Quote:
Originally Posted by kermitology
I noticed Baertschi on that first Oilers goal. He was the only forward coming back, Hall had the jump on him, had speed on him, he was in an impossible situation.
But of course he'll get benched as a result.
Sure, you don't hand icetime to youngsters like candy, but he's not playing as poorly as coaching staff would have you believe, and personally, I think they're expecting the wrong things from him. Same thing with Backlund.
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If the benching is driven because of that incident, then i think it's a rather curious teaching choice by Hartley.
In general, Sven was acting responsibly on that play. He made two mistakes in that he didn't immediately commit to turning and fully skating back, and should have been focused on the player at center ice the whole time rather than switching as he did. But that play to me is a perfect occasion for reinforcement by the mentor... and that in turn gives the mentee some experience so that in the future he'll make the right choice.