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Post by RobR on Dec 20, 2014 22:14:41 GMT -5
And lol at played his nuts off. He did. I wish we had a back-up of his quality. Looks like Nappy might be hitting the waiver wire when Bishop comes back. |
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Post by Big L on Dec 20, 2014 22:17:55 GMT -5
Nappy is toast. Nice guy, but time to hang up the skates.
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Post by Lithfan on Dec 20, 2014 22:21:50 GMT -5
And lol at played his nuts off. He did. I wish we had a back-up of his quality. Looks like Nappy might be hitting the waiver wire when Bishop comes back. I keep telling myself that Johnson is better than what we have seen this season. But every time he goes out there he just seems to be worse than the game before. At some point, if he doesn't get his act together, we may need to look for an upgrade. I guess that if the only thing to complain about is the back-up goalie, then we are in pretty good shape. |
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Post by RobR on Dec 21, 2014 10:24:45 GMT -5
He did. I wish we had a back-up of his quality. Looks like Nappy might be hitting the waiver wire when Bishop comes back. I keep telling myself that Johnson is better than what we have seen this season. But every time he goes out there he just seems to be worse than the game before. At some point, if he doesn't get his act together, we may need to look for an upgrade. I guess that if the only thing to complain about is the back-up goalie, then we are in pretty good shape. We still have to give him some more time, but I'd keep him on a short leash with the way Poulin has been playing this year. Ugh, I can't believe I'm hoping too see Poulin again.  |
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Post by crasherino on Dec 22, 2014 9:38:22 GMT -5
And lol at played his nuts off. He did. I wish we had a back-up of his quality. Looks like Nappy might be hitting the waiver wire when Bishop comes back.
Vascular testicle (what a great name - especially when I had to constantly respond to "What's his name again, Daddy?" to my 4 year old) is more than just a backup - he and Gibson are the best goalie prospects in the league and man did he show it. I was with my kids, my nephew and father and I found myself shouting over the kids to my dad several times over "Man this goalie's good". He was just always in position, never panicked or had any wasted movements, just a phenomenal performance in his second start. If they were going by ability, he clearly would be on the team over Nabby but I'm guessing they don't want him to ride the pine - they'd rather him get playing time in the A. Still, Bishop could have been Wally Pipp'd right there. He was unbelievable.
The best was JT's reaction after the goal. Looking up to the Hockey Gods in the rafters with a "Its about fucking time!". He had a strong game but still needs to just shoot the fucking puck.
Do we give CJ the start on Tuesday? I think we should. Give Halak a nice long break, let CJ have a shot at going into the Xmas break on a good note. And if he shits the bed again, you bring up Poulin after Xmas. I'm OK with Halak getting the back to back, but he's going to need relief throughout the rest of the season. I don't want him playing 60 games or more.
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Post by TJ&TW on Dec 22, 2014 12:13:35 GMT -5
Is it too early to start talking about Cappy as a legit candidate for Coach of the Year?
[ducks while Big L reads my post...]
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Post by Big L on Dec 22, 2014 20:21:44 GMT -5
Is it too early to start talking about Cappy as a legit candidate for Coach of the Year? [ducks while Big L reads my post...] Why you son of a bit..... I think Bailey on the top line pretty much puts that idea to rest. |
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Post by Lithfan on Dec 22, 2014 21:58:23 GMT -5
Is it too early to start talking about Cappy as a legit candidate for Coach of the Year? [ducks while Big L reads my post...] I need to see him fix the penalty kill before I could even begin to think about coach of the year. I do have to give him credit -- the team has hit a couple of rough patches, and he has gotten them to bounce back really well from them, but its going to be damn near impossible to win in the playoffs if we are still at the bottom of the league on the PK. 72% is nowhere near good enough. |
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Post by TJ&TW on Dec 23, 2014 9:00:47 GMT -5
Is it too early to start talking about Cappy as a legit candidate for Coach of the Year? [ducks while Big L reads my post...] I need to see him fix the penalty kill before I could even begin to think about coach of the year. I do have to give him credit -- the team has hit a couple of rough patches, and he has gotten them to bounce back really well from them, but its going to be damn near impossible to win in the playoffs if we are still at the bottom of the league on the PK. 72% is nowhere near good enough. Well, it was a tongue and cheek post, but he if the team finishes the reg season as a top 5 team, hard to argue with the result. He'd have to be in the mix (I believe it is voted before the playoffs start). Agree about the PK. Directly related to the inability to win faceoffs. Has to get fixed. |
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Post by Lithfan on Dec 23, 2014 9:25:20 GMT -5
I need to see him fix the penalty kill before I could even begin to think about coach of the year. I do have to give him credit -- the team has hit a couple of rough patches, and he has gotten them to bounce back really well from them, but its going to be damn near impossible to win in the playoffs if we are still at the bottom of the league on the PK. 72% is nowhere near good enough. Well, it was a tongue and cheek post, but he if the team finishes the reg season as a top 5 team, hard to argue with the result. He'd have to be in the mix (I believe it is voted before the playoffs start). Agree about the PK. Directly related to the inability to win faceoffs. Has to get fixed. Sorry I missed the sarcasm -- but your post is not the first place that I have seen his name mentioned in Coach of the Year discussion. It is an award that often goes to the coach of a team with a huge turnaround -- if we remain at or near the top of the Eastern Conference standings all year, he may not win, but he will definitely get votes. |
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Post by crasherino on Dec 23, 2014 9:57:04 GMT -5
I need to see him fix the penalty kill before I could even begin to think about coach of the year. I do have to give him credit -- the team has hit a couple of rough patches, and he has gotten them to bounce back really well from them, but its going to be damn near impossible to win in the playoffs if we are still at the bottom of the league on the PK. 72% is nowhere near good enough. Well, it was a tongue and cheek post, but he if the team finishes the reg season as a top 5 team, hard to argue with the result. He'd have to be in the mix (I believe it is voted before the playoffs start). Agree about the PK. Directly related to the inability to win faceoffs. Has to get fixed. I think having Hamonic and Boychuk back will help also. A lot of the PK goals we let up are directly related to having someone park in front of the net with no recourse. Those two guys can move a guy out of there - at least as opposed to Hickey/Leddy/Viz.
The faceoff thing is really strange. On Saturday I think they dominated in the circle but most other games they just get their asses handed to them. And our best FO guys (Okposo and Grabo) don't take draws regularly.
One of the keys of the Chicago win was at the end of the game, with 10 seconds left or so, Cappy sent out Strome to take the draw against Toews and he won it. Maybe not "keys" per se, but I definitely noticed it.
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Post by Lithfan on Dec 23, 2014 10:04:12 GMT -5
Well, it was a tongue and cheek post, but he if the team finishes the reg season as a top 5 team, hard to argue with the result. He'd have to be in the mix (I believe it is voted before the playoffs start). Agree about the PK. Directly related to the inability to win faceoffs. Has to get fixed. I think having Hamonic and Boychuk back will help also. A lot of the PK goals we let up are directly related to having someone park in front of the net with no recourse. Those two guys can move a guy out of there - at least as opposed to Hickey/Leddy/Viz.
The faceoff thing is really strange. On Saturday I think they dominated in the circle but most other games they just get their asses handed to them. And our best FO guys (Okposo and Grabo) don't take draws regularly.
One of the keys of the Chicago win was at the end of the game, with 10 seconds left or so, Cappy sent out Strome to take the draw against Toews and he won it. Maybe not "keys" per se, but I definitely noticed it.
I think the biggest problem with the PK is philosophical. We are so damn passive on the PK. We are just content to sit back in the box and let the other team control the puck that they are going to get good opportunities -- we put it all on the goalie. We never pressure the puck and we surrender the blue line too easily. Add to that the injuries on the back end, and you have the worst penalty kill in the league. On the positive side, think about how good this team could be if we get improve the pk and get our two top lines going. The production out of the 4th line and the kid line has been incredible and helped offset the slow starts of the top 2 lines. We are sitting right near the top of the conference, and I don't think this team has played close to its potential yet. |
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Post by crasherino on Dec 23, 2014 10:36:46 GMT -5
I think having Hamonic and Boychuk back will help also. A lot of the PK goals we let up are directly related to having someone park in front of the net with no recourse. Those two guys can move a guy out of there - at least as opposed to Hickey/Leddy/Viz.
The faceoff thing is really strange. On Saturday I think they dominated in the circle but most other games they just get their asses handed to them. And our best FO guys (Okposo and Grabo) don't take draws regularly.
One of the keys of the Chicago win was at the end of the game, with 10 seconds left or so, Cappy sent out Strome to take the draw against Toews and he won it. Maybe not "keys" per se, but I definitely noticed it.
I think the biggest problem with the PK is philosophical. We are so damn passive on the PK. We are just content to sit back in the box and let the other team control the puck that they are going to get good opportunities -- we put it all on the goalie. We never pressure the puck and we surrender the blue line too easily. Add to that the injuries on the back end, and you have the worst penalty kill in the league. On the positive side, think about how good this team could be if we get improve the pk and get our two top lines going. The production out of the 4th line and the kid line has been incredible and helped offset the slow starts of the top 2 lines. We are sitting right near the top of the conference, and I don't think this team has played close to its potential yet. That's a fair point. Because when you think about it, the PKers on this team - individually - are good. They are all well suited (or suited enough) to play the PK. There's no reason they should be this bad. There's no reason that they can't be a top 10 PK unit for the rest of the season. Grabner, Clutter, Zeeker, Martin, Strome, Nelson, etc. are perfectly fine PKers. How or why they don't succeed there is beyond me. Face offs is one factor but it goes beyond that. And the aggression factor deserves definitely comes into play. There is virtually no pressure on the puck or zone entry. The other team has carte blanche to set up whatever they want to set up and then we just react.
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Post by TJ&TW on Dec 23, 2014 11:19:48 GMT -5
Agree that the passivity on the PK is also a huge factor. Need to pressure the puck. But when you combine that with not winning the face off in your own zone, it's a recipe for PK disaster.
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Post by Lithfan on Dec 23, 2014 11:37:46 GMT -5
Chad Johnson getting the start tonight. How big would it be for him to come up with a strong performance tonight. We are going to need a competent back-up so we can keep Halak fresh late in the season.
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