Trotz & Suter not happy with Boston outing
by Dirk Hoag on Feb 11, 2012 11:28 PM EST
in Nashville Predators News
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PrintA game like today's 4-3 shootout loss for the Nashville Predators at Boston can provide fodder for both optimists and pessimists alike.
On the one hand, the Predators were dominated consistently, outshot in every period by the up-tempo, physical Bruins leading to a total of 22 Shots For, with 41 Shots Against. Even once they took an improbable third-period lead, another late penalty led to the tying goal by Milan Lucic, scored with just 1:07 left in regulation.
On the other hand, Pekka Rinne kept them in the game despite that lopsided shot total, and gritty efforts by Sergei Kostitsyn, Patric Hornqvist, and Mike Fisher led to those second and third goals, which at least earned the Preds a much-needed point in the standings, if they plan to keep in the hunt for 4th-place in the Western Conference, or the Central Division title.
When you check out the post-game commentary from head coach Barry Trotz and defenseman Ryan Suter, however, the emphasis was clearly on the critical side. The team's 2-2-1 record since the All-Star break clearly isn't what they'd like to see...
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Barry Trotz
Overall, not a good game for us. I mean, we didn't manage the puck very well. We knew they were going to come out hard. We sort of semi-stabilized it, and halfway through the first period we give up a shorthanded goal. I thought the next ten minutes, we were no good at all. I think we just stood and watched, and they were just crashing the net, hanging out. They had a lot of possession time. I don't think they had a lot of shots, but they had a lot of possession time, and that leads to rebounds. And then after that I thought, we got a power play goal, we were much better in the last thirty minutes than the first thirty minutes. So for us, it's two games, the first thirty we're not very good, and the second thirty I thought we were okay, and then we had two points in our grasp. And we let a point slip away. You can't have that. You don't know what the margin of, during the year, the margin of a point here or there can make it. The way we played the first thirty minutes, we were really no good and had no business being in the game.
Ryan Suter
We came out slow in the second period, we were playing like a minor hockey team. The second half of the second period we started to play a little bit better, and we were fortunate, very fortunate to get one point today.
Later, when Suter was asked what the specific problem was:
Everything, I mean we didn't do one thing good in the second and the end of the first, early in the second.
And when asked what the Preds need to do better:
Well, we have to get back to work, I mean we don't have the skill in here that's going to go out and tic-tac-toe,players run and gun with this team. Everyone has to work hard every night and contribute. We have to establish a forecheck. We can't turn pucks over, we just got to get back to the basics.
There he is, offering assessments of the roster again... :)
Moving Forward
The week ahead brings a pair of important matchups with Chicago (at home) and Detroit (at Joe Louis Arena, where the Red Wings have won 19 straight games). Can the coaching staff and team leadership get things turned around quickly? The Preds have managed to keep earning points in the standings while playing less than their best hockey of the season recently, so there is a silver lining in the cloud hanging overhead right now.
Can Trotz & Suter's stern words bring about sunnier days?
Thanks to the Boston Bruins' PR staff for passing along the post-game transcripts.
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Man I hope the crappy teams out there are actually willing to wheel and deal with Poile.
You KNOW he’s gotta be harassing people… I really hope he can get something done — soon.
Hands go uuppp..... AND THEY STAY THERE!
-nashvillepredators-
so all of a sudden....
our problem is we are too small, not talented enough, and not nasty enough to compete with a real contender and our needs become something like Nash and Avery up front, Chara and Gill on the back end, and Kunitz somewhere in the middle…… thats all tall order for any GM to fill even though it finally push the panic button to at least start addressing the problems that were hidden through the winning steak…
by jeffery101y on Feb 12, 2012 10:33 AM EST up reply actions
maybe the coaches should stop letting them have the day after a game off. clearly, they have learned how to take time off…. now they need to learn how to play 60 minutes of hockey. I suggest the team goes and walks around Nashville until they can find a team of inner city youths to play who he will teach them the value of team work and playing hard for the entire game.
60% of the time it works every time
by Creeping Death on Feb 11, 2012 11:39 PM EST reply actions 2 recs
Unrelated:
They changed “”http://www.didgomezscore.com/" target="new">Did Gomez Score?" hahahaha.
Hands go uuppp..... AND THEY STAY THERE!
-nashvillepredators-
I thought I was going to be really upset cause they were going to get rid of that awesome double take…. but I ain’t even mad
60% of the time it works every time
by Creeping Death on Feb 11, 2012 11:46 PM EST up reply actions
Gee, the Broad Street Hockey site is a repeat of this one! amusing, in a depressing way. Kimmo was not a happy camper either, and some of the comments were very similar to Suter’s.The Flyers’ haven’t had a good game since they played us. I don’t like it when both my teams s**K.
"I am you, you are me, and we are all together" Beatles
maybe if you only had 1 team
it would suck half as much?
hockey connoisseur. t-shirt addict. not famous. nerd.
by Shawn Kehoe on Feb 11, 2012 11:57 PM EST up reply actions
Well, that could be, but I can’t give up on a team I loved for 30 years! When we lived in NE PA, the Flyers were IT. We attended the games and loved them! When we retired back to TN where I grew up, we became ardent Preds fans. But I still love the Flyers. Which is good because a bunch of them are former Preds so it’s like one big happy hockey family!-so to speak :p}
"I am you, you are me, and we are all together" Beatles
by amyinsparta on Feb 12, 2012 10:49 AM EST up reply actions
Suter irks me
Perhaps he should take a look in the mirror at his stellar play today. Nice short-handed goal!
Yeah, seriously. Unless he’s actually injured – no excuses.
"We want to keep beating them...to break their pride and break their season...is a huge thing for us." - David Legwand
Pekka called that no look save he made in that picture. That’s talent
60% of the time it works every time
by Creeping Death on Feb 12, 2012 12:09 AM EST reply actions
Suter is about ready to piss me off
He starts talking about how the team didn’t do anything right tonight, and he and his wonderboy let in a short handed goal this afternoon? 901predfan said it best. Look in the effing mirror, and realize that you were one of the people sucking it up out there today. This is someone who has been one of the BIGGEST Suter fans the past few years.
If he wants the team to play better, he should take some advice from Michael.
by Preds of State on Feb 12, 2012 12:31 AM EST reply actions
Ryan kind of sucked.
He played a lot of minutes but he made a few mistakes.
Forwards
A lot of pressure on the Preds top 2 defensemen! They play half the game and don’t have much help except for Pekka. Your hearing major frustration from Suter. He’s pleading for DP to get some help, either on the back end or up front. Recent teams played like Philadelphia, Saint Louis and Boston have huge forwards that grind us right out.
Think about how lousy we would be without our big 3!
by virgil trucks on Feb 12, 2012 1:13 AM EST reply actions 2 recs
Really
Some of you want to dog Suter because he said something about this team that is true and you don’t like hearing it?
by ahall07 on Feb 12, 2012 1:39 AM EST reply actions 2 recs
Seriously
God forbid the team’s second best skater use the collective pronoun when referring to the team he is a part of. You can say Suter has sucked in the past few games (he really hasn’t), but the Preds would have probably 0 points in those games without him.
I don’t think Weber, Suter, and Rinne have become “the holy trinity” right? Whenever anyone is critical of these guys everyone gets defensive and testy. I love all three, we would be lost in the wilderness without them, I get it. Let Klein, Hillen make a mistake or put forth a lousy effort for a shift or game and people around here are blindfolding em and giving them their last cigarette. I would have have rather heard “we lost, we all can put forth a better effort, myself included”. Not a suggestion that our forwards are not skilled enough to carry the play. Suter and Weber defensively did not look their best yesterday in my opinion. The short handed goal was inexcusable. So, yes, I am going to dog Suter because he was part of the problem, and should of had the stones to point it out when expressing his opinion on our forwards (which i am not saying is untrue).
by 901predfan on Feb 12, 2012 10:24 AM EST up reply actions 5 recs
i think offensively we've gotten it done these past few games
last year 3 goals would’ve almost certainly won the game for us. Our defense has been very lackluster this last week. Hopefully we’ll pull it together in the upcoming week as we face the blackhawks and detroit. And i do understand that the forwards have to be defensively responsible as well….but we’ve had too many defensive lapses by d-men that lead to oddman rushes. Klein is relapsing into the less then stellar form he was in earlier in the year. Josi hasn’t looked great either in the past few games…and i’m beginning to think that suter and weber still have the allstar game defensive tactics stuck in their head.
by Herzausstein on Feb 12, 2012 8:27 PM EST up reply actions
Well, we have to get back to work, I mean we don’t have the skill in here that’s going to go out and tic-tac-toe,players run and gun with this team.
This is the part I have a problem with. He was calling out his forwards. In this losing streak I have felt that the inability of the defenders to win any battles deep in their zone has been more of a problem than scoring goals. I am fine with him saying “We,” but I have a problem with the defense calling out the offense or the offense calling out the defense, etc.
Beer... Now there's a temporary solution.-Homer Simpson
I love Suter, but being a leader means accepting some responsibility
Nothing he said is wrong. However had he started his comments with some sort of " I have to step it up, or tonight I didn’t bring my best game". He would not look so disingenuous, at least to me. Reminding everyone that we are not talented enough does not inspire much confidence, even if it is true. This team can win, we know this and he should to. We are going to have some rough patches along the way and a few stinkers will rear their heads as well. Hopefully ownership/management can bring in a piece or two at the deadline to make us better. Seeing the landscape out there I have tempered my expectations of landing that stud top 3/6 forward. I see the only way we add that at the deadline is to include our associate gm/ alternate captain Ryan Suter. That would be ironic.
Agreed……using “we” instead of “me” would help his cause a little, because on the shortie, he and weber were at half speed and it was obvious.
Suters a great player, but to take every opportunity to belittle our talent level when we play a poor game reflects poorly on him……….I believe the game before, boston was shut out 6 zip. Every team has a bad game.
Maybe next time we may hear “I didn’t lead by example” instead, we didn’t play hard so we lost because we have no talent.
My hockey team is better than your hockey team
Not defending him
But an observation:
The quotes came from the boston media. They could have easily only provided some of the quote. They could be stirring things up by providing quotes that could be deemed detrimental to the room.
Go get Roy (Ryan, Smyth, or Doan) and Gill and let the season play out.
by wrandsw on Feb 12, 2012 10:54 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
Getting well against Chicago is a must
Hawks are reeling, lost 8 in a row, not scoring, not defending. If the Predators don’t come out of that game with 2 points they are in real danger of heading in the same direction as the Hawks.
I have been a believer that a goal scorer is the Predators’ number one need, but I’ve changed my mind. Lack of puck possession is the most glaring deficiency. The Predators need to find a someone who can get the puck out of their own end, move it into the offensive zone, and help keep it there. I don’t think goal scoring per se is the problem so much as lack of puck possession.
The truth is neither libelous nor slanderous.
Reason and logic instead of hope and faith.
Pro athletes--it's not what they say, it's what they do.
General managers--it's not what they say, it's what they do.
by shoot the puck on Feb 12, 2012 10:16 AM EST reply actions
2 points is critical! We need to come out of the gate with some serious desperation. I to am of the opinion a big body may be what the doctor ordered. We may want to consider that on the blue line as well. Our “mighty mite” defensive pairing of Frankie B and Ellis/Hillen are getting pushed around something awful.
Klein/Josi pairing is more the problem than Cube/Hillen/Ellis...
I think +/- is not necessarily a good one-game stat, but for defensemen over the course of the season, it can be very telling. And in Klein and Josi’s case it really is.
Suter and Weber are a combined + 32 against the top forwards in the league. They are doing their jobs and winning most nights.
Hillen and Ellis are a combined +10 against mostly 3rd and 4th lines. They are performing exactly as required by the coaches. Cube, who swings between the 2nd and 3rd pairing is -2, again not bad and performing well in his role.
The problem exists in the 2nd pairing of Klein and Josi. It was very evident last night as they were responsible for at least 2 critical goals. Combined they are a whopping -20. This is the pairing that is really hurting the Preds. Either move some of the D around to balance the load or hope and pray these guys get better defensively.
Klein was like a -11 when he was still playing with Blum, so your stats are a little off, if you are trying to say that this was all with Josi. He also played with Cube.
World Wide Weber.
There is no tenderness or humanity in fanaticism.
~Joe Strummer
My point is...
the second D pairing which has involved Klein and either Blum or Josi is the one that needs the upgrade. Either Klein is the problem or he is a reason they don’t have a worse +/- of a combined -20. Personally I think Josi and before him, Blum was the problem. Josi (like Ellis) is starting to show rookie fatigue and getting very sloppy defensively.
you are right
we have people to contribute goals, problem is we lack that guy who can carry the puck into the zone without having to resort to dump and chase, which seems like it works about 30% of the time…
They are not dumping and chasing nearly as much as they have in past years.
Beer... Now there's a temporary solution.-Homer Simpson
I’m wondering if both Suter and Weber are getting worn down from having to play so much? And I’m willing to be that Poile is leaving no stone unturned in looking for a suitable addition to the club. We also have to understand that several players have never played this long season before. It’s likely also wearing on them. We certainly could use some help, but as Poile says, there’s not much out there, at least not at the moment.
"I am you, you are me, and we are all together" Beatles
we could use SOB
hopefully his penalty taking habits are lessening, but he could help take some load off Weber/Suter
Anybody got a Wrench
The wheels haven’t come off yet, but these comments and playing pond style hockey against top tier teams, shows me they are definitely loose. Granted we are not experienced playing by eastern style rules, cross checking, tripping, slashing and general gooning it up seem to be the soup dejour, while minor hooks and interference will get you sent to the box.
Trotz needs to step back and find the real problem, and fix it. IMO there is too much talk, even from the FO, that we don’t have the pieces needed to win. It a TEAM killer. Suter’s bombshell at the Allstar game and all the appease Suter talk is definitely loosing the lug nuts.
We’ve experienced this team play some loose hockey, only to pull it together. Teams go thru trials and it’s wishful thinking to believe we will win 8 of 10 or go on 16 – 3 streaks for the balance of the season.
The monkey wrench is players exhibiting their displeasure of team members, even if not by name, before they critique their own game. I don’t care what their +- is. At some point, it becomes the distraction.
If trotz does anything, he needs to stop the innuendos in front of the press. It does not create team unity.
My hockey team is better than your hockey team
Well, here's what I'm thinking about this story:
First off, I love that Trotz is talking about one point here one point there as being so freaking important to making the playoffs and/or determining your seed. All this beeswax from the guy who plays his highly underqualified backup (sorry folks, but Anders isn’t hat y’all hoped he was after last year) against the Rangers and the Flyers. So in both of those games, we didn’t have a snowball’s chance in Hell of getting a point. Second, WTF was Trotz thinking by putting Bourque up in place of Wilson on the Legwand-HornQ line? That was an experiment gone horribly wrong, and it wasn’t until later that he nixed that strategy in favor of the “old lines.” Legwand is starting to piss me off. If you’re gonna demote anyone, it should be him, not Wilson. So Mr. Potatohead can say whatever he wants to about the team not playing well, but the coach has handcuffed the team lately and that really sucks. Trotz is responsible in large part for assenine coaching moves that cost us a ton of points. And he’s been doing that for YEARS.
And I’ma give Suter the benefit of the doubt on his comment and hope it wasn’t meant the way it sounded. He’s always been a good team guy and so that’’s that.
Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is where the Stanley Cup can be found.
by Pekka for Predator Pontiff on Feb 12, 2012 2:25 PM EST reply actions
ummm
Last I checked we laid an egg in Ottawa and the lines were the same with the exception of Smithson. Changing lines may affect chemistry somewhat, but that shouldn’t affect effort level, which is what I saw as the root of the problem for the past 2 games. A coach can’t make the team go out and work hard for 60 minutes. Now, I do believe that Smithson should be benched, but again, it doesn’t matter who is playing with who as long as the players aren’t giving a complete effort for 60 minutes. Also, Lindback hasn’t had a good season statistically, but he’s not getting very good run support, either. LIndback can’t go and score goals.
In the name of the Pekka, the Rinne, and the Holy Octopus. Amen.
You answered your own question........
….and didn’t we start losing when Smithson came back and Trotz started juggling the lines? And when he started benching Hustler and Yip for a penalty killer who hasn’t done much to kill penalties. Whenever Smithson plays, our offense suffers by an order of magnitde. He has hands of stone and 1 goal in 48 games. That is not a typo, 1 goal in 48 games so far this year. Goals talks and beeswax walks bro. And our PK sucks this year, so he’s not of particular value there either He’s a liability. And………
but again, it doesn’t matter who is playing with who as long as the players aren’t giving a complete effort for 60 minutes
Sorry, but I’ve watched Trotz’s line-juggling act correlate well with offensive lapses, so I’m not with you on that one. Bottom line is that the team was not broke before so don’t fix it.
And Lindback is 2-6 with a 2.70 gaa and .897 sv%. That is awful. Like you, I watched him play great last year. I have yet to see one great game from him this year (that I can recall). And you’re gonna put him out there against the Flyers and the Rangers? Get real, those were 4 pts that Trotz gave up all by his lonesome.
And I’m on the Legwand sucks bandwagon again, wo watch out.
Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is where the Stanley Cup can be found.
by Pekka for Predator Pontiff on Feb 12, 2012 3:08 PM EST up reply actions
The Preds have allowed 4 goals in each of their losses since the all-star break. It’s hard for the best offensive teams in the league to win when allowing 4 goals against on a regular basis.
Nashville scored 10 goals in LIndback’s 6 losses. That’s 1.66 per game. It’s also hard to win consistently with those numbers. I’m not saying LIndback’s numbers aren’t down-they are. But take the aforementioned games against the Flyers and Rangers for example. We were shut out in NY, and scored 1 goal in Philly. If we had Hasek or Roy in net for those games, we would have still most likely lost both of those games.
I have no problem with starting Lindy in those two games, either. It makes sense to play him in games against the East on the road. Rinne can’t play 82 games. Lindy played great against NY as I remember.
Your argument about the line juggling doesn’t hold up when you consider the Ottawa game. If our whole team goes down the drain when we switch out 1 player on the 3rd line, then we have major team issues. Don’t forget, this team has won a lot of games over the last few years with Smithson in the lineup. Do I like how Smithson has played recently compared to Yip? No- but that doesn’t explain the lapses that have occured during the 50 min per game when Smithson’s line is not on the ice.
The team as a whole has not been playing to the system. For the first half of the game yesterday we had almost no forecheck. Our D have been allowing too much time/space in our own end. The turnovers in our end and the neutral zone have been atrocious. Suter/Weber have either played too many minutes or have been uninspired since the break. Our other 4 D are getting pushed off the puck too much. Alot of these things are very much effort-related. These are professionals. They are paid to play like professionals regardless of who they are playing with. They haven’t been.
In the name of the Pekka, the Rinne, and the Holy Octopus. Amen.
You and me have differrent philosophies I guess.
But that’s just me. Juggling the lines leads to bad chemistry on offense which leads to the other team controlling the puck more than us. I’ve seen this year in and year out when this happens, and believe it whole heartedly. And we play more conservative with Lindback in the lineup cause he’s nowhere near as good as Pekka. And to not care that we played him against two of the best teams in the east cause they’re from the east? Well that supports my claim that we gave those points away, cause we did. And our poor offensive production with Lindback in doesn’t excuse his poor play in those games…..we’da lost them regardless. I know he needs to play some, but he should be in against Columbus, Anaheim and NYI, not Philly and the NYR….those games are worth 2 pts as well.
And I’m not talking about a couple of eggs we’ve laid of late against OTT and BOS. Those games and lackluster performances happen every now and again. But to try and shake things up by replacing Wilson with Bourque on the top line and replacing Hustler with Smithson is not the answer. I’m not sitting here calling for Trotz’s head, as I have in the past. I’m just calling him out for blaming the guys for losing points here and there cause over the course of a season, he costs us tons of points.
And Legwand is starting to float again………………..
Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is where the Stanley Cup can be found.
by Pekka for Predator Pontiff on Feb 12, 2012 4:46 PM EST up reply actions
agree; this idea that players can play with just certain other players is silly. It’s a TEAM; They should be able to play with any other team member. If they can’t, then that’s on them. Maybe Trotz is like Coach Martin(UT)-if the kids don’t do well in practice, then they sit. I know Trotz does that. No coach is perfect and no coach is going to please all the fans. But let’s ask this question. Do we think we would have been better off to have four or five coaches over the years of the franchise? I know Trotz has been here a long time, but there is no indication that he is losing his effectiveness. I also don’t see any other coach in the league that seems to be any better than he is with the talent he has.
"I am you, you are me, and we are all together" Beatles
by amyinsparta on Feb 12, 2012 11:38 PM EST up reply actions
LOL
There’s the talent thing again. Yeah, we have no talent at all. We’re a minor league team. Keep believing that Amy.
Trotz is overrated and costs us plenty of points throughout the season with stupid decisions. For him to call others out is stupid.
Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is where the Stanley Cup can be found.
by Pekka for Predator Pontiff on Feb 13, 2012 10:25 AM EST up reply actions
Why Hali was scratched in favor of Smithson is mind boggling…Smithson’s one purpose is specializing in defensive zone play, and he hasn’t been getting it done recently, also he doesn’t fit in this team as well as in years past, seems like Trotz is always sticking Craig Smith and Halischuck with Smithson which doesn’t quite make sense, and honestly is hampering Smith. Smith is actually doing a good job of creating his own chances, and I eagerly await the day when Trotz finally puts him back on a line with Wilson, Smith badly need a playmaker like Wilson to set him up, so Smith doesn’t have to set himself up so often.
I’d love to see the second line be Willy/Smith/Horny. That line worked so well in the first half of the season, not sure why we don’t see that line anymore. Maybe Smith can’t handle the TOI/G that Willy and Horny are expected to play every night.
also, Tootoo has just about disappeared, he was on fire in 2011, but has yet to register a goal in 2012
and just 0g5a in 2012.
you forget that this is already his best season in the NHL
perhaps we are asking too much of him?
by Herzausstein on Feb 12, 2012 8:18 PM EST up reply actions
As a side note...
What is this crappy crappy here from Puck Daddy?
Yeah, it's halftime America... and our second half is about to begin.
Calling your team unskilled...
…is not a good way to instill confidence in them. That’s not leadership.
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