29 replies to this topic

[mouse]

Jacques is so me... but with dude trauma to boot  - I so understand where his blinders are.

 

Yeah -- I never thought of Zids not being able to sustain.  He's also one of the few D playing his objective - which for him is control the puck more than defend the goal..

 

I'm not sure how I feel about everything right now.  I'm getting a vibe there is a slight disconnect between defence and offence.  Offence pretty much understands how to play with defensive responsibility.  But our D doesn't get how to be offensively defencive ... only how to be offensive to our defense sensibilities.  OK I tried to hard for that one and no one gets it because I'm barely making sense anyhow....

 

It just seems our D doesn't know how t defend enough to enable our forwards.  this isn't new to this season -- it's just not getting fixed where it was starting to by the time playoffs rolled around -- it's backslid.

 

so now I'm thinking it's intuitive thinking.... they had their backs up and senses alive during playoffs.  now they can't intuit - their sight is weak and they dont get how to see through the lack of adrenaline. Larry is pretty intuitive -- I'd say most players are - that's why non-NHL guys can often coach better than they play (and players can't coach as well as they played).  Players can't teach intuition and sometimes have nothing further to go on.  blahblahblah.... ok whatever -- I'm too busy today!  Grrrrr.

 

I think I get where you're going (which scares me). I would solve it by putting Fayne with somebody good, maybe Greene, and telling him be aggressive. Too often, he's thinking he has to help his partner, and doesn't crash toward the net as aggressively as he can. I think he and Zid, and maybe Larsson can contribute on offense, and should be put in the best position to do that.

[Triumph]

I believe Lemaire put Burns at forward too when he was in Minnesota though.  I mean he's put Housley and Niedermayer and Corrente at forward, so this isn't exactly uncommon.  

 

I don't really think Zidlicky is fast enough to play wing, unfortunately - Harrold has the speed but in the limited time he's been there I don't think he's been comfortable.

[95Crash]

Greetings,

SJ, like NJ (before Tallinder got hurt) has great NHL dman Depth. With the emergence of Matt Irwin, they now have 8 NHL quality Dmen

Boyle - Irwin
Vlasic - Stuart
Demers - Braun
Murray (debatable but bear with me) - Burns

SJ, also like NJ has a dearth of scoring forwards. The overwhelming majority of their offense comes from their top 4 forwards and the first unit PP. Desperate for offense, the team experimented with moving Brent Burns to forward (Play the point on the 2nd PP unit). I thought this was a pretty stupid idea before the game but given the drastic situation the offense was in, an experiment was certainly in order.

It was only one game but the early returns are very promising. Burns was a dominant force freed of his defensive responsibilities. His skating and puck posession in particular in the offensive zone was spectacular. The Sharks outshot St. Louis 41-21 (but lost 4-2) and generated some incredible chances. It was possibly the best the team has looked all year.

Perhaps a similar experiment is in order in NJ? Moving Zidlicky to forward, and keeping him on the first unit PP could significantly improve the offense. There's a good chance in 2 games I'll be telling you how stupid this Burns experiment is but right now I'm pretty excited by it.

It's sort of that classic theory in basketball coaching to just get your best players out there no matter what "position" they are. Sharks have 7 players who should get ice time to help win games. Forcing only 6 to play because of positional concerns is potentially counter productive.

 

I like that theory of getting your best players out there as much as possible, even if it means switching their position. That's what the Devils try to do with Kovy, no?

 

Whether any of the Devils defensemen are good enough candidates for it without screwing up the team D is another story.

 

 

I don't want to hijack the thread. But i can go to Sharks games, the games aren't always at 4:00 PM, and I think being a fan of local sports teams is a good way to become integrated into the community at large. I still like the Devils and their players, and want them to succeed. But the primary team I'm following the NHL through is San Jose.

 

To me, that's the best reason for switching favorite teams. If more people thought like that, the Devils attendance issues would've been solved a long time ago.

Edited by 95Crash, 13 March 2013 - 03:39 PM.

[capo]

I believe Lemaire put Burns at forward too when he was in Minnesota though.  I mean he's put Housley and Niedermayer and Corrente at forward, so this isn't exactly uncommon.  

 

I don't really think Zidlicky is fast enough to play wing, unfortunately - Harrold has the speed but in the limited time he's been there I don't think he's been comfortable.

He also put Stevens up front on the power play...

Edited by capo, 13 March 2013 - 04:09 PM.

[squishyx]

I believe Lemaire put Burns at forward too when he was in Minnesota though.  I mean he's put Housley and Niedermayer and Corrente at forward, so this isn't exactly uncommon.  
 
I don't really think Zidlicky is fast enough to play wing, unfortunately - Harrold has the speed but in the limited time he's been there I don't think he's been comfortable.

Scott? He played forward for a bit?

[capo]

Scott? He played forward for a bit?

Yes.  The dude was a monster.  I don't recall his production or how long it lasted for but he definitely got time there.

[DJ Eco]

I think the Zidlicky idea's a great one. Many times, he looks like a wayyyyy more effective power forward with a laser shot than he looks in defense.

[DH26]

I think the Zidlicky idea's a great one. Many times, he looks like a wayyyyy more effective power forward with a laser shot than he looks in defense.

 

he's 5'11" 190 so I dunno how good of a power forward he could possibly be. 

[DevsMan84]

Scott? He played forward for a bit?

 

Yeah but only for a little bit.  I want to say it was either in the 95-96 or 96-97 season he did that.

[Zubie#8]

2 goals in 2 games for Burns at forward so far haha.