AJC > Sports Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2007 > October > 12
Friday, October 12, 2007
The Good, The Ungood and The Ugly
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Four games in and its time for the first run at, THE GOOD, THE UN-GOOD, AND THE UGLY regarding the Thrashers.
First, THE GOOD.
(Pause for effect)…
OK, now for THE UN-GOOD.
POWER OUTAGE: The Thrashers are 17 for 24 in PK situations, (70.8%). Meanwhile their power play is a woeful 1 for 19, (5.3%), the 5th worst in the league. To be honest, it hasn’t even looked THAT good. Now, most of us are not surprised one iota that Atlanta struggles on the power play, same song different verse from the previous season. However, it is being exacerbated by the lack of ability to ward off the opposing team’s PKs. (And yes, exacerbation is legal in this state).
Now, I have a theory regarding this dilemma. We are told that this team is supposed to be faster. However, when we go on the man advantage, we are standing still. Maybe we need to try utilizing some of that speed?
OK, just give me the “DUH” Award now.
We move the puck around the perimeter nicely. The problem is that the other team is just fine with that. They can sit in their 4 corner defensive posture and never feel the need to waste one ounce of energy chasing someone down who dares drive the puck to the net or push some big body out from in front of the goalie.
This probably also explains why the other team seemingly scores right after we get off the PP. The entire team has had 2 minutes of rest. Even the one’s who were on the ice.
ZONED OUT: Most NHL video games I have played, uh I mean that my KIDS play, have a stat showing how much time the two teams spend in the opposition’s zone. I don’t know if the NHL keeps such stats, officially or otherwise, but if they did we would be getting “out-zoned” by a 2-1 margin.
For all of our “speed” we cannot seem to link together 3 passes once we have gained the blue line. At the same time our opponents could file for Homestead Exemption in our defensive end. The most consistent display of speed I have seen has been when our defenders are chasing forwards around our end of the ice for a minute or,…seven.
On the offensive side, speed means nothing if your not moving to open spaces for your teammate to pass the puck to you or if your not keeping the puck on your stick.
Yes, this is basic. But right now this is where we need to start.
DEE-DEE, GET OUT OF MY LAB: Somebody go and find Dexter’s Lab and see if he can produce the chemistry this team needs. Right now, we got none of it! Outside of momentary flashes, no line or defensive pairing seems to be working.
In baseball, when a team goes through a hitting slump a manager will sometimes pick his lineup out of a hat to try to shake things up and change the luck at the plate. Maybe Hartley can do the same. Heck, maybe he can put is centers in the middle of the locker room and have them pick, one by one, their line mates. Kind of like the kids picking teams on the ponds.
THE UGLY
The Thrashers are, to-date, the only team with a goose egg in the POINTS category and have been out scored 17-4 doing so. We have been out shot by an average of 22.75 to 35.5 per game. We have an overall -7 plus/minus as a team, (Only Vancouver is worse with a -10).
I could go on. I could discuss our lack of team size, the fact that we have played 240 minutes and have YET to possess a lead or that for WAY too much of those 240 minutes our team just looks out-matched, out-prepared and out-skated.
Or, you could.
