Quote:
Originally Posted by GioforPM
My point is that Neal needs a consistent line combination. That's how you develop chemistry, especially when it suddenly doesn't just click.
Attempts to get Mike Smith going were not pandering - they were trying to get something going that would have benefited the team. What would you do - play Rittich for 100% of all the games?
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James Neal just needs to play better, simple as that, regardless of who his linemates are. Half a season of practice time clearly hasn't helped him develop any chemistry either.
He's had a history of playing just fine with all sorts of teams that he's played with in the past. There are legitimately no excuses anyone can offer up for his performance this season. His 0.18 points per game is amongst the worst on the entire team including defensemen. His points per minute is even more dreadful.
It's about putting up or shutting up at this point. The fact that we've seen all kinds of other players getting healthy scratched over Neal is probably the biggest injustice of all. The sheer amount of undeserved ice time he's received cannot be going well with most of the forwards on this team (5th most ice time among forwards).
Rittich doesn't need to play 100% of the games. But the fact that Mike Smith has started more games than Rittich this season is just straight up bewildering. One goaltender is sporting a top 5 sv% in the league, the other is sporting a bottom 5 worst sv% in the league.