Quote:
Originally Posted by MacFlame
Comments from Sutter over the past few days has me thinking he is not pleased with the fitness level of some of the players.
IMO, the biggest culprit of lack of competitiveness throughout this season has been Monahan, but its interesting to hear Sutter indicate that it's not a work ethic that is the problem (something I've been pointing at on a few on this team) but rather an inability to keep up to pace for a full 60. That's interesting to me.
By his comments though, he's clearly not happy with the top players (namely Monhan and Gaudreau), but seems to be a bit easier on Johnny than Monahan (though he is choosing his words carefully). There were a number of times last night that his inability to check closely on the opposition allowed for easy breakouts, scoring chances and goals. On that Simmonds goal for example, he failed to tightly check the high man. allowing for an easy pass to the front of the net..I thought that plays like that were a competitiveness issue, but Sutter seems to be indicating that he simply can't keep up.
Honestly something I hadn't thought of.
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I find it a bit funny that people think that Sutter doesn't like Monahan, when usage has indicated it's actually the opposite.
Monahan and Gaudreau lead the team in ice time at 5v5 under Sutter.
1) Gaudreau - 191 Minutes
2) Monahan - 185 Minutes
3) Lucic - 180 Minutes
4) Mangiapane - 178 Minutes
5) Backlund - 178 Minutes
6) Lindholm - 175 Minutes
7) Tkachuk - 169 Minutes
He's also added Monahan to the PK rotation, and Monahan has the lowest xGA per 60 of all PKers right now, and hasn't been on the ice for a PK goal against.
1) Lindholm - 29:31
2) Ryan - 23:10
3) Backlund - 20:18
4) Bennett - 16:03
5) Monahan - 13:46
6) Mangiapane - 12:25
The player that actually seems to have fallen out of favor a little bit here under Sutter is Matthew Tkachuk. He's 7th on the team in ice time at 5v5, and doesn't seem like there is much trust there.