I was disappointed with Backlunds treatment yesterday. Hartley scratched him for being unproductive offensively and then he pairs him with Bouma and MacGrattan ... seriously?! Most of his 8 (EIGHT!) minutes were on the PK too. I get that Monahan needs to play 16 minutes and that you have to showcase Stajan, but Colborne averaged 20 (TWENTY!) minutes per game over the last two games. I like Colborne and his size is a good advantage to have, but it's not like he has played completely lights out. Has he earned playing more than 6 minutes like earlier in the season? Sure! But has he earned playing 20 minutes per game? Nah.
what I really don't get is the thing with the powerplay. There's that old saying that doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results is insanity. When your PP goes 0 for 16 or something, why be so stubborn and still roll the same lines when it's so obviously not working? Again, Hartley went with Glencross-Stajan/Colborne-Cammalleri and Hudler-Monahan-Jones all the time, with no results. At some point, you have to change it up. Why don't throw out Backlund, Baertschi and Galiardi for a change? It's not that they could have done anything less than Hartleys favourite PP lines.
what also irks me about Hartley: the whole benching/scratching punishment to send a message is utter BS if you don't apply the same rules to all the players. Benching Backs for that stupid penalty or scratching him or Sven to send a message is fine to me, as long as the vets get the same treatment. But it's frustrating when Glencross produces a horrible giveaway on the PK which leads to a PRIME scoring opportunity for Detroit, and he doesn't get punished at all. I think Glencross was back on the ice a shift later ... it's a horrible message to send: the younger guys get punished for mistakes and the veterans have an unlimited amount of get-out-of-the-jail free cards. Every play died on Jones' stick yesterday too, and he still gets a huge amount of PP time.
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