[SuperMatt18]

I think the coaching can be better but this does just feel like "one of those seasons" for this team where it's hard to pinpoint why they lose.

By all metrics this team outshoots, outchances, and outperforms their opponents but find themselves losing more than they win.

Usually its some combination of untimely goals, weird bounces (ex.two deflected point shots go top corner in 17 seconds last night), and mental lapses (ex. Frolik back pass) that do this team in.

I have a tough time blaming that all on the coach.

We have a top 5 team for Corsi % (Carolina, Boston, Calgary, Chicago, Pittsburgh), Top 5 in Scoring Chances For (Boston, Carolina, Calgary, Chicago, Tampa Bay), are in the top half of save percentage (14th).

So there are some good things going here - and that isn't all done in spite of the coach.

The biggest issue with the team this year is scoring goals - ES or PP this team just can't find the net and the risk is I'm not sure the coach can teach shooting talent.

From a pure shooting percentage perspective this team shoots pretty poorly:

5v5: 22nd 7.17% (Down from 16th and 7.60%)
PP: 24th 11.32% (Down from 11th last year at 13.61%)

So pretty big YoY decline at both ES and the PP but this is even worse when you look at it as a percentage of overall shot attempts. As a previous Bingo post mentioned this team has missed the net and flubbed chances at a remarkable rate this season.

When you look at goal as a % of total shot attempts:

5v5: 27th 3.66% (Down from 13th and 4.43% in 16-17)

League average is 4.13% This season. If they shot at even 4.0% that is 12 more Even Strength goals this season, if they shoot at last years 4.43% that is 26 more goals this season.

That is a crazy drop year to year for a team with similar coaching staff and most of the main forwards being the same.

It's the same story on the PP.

PP: 27th 5.75% (Down from 12th last year at 7.18%)

Once again if they shoot at the league average of 6.93% of shot attempts on the PP being goals that would mean 8 more PP goals. If the same roster would just match what they did last year then it's 10 more PP goals.

So the real question is why did this team forget how to shoot. The roster is mostly the same, the system is mostly the same, and the coaches are all the same but the shooting percentages have plummeted.

If they were even league average at shooting that is 20 more goals, if they have the exact same #s as last year that is 35 more goals.

Really that is the teams biggest problem at this point and I don't think it's the coach telling them to miss the net.