Dan Hinote. Yeah, you. I'm talking to you. Keith Acton had the PK last year and it was great. What's your role? Is this your program? It's not getting it done. If you don't have veins popping out of your forehead when they practice the PK, you won't be long in this league. The same players are bad on the PK this year that were good on the PK last year. That's on you. If it doesn't make you stay up at night, it should start now. This team's keeping me up, as a fan, for all the wrong reasons.
The Rangers came in here and played a fraction of the game that they played against the Penguins last night. Callaghan doesn't interfere with the goal tender, but does the best Tomas Holmstrom imitation I've seen this year, and the Rangers come away with a power play goal. Letestu puts an unfortunate own goal past Bob, and that's all they need.
I loved Ryan Murray's goal after the Letestu own goal. I swear he put it through the pipe. When this kid gets pissed, he shoots the puck HARD. That made me feel good. He's still a rookie, and makes mistakes, which I can forgive. He's got all the right stuff. Go Murray, go. As a snarky, grumpy old man, I totally appreciate what you are doing. Let it flow kid, and don't pay attention to any of that crap above. That's reserved for the veterans, who are not performing at your level. Jack Johnson. <cough>
Grandma, you owe me big for this not being an expletive laced rant. But ground rules are ground rules. But you owe me adult beverages, and I mean plural. Because I am pissed off about this game. If last night's Rangers would have come in here I would have said they earned the game. We let them skate by with a fraction, a win, and a dramatically lessened playoff opportunity in a mediocre Metro Division.
Jarmo, this one's on you. You tried to fix something that wasn't broke at the trade deadline. We nearly succeeded in spite of that last year. But what you bought to fix the problem is even worse. It's on you from here brother. Fix it or wear it. I'll be watching. Because I'm an STH, and I damn well care.
I think the players do to. I think they care, and I think they try. Well, maybe except Gaborik, who should be playing in the slot, but wants to play on the boards. We had Dorsett to play on the boards. We don't need Gaborik on the boards, because he routinely loses those battles. We don't need him in the crease. That's Boone's job when he returns. The slot should be his territory, and when he is there, he passes instead of shooting. So fix it Jarmo.
Rant complete. Carry on.
GO JACKETS!
And if there was any question, the Jarmo Kekalainen honeymoon is officially over as of this post.
ReplyDeleteTo bring a bit of balance, it should be noted that Gabby:
ReplyDelete1) Leads the team in goals;
2) Leads the team in points;
3) Has long been known as a streaky player.
Otherwise, I have no real disagreements with this post.
I think you raise a really good point. He is what he is. My frustration meter was pegged last night, my rationality filter off line. So there it is.
DeletePart of my point is that as a scorer, Prospal compliments Gaborik, and indeed they have shown chemistry together at times. He just takes some of the scoring load off, and distributes it.
I get that the cap went down, and he's old and getting older. But he's still your leading scorer. Vinny has shown a history of providing that scoring punch to this team early in the season, precisely when we need it. Ideally, you would have Vinny hot when Marion was cold. But that won't happen now.
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Was at the Rangers game and our defense is sooo slow. They were supposed to be our strength and time and time again they would get caught flat footed, turned around and can someone actually hit the net on a shot. Four time Wiz had a chance for a one-timer and he would have to settle the puck down and play with it and then shoot. My daughter said that they all looked slow and their passes are not as crisp as last year or even two years ago. Prospal was a HUGE mistake, he was a leader on the ice and off and you needed that with this young team. Fans say there was no room for him with Horton, you MAKE room. There are some guys that could be and should be sent down or sat for some game. I feel a BAG SKATE coming on today!
ReplyDeleteHear hear! All of this. Prospal, JMFJ, the D, Murray - all of it. I also love what I've seen from the Johan this year so far, and some flashes from Cam (where did that guy go?) but yeah, spot on. Give us Prout, Erixon, Boone, Matty Hustle, and sit the pricey "talent."
ReplyDeleteI agree Gaborik is a sniper and best used in the slot but I appreciate seeing him fighting along the boards and think this should be sending a message (and last night he was definitely trying and at one point he was out there with Chaput and I think Boll). At some point I think it becomes ridiculous to beat the "young team needs a babysitter" horse too. As for making moves now from the position of desperation remember Dick Tarnstrom or even Sergei Fedorov (every time they play Aneheim and I see Beauchemin I cringe) Look, I HATE Carter but I loved the move and the chance that was taken! What else can we do? Everyone knows this team lacks skill and scoring and so now you want to beat up Jarmo for bringing in the best offensive talent available? AND if this makes you mad then wait until Horton shows you he is a high mileage, streaky and just ok offensive talent!?
ReplyDeleteWhat I see is a lack of team defense and it is killing us. Too much space, to much time, to much watching the puck! The CBJ is a team of offensively challenged players that now seem to be trying to run with the speed of the East when they are way better served slowing them down and waiting for mistakes! Not quite Hitchcock but not this wide open speed and skill match they will lose night after night. When Comeau is trying the fancy pass, Gaborik is battling on the boards and the goals are scored by Defensemen then it is pretty clear what is wrong. This team thinks it is more skilled then it is and they are playing this way and unfortunately they aren't as fast, skilled or creative as the teams they are losing too and they don't have a white hot goalie to bail them out when the mistakes happen (although he was very good last night). Other teams will look very fast if they aren't checked and allowed to freely skate, pass and even shoot. The first goal was hardly an odd rush and just was a bang, bang pass play freely allowed to happen? This just can't happen time and again and not have it cost.
I am officially disappointed and upset but only because the team is not playing the way it needs to win! I am also realistic, and have been, that there are just too many teams playing the way we should that are more consistent and have more skill and so I never felt this team was a real playoff contender minus another run of white hot goal tending. So now I am hoping Jarmo and Davidson ignore the pressure and really do build brick by brick for a real future! But I am not counting on it! Something tells me what Davidson is really good at is marketing! Sound familiar?
If Gaborik is playing with Chaput and Boll, that is Ritchie sending a message that he is unhappy with his play. I was not advocating that we are missing Vinny except that he was our leading scorer. Although listening to Dubie in DBJ's post above, it wouldn't hurt to have the old man outworking people in practice. Shame is a powerful motivator.
DeleteBeauchemin got slotted next to Niedermeyer (sp?) a hall of fame defenseman. He would not have looked the same, as we are still looking for our hall of fame defenseman.
And, I think your assessment of our team defense is correct. The problem is, that when we focus on team defense, we forget how to score. I think of the second Penguins game there.
The funny thing is (see frustration meter, above), more change is probably not the answer. A lot of the missed passes and stuff show up because this team was turned upside down, but has still not even played a full season together. I'm upset because we let a scorer walk, and now we don't have scoring. The fact that Vinny brings leadership as well is secondary to my point.
But you are dead on when you talk about the role miscasting of Comeau making the fancy pass, and Gaborik battling on the boards. These are players that are not playing in the proper roles, and Ritchie needs to straighten that out.
Sigh.
Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Welcome! It is frustrating.
DeleteThis is kind of cute, the part that goes "I'm an STH, and I damn well care." Is your last name Huntington, OhioHealth, or Nationwide? Do you own a suite? How about a BMW dealership? You know what the CBJ did to me after I didn't renew my tickets after ten years? They removed my name from the plaque in my section.
ReplyDeleteBut anyway, I enjoyed the rant because it does signify the end of the Jarmo Kekalainen honeymoon period. Years from now I will be telling my grandchildren about those heady and exciting days, when the team took to social media and romanced the local hockey fans. People around here actually thought that the team would be more competitive without improving their defense, or adding and kind of scoring, and coming up with a system to take advantage of the resources that they have. Those resources being the FoxSportsOhio girls and Jody Shelley carrying the broadcast team on his back.
I do appreciate your noticing the absence of Keith Acton, although once Natalie Taylor left, it was just a matter of time before Keith followed. So now we have what we have, a mediocore group of players that won't put a lot pucks in the net, will make Bob stand on his head to keep them in games, and are hoping that we all keep looking into the horizon at the vision of Nathan Horton. This was a good one.
Epic response.
DeleteHa, ha, ha. Pretty funny. You got me good sir! Just shows that I lack the wisdom to not type when I am super frustrated. There it is.
DeleteThanks for the comment
Boys, there was no disrespect or much sarcasm intended. That was a frustrating game to watch, as are most of them this season. I appreciate the posts and comments here.
DeleteNow if only the team had an owner who got tired of losing, of reading the rants of fans, of being the joke of the NHL. That would be sweet.
Please let me assure you that I did not read your comments as disrespectful at all! I frankly thought they were quite good. Hey, if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. I just really appreciate you taking the time to make a thoughtful comment.
DeleteBTW, I do like to use underlined italics as a sarcasm font, but it's not required! If a man can't use sarcasm on a hockey blog, what's the world coming to?
Big game tonight. Let's see what the response is.
GO JACKETS!
Gallos I completely agree with you regarding Prospal. I thought not bringing him back on the team over the summer was one of the biggest mistake this organization has made. I believe, but I cannot prove it, that if Prospal were still on the team, we would see more fire from everyone, and several of those loses would have been wins because of his scoring.
ReplyDeletePS - Is there a way to contact CBJ management?