David an honest question...can you think of another NHL that's gone as far as these Dallas Stars while getting nothing from their Captain? Virtually no impact on the scoreboard from 14. Continuously puts team in bad situations by taking dumb, unnecessary penalties. Got thrown out of a game six for a vicious dirty hit.
I know players rave about him as a leader but seems to me you actually have to lead on the ice at some point and I've seen literally none of that from Benn this year.
Even good teams have bleh captains. Carolina and Winnipeg are good examples. Some great players don't make for good captains, like Matthews in Toronto.
I think the real problem with Benn is not that he's invisible, but that he's visibly awful. Whatever players say about his leadership, nobody listens to words more than actions. And Benn's actions have been incomprehensible. Bad passes, bad penalties -- to that extent that captaincy is symbolic, it doesn't reflect well on him that Dallas is always trailing, always getting first blood drawn on them, and seem to do things the hard way.
So no, I've never seen anything like this. This is Jacob Trouba levels of awful, and that team wasn't all that either.
We need Benn to be more accepting of a 4th line role, and in fairness, his numbers have trended that way.
The "hands off the kid" vibe hasn't produced much, I'd like to see what Dutch could do as Robo & Wyatts wing. Duchene has been too passive as a C for these playoffs, but his style is fitting of a cherry planning RW, ala Dadanov, for Dallas' system of attack.
Hockey requires tremendous skill. But for the skill to matter, you need the puck. And to get the puck you have to out hustle and outwork your opponent. Right now, there is a huge hustle gap between Edmonton and Dallas. Edmonton is all over Dallas all over the ice, disrupting everything from the breakout to the power play. Simply put, all of Edmonton's players have their feet moving every second of every shift while Dallas does not. That's the huge gap that Dallas needs to close. If Dallas can get every guy on every line skating as hard as he can for every second of every shift, they can eliminate that gap and turn the game into a skills battle. That's how Caroline beat Florida to avoid the sweep. They beat the Panthers at their own game. Dallas needs to do the same. In a skills battle, I think Dallas has the edge. But unless they outwork Edmonton all game, it won't matter.
Otter has to stop the Draisiatl shot. Yeah it was hard but he was looking right at him and just seemed to move in slow motion. Duchene is the big puzzle to me. He seems to score so easily during the season but in the playoffs he is a different player. I know Everytime the stars shoot looking for a rebound there are usually 2 and sometimes 3 Oilers there to keep them from getting it where on our end it is usually one guy and he gets pushed around. Oh yeah David the articles are very good and right on point as always
Wrong side of 33. Was in a real decline going back to his time in Nashville, even when they were decent. Had a couple of nice seasons, but everything about his underlying numbers screams regression. I'm 100 percent positive Maccelli would look better next to Hintz and Rantanen (another Finn!).
Basically, I just want to see Dallas' pro scouts get creative for once. I also hate the idea of Dallas paying him at least one year where he's not even a shell of his former self like every other veteran they've ever signed (Suter, Pavelski, Gonchar, Russell, Oduya, Hanzal, etc).
My guess is that your wish (creativity) will come true, as they don’t have the choice. They have no money, no high end draft picks, no prospect with significant NHL upside for next season, and have gigantic holes in the lineup with all the players with UFA status.
Nill has a habit (bad habit?) of filling the holes and needs through the UFA market. But not this off season.
I'd love to get Benn a multi year 2way deal, and Petrovic up the forwards down in Texas.
Instead of chasing the TDL market, drag up a couple hustlers too bolster our bottom 6 depth, while spending what needs spending if there's a Granny on the market.
(Granlund-Ceci have been worth every penny of draft capital spent. Full stop. But, without reaching the ultimate goal, the Rantanen package may bring second guesses considering he was a UFA and Dallas was on the short list for offseason destinations. A world with Tank & Moose in Green for half a decade+ was plausible, and that stings.)
Along the Ice Hockey channel had a good breakdown on this: essentially, Jake Oettinger misread Nugent-Hopkins' positioning, who wasn't even faking a shot, but Oettinger played it like he was. Link below.
I dont know what is worst, getting so close 3 years in a row with all the investment it takes to get there, or getting kicked out early and still having the assets to improve.
I dont know what Nill will do but I would not be one bit sorry to see Benn, Marchment, Dumba, Lyubushkin, Duchene and Robertson gone either by trade or via the UFA market.
This team needs to get younger, faster and « meaner ». And the right side of the defense needs major renovation.
I dont think PDB is in danger, but he is on the last year of his contract. It will be interesting to see if Nill offers him an extension. DeBoer is not without responsibilities. He was blessed with a lot of very good teams during his career, but never got them to the promise land. Maybe he wins game #7, but who gives a F… if there is no Cup after?
If Pete doesn't get to the Finals, it's Neil Graham's job. IMO.
Give me the uber hockey nerd, over the hyper calculated lawyer type.
(That's why we let the "Horse Shit" thing slide Tommy
Boy. Completely uncalled for, but the fan base knew where it came from & why. Don't let the buisness side trick you into forgetting why you got into the money pit industry of sports entertainment. Building a sports empire cost alot, and has little financial dividends. Be in it for the love, or get lost in the Leafyness of it all. Sincerely someone who danced in the downfall of Vince McMahon.(Why the Fuck is his wife running our education system?Conically speaking, aint she a vegetable?))
I haven't seen much push back on that tripping(?) call against Benn on Klinger that led to the first goal for Edmonton. I was watching with sound off at that time but did that seem like a bad call to anyone else? Benn leans on him and he loses an edge. Yet another bad call for Edmonton leading to a goal.
- 4th line scoundrels to muck up the game in limited starts. I also don't hate the idea of coaxing more nasty out of Backs game.
Blackwell-Steel-Seguin
- 3rd line that can stylistically match up and counter. Also want to get an early start on Steel-Seguin as a duo.
Robo-Wyatt-Dutch
- 2nd line scoring line. Matt as a cherry planning RW is the best use of his skills at the moment, imo.
Hintz-Granlund-Rantanen
-1st line Finnishers that we never should have broken up. Hintz to LW because it's his natural position, and I feel he can open the ice up and get defenders chasing themselves out of position.
If I still worked at the AAC, I think at this point I'd find a way to break into that locker room and spray paint "Pansies" over the word "Grit" on their wall. I believe I've mentioned here before the notion of a team that loves the Modano flyby, but has no Modanos. They do not finish checks, ever. It is no surprise this team always has trouble against fast and/or physical teams - regular season or playoffs. I think Messier even mentioned this on the broadcast for Game 3. They make it ridiculously easy on Edmonton's star players by never finishing checks, never making them hesitate for even an instant about having the puck for too long.
There were two or three instances in I think the third period last night that sum up the fecklessness of this team as a whole. At some point in the offensive zone the Stars turned the puck over and Robo was within stick length of the Edmonton puck carrier, looks at him for a second and just peels off to defend the neutral zone giving Edmonton the free out. It immediately reminded me of that video of the baby rounding the corner, going "nope" when he sees something and turning around to run the other way. In fact, I think you could argue this kind of play was more evidentiary of something suspect than anything Shoeless Joe Jackson could be accused of. They actually did this with their "forecheck" a number of times.
Another instance in the third, Janmark gathered the puck in front of his bench, some Stars player posted up on him like a basketball player, but otherwise didn't engage, while another Stars player (Steel or Wyatt, I can't recall) heading back to the bench behind Janmark actively avoided any physical contact like he was made of lava instead of planting him in open ice. Then the first player backs off and Janmark can turn to advance the puck through the neutral zone at his leisure. I've never seen a team so actively avoid physical contact, but that's the DeBoer special I guess.
Seguin was the only player in the third period that wanted to win that game for the Stars. He clowned Nurse repeatedly on the boards to get the puck to the front of the net for a chance. The team has no heart or fight and that comes from the Captain, unfortunately. Someone who just two years ago would alpha Stone for being a bitch and just last year would alpha McNabb for hitting Stank, hasn't been willing to do anything this year. The perfect opportunity arose last night for Benn to eat a suspension (no big loss on the scoresheet outside the penalty box, so net gain) by sending a crosscheck through Bouchard's teeth for taking a two handed wack at Hintz's injured foot. Grit my ass. Every other team in the playoffs is willing to make hockey hurt for the other team. It is why hitting and fighting is allowed. The Stars don't have the heart to play that kind of game. They desperately want to be the Soviet team at the Summit Series and they've turned every Edmonton player into Bobby Clarke (The Greatest Game by Todd Denault is an excellent book by the way). At this point I'm just looking forward to Sam Bennett ruining McDavid's day.
DeBoer's unwillingness to adapt his scheme of play to the team he's playing is why he will never win a Cup. He's commented in just about every interview following a loss about how he doesn't like to change things up. Rolling different line combos doesn't mean anything if you're still wanting them to play the same way. He won't even send a message by benching his Captain or taking the C away for a game. Instead, Dadonov draws out. Of course, he'll take sly jabs at his players in the media once in a blue moon, right Robo?
I've talked to Gavin about this before. That kind of game was to exist in your top players in order for it to be meaningful. See Florida and Vegas (Pietrangelo may not look like much, but he's a bonafide hockey psycho). If Hintz, Heiskanen, Harley, and Robertson don't play like that, then it's meaningless. Without them playing like psychos, then opponents are just left with Benn doing something stupid with just 12 minutes of screentime instead of someone like Harley in their face for 25.
The Stars have players to win during regular season, but they don't have the players to go all the way in the PO.
Just take a look at Florida and how they fully take advantages of the new rules of PO hockey.
They make you pay the price, and don't get in penalty trouble. We do not make the other team pay the price, and get into penalty trouble.
As I stated numerous times before, Robertson for Tckachuk and add stuff if you have too. But Ottawa would never do that, unless Tckachuk ask them to be traded.
It's torture to watch the Stars play right now as you feel they don't have what it takes.
I agree with a lot of this as I have questioned the leadership of the team since Pavelski retired. I think when we look back at the last 3 weeks of the regular season, DeBoer was going after this as he called out the team multiple times in post game, sat Benn for a couple of games, reduced his ice time significantly, and brought up Wyatt as a future C of the team.
David an honest question...can you think of another NHL that's gone as far as these Dallas Stars while getting nothing from their Captain? Virtually no impact on the scoreboard from 14. Continuously puts team in bad situations by taking dumb, unnecessary penalties. Got thrown out of a game six for a vicious dirty hit.
I know players rave about him as a leader but seems to me you actually have to lead on the ice at some point and I've seen literally none of that from Benn this year.
Even good teams have bleh captains. Carolina and Winnipeg are good examples. Some great players don't make for good captains, like Matthews in Toronto.
I think the real problem with Benn is not that he's invisible, but that he's visibly awful. Whatever players say about his leadership, nobody listens to words more than actions. And Benn's actions have been incomprehensible. Bad passes, bad penalties -- to that extent that captaincy is symbolic, it doesn't reflect well on him that Dallas is always trailing, always getting first blood drawn on them, and seem to do things the hard way.
So no, I've never seen anything like this. This is Jacob Trouba levels of awful, and that team wasn't all that either.
Shapiro wrote a great piece today about Benn and his future in Dallas.
In short, he thinks Benn should leave Dallas.
Carolina with Jordan Staal.
We need Benn to be more accepting of a 4th line role, and in fairness, his numbers have trended that way.
The "hands off the kid" vibe hasn't produced much, I'd like to see what Dutch could do as Robo & Wyatts wing. Duchene has been too passive as a C for these playoffs, but his style is fitting of a cherry planning RW, ala Dadanov, for Dallas' system of attack.
Great example! In exact same spot as Dallas. Very hard IMO for a team to really go deep in playoffs getting nothing from their Captain.
I’m constantly impressed with your work.
A ‘ Hot Goalie ‘ during a playoff series TRUMPS the Best Offensive team ,and frees up his own team to be more aggressive !
I’ll take a Hot Goalie anytime
Hockey requires tremendous skill. But for the skill to matter, you need the puck. And to get the puck you have to out hustle and outwork your opponent. Right now, there is a huge hustle gap between Edmonton and Dallas. Edmonton is all over Dallas all over the ice, disrupting everything from the breakout to the power play. Simply put, all of Edmonton's players have their feet moving every second of every shift while Dallas does not. That's the huge gap that Dallas needs to close. If Dallas can get every guy on every line skating as hard as he can for every second of every shift, they can eliminate that gap and turn the game into a skills battle. That's how Caroline beat Florida to avoid the sweep. They beat the Panthers at their own game. Dallas needs to do the same. In a skills battle, I think Dallas has the edge. But unless they outwork Edmonton all game, it won't matter.
Otter has to stop the Draisiatl shot. Yeah it was hard but he was looking right at him and just seemed to move in slow motion. Duchene is the big puzzle to me. He seems to score so easily during the season but in the playoffs he is a different player. I know Everytime the stars shoot looking for a rebound there are usually 2 and sometimes 3 Oilers there to keep them from getting it where on our end it is usually one guy and he gets pushed around. Oh yeah David the articles are very good and right on point as always
If you have to choose between Duchene and Granlund, the choice seems clear.
Am I the only one who doesn't want either back?
Why would you not want Granlund back?
Wrong side of 33. Was in a real decline going back to his time in Nashville, even when they were decent. Had a couple of nice seasons, but everything about his underlying numbers screams regression. I'm 100 percent positive Maccelli would look better next to Hintz and Rantanen (another Finn!).
Basically, I just want to see Dallas' pro scouts get creative for once. I also hate the idea of Dallas paying him at least one year where he's not even a shell of his former self like every other veteran they've ever signed (Suter, Pavelski, Gonchar, Russell, Oduya, Hanzal, etc).
Good points.
My guess is that your wish (creativity) will come true, as they don’t have the choice. They have no money, no high end draft picks, no prospect with significant NHL upside for next season, and have gigantic holes in the lineup with all the players with UFA status.
Nill has a habit (bad habit?) of filling the holes and needs through the UFA market. But not this off season.
I'd love to get Benn a multi year 2way deal, and Petrovic up the forwards down in Texas.
Instead of chasing the TDL market, drag up a couple hustlers too bolster our bottom 6 depth, while spending what needs spending if there's a Granny on the market.
(Granlund-Ceci have been worth every penny of draft capital spent. Full stop. But, without reaching the ultimate goal, the Rantanen package may bring second guesses considering he was a UFA and Dallas was on the short list for offseason destinations. A world with Tank & Moose in Green for half a decade+ was plausible, and that stings.)
From the replay, it looked to me like Draisaitl caught Otter cheating on the pass.
Along the Ice Hockey channel had a good breakdown on this: essentially, Jake Oettinger misread Nugent-Hopkins' positioning, who wasn't even faking a shot, but Oettinger played it like he was. Link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJBy_Esrk64
Edmonton has owned the real estate in front of the net, both offensively and defensively. They're just more physical and aggressive.
I dont know what is worst, getting so close 3 years in a row with all the investment it takes to get there, or getting kicked out early and still having the assets to improve.
I dont know what Nill will do but I would not be one bit sorry to see Benn, Marchment, Dumba, Lyubushkin, Duchene and Robertson gone either by trade or via the UFA market.
This team needs to get younger, faster and « meaner ». And the right side of the defense needs major renovation.
I dont think PDB is in danger, but he is on the last year of his contract. It will be interesting to see if Nill offers him an extension. DeBoer is not without responsibilities. He was blessed with a lot of very good teams during his career, but never got them to the promise land. Maybe he wins game #7, but who gives a F… if there is no Cup after?
If Pete doesn't get to the Finals, it's Neil Graham's job. IMO.
Give me the uber hockey nerd, over the hyper calculated lawyer type.
(That's why we let the "Horse Shit" thing slide Tommy
Boy. Completely uncalled for, but the fan base knew where it came from & why. Don't let the buisness side trick you into forgetting why you got into the money pit industry of sports entertainment. Building a sports empire cost alot, and has little financial dividends. Be in it for the love, or get lost in the Leafyness of it all. Sincerely someone who danced in the downfall of Vince McMahon.(Why the Fuck is his wife running our education system?Conically speaking, aint she a vegetable?))
I haven't seen much push back on that tripping(?) call against Benn on Klinger that led to the first goal for Edmonton. I was watching with sound off at that time but did that seem like a bad call to anyone else? Benn leans on him and he loses an edge. Yet another bad call for Edmonton leading to a goal.
Benn-Back-Mush
- 4th line scoundrels to muck up the game in limited starts. I also don't hate the idea of coaxing more nasty out of Backs game.
Blackwell-Steel-Seguin
- 3rd line that can stylistically match up and counter. Also want to get an early start on Steel-Seguin as a duo.
Robo-Wyatt-Dutch
- 2nd line scoring line. Matt as a cherry planning RW is the best use of his skills at the moment, imo.
Hintz-Granlund-Rantanen
-1st line Finnishers that we never should have broken up. Hintz to LW because it's his natural position, and I feel he can open the ice up and get defenders chasing themselves out of position.
If I still worked at the AAC, I think at this point I'd find a way to break into that locker room and spray paint "Pansies" over the word "Grit" on their wall. I believe I've mentioned here before the notion of a team that loves the Modano flyby, but has no Modanos. They do not finish checks, ever. It is no surprise this team always has trouble against fast and/or physical teams - regular season or playoffs. I think Messier even mentioned this on the broadcast for Game 3. They make it ridiculously easy on Edmonton's star players by never finishing checks, never making them hesitate for even an instant about having the puck for too long.
There were two or three instances in I think the third period last night that sum up the fecklessness of this team as a whole. At some point in the offensive zone the Stars turned the puck over and Robo was within stick length of the Edmonton puck carrier, looks at him for a second and just peels off to defend the neutral zone giving Edmonton the free out. It immediately reminded me of that video of the baby rounding the corner, going "nope" when he sees something and turning around to run the other way. In fact, I think you could argue this kind of play was more evidentiary of something suspect than anything Shoeless Joe Jackson could be accused of. They actually did this with their "forecheck" a number of times.
Another instance in the third, Janmark gathered the puck in front of his bench, some Stars player posted up on him like a basketball player, but otherwise didn't engage, while another Stars player (Steel or Wyatt, I can't recall) heading back to the bench behind Janmark actively avoided any physical contact like he was made of lava instead of planting him in open ice. Then the first player backs off and Janmark can turn to advance the puck through the neutral zone at his leisure. I've never seen a team so actively avoid physical contact, but that's the DeBoer special I guess.
Seguin was the only player in the third period that wanted to win that game for the Stars. He clowned Nurse repeatedly on the boards to get the puck to the front of the net for a chance. The team has no heart or fight and that comes from the Captain, unfortunately. Someone who just two years ago would alpha Stone for being a bitch and just last year would alpha McNabb for hitting Stank, hasn't been willing to do anything this year. The perfect opportunity arose last night for Benn to eat a suspension (no big loss on the scoresheet outside the penalty box, so net gain) by sending a crosscheck through Bouchard's teeth for taking a two handed wack at Hintz's injured foot. Grit my ass. Every other team in the playoffs is willing to make hockey hurt for the other team. It is why hitting and fighting is allowed. The Stars don't have the heart to play that kind of game. They desperately want to be the Soviet team at the Summit Series and they've turned every Edmonton player into Bobby Clarke (The Greatest Game by Todd Denault is an excellent book by the way). At this point I'm just looking forward to Sam Bennett ruining McDavid's day.
DeBoer's unwillingness to adapt his scheme of play to the team he's playing is why he will never win a Cup. He's commented in just about every interview following a loss about how he doesn't like to change things up. Rolling different line combos doesn't mean anything if you're still wanting them to play the same way. He won't even send a message by benching his Captain or taking the C away for a game. Instead, Dadonov draws out. Of course, he'll take sly jabs at his players in the media once in a blue moon, right Robo?
I've talked to Gavin about this before. That kind of game was to exist in your top players in order for it to be meaningful. See Florida and Vegas (Pietrangelo may not look like much, but he's a bonafide hockey psycho). If Hintz, Heiskanen, Harley, and Robertson don't play like that, then it's meaningless. Without them playing like psychos, then opponents are just left with Benn doing something stupid with just 12 minutes of screentime instead of someone like Harley in their face for 25.
I agree 150%.
The Stars have players to win during regular season, but they don't have the players to go all the way in the PO.
Just take a look at Florida and how they fully take advantages of the new rules of PO hockey.
They make you pay the price, and don't get in penalty trouble. We do not make the other team pay the price, and get into penalty trouble.
As I stated numerous times before, Robertson for Tckachuk and add stuff if you have too. But Ottawa would never do that, unless Tckachuk ask them to be traded.
It's torture to watch the Stars play right now as you feel they don't have what it takes.
A lot lot lot of work for Nill & Co this summer.
I agree with a lot of this as I have questioned the leadership of the team since Pavelski retired. I think when we look back at the last 3 weeks of the regular season, DeBoer was going after this as he called out the team multiple times in post game, sat Benn for a couple of games, reduced his ice time significantly, and brought up Wyatt as a future C of the team.