Everything Else

You Get What Anyone Gets: Saying Goodbye To The Colorado Avalanche

By Sam Fels 1766 0

It used to be tradition that playoff exits were complimented by eulogies on Puck Daddy. But with Wysh off in the Connecticut hinterlands and those who remain at Yahoo! being a bunch of Canadian giblets who take things far too seriously (and Lambert being angry and definitely not a Bruins fan), we don’t need them to do what we do best. So fuck it. We’ll eulogize all 15 teams that will eventually fall. And now, perhaps the worst team to make the playoffs in a few years. 

I don’t know whether to thank the Colorado Avalanche or hate them, as they provided us with the most St. Louis Blues moment ever. Sure, Duncan Keith helped, but the Avs got to lambaste the Blues on the final day of the season to overtake them for the last playoff spot. It’s truly wonderful, though a moment we’ve all experienced around here once or twice.

The Avs didn’t have to do a Blues impression when they got to the playoffs, though.

Much like the Devils, this was a one line team that couldn’t figure out what it was doing in goal and has a defense that has more holes in it than Bugsy Malone in his current state. So quite what they were doing here is anyone’s guess, but the Hawks, Blues and Stars were so bad someone had to take it. That’s another thing, they helped retire Ken Hitchcock. So are we supposed to be mad at them or thankful? I can’t tell.

The Avs are another example of how dumb the league as a whole can be, as they made a definite seller’s trade by moving shit-eating grin-boy Matt Duchene (somehow to a worse team) for future parts. And the more you watch Samuel Girard the more you think his only use will be more “The Fugitive” jokes. And yet even a team that ships off its #2 center or best left wing for nothing it can use now can make the playoffs in Gary Bettman’s Wacky Weird Emporium Of Stupid. Angry or thankful?

The Avs aren’t nearly as hatable now that Patrick Roy and the permanent electrical charge to his nuts are gone. Gabriel ThreeYaksAndADog has seemingly calmed down from Roy tasering him every night to turn back into the really good winger he was before that collection of gas showed up. Nathan MacKinnon was the best player in the league, though the entire Avs future hinges on him shooting nearly 20% again. Mikko Rantanen does a fine Eric Daze impression, and Avs fans can only hope his back isn’t similarly made out of legos stepped on by the dad in the house and thrown against a wall.

Still, this seems like a team that’s going to keep trying to convince itself that Erik “Golf Polo Warrior” Johnson is a top pairing d-man, and when that doesn’t work they’ll try and do the same with Tyson Barrie, who two years ago they were trying to actively drive out of town/make cry.

This is a land of Blake Comeau’s and Carl Soderberg’s, players who washed out elsewhere but find a home because there’s no one else. Remember, this is still the team that killed Jarome Iginla. They should never be loved. This is the team that saw a .909 from Rinne in the first round and didn’t come anywhere near beating the Preds, because they dressed up an unemployed circus clown in net for a couple games. The Preds wanted to lose this series, other than maybe Filip Forsberg, and the Avs kept trying to shove the invitation back into the mail slot or up their own ass. Thankfully the Jets won’t be so kind.

Goodbye Avs. It was entertaining thinking about you for like a minute. It’ll be more fun when we don’t at all next season.

Everything Else

You Get What Anyone Gets: Saying Goodbye To The New Jersey Devils

By Sam Fels 1587 0

It used to be tradition that playoff exits were complimented by eulogies on Puck Daddy. But with Wysh off in the Connecticut hinterlands and those who remain at Yahoo! being a bunch of Canadian giblets who take things far too seriously (and Lambert being angry and definitely not a Bruins fan), we don’t need them to do what we do best. So fuck it. We’ll eulogize all 15 teams that will eventually fall. Now, the team from where if you were to give America an enema, you’d aim the hose here…

For most of this season, what you heard a lot was, “These aren’t your father’s New Jersey Devils!” I guess the contention was whenever the Devils are anything more than passable the hockey world just assumes they’re the Joy Division of hockey, a funeral dirge of a performance that somehow rose to prominence while everyone involved except for the leader would really rather be doing something more fun while their fans really try and convince you they enjoy it and aren’t totally miserable people. So I guess this version is Hockey New Order.

That assumes two things: One, my father gave a shit about the Devils which he and a lot of other fathers most certainly did not and Two, that the Devils’ brand of hockey in the past didn’t kill exponentially far more dads with its Kevorkian-like methods than those it brought joy to.

Either way, these Devils were more fun, except I couldn’t help but wonder…who gives a shit? This is still a team that plays its games in the second-worst New York-satellite area (the state of Connecticut as a whole being the worst) where no one goes to and those who do sprint the fuck back to the PATH to get the hell out of Newark ASAP when the game is over. Even Tony Soprano wanted nothing to do with the place and he was bleeding it dry. And really, how does New Jersey have a mafia? There’s nothing there to grift! On the other side, you can see how a group that doesn’t want to do any actual work would thrive in a place that doesn’t let you pump your own gas.

Anyway, as for this Devils team, they were Taylor Hall–perhaps the most or second-most entertaining player to watch in the league–a bunch of kids, and a bunch of scrap heap players whose names said aloud always cause you to go, “Oh right, him.” Kyle Palmieri has been here for years, and good, and you had no idea until I just told you that. Patrick Maroon ended up here and you probably thought he had been a Devil for a few seasons because that would make sense, or you thought he was Kyle Palmieri.

Go ahead, name a Devils defensemen. I’ll wait. You can’t do it, can you? And no, Bryce Salvador is on the broadcast team now. And if you came up with Bryce Salvador, I strongly suggest your life needs changes. John Moore is here, and all 12 Devils fans hate him. That’s about all I can tell you about the Devils blue line, and quite frankly I’m not interested in finding out more and it’s my fucking job!

Pavel Zacha is definitely a player they’ve been talking about for a few years, and I guess it’s because he helps carry the torch for the Devils of having the most players with a surname that begins with Z, joining Zajac on this roster now that Dainius Zubrus has gone to wherever people named “Dainius” go. I assume it’s an Eastern European sex club, but I’m not going to investigate as I fear the answers.

Anyway, the Devils made the playoffs with one plus forward and two goalies who were nothing but mediocre. Which I guess you have to hand it to them, as they made an excellent choice in picking a dogshit division while also getting to take advantage of the fact the other division in the conference was somehow way worse, opening the wild card spots. Of course, that always meant they were going to get steamrolled in the first round, and boy did they.

The Devils have been an excellent straight man for the Oilers, given Hall’s MVP-like performance this year. Maybe that’s something they can claim to gain attention. “New Jersey: It’s Salvation From Edmonton.” You can see it on the road signs, can’t you?

This wasn’t in the plan for the Devils anyway, as this was supposed to be a rebuilding season but the NHL as a whole was like, “We’ll show you! We’ll be so bad you have to make the playoffs!” So the Devils will have an excellent chance of being a “disappointment” next year as their development continues, except not enough people would notice for that to be the case. It’s hard to be more irrelevant than the Islanders, so kudos to the Devils for managing it.

Everything Else

Well Pilgrim, Not Until You Eat The Peanuts Outta My… -FFUD’s Player Reviews: Jan Rutta, better known as Who?

By Adam Hess 1584 0

Mats Halin has now been the Blackhawks’ director of European scouting for five years, and in that time he has been able to pull a few decent players out of that continent and into the Hawks system. Identifying Artemi Panarin and surely playing a role in getting him to sign here was no doubt his shining moment definitely bought him a lot of leeway. Jan Rutta’s first NHL season should have eaten up a bit of a that leeway. Rutta wasn’t outright terrible, but he was bad, and deserved more ire for just how bad he was. Lets dig in a bit.

Jan Rutta

57 Games, 6 goals, 14 assists, 20 points, -1, 24 PIM

50.08 CF%, -2.4 CF% rel, 47.92 xGF%, -2.24 xGF% rel, 51.1 Zone Start Ratio

On the face of it, those numbers are not awful, but on the worst Hawks team of the last decade, Rutta stuck out to me as the worst defenseman that saw regular minutes on this squad. He had the second-worst CF% among the team’s blue liners, with the only one behind him being Gustav Forsling – and we aren’t gonna get started on that yet, but it’s coming tomorrow. He was third-worst in xGF%, just above Keith and Forsling. The points look okay, but aren’t overly impressive, and the underlying stats are obviously bad enough to show that this is a player who is arguably not even good enough to crack the NHL roster.

Looking at his pairings, he spent more time with the aforementioned Forsling than anyone, and the two of them were pretty much abysmal together, with a 48.22 CF%. The blame for that probably lies more on the coach who saddled them together consistently than either of the players, because their individual play styles are not compatible. Rutta is not mobile, not a good puck mover, and isn’t a great reader of the play on either side of the ice, while Forsling is nearly the opposite though only reads the play well on offense. Rutta isn’t awful in his own zone, but he is not nearly good enough to make up for Forslings shortcomings in that area. He also is not fast enough to clean up the messes that might’ve been left when Forsling started to freewheel on offense, and that became evident quickly. This was a hair-brained pairing from the start, but that still doesn’t completely absolve Rutta from being terrible.

He also spent a decent amount of time (120+ minutes total) with Jordan Oesterle, and oh look they were terrible together too. That was mostly because both of them are terrible individually, and putting two terrible defensemen together to form a terrible pairing results in a 42.03 CF%. I’d like to never think about them together.

Now, to his credit, Rutta did at times prove to be a decent partner for Duncan Keith, with those two providing a fine-but-not-spectacular 52 CF% in 140+ minutes together. Sam and others here have talked plenty about Keith needing to recalibrate his play style and approach to the game, and there is a case to be made that Rutta’s style of play makes him a match for Keith because his lack of mobility results in some quasi-stability. However, Duncan Keith is still good enough to man a top pairing, and Rutta is the last defenseman you want to play on a top pairing. Also, that stability from Rutta might help a little bit, but as Sam said the other day, you prefer a mobile partner for Keith at this point to cover for him. So while the results weren’t awful, this isn’t an idea even worthy of pinning to the board in case you need to return to it. Toss in the trash, Joel.

Outlook: Overall, Rutta’s season was not good, and he is arguably not worthy of any NHL minutes next year. Luckily, he probably lines up as the odd man out when you consider you’re ideally gonna have Keith, Seabrook, Forsling, Gustafsson, Oesterle, someone who isn’t here now, and maybe even Jokiharju lined up as defensemen who are better than him and will be competing for minutes. There is the major red flag though, that being the contract extension he was handed near the end of the season, that might earn him some undue preferential treatment. That was an extremely confusing move from StanBo, and the cap hit is particularly worrisome. But, it’s not an albatross, and might even be a toss-in contract for when Stan dials up John Chayka and brings OEL to Chicago. Thanks.

Everything Else

Night Songs – Round 1 Day 11: Oh Bob…You Came And You Turned Into A Turkey…

By Sam Fels 1627 0

One blue team showed some zest in staying alive. Another very much did not. So as they said in The Tick, “Well that’s about it for the blue guy.”

Bruins 1 – Leafs 3 (Tied 3-3)

I really want to believe that the Bruins are just doing this to torture torture THE NATION even more than simply paddling this team in four or five games would have done. Because it’s looking an awful lot like 2013 again. The Bruins even threw a 4-1 comeback at them in Game 5 only to fall short.

And yet…and yet, I can’t help but notice every time I look up, Charlie McAvoy–the supposed engine of this Bruins resurgence–is doing a might fine impression of a wavy-arm inflatable balloon man anytime the Leafs enter the zone against him. Can’t help but notice Tuukka Rask, who’s been utterly awful in games the Bruins can end a series, hasn’t looked very good. I can’t help but notice that when the line of Pastrnak-Bergeron-Marchand doesn’t score, the Bruins don’t score all that much, even though everyone told me that they were definitely not a one line team all season.

Still, last night the Bruins were pretty much all over the Leafs most of the game, and Freddie Andersen did that thing where he gets his team just close enough to have a crushing defeat. That’s the most likely outcome still here, especially if the Leafs repeat this thing where they’re getting barely 35% of the attempts. Bergeron’s line running over Plekanec’s time and time again assuredly is going to work out in the black and yellow’s favor sooner rather than later. Though I guess that sooner had better be next game.

Capitals 6 – Jackets 3 (Caps win 4-2)

Given how quickly hockey media loves to quickly and usually unfairly criticize Russian players, it’s kind of amazing they haven’t gotten to this yet: Sergei Bobrovsky sucks in the playoffs. His career save-percentage is .891 in 24 games played. Granted, three of those came against the Penguins and two of them were in series where Columbus was seriously overmatched. You could forgive that a little, though saving an overmatched team is what Bob does for 82 games a year.

But this Jackets team was not overmatched by the Capitals. They may not be as good, but it was pretty close. And in the other net was an untested rookie or a veteran having a very shaky season. And the latter was miles better than Bob. The Caps basically have a top line and Oshie and Backstrom, and yet they scored 22 goals in six games against Bob. On 221 shots, which makes for a .900. His SV% at evens was .925, which is fine, and it was expected to be .919, so he did ok there. but he just fell apart on the kill with a .826. And the Jackets were not giving up great chances there.

It’s not like Columbus is going to make a change in net, but this should be an issue next year when you think they’re going to really want to do something other than be the chorus girls for the show before shuffling offstage again.

Everything Else

You Get What Anyone Gets: Saying Goodbye To The Philadelphia Flyers

By Sam Fels 1937 0

It used to be tradition that playoff exits were complimented by eulogies on Puck Daddy. But with Wysh off in the Connecticut hinterlands and those who remain at Yahoo! being a bunch of Canadian giblets who take things far too seriously (and Lambert being angry and definitely not a Bruins fan), we don’t need them to do what we do best. So fuck it. We’ll eulogize all 15 teams that will eventually fall. And now, to the routine of Western PA…

If I were to ask you to sketch out what a Philadelphia Flyers crash-out would look like, you almost certainly would have presented something that looked a lot like yesterday afternoon. Even if the Flyers haven’t done this as much recently as their reputation suggests, you would know exactly what it looks like.

They would take a lead in the second period. They would be running all over the place trying to hit everything that moves, including their captain boiling over. Their crowd would be in a frenzy. They would be on the cusp of a real breakthrough by sheer fury. And then their superior opponent would inhale deeply and say, “Ok, enough of this bullshit.” Then there would be defensive breakdowns everywhere. They would treat the puck like it was covered in space herpes. Their goalie would have an existential crisis and have to stay in because the one on the bench is an existential crisis. They would give up an avalanche of goals in like four minutes, and then it would be over. Their still-Super-Bowl-drunk fans would hurl whatever garbage was hurl-able onto the ice, as the only garbage they couldn’t throw was themselves. But they’ll figure that out one day. It was ever thus.

It wouldn’t be complete without Flyers fans conspiracy/inferiority complex shining through, which I guess is what happens when your city is wedged between a bunch of other cities people would rather go to and your weather level switches from winter to sweat. By the time October rolls around, Flyers fans will have convinced you that the trip on Sean Couturier leading to Guentzel’s goal was a crime on the level of various Kennedy assassinations, even though Couturier looked like he was trying to moonsault a ghost and probably was having trouble standing up anyway thanks to his own teammate shredding his knee in practice. Something about Philadelphia and practice.

Only an organization and institution this rockheaded could just wave away their dumber version of Rocksteady and Bebop d-man, Radko Gudas, handicapping their #1 center in practice because “THEY’RE SO TOUGH.” This is a place that wears it as a badge of honor that they get their sandwiches out of a fucking gas station. You’d think the Flyers would know that running around and grabbing your sac for a whole game eventually is going to leave your defense and your goalie exposed, and yet they dive headlong into it every time. In Philadelphia it’s always 1976.

Lots of people will tell you Cold Ones have a bright future ahead of them. And they do, if you think being the Maple Leafs is a bright future. They could be loaded at forward in two years, but have exactly one d-man worth a shit in Ivan Provorov, assuming Gudas hasn’t broken  his will to live by passing him another hand grenade when he’s already covered. If this series proved anything it’s that Ghost Bear is just a cooler name for Marc-Andre Bergeron (stick tap to Anthrax for that one).

And the Flyers will continue to have a Gudas on their roster, because it’s what they do. Fuck, you can totally see Roman Polak ending up here when he’s finally forced out of the loving arms of Mike Babcock. If we can get Gudas and Polak on the same pairing we actually would have Rocksteady and Bebop on an NHL team.

And when it all goes belly up again because wearing orange turns every goalie into an actual traffic cone, there will be Claude Giroux yapping and running around like a frat boy on a coke binge, without actually scoring any goals that might help his team get anywhere. In his last 19 playoff games Giroux has three goals. But man, he sure got all of Carl Hagelin eight seconds after the puck was gone, didn’t he? And in the end, isn’t that the real truth? The answer, is no. Giroux joins the unfathomably long list of ultra talented Flyers that the city and fans turned into a slobbering dingus with granite for brains and then hands when it matters most.

So long to the Flyers, who definitely are the Flyers more than anyone has ever been anything else. It’s reassuring in a way, the dedication to their character. If the NHL were a movie they would be the scenery chewers. They live in this role and always have, and always will. And it’s always good comedy.

Everything Else

You Get What Anyone Gets: Saying Goodbye To The Minnesota Wild

By Sam Fels 1759 0

It used to be tradition that playoff exits were complimented by eulogies on Puck Daddy. But with Wysh off in the Connecticut hinterlands and those who remain at Yahoo! being a bunch of Canadian giblets who take things far too seriously (and Lambert being angry and definitely not a Bruins fan), we don’t need them to do what we do best. So fuck it. We’ll eulogize all 15 teams that will eventually fall. Now, a rite of spring…

Actually, that picture should probably portray Zach Parise as Death, because today he turned a new trick by expanding on getting his coaches fired by getting his GM fired, and a big reason is the contract Parise signed. Good stuff, that.

Whereas there was joy in kicking dirt all over the bloated corpses of the Ducks and Kings, sending the Wild out with a quiet word is really just a reflex of the spring. About the only thing they provided was quality #BoudreauFace during these playoffs, as it quickly became obvious to him and everyone else his team was just ridiculously overmatched. If any player turned around on the bench and saw the expression of their coach it would have been an upset if they hopped over the boards ever again.

But this is what you sign up for when you have Boudreau behind the bench. Since he left the Capitals, his Ducks and Wild teams have these great seasons that take place almost entirely in the dark. You check the standings every few weeks and your reaction is always, “Huh, how’d they get there?” Because you wouldn’t ever choose to watch them. And then you go on about your life only to repeat the process a few weeks later. Then, when the playoffs start and you really pay attention, you really wonder how they hell they finished where they did, at least you do for the six minutes the Wild are around in the playoffs.

Once again, Devan Dubnyk was the second-best goalie in a series, just as he was in ’15, and ’16, and last year. And you have to hand it to him, because he’s been the second-best goalie in a series to a wild variety of other goalies, from one of the league’s best (Crawford) to genuinely terrible goalies (Niemi and Lehtonen) to absolute basketcases (Jake Allen) and now a young one in his first playoff series (Hellebuyck). He is wonderful talent enhancement.

It was another year of writers marveling at what a defensive wizard Mikko Koivu is in the dregs of February, and then watching him get turned into dog food in the playoffs. A 41% Corsi for the series, reminding us once again he’s a million years old and the Wild have yet to produce a center that’s really any better than him. The State of Hockey is one of paralysis. If Beckett had been around now he would have written a sequel to Godot about the Wild and waiting for anything or anyone of consequence to happen.

It’s really hard to stress just how much the Wild, a 100-point team somehow, got their ass handed to them in five games. No player achieved a positive possession rating over five games, and this was to a franchise that had never won a playoff series before. This might not even count, considering the cannon fodder the Wild were. It’s like counting something in the Home Run Derby as your first major league hit.

And the thing is, the Wild aren’t going to change. They can’t. They have to find the money to pay Dumba and Zucker, and that will be that. They won’t have any flexibility to do anything else, and they’ll roll out the exact same team next year that will amass around 100 points thanks to Gabby’s “Go get ’em, scouts!” system that sees them play really hard when no one cares. And we’ll get more and more articles of “Boudreau does it again! What a magician!”

And then April rolls around, they’ll face a good team that cares again and they’ll get walloped. We’ll get shots of Boudreau behind the bench, the definition of “out of answers,” and he’ll basically be the same shade as Grimace (and shape) by Game 4. His career playoff winning percentage is .478. But hey, he talks to the media and is kind of adorable, so let’s just ignore the fact that he’s almost certainly a moron.

There’s a lesson to the Wild. Constancy. Some teams just have to fill out the numbers, to perform the same cycle over and over to make the ones who change stand out. They’re the backup singers doing the same dance routine every night while Jagger is out front. They help hit the harmonies for the rest of the league, and then fade into the background when the important notes are sung. They are water carriers. Good things there’s a lot of it in Minnesota.

Everything Else

Well Pilgrim, Not Until You Eat The Peanuts Outta My…-FFUD’s Player Reviews: Brent Seabrook or Maybe He’s Not Earthquake?

By Sam Fels 1658 0

It’s been a while now that Brent Seabrook has been our main punching bag. He actually started this slide years ago, in the lockout season if you’ll recall. He redeemed himself with THAT goal, and then THAT OTHER goal, and was mostly fine in the playoffs, but he did not have a good season. We blamed it on the nature of the campaign and not playing during the lockout. He wasn’t really any better the following year, and the Kings tore him apart in the conference final, scoring roughly 64 rebound goals while Seabrook watched alongside the rest of us. He rebounded in the last championship campaign, and was pretty much a monster alongside Duncan Keith’s Conn Smythe journey.

And that’s basically where it peaked. Seabrook isn’t the first to lose their battle with Time, and he obviously won’t be the last. It was particularly ugly at times this year, and we and others certainly didn’t hesitate to call it out.

The thing was, it might not have been that bad?

Brent Seabrook

81 games, 7 goals, 19 assists, 26 points, -3, 38 PIM

51.4 CF%, -1.36 CF% rel, 49.0 xGF%, -0.65 xGF% rel, 55.8 Zone Start Ratio

The problems for Seabrook were myriad, but the main one seemed to be that the Hawks didn’t know where to slot him. His pairing with Duncan Keith, the foundation on which this whole thing was built for only about eight years, just didn’t work. Keith doesn’t have the quickness to cover for Seabrook’s mobility that disappeared somewhere in 2016. Seabrook couldn’t cover for a recalibrating Keith. Mostly, it was just ugly, and it’s why of the d-men Seabrook played with his pairing with Keith had the worst metrics (48.5 CF%).

But on the flip side, for the entire middle portion of the season his pairing with Connor Murphy did work. Murphy wasn’t nearly as adventurous as Keith, so he was in better position to cover. Murphy allowed Seabrook to still do some of his cowboy act, which has always been part of his game. Together, they pushed the play the right way (53.0 CF%, 56.5 SCF%).

The numbers with Erik Gustafsson aren’t as good overall as they were with Murphy, but they’re still on the plus-side of the ledger and we all saw how it ended the season. Now, at the end of a season when all is lost probably isn’t the best time to judge things, but Gustafsson’s “Three Musketeers In One” act kept Seabrook in a strictly support role, which is probably what he should be doing. Seabs can’t go cruising up the ice where he’ll never get back if Gustafsson is leading rushes himself. And we know Gustafsson isn’t getting back. It’s hard to say if this is a a solution in the future or just something a flawed team came up with in the death throes of a season everyone wanted over.

The problems are obvious. Seabrook can’t move, and even his passing–still top level–is nullified when he can’t even give himself the time and space to execute it. He still wants to be as aggressive as he was, but he simply can’t. The times when he realized that and played a more reserved game, it was actually ok. It just didn’t happen enough.

Outlook: Both Seabrook and the Hawks have to accept what he isn’t anymore and figure out what he should be. Seabrook hasn’t quite adjusted his game the way Keith was at least trying to at times, and he’s going to have to. Ideally, on a team that has any hope of doing anything, he’s your third-pairing rock. He can still be your triggerman on the second power play unit, assuming you have two real-ass QBs for each (the Hawks don’t have one at the moment). If you absolutely have to you can probably get away with Seabrook taking #4 minutes, but your first three had better be something special. That doesn’t look like happening. Seabrook is cut out for the glorified Sopel/Rozsival role of years past. It’s up to the Hawks to find enough to get him there, and it’s up to Seabrook to accept that.

Everything Else

Night Songs – Round 1 Day 10: An Ice Water Fountain of Urine

By John Pullega 2217 0

The two teams that were supposed to win won, in mostly convincing fashion. Let’s do a quick clean up.

Penguins 8 – Flyera 5 (Penguins win series 4–2)

Only in Philadelphia can a game that had two hat tricks—one being the four-goal variety and the other coming from a guy with a frayed MLC—be overshadowed by, well, anything. But to no one’s surprise, the Flyera faithful became the old sports cliché of leaving a piece of yourself on the ice, pelting players with trash, and half-full cans of Yuengling and whatever other canal runoff they drink. Hilariously, the complete toddler meltdown that is fandom in Philly led to Pittsburgh’s final empty netter, as a rogue towel in front of Provorov led him to turn the puck over to Brandon Rust for the final dagger.

Guentzal’s four consecutive goals and Couturier’s hat trick despite his torn MCL were the undercard on the night. Pittsburgh will probably get extended time to wash the garbage out of their hair, because you know the Caps/BJs series is going to seven.

Predators 5 – Avalanche 0 (Predators win series 4–2)

Not the way you want to go out at home, but there probably wasn’t a bigger mismatch in all of the playoffs than this series. But when it really mattered, Nashville got up and Dammit Doll’d the Avs. There may have been whispers about Nashville not having “it” against the Avs in this series, but last night’s drubbing ought to put that to rest.

There really isn’t much to say about a 5–0 shutout. Shit Hip continues to defy his age, and the Bonino–Sissons–Watson line continues to impress in the playoffs. Whether we like it or not, Nashville can be an overpowering team when it needs to be, which will make the matchup with Winnipeg probably some of the best hockey we’ll see in the playoffs.

With the way things have gone in the NHL this year, the Preds and Jets will mash each other to a pulp, then the winner will have to play a well-rested Knights, fresh off a sweep against the Sharks, because fuck you. Then the Knights will find themselves as an expansion team in the Stanley Cup while the rest of us drink hemlock and/or eat Arby’s.

Everything Else

High On The Hog: Doubling Down On The Wolves

By Jon Fromi 1628 0

The Rockford IceHogs got their Calder Cup quest off to a flying start over the weekend. Coming into the postseason as the fourth seed in the Central Division, the piglets sent quite the opening salvo against the Chicago Wolves.

Silencing most of Chicago’s big offensive guns, the IceHogs raced out to a 2-0 series lead, taking Game 1 in Rosemont as well as Game 2 at the BMO Harris Bank Center. The Hogs gave as good as they got on the physical side and bested the Wolves special teams in both outings.

Rockford can close out the Wolves Thursday night at Allstate Arena. I’d imagine we’ll see a desperate Chicago club defending their home turf in Game 3. However, the IceHogs showed that they are capable of turning away the Wolves offensive attack when needed.

Yes, Teemu Pulkkinen got a puck past Collin Delia this weekend. However, he had to knock a puck out of mid-air to do so. Brandon Pirri was held without a point in the two games, as was Wolves captain Paul Thompson. Beau Bennett, another top point producer who was held off the score sheet, left Saturday’s 2-1 win by Rockford with an apparent hand injury. He didn’t play in Game 2.

Delia, starting his first two postseason games in the AHL, made key stops when the Wolves did manage to create legit scoring chances. Defensively, Rockford was adept at breaking up potential rushes in neutral ice.

The IceHogs got seven goals from seven different skaters in Games 1 and 2. Leading the way was the trio of veterans who put a charge into the Rockford lineup in the final months of the season.

Defenseman Adam Clendening scored the game-winner in Chicago and totaled four points (1 G, 3 A) for the weekend. Chris DiDomenico (1 G, 2 A) and Cody Franson (3 A) also figured heavily into the wins.

Excepting the first seven or eight minutes of the opening game Saturday, Rockford has been in control of the action on the whole. As expected, the IceHogs have become a difficult opponent to play at just the right time of the spring.

In a series where the penalty minutes are up a bit, Rockford has taken advantage. The Hogs found cord on five of twelve power play chances. The first unit, featuring Clendening and Franson, has four of those goals.

 

Weekend Observations

  • In true playoff fashion, some big hits were delivered on both sides. As you might expect, players like Andreas Martinsen and John Hayden were making their presence felt. In addition, William Pelletier, who at 5’7″ was a frequent target in the regular season, finished some checks with a little snarl.
  • Chicago’s Brett Sterling attempted to sell a high-sticking infraction by Matthew Highmore in the first period Saturday night. The Wolves broadcast team bemoaned the lack of a call, but the replays showed that Highmore’s stick was never in the same zip-code as the veteran winger’s chin.
  • Bennett is a big loss for Chicago if he continues to miss action Thursday. Meanwhile, Tanner Kero returned from an injury and played Sunday for the IceHogs. A deep Rockford team gets a little deeper.
  • The 5,000-plus at the BMO got to their feet when the IceHogs killed the Chicago 5-on-3 to remain up a goal early in the second period on Sunday. It was the turning point of the game, no question.

 

Recaps

Saturday, April 21-Rockford 2, Chicago 1 

Special teams decided the opening game of the series. The Hogs got two power play goals and made that stand up to take Game 1 on the road.

The Wolves were all over the Rockford zone in the first period, creating chance after chance that either missed the net or was turned away by Hogs goalie Collin Delia. The Wolves were denied on 16 attempts in the opening period.

Rockford gained a 1-0 advantage on the game’s first power play. As he has done with regularity, Cody Franson waited at the left dot for Adam Clendening’s pass. The shot was deflected by Tyler Sikura, off Chicago goalie Oscar Dansk’s glove and into the Wolves cage at 9:44 of the first.

A slashing call against Beau Bennett put the Hogs on the man advantage early in the second period. Rockford converted on the chance when Clendening sent a wrist shot through traffic and past Dansk for a 2-0 IceHogs lead at the 2:05 mark.

The home team was able to get on the scoreboard five minutes into the final frame. Teemu Pulkkinen, with the Wolves on the power play, was in front of the net when a Zac Leslie shot came off of Delia’s pads. The talented forward batted the puck into the net from just under crossbar height to cut the Rockford lead to 2-1 with 14:29 remaining in the contest.

On a night where neither club could find twine at even strength, the Hogs made their pair of goals stand up. The Wolves put on a frantic effort in the final minutes with Dansk on the bench to no avail.

Delia wound up with 31 saves on 32 shots. Clendening, with a goal and an assist on the evening, was named the game’s first star, followed by Franson and Leslie.

Lines (Starters in italics)

Lance Bouma-David Kampf-Matthew Highmore

Victor Edjsell-Chris DiDomenico-Anthony Louis

John Hayden-Tyler Sikura-Andrea Martinsen

Alexandre Fortin-Luke Johnson-William Pelletier

Viktor Svedberg (A)-Cody Franson (A)

Carl Dahlstrom-Adam Clendening

Gustav Forsling-Darren Raddysh

Collin Delia

Power Play (2-6)

DiDomenico-Sikura-Johnson-Franson-Clendening

Highmore-Louis-Kampf-Edjsell-Dahlstrom

Penalty Kill (Wolves were 1-5)

Sikura-Martinsen-Svedberg-Franson

Johnson-Kero-Dahlstrom-Clendening

Hayden-Bouma-Forsling-Raddysh

 

Sunday, April 22-Rockford 5, Chicago 2

Rockford broke open a close game in the second period. Once again, most of the damage was done while up a man.

The Wolves took a 1-0 lead midway through the first when Wade Megan put back a rebound left by Hogs goalie Collin Delia off a Zac Leslie shot. At the 13:24 mark, William Pelletier returned the favor, scoring his first goal of the postseason to tie the score.

There was much action in the final minute of the opening frame. The Hogs power play notched a goal when Luke Johnson pounced on a Cody Franson shot that rebounded off the pads of Chicago goalie Oscar Dansk. Rockford led 2-1 at 19:08 of the first, but that lead proved to be short-lived.

As the final seconds were ticking away in period one, Dansk got an outlet pass to T.J. Tynan coming into the Hogs zone. Delia stopped the resulting shot, but Leslie followed up by knocking the rebound into the Rockford net just before the clock ran out.

The 2-2 contest was decided in the middle 20; Rockford got the eventual game-winner from Matthew Highmore 3:47 into the second. The rookie received a pass from Victor Ejdsell at the left circle and sent a shot off of the arm of Dansk and into the net.

From there, the key stretch involved special teams. The Hogs killed off a two-man Wolves advantage, then found themselves on a 5-on-3 of their own ten minutes later. At the 16:04 mark, Chris DiDomenico got open in the slot, took a feed from Ejdsell, and cued the horn for Rockford’s third power play tally of the game. The IceHogs led 4-2.

The third period was controlled by Rockford, who held the desperate Wolves to just three shots on goal. Lance Bouma added an empty net goal with 39 seconds to go, slamming the door on Chicago.

Delia earned first star honors with his 28-save performance. DiDomenico and Clendening rounded out the three stars.

Lines (Starters in italics)

Lance Bouma-David Kampf-Matthew Highmore

Victor Edjsell-Chris DiDomenico-Anthony Louis

John Hayden-Tyler Sikura-Andrea Martinsen (A)

Tanner Kero-Luke Johnson-William Pelletier

Viktor Svedberg (A)-Cody Franson (A)

Carl Dahlstrom-Adam Clendening

Gustav Forsling-Darren Raddysh

Collin Delia

Power Play (3-6)

DiDomenico-Sikura-Johnson-Franson-Clendening

Highmore-Louis-Kampf-Edjsell-Dahlstrom

Penalty Kill (Wolves were 1-5)

Sikura-Martinsen-Svedberg-Franson

Johnson-Kero-Dahlstrom-Clendening

Hayden-Bouma-Forsling-Raddysh

 

Rockford can advance to the second round with a win Thursday night at Allstate Arena. Follow me @JonFromi on twitter for updates on the action in Game 3.

Everything Else

Well Pilgrim, Not Until You Eat The Peanuts Outta My… – FFUD’s ’17-’18 Player Reviews – Connor Murphy Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Our Large Irish Son

By John Pullega 1978 0

When the Hawks brought Connor Murphy in, he was the presumptive favorite to replace the puck-pocked husk of what was once Niklas Hjalmarsson. And as the season went on, and the Hawks found their heads deeper and deeper in the toilet, the narrative began to range from “the Hawks will need a Top 4 defenseman next year” (true) to “the Hawks really miss Hjalmarsson this year” (categorically false in terms of on-ice performance).

After some early season struggles, a few confounding healthy scratches, and a mostly successful experiment on his off side, Murphy settled in to produce a couple of interesting career highs and team rankings. Let’s kick it.

Connor Murphy

76 GP, 2 Goals, 12 Assists, 14 Points, -3, 34 PIM

53.44 CF% (Evens), 1.2 CF% Rel (Evens), 53.47 SCF% (5v5), 51.57 xGF% (5v5), 2.99 xGF% Rel (5v5)

 50% oZ Start (Evens)

What We Said: Behind Keith and—if you look at him with enough glare from the sun—Seabrook, Murphy is probably the Hawks’s third best D-man. He’s fine if not underwhelming for the price ($3.85 million cap hit), but on the edge of 24, he will need to prove that his numbers really are the result of playing in America’s chafe rather than wasted potential. Given that the Hawks have won three Cups on the backs of their defensemen . . . Murphy will need to develop into a shutdown D-man fast.

What We Got: We’ll start with some numbers (feel free to skip the bullets if all you want is the explanation).

– Murphy posted an even-strength CF% of 53.44, finishing above water for the first time since his rookie year. Of Hawks D-men who played at least 20 games, he finished fourth, behind Franson (59.91), Gustafsson (55.39), and Kempný (53.95). If you bump the minimum threshold up to 40 games, Murphy is your leader in CF% for Hawks D-men.

– His 1.2 CF% Rel was only the second time he’s been in the positives on that ledger (1.0 last year). Of all Hawks defensemen who played at least 20 games, only Franson (9.2), Gustafsson (6.6), and Kempný (1.4) had higher CF% Rels. Again, bumping the threshold up to 40 games, Murphy’s your D-man leader for the Hawks.

– The caveat there is that Franson, Gustafsson, and Kempný started in the offensive zone at respective rates of 65.8%, 57.4%, and 55.4% to Murphy’s 50%.

– Murphy also finished with a High Danger Chances For Percentage (HDCF%) of 48.56. That’s fourth among Hawks D-men with at least 20 games—behind Kempný (52.86), Franson (52.34), and Gustafsson (50.59)—and above the team rate of 47.11. Once again, bumping the threshold to 40 games, Murphy leads all Hawks D-men.

– Murphy finished fourth in Expected Goals For Percentage (xGF%; 51.57) among Hawks D-men who played at least 20 games (behind Franson, Kempný, and Gustafsson). When bumped up to 40 games, Murphy was the leader.

– Finally, Murphy finished third in Expected Goals For Percentage Relative (xGF% Rel; 2.99) among Hawks D-men who played at least 20 games (behind Gustafsson and Franson). When bumped to 40 games, he’s the leader again.

All of this is to say that in terms of possession, Murphy was good if not great overall. He was better than the Hawks’s average in terms of giving up high-danger chances, but not great in a vacuum. And when he was on the ice, the Hawks could have expected more goals for than against.

That said, one of Murphy’s glaring weaknesses, especially at the beginning and end of the year, was his struggle to clear the puck in his own zone under pressure.

The above graph, which was tracked by Corey Sznajder, tells us that of these nine Blackhawks, only Brent Seabrook had more failed zone exits per 60 minutes of play. This means that the opposition was more likely to sustain pressure when Murphy had the puck in his own zone, which, of course, tends to lead to more opportunities to score goals. And while these data aren’t comprehensive (only tracked through 38 games), it does give us a good sample size for what’s pretty obvious through the eye test: When Murphy was pressured in his own zone, he sometimes panicked.

While Murphy absolutely must keep his spurs from jingling and jangling in his own zone if he’s going to develop into a true Top 4 shutdown D-man, it’s hard to ignore the carousel of D-men he was jerked around with this year and wonder whether that affected his play.

Murphy played primary time with five different defensemen this year.

All stats 5v5

Given how often he got jerked around, including playing his off side in his 25 games with Seabrook, one thing that stands out is the relative consistency in his possession numbers, aside from Keith. And despite the fact that the Hawks were the seventh worst team in giving up High Danger Chances, Murphy still managed well when away from Oesterle and Keith.

But therein lies the problem: Since the assumption is that Keith takes on the toughest competition (and he usually does), Murphy’s piss-poor numbers with him might suggest that he isn’t a Top 4 guy like Hjalmarsson was.

But this dovetails nicely with the overall point I want to make: The Murphy-for-Hjalmarsson trade wasn’t the loss for the Hawks some people want to say it is, and having Hjalmarsson over Murphy would have made things worse, not better.

Check out some of Hjalmarsson’s numbers when he played with Keith over his Hawks career:

All Stats 5v5

Like Murphy, Hjalmarsson had a rough go of it in the first 100 or so minutes with Keith, and that was when Keith was starting to go full Oppenheimer on the league. Coincidentally, it wasn’t until Hjalmarsson turned 25 that things really started to click any time he played with Keith, and next year Murphy will be 25.

Clearly, this is simply a coincidence, as raw age will have no effect on how (or whether) Murphy plays with Keith going forward. But this idea that Murphy doesn’t have Top 4 potential because he didn’t play well with a declining Keith over seven games this year is one of the more confusing implications I’ve heard this year.

The last point I’ll make regarding the implication that the Murphy-for-Hjalmarsson trade was a loss for the Hawks and that the Hawks miss Hjalmarsson is this:

Using more of Sznajder’s tracking data, it’s obvious that Murphy brought more to the table for the Hawks than Hjalmarsson did for the Coyotes this year. One of the two things that Hjalmarsson did that was marginally better was in terms of the breakups he caused at the blue line, preventing opponents from entering the zone with possession. (Note: They only tracked Hjalmarsson for 10 games this year against Murphy’s 38, so consider the sample size.)

Going even farther—because I have no sense of moderation whatsoever—even when comparing this year’s Murphy to last year’s Hjalmarsson, the differences aren’t as big as you’d think, mostly:

So even when we recognize and admit that Murphy had trouble with his exits from his own zone, the revisionist history that Hjalmarsson was an indispensable cog whose absence contributed to this year’s downfall doesn’t really hold water. Last year’s Hjalmarsson certainly had a better performance in terms of breakups and the percentage of entries he allowed, but he did it primarily with a not-yet-in-full-decline Duncan Keith covering him (or vice versa). Murphy spent most of his time with the glob of ambergris that is Brent Seabrook.

In short, Murphy had a good year with the Hawks despite his coach’s best efforts to jerk him around, was better than Hjalmarsson would have been, and stayed generally consistent despite spending almost a third of his year on his off side babysitting Seabrook. He’ll never be a game breaker, but he doesn’t have to be.

Where We Go From Here: Connor Murphy ought to open next year next to either Keith or Erik Gustafsson. If the Hawks are going to look at Keith as a Top Pairing Guy next year (they probably shouldn’t), they have to give him someone to cover his ass when his brain says he can make a play but his feet disagree, as we saw more often this year. I’d argue that Murphy, more than Oesterle, is that guy, despite how poorly they played together last year.

Whether you think Gustafsson is a second pairing guy is a conversation for another day (for the record, I can see it if I squint, and I’m willing to try it). But what’s undeniable is that in 135 minutes together at 5v5, Murphy and Gustafsson had a 57+ CF% while starting in the offensive zone at a 49.45% rate. With Murphy and Gustafsson entering their primes at 25 and 26, and each having paper that runs at least through 2020, pairing them might be worth an extended look, but it probably requires outside help to pair with Keith.

If the Hawks manage to sign a guy like John Carlson, or swing a trade for an OEL, Darnell Nurse, Justin Faulk, or maybe Oscar Klefbom, you’ll feel more comfortable about having the new guy and Keith as the top pairing, with Murphy covering Gustafsson. Or, you can pair the new guy with Murphy on the top pairing. This would let Keith slot in the second pairing with some iteration of Gustafsson on his off side, Forsling on his off side, Jokiharju (which is probably too much to ask), or Oesterle, because you know that’s going to happen again, despite our wailing.

Regardless, the Hawks have to saddle Murphy with more responsibility next year, whether they like it or not. The Hawks have a Top-4-potential guy in Murphy, and when he wasn’t getting the runaround, he showed flashes of it last year. Whether they use him that way is anyone’s guess.

All stats from hockey-reference.com, NaturalStatTrick.com, or corsica.hockey, unless otherwise noted.