Predators shut down in Columbus 2-0
by Dirk Hoag on Nov 22, 2010 10:11 PM EST
in Nashville Predators Game Recaps
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PrintWell look at the bright side, Predators fans. At least a high-paid player didn't storm out of the game and disrespect his coach in front of the entire team, and then have the eccentric team owner back the player up, right? As awful as tonight's 2-0 stifling in Columbus was, at least the Preds don't have to deal with the theater of the bizarre that has become the Tennessee Titans.
That's about the best that can be said about tonight's game, however. The power play continued to sputter and Nashville just couldn't solve a committed defensive effort by the Blue Jackets...
The Preds return to Bridgestone Arena Wednesday to host the St. Louis Blues, followed by Sean Avery & the New York Rangers on Saturday, so use the OtF discount to save money on Nashville Predators tickets for these, or any other home game. Remember, Preds tickets can make a great holiday gift, so look through the schedule, and pick out a game!
First, the video highlights (might have to wait until an hour post-game) and the Predators vs Blue Jackets boxscore...
A few thoughts on tonight's action:
- That 2nd Columbus goal featured a bad gaffe by Cal O'Reilly. Shane O'Brien had motioned to him that Cal needed to pick up Rick Nash coming down the wing, but O'Reilly pretty much coasted from the red line all the way in, leaving Nash wide open to bury the one-timer.
- The Preds failed to get the puck into the dangerous scoring area, between the faceoff dots and below the tops of the circles (check ESPN for a visual representation). Columbus did a fine job collapsing down low defensively, but the Predators had no answer to it.
- It was good at least to see the penalty kill performing well, killing off all 5 Columbus chances. The underwhelming power play gives them no margin for error, however.
- Speaking of that power play... egads. 2-for-31 (their record this month after going 0-for-4 tonight) is just plain awful, injuries or no.
- To me, Martin Erat just doesn't look like he's 100%. He was weak on the puck, and had a few wobbles even when he wasn't being pressured by the Blue Jackets. Just a horrible night for him.
- Pekka Rinne had a pretty strong game; that Commodore goal was a little regrettable, but outside of that he did a great job of gathering pucks in, and he had a highlight-reel stop on Antoine Vermette to keep things close.
As for your advanced even-strength stats, shield your eyes, Mr. Spaling:
| Even Strength | Individual Totals | Team Totals While Player Is On Ice | ||||||||||
| Player | Pos | EV TOI | Shots | Shts Blkd | Missed Shts | Blocks | SOG For | SOG Ag | SOG +/- | Tot SF | Tot SA | Corsi |
| Cal O'Reilly | C | 15:00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 9 | -2 | 11 | 13 | -2 |
| Marcel Goc | C | 14:37 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 16 | 9 | +7 |
| Steve Sullivan | L | 13:22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 8 | -1 | 11 | 10 | +1 |
| Patric Hornqvist | R | 13:19 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 8 | -3 | 10 | 11 | -1 |
| Martin Erat | R | 12:50 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 9 | -2 | 14 | 11 | +3 |
| J-P Dumont | R | 12:00 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 7 | -1 | 12 | 8 | +4 |
| Joel Ward | R | 9:45 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 6 | +2 |
| Colin Wilson | C | 9:28 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 6 | 8 | -2 |
| Sergei Kostitsyn | L | 8:31 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 6 | 5 | +1 |
| Jerred Smithson | R | 8:28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | -5 | 5 | 10 | -5 |
| Jordin Tootoo | R | 7:56 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | -4 | 3 | 7 | -4 |
| Nick Spaling | C | 5:26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | -6 | 0 | 9 | -9 |
| Francis Bouillon | D | 16:54 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 4 | +5 | 14 | 9 | +5 |
| Shea Weber | D | 16:10 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 4 | +4 | 13 | 9 | +4 |
| Alexander Sulzer | D | 14:50 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 12 | -4 | 15 | 14 | +1 |
| Cody Franson | D | 13:36 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 8 | -4 | 10 | 11 | -1 |
| Kevin Klein | D | 13:18 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 12 | -7 | 10 | 14 | -4 |
| Shane O'Brien | D | 12:34 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 12 | -10 | 6 | 15 | -9 |
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How can our Corsi rating be overall good...
yet our play was overall bad. We have a real whodunit, or who didn’t do it on our hands. If we could ever, EVER, get our PP going, we would be a formidable foe in most every game.
by HardCorePredFan316 on Nov 22, 2010 10:19 PM EST reply actions
I wouldn't call those numbers very good
There are a lot of stinkers in there. And remember, the quality of the shots plays a big role. Follow that ESPN link above and you’ll see how many more close-in shots Columbus was able to create.
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Might be time...
To end Steve Begin’s conditioning stint and recall him to replace Spaling. Nick is in his final year of waiver exemption, might as well allow him to continue to develop with a larger role in Milwaukee instead of being pigeon holed here into a 4th line PK role.
Also, I thought Lundmark played very similar to Fiddler in the preseason and in camp prior to his injury. I’d take a chance at recalling him as well and sending Wilson down to Milwaukee for a few weeks to rebuild his confidence and treat him as a late season addition again this year. Wilson started the season standing around watching the play a little too much, then he went into a prolonged trying too hard phase, but now he’s back to standing around and watching. He needs a bit of a wake up call and I think Milwaukee might just do it for him…
Preds have won 4 of their last 6, but clearly a few personnel changes aren’t going to hurt things right now…
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Can’t say I disagree with either of these suggestions. We need effort guys right now, sadly.
by Chris Burton on Nov 22, 2010 10:40 PM EST up reply actions
Think we can get you in at PP coach?
We should start a petition or something. Then you can whisper these thoughts in Trotz’s ear as well as fixing the PP. :)
wow
this is the first time i wished i was a football fan so i could have that distraction you mention.
"It's gonna be fun on the bun."
SHAKE IT UP.......doubtful
Trotz is good at line shake ups, but thats pretty much the extent he goes to. He will keep on playing Klien, MR. I suck 1 play per game that costs us a goal, and his other fav’s on the team, Erat, Dumont among those.
I have to say after watching this team go from one of the most confident to now being bi polar is truly perplexing. Did Lombardi and Suter really make the team that much more confident? how bout T Beck making an appearance, Lundmark, Klassen……….
Ok maybe i’m overstating the seriousness here, but Dang it sucks some nights to watch this team not play to their potential.
Beck is ineligible to play in the NHL again unless it’s under emergency conditions for the remainder of his junior season.
Klasen has hit a bit of a dry patch lately, but scored Sunday night in the first period (1st goal in 6 games), however left in the game in the 3rd after getting hit in the face and didn’t return. I haven’t seen an update on that yet, but they play tomorrow.
I’m all for some minor shakeups right now to allow the team to roll four lines again and put some urgency back into the lineup. Guys have failed to step up and fill open roles when the injuries have mounted and I think it’s about time that we throw some new blood in there and see if we can’t fill out 3 two-way scoring lines again (O’Reilly, Goc, Legwand) and an energy two-way special teams 4th line (Smithson/Begin) to try to get back to what made us successful at the start of the year.
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One thing's for sure
Improvement on the PP should be on top of the list, as well as getting the offense to score some goals. Skate of the Union, Trotz said he would personally take control of that, and get some improvement. So far, it hasn’t – so who’s feet are held to the fire ?? The excuse of player injury only goes so far.
+1
Thank you! That is my main point of frustration. It’s the fact that we all sat there in the Skate of the Union and were told by all the powers that be that PP would be number 1 priority. Well it ain’t a workin!! Whether its coaching or players not executing someone has to be held responsible and it doesn’t seem as if they are. And please do not give me the player injury (Suter is Savior) arguement. Even when Suter is in there the PP barely improves IF ANY!
Trotz worry ....WHY?
Trotz is not going to be fired because he is Poile’s man. Poile is like Bud Adams he runs the Preds. Considering the finances this team is run similar to a minor league team. Trotz can say the company script and nothing is going to happen. The fact is he can’t coach offensive. The players are on their own. Erat and Sully and are the aggressive ones on the pp and they are the ones that carry the puck in The PP needs a new asst coach at least but Trotz is loyal to his subordants. No change there. No change for the offensive
As I’ve said many times before, Trotz and Poile are joined at the hip. It’s going to take something extremely drastic to move one or both. Until that happens the club is about as good as it’s going to be, scratching just to make the playoffs and then disappearing after the first round.
Poile may pull one out of his hat every now and then but mostly he has made bonehead decisions when it comes to contracts. Erat is making $5 mil this year—that’s Kovalchuk money! Is anybody delusional enough to think he compares favorably to Kovalchuk? And he’s under contract through 2015. Legwand $4.5 mil, under contract through 2014. Dumont $4 mil, Sullivan $3.75 mil. All with no move contracts. All superstar money, not one could be considered a star. Klein, Tootoo, and Ward make over a million each. You can’t trade any of ’em—who would want to pay those contracts for so little in return?
The point I’m trying to make is that the club has way more resources than is believed, it just hasn’t used them wisely. You see the result on the ice. A lot of the aforementioned money could have been used to upgrade the offense instead of what we have now. Some might argue that the club makes the playoffs almost every year. Making the playoffs is fun—playoff hockey is absolutely the best—but it isn’t that great an accomplishment when 16 out of 30 make it every year, and your team gets bounced in the first round every time.
I stopped reading at Kovalchuk money...
If you’re gonna make that type of argument, don’t go to unrealistic extremes.
Is Erat living up to his contract? No, I don’t think anyone would try to defend that position including Erat and his agent themselves. However, Erat signed a 7 year, $31 million contract that had a cap hit of $4.5 million annually (which no player will exceed until Weber & Suter are re-signed). Kovalchuk finally agreed to a 15 year, $100 million contract this summer with an annual cap hit of $6.66 million (coincidence that he plays for the Devils?).
Not only were the contracts negotiated at different times with players that have put up completely different numbers over the course of their careers, but to say that his contract is “Kovalchuk money” is complete lunacy!
Kovalchuk’s contract is 8 years longer than Erat’s, it is worth $69 million more than Erat’s, and in no one year does Erat ever make more than Kovalchuk (although both make $6 million in actual salary in the 2011-12 season before Erat starts going down and Kovalchuk immediately boosts to $11 million and continues to rise for the next five seasons).
Looking at our roster I don’t see anyone making “superstar” money, nor do I see any “superstars” per say either. Are there some guys overpaid for their performance? Sure, but every NHL roster has those guys. I also see a lot of bargains on our roster, more than I can count on many others…
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Maybe Kovalchuk was a poor example when I could have used Patrick Sharp or Bobby Ryan or a dozen others. Nonetheless, if you don’t get my point, what can I say?
by shoot the puck on Nov 23, 2010 5:27 PM EST up reply actions
At least I try to discuss “your point”…
Bobby Ryan was available as an RFA this past summer. When count me how many offer sheets have been made to RFA’s and how they’ve worked out for each team..another poor example. If you’d care to stick with it though, Poile went after Phil Kessel hard last fall and ultimately Kessel decided that he didn’t want to sign in Nashville leading to his trade to Toronto. FWIW, Boston was asking for Colin Wilson + picks from the Predators, so gain Kessel likely lose Wilson in that transaction…
Patrick Sharp was re-signed before ever hitting the open market and was signed prior to Erat, so this is at least a better comparable and would show he’s overpaid, but they play different positions. I’ll give you that one and another dozen that are out there.
Sharp still isn’t a “superstar” nor was he ever available to us. He’s a PPG player on a high scoring team and reliable defensively as well, but is not still not a superstar player…
Poile has been in on multiple discussions for high scoring forwards, but this is a quiet market and a tight-lipped organization. With our budget it is going to take the right situation to land the big forward we crave. Radulov was supposed to be that guy (but, but, but…Poile only drafts defensemen!!!), but that plan is now over. It’s gonna take some patience, but I believe Poile will fill that void…it’s harder to do than you’d like to say it is though.
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I never said any of those players were available to the Preds
I just used them and their salaries as examples. What I’m saying is that the club is paying megabucks for piss poor production and should quit throwing money at this type of player. For what some of these guys are making the club could have and should have done better.
by shoot the puck on Nov 23, 2010 7:23 PM EST up reply actions
If you have a magic ball...
I’m sure all 30 NHL teams and many other businesses would love to hire you…
What would our team be like if we didn’t re-sign Erat or Legwand? How about if we allowed Sullivan and Ward to walk when they were UFA’s? Would that have improved the product on the ice or continued to build our franchise or would that have essentially started a rebuild and sent out a very poor message to both the fan base and the NHLPA that we aren’t going to spend the money to keep our own players, much less pay for new ones to come in…
My point is that none of the guys you listed were available to the Predators. It’s fine to use them as examples, but if you’re simply going to look at the numbers with no context, then your argument doesn’t go very far. If you’re going to say that the money could have been better used, then cite examples of guys that we could have signed, claimed on waivers, or even traded for that would have been someone that fit into the culture and would further the organizational goals.
Are you ready to throw away a couple of seasons to rebuild through high draft picks? If so, what type of damage will that do to the fan base, the ticket sales, etc and would the team be in any position to re-sign Weber or Suter over the next couple of years? If you let those two walk, how does the fan base react? I just don’t think you get the whole equation and are content throwing out quick jabs without taking anything else into account.
As I’ve said, there are plenty of people within the organization that will tell you that certain guys are underperforming their contracts. That doesn’t really accomplish anything though since contracts are guaranteed and many of our veteran core players have NMC/NTC’s in place. Instead of crying about split milk they look for ways to improve the team. That’s not to say they don’t learn from past decisions, but that’s not where the energy is focused, that just won’t do anything to improve the team.
Realistically, neither side in a negotiation is going to bring up a contract that was signed three years ago as a comparable, but those players that signed them will definitely have to factor that into their negotiations for a new deal…
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Seth, we have all the players you mentioned and look how the fan base is reacting. It’s all about WINNING. Fans may have their individual favorites, but first and foremost they want the team to WIN. There’s not a player on the roster fans would want to keep at the expense of WINNING, and that includes our resident demigods Suter and Weber. It seems as if every time we lock up a player long term his production tanks. Weber is actually having a poor season thus far. I wonder what we could get for him……..
by shoot the puck on Nov 29, 2010 12:58 AM EST up reply actions
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