstar but Trotz would have sucked the life out of one anyway. His defense first works when you're building a team but we really should be further along and definitely not regressing. I also think our scouts suck. They can't seem to find anyone but Dmen. And Pevs looked a whole lot better when he started playing with Kolvechuk. Though to be fair, I think he's on Atlanta's second line now. But Atlanta doesn't require it's offensive stars to play defense either.

Yeah, whichever way you cut it it doesn't look good. Maybe it's time for a new GM, then maybe we can change the coaches!

Holy Cow!! look at all the posts!!

Freeman and co. aren't Hockey guys, they won't do anything about Poile because I don't think they really know who's who out there as far as coaches and GMs go. So Poile, thus Trotz and all the same issues, will probably be around for a couple more years.

I have no idea where I stand anymore with Trotz and co. Last year, and the year before actually, I joined in the group calling for him to be gone...then they pull together one of the best records in the league after the A-S break.?.?.? You can't say "the team sucks because of trotz" but then give him no credit when they make the type of run they did last year.
I'm still leaning towards "Trotz needs to go" because I do think he is starting to get tuned out by a lot of the players and I think the largely improved play in the last two games was as much player pride kicking in as anything else.
I do have to give it to trotz for throwing away any set lines last game. I think the guys were too comfortable playing with certain linemates and not knowing who their linemates would be next shift made them concentrate in their own game more. They had to make sure they did what they were suppossed to do.

Pred-oi!-tors wrote:Holy Cow!! look at all the posts!!

LOL. Stop taking the piss!!

Pred-oi!-tors wrote:..................... I joined in the group calling for him to be gone...then they pull together one of the best records in the league after the A-S break.?.?.? You can't say "the team sucks because of trotz" but then give him no credit when they make the type of run they did last year.
I'm still leaning towards "Trotz needs to go" because I do think he is starting to get tuned out by a lot of the players and I think the largely improved play in the last two games was as much player pride kicking in as anything else.
I do have to give it to trotz for throwing away any set lines last game. I think the guys were too comfortable playing with certain linemates and not knowing who their linemates would be next shift made them concentrate in their own game more. They had to make sure they did what they were suppossed to do.

Now these are the points that help me confirm to myself that Trotz needs to be replaced. As you say, he can turn things around but one of our BIGGEST problems is maintaining that. The consistency is one of the things that we all scream about the most. The other point IS the line juggling. All last season he was swapping the lines around and couldn't settle on a set that worked. A newer player would have one bad game and, bang, he was scratched, but the vets, like Arnott, Dumont and Erat, could play a real turkey and still be there.

We need a coach to set the main lines and get the most out of them ALL the time if we are going to stand any chance of making an impact.

A reply in the same day!!!!! get out....

Well Chas you said we all scream about consistency and you are absolutely correct. That is THE biggest gripe I have. Second is the pass given to the vets. I like how trotz sat goc a couple of games ago because he wanted "to see more pop out of him" (or something like that) but erat, hamhuis, arnott, sullivan...nothing, no comment. And, frankly, I don't EVER expect to hear trotz call out arnott or sullivan.
If trotz was replaced tomorrow I wouldn't mind.