harmfuljays wrote:
ugh.....Toews is hurt...but anyone putting a D pair out there with Makar and Girard is just asking to be fired. Who knows? Apparently he must know something the rest of us can't see and that's why he is playing blender mode with all of his lines. Those two can't even be trusted together in a man advantage situation. One thing, besides Florida being really good, I noticed last night was Girard and EJ together a little more. Girard needs to be paired with a stay at home man and I mean staying home...no chasing behind the net or anything. I just don't see how he is anything but a liability any other way.
I am not sure what method is being used here...the day of Bobby Orr is in the past....perhaps they are trying to create a rover position but one would imagine that also includes a sliding forward on each line who has to be just as good on D and they have to know when one of these jokers has gone balls in on O. That's one part of this but then you can't account for being soft on the puck. And you also can't account for the lack of desire to do the dirty work. IMO I could see something like the layers Cassidy employs in Boston working well for this team (Cooper does it in Tampa as well)....but that type of system requires a full team buy in and leaving most of your ego at the bench door (not sure where this team is with that).....I doubt its in Bednar's wheelhouse to implement at this point.
Its early in the season...but if I was a fan my tolerance for this hodge podge that Bednar is rolling out would be short. There are plenty of teams with talent in the league (and the Avs have more than most). It will be interesting to see if they can ascend or if like many others the last step eludes them.
Florida is going to be kick ass this year!
To be fair, Girard and Makar, when both are fully healthy, make for one hell of a pairing. Not the greatest in the defensive zone but also not terrible. Offensively they're a force, and Bednar will often throw them out there with the top line in the event of an offensive zone faceoff. But I agree, it ain't working right now and if there's one thing that drives me nuts about Bednar's coaching style, he's extremely slow to make adjustments.
Last night was just more of the same. Top guys just didn't bring it, goaltending was better, but still not quite good enough, and the power play and even strength offense just didn't get it done. Landeskog serves his two-game suspension and then lays a giant egg in his first game back. That guy better get his shit together and quick. He publicly called out the team for lowballing him, finally got the money and term he wanted, makes an idiotic decision to get himself suspended in the season opener, and then turns in an effort like that. Uh-uh, Landy. You wanted the big money, now you better goddamned well play like you're worthy of it.
Despite that...I'm not terribly worried. To show you just how good the Avs were last season (albeit in a condensed schedule against a fairly weak division) they didn't lose more than three games in a row all year. Now they've already matched that to start this season. Makar is clearly way out of it (which makes the decision to play him like a #1 all the more puzzling), MacKinnon is still fighting his way back from quarantine, and guys like Girard don't seem to be in form yet. Also, goaltending just...has to be better. Overall, the team looks very disjointed.
The bright spots thus far are Helm, O'Connor, Kadri, and Compher. But those guys should not be your best players.
One more game against the defending champs, then some time to lick your wounds.