Patrick Roy calls out Iginla after loss

[Arya Stark]

Iginla is so bad defensively that he leads the team in +/-.

[FlamesAddiction]

Iginla has never been a great defensive player. I think some people mistake toughness for defense.

But this isn't really calling him out. A coach should be able to criticize any player without it turning into a big deal. He isn't a sacred cow any more.

[JJ1532]

Originally Posted by devo22

The Avs D is pretty shocking IMO. In comparison to all their talent and firepower up front, their blueline looks shambolic.

Jan Hejda - Erik Johnson
Brad Stuart - Nick Holden
Nate Guenin - Tyson Barrie

not a lot of quality there. Just a very unbalanced roster and it's surprising that a former goalie like Roy, who should know the importance of good defense, let it come to this. Maybe they should try and flip one of their great forwards for a defenseman.

I don't think its just the blue line, the forwards don't seem great in their own zone either. I mean, their top forwards all have terrible +/- numbers, which is to be expected, but doesn't it tell a story? I wonder how much they are hurting from losing Stastny too?

I would agree about their blue line though. I wonder though why Barrie is on the 3rd line? I thought he was one of their better players last season, they really seemed to miss him in the play offs when he got injured. Him and Johnson were decent points scorers last season. The likes of Hejda and Stuart seem horrendously slow though, might well be wrong, but against the quicker teams, those 2 don't look up to much.

[JJ1532]

Originally Posted by Arya Stark

Iginla is so bad defensively that he leads the team in +/-.

I wonder what Roys thoughts are on his golden boys ROR(-10), Landeskog(-7), Duchene(-2) and MacKinnon(-5) are?

Perhaps this is the issue, he is happy to name check the new boy, but he won't put down one of his high end draft pick players?

[codynw]

+/- is an important and relevant statistic in the year 2014.

[Bourque's Twin]

They're like a glorified Oilers squad.

[Buff]

As a veteran leader, Iginla should easily handle that mild "calling out" by Roy. In fact, I can see Iginla fired up for next game and showing the young guys a thing or two about handling criticism and adversity.

[JJ1532]

Originally Posted by codynw

+/- is an important and relevant statistic in the year 2014.

Meh, I don't know anywhere near enough about Hockey or have watched the Avs enough to say what their problem(or problems) is/are, so all I can go off are the very basic stats. Obviously its more than just a simple +/-, but its still a relevant stat to use I think, to a certain extent of course.

[terminator]

Well one thing is for sure, Jarome would not fit the identity the Flames are building right now.

edit: I'll even add a bold prediction. Jarome demands a trade and lands back in Calgary.

Jk of course.

[keenan87]

I got thinking after the poster above listed Colorado's defense

To Colorado: Keith Yandle
To Phoenix: Ryan O'Reilly

[kermitology]

Watching the goal replay, he was just standing around doing nothing, so I think it's pretty fair criticism. He wasn't even covering the point. He was in the middle of the ice just basically standing there.

[Jacks]

If someone didn't point it out I wouldn't have even noticed that he "called out" Iggy in that clip. He mentioned his name, whoopee.

[devo22]

Originally Posted by JJ1532

I wonder though why Barrie is on the 3rd line? I thought he was one of their better players last season, they really seemed to miss him in the play offs when he got injured.

I just copied the pairings from another forum. TOI gives a better idea: Johnson played over 23 minutes yesterday, Guenin only 12. The other four defenseman all had between 19 and 21 minutes. In either case, that blueline is inferior to that of many other teams, especially in the West.

I do agree with the argument that their forwards aren't great defensively either, but to me, finding upgrades on the blueline has to be their priority at this point.

[ricardodw]

Roy has a huge coaching challenge. Nobody outside of Mackinnon that will be playing better than what they are getting paid.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by CalgaryFan1988

Iginla was covering his man at the point, not sure why he was singled out, but not Iginlas fault IMO.

Originally Posted by stemit14

I agree. He's a winger. He covers the point like he should.

Originally Posted by CalgaryFan1988

Nate Guenin is the goat, by the video.

Originally Posted by kermitology

Watching the goal replay, he was just standing around doing nothing, so I think it's pretty fair criticism. He wasn't even covering the point. He was in the middle of the ice just basically standing there.

He's supposed to rotate down the half-wall and prevent easy puck movement between the half wall and the point, not just stand nearish the point and cover a man.

It's a ####-show shift prior to that, but he's part of that as well.

It's not the worst defensive effort I've ever seen, but it's a lazy play. He's supposed to rotate onto Fowler but doesn't, but he's also not near enough the point to attack the defender if the play goes that way.

He's in the way more than anything, not taking anyone, not skating, not reading the play.

[AcGold]

It did look bad. They look like a team afraid to make mistakes. Whatever Hartley is doing is working. The offense rarely if ever have more than a second without being harassed in our zone.

That goal looked like the Flames when Bouwmeester would admire the other team and they'd skate right on by.

If anything that's Roy's fault for not coaching his team to be aggressive enough in their own zone.

[PeteMoss]

What's scary about their record is their goalies are actually playing well (Varlamov .931 save, Berra .932). They are just getting dominated on the shot clock constantly.

[Erick Estrada]

Strange how they felt they had to offer up that money and term to an aging vet like Iginla when they really could have used a defender capable of playing solid top 4 minutes.

[LGA]

Roy's system of man to man coverage just no longer works. Teams had a year to figure it out and they have. One of the reasons the Avs lost to the Wild last year was that Minny figured out how to break through the Avs poor defensive coverage. Once a team starts cycling in the Avs zone our defensemen are too slow to really impede the process of a cycle, and don't have the defensive awareness to stop it (outside of Erik Johnson, who has actually played quite well). On top of that, the forwards just get lost and what ends up happening is that there are five Avs standing around right in front of the goalie and the other team is allowed to shoot at will. It's absolutely brutal.

It really doesn't help that Roy loves his reclamation projects, guys like Cliche, Guenin, and Holden are simply getting way too much ice time. It's like playing hockey with your coaches kid, he's the worst player on the team but you know he's going to get a lot of premium ice time and you are going to get blamed every time he screws up.

[LGA]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Strange how they felt they had to offer up that money and term to an aging vet like Iginla when they really could have used a defender capable of playing solid top 4 minutes.

They did go after a few defenders, but those players decided to go elsewhere. From what I've heard they were in on Stralman, Orpik, Niskanen, and they also inquired about Leddy.

The Avs two best defensive forwards in Landeskog and O'Reilly have both looked terrible this year. Landeskog just seems out of it, he's not playing the aggressive powerforward game that he is known for. O'Reilly looks disinterested, and I really hope that they trade him while teams still have the image of O'Reilly as a hardworking two-way forward with offensive upside.