"Unbiased Observations on the Predators"
Nashville, TN • United States • 42 Years Old • Male
1st Thoughts on the Predators
Posted 10:29 PM ET | Comments 2
After watching the Preds outplay both Colorado and Dallas in the 1st 2 games, I have had to endure 2 ugly losses to the Blues and the Coyotes. And as I am typing, the Preds are losing to the Flames in a 4-6 blowout in which Mason looks horrible in goal. As much as I consider myself a diehard preds fan, and have argued tooth and nail with the pundits and critics, I have to admit that something is missing on this team. I will still argue until I am blue in the face against anyone who says we have lost our offense. We are scoring like crazy, maybe even more then last year. Our problem is in goal, defense, and most importantly, a lack of urgency. Granted we have lost one of our best D-men in Shea Weber, but that shouldn't be affecting us this much. For 3 nights now, I have seen Chris Mason get lit up. Some of the goals were a result of bad defense. Others were clearly Mason's fault.
So what is the real issue..Is it that Mason isn't adapting to the starting goal responsibilities as well as we had hoped? Has all the focus on the offensive players we have lost clouded our judgement on the fact we haven't upgraded our defense? Do we have the size on defense to compete in a league that is getting bigger and stronger every year? And finally, is our beloved coach, Barry Trotz, lighting enough fires on our players butts to get the job done? Maybe Trotz has been around too long and developed too close a relationship with the players?
I welcome any thoughts by the HB group, but would ask that any critics of the Predators keep their thoughts based on hockey observations and not any of the "hockey doesn't belong in Nashville", or "move the team to a real hockey town" comments.
So what is the real issue..Is it that Mason isn't adapting to the starting goal responsibilities as well as we had hoped? Has all the focus on the offensive players we have lost clouded our judgement on the fact we haven't upgraded our defense? Do we have the size on defense to compete in a league that is getting bigger and stronger every year? And finally, is our beloved coach, Barry Trotz, lighting enough fires on our players butts to get the job done? Maybe Trotz has been around too long and developed too close a relationship with the players?
I welcome any thoughts by the HB group, but would ask that any critics of the Predators keep their thoughts based on hockey observations and not any of the "hockey doesn't belong in Nashville", or "move the team to a real hockey town" comments.
Among a dozen or so other flaws that we all witnessed at last night's game (which were painfully obvious), I noticed the very unsettling display of being out "run" on several occasions. A couple of times our guys even had a step or two on Calgary and still were badly beaten to the puck. What has happened to our defensive speed? Was it just a lack of intensity, hustle, and desire? Or have we lost our trademark speed advantage? Overall, I felt that a few of our guys were far too tentative - again, was that just a lack of desire? As a bit of humor and an afterthought, we had dozens of great tape-to-tape passes - our tape to the other team's tape. (I guess our dark blue jerseys are hard discern from Calgary's bright white ones with the red trim...Moving on, things will get better. These guys are professional and are skilled - they know what needs to be done. They just need to be disciplined and execute.
remember the start of last year. vokoun looked lost against chicaago and minnesota in games 1 and 3. our defense was awful. they got better. my biggest concern is much like last year we turn the puck over way too much. even the 1st 2 games had lots of defensive and nuetral zone turnovers. they just didnt finish because mason was awesome in the 1st 2 games