nullterm wrote on Thu, 15 December 2022 23:38

Skookum Jim wrote on Thu, 15 December 2022 23:17 PVR'd it.. didn't watch .. saw the highlights.. up by a goal.. 20 sec left.. on the POWER PLAY .. The stage is now set.. Like it was part of a script (likely a comedy) Nurse coughs it up on cue.. unforced.. THEN he stands around like he's waiting for a bus.. he puck watches.. while the best sniper on St. Louis is waiting WIDE open in front of the net behind him.. never bothers to look around him for an open man.. then flops to the ice after the fact.. no smarts.. no awareness... at least he has consistency.. same mistakes keep happening game in game out.. year after year.. coach after coach.. Is this guy un-coachable? We need to do a reverse Brent Burns, convert a Dman to a forward. He's got all the athletic attributes to make a good winger. And none of the hockey sense to be a Dman. His speed and power have carried him far, but now that he's up against guys that are almost as quick, and can think quicker... he's getting exposed. He 100% needs to simplify his game and stick to hockey 101 bantam plays. At the very least Woodcroft needs to press box him so he wakes up and starts paying attention to his role, rather than trying to jump the gun and make an idiotic hail mary when we don't need one.

I replayed the goals on the PVR afterwards.. the 1st goal against was mostly Nurse as well.. too slow skating back to the puck.. like he thinks he's in control and has lots of time (a bad habit).. decides to let the St. Louis winger come to him like he intends to freeze the puck .. or something (didn't look like Nurse even knew what he wanted to do) .. but instead the winger just takes the puck away from him without much effort.. and its out to Kyrue for a top corner snipe..

Decision making.
He's got the physical tools of an NHL defencemen, but decision making is not.

[Updated on: Fri, 16 December 2022 03:50]

McDAVID! Oh YEAH Baby!!
Tic-Tac-Tao!
Keep on Rockin' in the Free World
P. Chiarelli math.. T. Hall = A. Larsson, Yak= bag o'pucks (OK he got one right...) K. Russell = $4.1 M+NMC, G. Reinhart= M. Barzal + A. Beauvillier, J. Eberle = R. Spooner,