0.1 @ Philly

[ScubaSteve]

[mookie1010]

I don't understand the thread title...

[The Frugal Gourmet]

Metric dates

[ScubaSteve]

I don't understand the thread title...

I was typing the date 1/8 in an email the other day and it kept converting it to a tiny font fraction. 1/8 = 0.125. Since the team won, I kept the bit going for this one.

[mookie1010]

How odd. Are y'all on g-suite or something?

[Troy McClure]

Something about their marbled ice surface makes the rink look bigger.

[Troy McClure]

Not seeing any fight from this team. Just rolling over and playing dead against one of the worst teams in the league.

[One_Timer]

Not seeing any fight from this team. Just rolling over and playing dead against one of the worst teams in the league.

They’re tired Troy. Give ‘em a break. That Blues game just took it all.

[BigAl]

I can’t believe our PP just gave up TWO 3 on1 opportunities.

[ScubaSteve]

This is humiliating.

[BigAl]

Then a 2 on 0.

[Troy McClure]

I can’t believe our PP just gave up TWO 3 on1 opportunities.

Followed by a 2 on zero.

This team is going through the motions right now.

[ScubaSteve]

There's Jamie with his garbage time Jason Arnott goal.

[Troy McClure]

Finding new ways to embarrass themselves.

[BigAl]

We shoulda lost that one by 10.

[wonko80]

I'm not sure I want Simmonds. I barely noticed him this game.

[One_Timer]

I wonder what Gaglardi texted to his boy(s) after that effort.

[SaintAngerBH]

*fargin'* horseshit.

[ToddM]

Klingberg with a less than ideal game.

I'm actually pretty surprised that this Flyers team is so low in the standings. They've got quality players up and down the lineup. And the kid in net was actually really good to-night, other than the one softie he gave up.

I'm starting to sour on Monty as a coach. It just seems like we get these massive, 7-10 minute long stretches where nobody has any *fargin'* clue what they're doing on the ice. Did every single one of these players forget how to play the game they've excelled at their whole lives? It's pretty normal to have one to three guys per season having down years, but right now about a third to a half of our entire forward group is having *career* low years. That can't be a coincidence.

[SaintAngerBH]

I think Monty is the least of this team's problems. Most of these players have been here through 3 head coaches now. At some point, the common denominator is the players and Nill et al.

[ToddM]

Yeah, but there is NOTHING "common denominator" about the players right now, at least not on an individual level. For all the *poo poo* I give Hitch for his outdated system, he at least knew how to get terrific individual efforts out of SOME of his players. Six guys, by my count, had their best-ever career year last year under Hitch: Seguin, Klingberg, Faksa, Johns, Pateryn, and Pitlick. Not just "good" years: their best, ever (I count last year's 40 goal campaign as better than Seguin's 84-point 2014).
Obviously some guys had career-worst years under Hitch, too. Namely Spezza and Roussel.

It's just weird to me that so many guys who have proven they can score at the NHL level in multiple seasons past, now can no longer find the back of the net. Like, at all. Just two weeks ago, Seguin and Pitlick were on pace for their worst full seasons ever. Janmark's goal-scoring column is 15, 19, 3. Val had gone from 10-15 goals a year to zero. Benn's got a decent amount of goals, but is on pace for like 65 points. Ritchie went from 16 two seasons ago to 2. Faksa hasn't scored at this level since his rookie year in the AHL.

So, I guess all of these guys just collectively forgot how to play hockey? Forgot how to score goals? How to set up a teammate? I guess all these guys REALLY sucked all this time, and those seasons where Janmark potted 19, well, those were FAKE STATS from someone who was a total fraud THIS WHOLE TIME?

There's a lot of recency bias going on with blaming the players. Do all of these guys suck? Well, they suck TODAY. But they didn't last season, or the season before that. But THIS season, they do.

Maybe Monty will figure it out at some point. He's a rookie NHL coach in his first-ever gig. But right now the book on him seems to be: great with defensemen. Top 5. Worst coach in the NHL with forwards.

[SaintAngerBH]

I find it amazing that guys who get paid millions of dollars to play a game can't motivate themselves.

[B Kat]

Guess I’m not sorry I missed this one, but playing down to the level of their opponent isn’t surprising.

[ScubaSteve]

Todd's assertion that Monty is the reason guys like Honka and Ritchie aren't flourishing is suspect at best, if not outright trolling.

[SaintAngerBH]

Both have sucked under 3 coaches now.

[BigAl]

If Honka had moved his feet a little quicker he probably would have had two goals.
Also, if he hadn’t tried to join the rush in the 3rd then we wouldn’t have given up that 2 on 0 chance.

[cdanew]

I don't know if it is a result of observer bias, effort, positioning, lack of skill, systems or what, but this team has almost zero puck luck in the offensive zone. Seguin's post streak was one manifestation, but it seems like the Stars almost never get the kind of lucky goal that Philly got last night, with JVR deflecting the shot that would have gone horizontal except for bounding in off Lindell's skate. A lot of that may have to do with the fact they rarely have someone positioned close to the net.

[Troy McClure]

I have a hard time thinking a coach is capable of diminishing stats more than 10-15%. Yeah, a tighter checking game where forwards are asked to play more D will take away the wild ass transition chances. That would explain a guy like Roussel's numbers dropping when going from Ruff to Hitch because that game drove so many of his goals, but that's not the case for most everyone else who is struggling.

But overall, the stuff coaches ask players to do is more alike than different. If anything, I'd say where you see the biggest difference between systems is what players do when their team doesn't have the puck. Positioning is pretty similar no matter the system. Hockey is ultimately a game of flow and movement, and when guys get in the offensive zone, it becomes more a game of instinct than coaching.

Maybe Monty is struggling to get max effort out of the guys or is struggling to find chemistry in his lineup. I can't argue with anyone who wants to claim either of those. This team starts slow most every game and puts up more zero even periods than any Stars team since the Gully era, and Monty has yet to find any meaningful forward chemistry outside of the big three.

For me, I think Monty is doing a good job keeping games close, but he's certainly not getting the best out of these guys. They are too lethargic and passive for far too big of chunks of games. That comes from the coaches not being able to get the players to play hard and on the players for allowing the game to coast by. On top of all of this, though, I still think Monty has the slowest Stars roster in years trying to play in a league that is maybe the fastest it has ever been.

[Troy McClure]

If Honka had moved his feet a little quicker he probably would have had two goals.
Also, if he hadn’t tried to join the rush in the 3rd then we wouldn’t have given up that 2 on 0 chance.

That 2 on 0 was horrible. I know it went back the other way because a forward turned it over in the neutral zone, but Honka had taken off way wide of the play well before his team had even come close to looking like they were going to get it into the offensive zone. His timing for when to be aggressive doesn't make a lot of sense a lot of the time.

[BigAl]

If Honka had moved his feet a little quicker he probably would have had two goals.
Also, if he hadn’t tried to join the rush in the 3rd then we wouldn’t have given up that 2 on 0 chance.

That 2 on 0 was horrible. I know it went back the other way because a forward turned it over in the neutral zone, but Honka had taken off way wide of the play well before his team had even come close to looking like they were going to get it into the offensive zone. His timing for when to be aggressive doesn't make a lot of sense a lot of the time.

Both Polak and Honka were cheating up on the play. Really bad awareness by both of them.