Quote:
Originally Posted by CroFlames
CroFlames 31 thoughts:
- The top 4 D are playing well. I can't quite put my finger on why so many chances are given up though. Overall team defense, and forwards missing assignments? Hard to say. Gio has been a beast since Game 2, Brodie, Hamilton and Hamonic very solid. I've probably been so concerned about scoring goals the past few games I haven't paid attention to the specific breakdowns in our end.
- Bottom pair is a bottom pair. Wouldn't mind giving Kulak a crack at it and let Bart watch a few games. Can't wait till Rasmus is ready, I think that kid is showtime.
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I think Brodie had his worst game of the season against Carolina, his head was not in the game, a lot of dumb turnovers and mistakes. However, overall, I think he and Hamonic have been great.
I think a lot of the problems of getting our of the zone are on the forwards. They are blowing the zone too soon or rushing the exit or making poor reads. On a number of occasions against Carolina, the defense was winning the puck battle and moving it to a forward, only to have the forward make a dumb play to turn it over again. There was one particular shift where Hamonic won a number of puck battles behind the net and moved the puck to a forward, onlyl to have the forward turn it over blindly. Stone and Bartkowski was also victim to this a few times.
This also isn't something new with this forward group. Their attention to detail in the defensive zone both in terms of defending and moving the puck out is really really poor. They try to be way too cute with little touch passes and behind the back plays. It's been a problem since the Hartley days and it looked like Gulutzan cleaned it up by the second half of last year, but it's back. It's just plain old laziness. The forwards just want to score and are not doing their job in the defensive end.