In my opinion the "softness" was a feeling that Dallas let Edmonton run all over them and do whatever they wanted without using their body to physically stop them. They seemed timid and unconfident often.
Maybe that's simply because Edmonton was a better more complete team and Dallas couldn't keep up speed wise or scheme wise. None of that would have mattered if Dallas scores on half of their prime chances in games 2 and 3. PDB got out coached in the WCF again.
I'm not sure the Hyman play was aggro by Mush. Yes Mush has a reputation for making a greasy hit but that hit really seemed so benign. I was shocked finding out it required surgery and he'd be out. It must have been a pretty serious injury.
To me that's the entire essence of it all: Dallas was never in control of the hockey side of things, so they couldn't control the non-hockey side of things. If Florida wasn't elite, their nastiness would be a strike against them. That's the thing: Florida can AFFORD to do it. It's a luxury they earn. Dallas doesn't have the luxury of making life difficult for opponents because they constantly play from behind.
BTW I didn't think Marchment's hit was dirty. It was more unfortunate for how Hymen got caught. I doubt Marchment went in thinking he'd obliterate the dude's wrist. Nonetheless, Marchment went hard after him. Just saying.
You can’t hit what you can’t catch- and if you’re behind by two or more goals you can’t afford to risk taking a penalty. I often thought Dallas was almost avoiding checking Edmonton for that reason/ “we cannot afford a penalty.” That had the effect of making Edmonton look even faster as they easily broke out of their defensive end at speed or with long outlet passes.
Solution: score more. That would solve a lot of problems!
This is excellent analysis David. I think a huge part of this is how the game changes when you fall behind. If a puck goes in early, the whole path of the game changes. Also, I miss Tanev. He added so much to this team and if he didn’t play hurt last year, maybe the Stars could have squeezed through.
I loved Tanev too but how much he’s got left in the tank is a real concern (I actively felt bad for him, watching him in the TOR/FLA series). Wouldn’t it be nice (by The Beach Boys) if we could find a newer model of that type of player…
David- another great read! You are right about the League needing to take control of player safety. Is it possible that - absent NHL action- the Players Association would push for more stringent player protection and enforcement? Does the Union have that kind of power in the NHL? That may be the only way that changes get pushed through. The League has clearly demonstrated that they like things just as they are.
You would think owners would have a vested interest in protecting their investment in players and lobby for enforcement. But sadly that doesn’t seem to be happening.
Great stuff David. It’s easy to get emotional when we’ve lost to the Oilers back to back years and looked like we had no fight both times. After the final horn I felt exactly like I felt after watching DC vs Jones II (would’ve loved to see them fight without PEDs…). But you’re totally right, when they have Klingberg on the 3rd pair and we’re playing Petrovic did anyone feel good about the depth on D? We 100% will be moving on from Dumba, but I’m worried about not being able to trade boosh with 2 yrs left. I really hope we make a bold move for a RD, is Nils for sure not coming back?
Damn I generally hate jumping in these comment sections but I do think David hosts a crowd worth engaging with. It’s been years now that we keep hearing the drum beat of physicality and toughness and willingness for retribution and be like Florida or whoever the tough team du jour is. It would be great to be as physical as Florida but the written or podcasted, or radio hosted question back is “well who do you go get?” The answer is always one of 2 player types, the impossible and never going to happen “go get a Tkachuk” or the far more common and even dumber list of meatheads like Jeannot, or Olivier, or Reaves, or whatever guy lays a hit or 3 in his occasional 6-9 min cameo game time. How does one of those guys help anything while being plugs on the ice yet not playing enough for the other team to concern themselves with, they simply can’t be skated enough to matter. “But they’ll take the fight next shift” great so you skate a meathead 6 mins per night essentially playing an 11-6 lineup for the possibility that a coach will allow said meatheads few shifts to line up with any of his “targeted” players? That’s simply not in any way a logical conclusion to solve a problem. It’s easy if you think about it, Florida is a physical menace because the entire top of their line up are the most skilled AND the most physical parts of their team. Those sorts of players are likely more rare in the NHL than 40 goal scorers, good luck finding 2-4 of those guys available. Team building is tough and just like it’s a very rare and frankly not possible to copy way to go get 2 top 5 players in the world like Edmonton its also not functionally possible to say go get a top 6 that combines grit and skill like Florida. People are rightfully bitching that the D acquisitions fell flat not wanting to accept that the very attributes they are calling for up front were exactly what Nill went and got for the D this season, how did that work out? Those 2 points are linked more closely than anyone is admitting, Tougher players who couldn’t fill the main role of their position, but yeah they occasionally played a little tougher when they happened to be near enough a player to hit them.
As far as I am concern, I am not in the camp that we needed to chop the head of Nurse. I am much more concern about the lack of physical play this team has demonstrated for a very long time. By physical play, I include battle along the board as well as the ability (or willingness) to finish a check.
A great example of what I mean is the first goal of that last game. Johnstone had all the time of the world to take the body on Draisaitl before he made that pass to Perry. I dont understand one bit why he did not. I also dont understand why he try to outsmart Draisaitl.
Is that what the coaching staff asked them to do?
That press conference by DeBoer jus added a layer of challenges for Nill in the upcoming off season. How can you go about with Oettinger and DeBoer together next season?
As for a sample size, in his last 7 season of coaching, DeBoer lost 6 times in the Conference final. The other season, he did not make the PO.
Yes, their feeble responses to aggression to their star Star players being targeted, is a concern to us fans who have ZERO faith that the refs or NHL will protect them. Old school… a Hatcher is needed to provide retribution for Modano.
But, softness is also an observation of lost board battles for possession. Of lost net front positioning battles that keep Otters site lines open. (Of course using a d system that has your best defenders chasing forwards to the blue line leads to forwards to try and be a defenseman… poorly mostly!).
Hockey is a mix of speed skill AND physicality… that last one is especially needed most in the playoffs when the rule book disappears!!!
The softness you speak of though -- how is that not a hockey argument?
And that's the thing with directing outrage at Dallas over their lack of response. It should be directed at the NHL and player safety. Until a bigger deal is made out of their incompetence, then teams will point their fingers at each other rather than where it belongs - not left and right, but UP.
There are 29 other teams that would love to be this "soft". With that out of the way, the real question for me is why this team has fallen short 3 times in a row and I personally do think that "toughness" is part of it.
You are right that our 4, 5, 6 defense needs to be able to move the puck much better. But, the bigger issue this year and last was the offense disappearing. Why did that happen when scoring isn't an issue in the regular season? I think a big part of that is we have small, ineffective "post season ready" players to support the stars. The team doesn't need another 5 foot nothing player, they simply isn't "hard" enough to get it done in the playoffs. "Heavy" forwards crashing opposing defenseman for game after game is critical in playoff hockey. We don't have that and haven't.
Yeah I thought the Hyman injury was more his fault than Marchman’s. He reached out to push Mush and got his hand caught where it shouldn’t have been. Somebody, anybody should have taken Nurse out because the refs are not going to help in the playoffs. It’s like they forgot what the rule book says. I have always thought that DeBoer doesn’t use the right schemes for the players he has. The Jets and the Oilers owned the boards. Everytime a puck went around the boards the Jets and the Oilers had a guy there to take it. What does Dallas do, they try to make a 10 foot pass to a guy that is covered and they turn over the puck. I don’t know what next years team will look like but if Dumba and Lyubushkin are on it we won’t be any better than this year.
If we had signed Klingberg when he was free and played him with Lindell then we would have had 3 puck moving defenders , plus Klinger is a right shot . Resigning Jaimie although a loyal servant would be a mistake at this point you can’t pay a lot of money for a marginal 4 th liner
Two puck movers. One for Lindell. One for Bichsel. Boom -- you've got yourself a strong one through three. (I don't think Klingberg is the answer, but full marks to him; he's looked good.)
David it’s too late for Klinger because Edmonton will bring him back , but we could have had him in January . We also could have had Nick Robertson for peanuts who is an actual scoring checker
In my opinion the "softness" was a feeling that Dallas let Edmonton run all over them and do whatever they wanted without using their body to physically stop them. They seemed timid and unconfident often.
Maybe that's simply because Edmonton was a better more complete team and Dallas couldn't keep up speed wise or scheme wise. None of that would have mattered if Dallas scores on half of their prime chances in games 2 and 3. PDB got out coached in the WCF again.
I'm not sure the Hyman play was aggro by Mush. Yes Mush has a reputation for making a greasy hit but that hit really seemed so benign. I was shocked finding out it required surgery and he'd be out. It must have been a pretty serious injury.
To me that's the entire essence of it all: Dallas was never in control of the hockey side of things, so they couldn't control the non-hockey side of things. If Florida wasn't elite, their nastiness would be a strike against them. That's the thing: Florida can AFFORD to do it. It's a luxury they earn. Dallas doesn't have the luxury of making life difficult for opponents because they constantly play from behind.
BTW I didn't think Marchment's hit was dirty. It was more unfortunate for how Hymen got caught. I doubt Marchment went in thinking he'd obliterate the dude's wrist. Nonetheless, Marchment went hard after him. Just saying.
Agreed there. You can't grind down the other team when you're down 2-0 at the end of the first every single night
You can’t hit what you can’t catch- and if you’re behind by two or more goals you can’t afford to risk taking a penalty. I often thought Dallas was almost avoiding checking Edmonton for that reason/ “we cannot afford a penalty.” That had the effect of making Edmonton look even faster as they easily broke out of their defensive end at speed or with long outlet passes.
Solution: score more. That would solve a lot of problems!
If by “outcoached” you mean “Dallas missed more of their prime chances than Edmonton”, I agree. Otherwise, nah.
Great read. Nails the real issues Dallas has to tend to in order to get to the next step. What happens this summer is going to be interesting.
Thanks Gerald!
This is excellent analysis David. I think a huge part of this is how the game changes when you fall behind. If a puck goes in early, the whole path of the game changes. Also, I miss Tanev. He added so much to this team and if he didn’t play hurt last year, maybe the Stars could have squeezed through.
How they watch Tanev and go "Ceci, Lyubushkin, and Dumba will do" is beyond me.
I loved Tanev too but how much he’s got left in the tank is a real concern (I actively felt bad for him, watching him in the TOR/FLA series). Wouldn’t it be nice (by The Beach Boys) if we could find a newer model of that type of player…
I think Bischel had that potential
BigChel is simply too big to be as effective as Tanev.
Yea. There was not a scenario where he would have come back.
David- another great read! You are right about the League needing to take control of player safety. Is it possible that - absent NHL action- the Players Association would push for more stringent player protection and enforcement? Does the Union have that kind of power in the NHL? That may be the only way that changes get pushed through. The League has clearly demonstrated that they like things just as they are.
You would think owners would have a vested interest in protecting their investment in players and lobby for enforcement. But sadly that doesn’t seem to be happening.
Great stuff David. It’s easy to get emotional when we’ve lost to the Oilers back to back years and looked like we had no fight both times. After the final horn I felt exactly like I felt after watching DC vs Jones II (would’ve loved to see them fight without PEDs…). But you’re totally right, when they have Klingberg on the 3rd pair and we’re playing Petrovic did anyone feel good about the depth on D? We 100% will be moving on from Dumba, but I’m worried about not being able to trade boosh with 2 yrs left. I really hope we make a bold move for a RD, is Nils for sure not coming back?
Damn I generally hate jumping in these comment sections but I do think David hosts a crowd worth engaging with. It’s been years now that we keep hearing the drum beat of physicality and toughness and willingness for retribution and be like Florida or whoever the tough team du jour is. It would be great to be as physical as Florida but the written or podcasted, or radio hosted question back is “well who do you go get?” The answer is always one of 2 player types, the impossible and never going to happen “go get a Tkachuk” or the far more common and even dumber list of meatheads like Jeannot, or Olivier, or Reaves, or whatever guy lays a hit or 3 in his occasional 6-9 min cameo game time. How does one of those guys help anything while being plugs on the ice yet not playing enough for the other team to concern themselves with, they simply can’t be skated enough to matter. “But they’ll take the fight next shift” great so you skate a meathead 6 mins per night essentially playing an 11-6 lineup for the possibility that a coach will allow said meatheads few shifts to line up with any of his “targeted” players? That’s simply not in any way a logical conclusion to solve a problem. It’s easy if you think about it, Florida is a physical menace because the entire top of their line up are the most skilled AND the most physical parts of their team. Those sorts of players are likely more rare in the NHL than 40 goal scorers, good luck finding 2-4 of those guys available. Team building is tough and just like it’s a very rare and frankly not possible to copy way to go get 2 top 5 players in the world like Edmonton its also not functionally possible to say go get a top 6 that combines grit and skill like Florida. People are rightfully bitching that the D acquisitions fell flat not wanting to accept that the very attributes they are calling for up front were exactly what Nill went and got for the D this season, how did that work out? Those 2 points are linked more closely than anyone is admitting, Tougher players who couldn’t fill the main role of their position, but yeah they occasionally played a little tougher when they happened to be near enough a player to hit them.
Dude! This is a great post. By all means, continue commenting!
Great analysis.
As far as I am concern, I am not in the camp that we needed to chop the head of Nurse. I am much more concern about the lack of physical play this team has demonstrated for a very long time. By physical play, I include battle along the board as well as the ability (or willingness) to finish a check.
A great example of what I mean is the first goal of that last game. Johnstone had all the time of the world to take the body on Draisaitl before he made that pass to Perry. I dont understand one bit why he did not. I also dont understand why he try to outsmart Draisaitl.
Is that what the coaching staff asked them to do?
That press conference by DeBoer jus added a layer of challenges for Nill in the upcoming off season. How can you go about with Oettinger and DeBoer together next season?
As for a sample size, in his last 7 season of coaching, DeBoer lost 6 times in the Conference final. The other season, he did not make the PO.
I laughed at the ending sentence. Fantastic article
I liked also just the logical making of a list of what the stars need to upgrade to compete to show how far on the bottom the "tough shit" is
Yes, their feeble responses to aggression to their star Star players being targeted, is a concern to us fans who have ZERO faith that the refs or NHL will protect them. Old school… a Hatcher is needed to provide retribution for Modano.
But, softness is also an observation of lost board battles for possession. Of lost net front positioning battles that keep Otters site lines open. (Of course using a d system that has your best defenders chasing forwards to the blue line leads to forwards to try and be a defenseman… poorly mostly!).
Hockey is a mix of speed skill AND physicality… that last one is especially needed most in the playoffs when the rule book disappears!!!
The softness you speak of though -- how is that not a hockey argument?
And that's the thing with directing outrage at Dallas over their lack of response. It should be directed at the NHL and player safety. Until a bigger deal is made out of their incompetence, then teams will point their fingers at each other rather than where it belongs - not left and right, but UP.
There are 29 other teams that would love to be this "soft". With that out of the way, the real question for me is why this team has fallen short 3 times in a row and I personally do think that "toughness" is part of it.
You are right that our 4, 5, 6 defense needs to be able to move the puck much better. But, the bigger issue this year and last was the offense disappearing. Why did that happen when scoring isn't an issue in the regular season? I think a big part of that is we have small, ineffective "post season ready" players to support the stars. The team doesn't need another 5 foot nothing player, they simply isn't "hard" enough to get it done in the playoffs. "Heavy" forwards crashing opposing defenseman for game after game is critical in playoff hockey. We don't have that and haven't.
Yeah I thought the Hyman injury was more his fault than Marchman’s. He reached out to push Mush and got his hand caught where it shouldn’t have been. Somebody, anybody should have taken Nurse out because the refs are not going to help in the playoffs. It’s like they forgot what the rule book says. I have always thought that DeBoer doesn’t use the right schemes for the players he has. The Jets and the Oilers owned the boards. Everytime a puck went around the boards the Jets and the Oilers had a guy there to take it. What does Dallas do, they try to make a 10 foot pass to a guy that is covered and they turn over the puck. I don’t know what next years team will look like but if Dumba and Lyubushkin are on it we won’t be any better than this year.
If we had signed Klingberg when he was free and played him with Lindell then we would have had 3 puck moving defenders , plus Klinger is a right shot . Resigning Jaimie although a loyal servant would be a mistake at this point you can’t pay a lot of money for a marginal 4 th liner
Two puck movers. One for Lindell. One for Bichsel. Boom -- you've got yourself a strong one through three. (I don't think Klingberg is the answer, but full marks to him; he's looked good.)
David it’s too late for Klinger because Edmonton will bring him back , but we could have had him in January . We also could have had Nick Robertson for peanuts who is an actual scoring checker