I love me some Trocheck, and I agree with a lot of what he says.
Quote:
Like, how’s Aleksander Barkov not a bigger deal to you guys on the Internet?
Dude is one of the best two-way centers in the entire world. He’s like Anže Kopitar with more skill (no disrespect to Anže, Barkie is just that good). He’s got hands like Patrick Kane and, oh yeah, he’s 6’3″ and 210 pounds. You can’t stop that.
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It's been a rough start for the team defensively, but the talent is there. Trocheck isn't wrong about that. With a new coach brought in, and a lot of teaching to do with a young defense corps, it was to be expected that it would be a little bumpy to start this year. The good news is that the Panthers can actually score quite a few goals, which I thought was not possible going into this year. Dadonov has looked great (16 points in 16 games), and Vrbata has contributed some offense too (10 points so far). Ekblad looks like a stud again. As for Trocheck himself? He's doing just fine with 8 goals and 17 points in 16 games.
The weak point has been the 2nd defense pair with Matheson in his sophomore season and Pysyk. I think they'll get there, but right now they're not helping the team very much. Add in a Luongo injury and the team has had trouble keeping the puck out of the net.
I'm hopeful that by game 20 they'll have some things sorted out. They're getting better, but it's definitely taking some time to learn better habits.
I wouldn't count them out of the playoff picture just yet, but it is looking grim at the moment. This could end up being a transition year for the team.