Prospect Struggle

[seattleblue]

Springfield is putrid and getting blown out routinely. Caved, rolled, just a wretched team. They have the single worst record in the AHL and will not be in the playoffs this year.

I vouched for Lindstein a lot and overall he has been good, but in the two periods I hadn't seen from Saturday against Bridgeport and yesterday's game against Lehigh Valley he was atrocious. Like the worst player on the ice bad. Maybe 15 brutal plays in total? It reached a point where he was at fault for a goal on about three straight shifts, it was the kind of performance you throw your hands in front of your eyes from seeing. They are the two worst games I have ever seen him play. (In the middle he was good against Laval on Wednesday.) He was a -4 in both games and definitely the worst player in both. 

Which kind of sucked since I watched both immediately after watching Jiricek stink up the defensive side of the ice for his most recent two games. They lost a 4-3 decision in OT which they were leading 3-0 and I'd say nearly all of that comeback was on his awful defensive play in the game. He does have an ongoing point streak (he's on the league's best PP) and up until the last couple games when it disappeared, he was being very physical. but he is so shaky defensively, he generated 2-on-1s against over and over and over and over. His decisionmaking seems to be: always attack the ozone with that same wide, deep swoop and "hopefully there won't be a 2-on-1 the other way. Whoops there were like six of them in a row? Whoops, my bad, is that bad? I'll keep attacking though." Just pure high event hockey both ways. When he defends it can be really gawky and awkward and if the player waits him out he'll corkscrew himself out of the way just as often as not. He is going to lose the #1 RHD job to Danford pretty quickly with the defense he is showing. When the game is tense and dead even, you can see who McKee trusts. 

Hey but there's more bad news. Stenberg cannot buy a goal and he sat yesterday's game. He is well positioned but he is not producing at all. 

You know who looks good though? Pekarcik. He looks fast and aggressive. 

Mailloux scored btw! He finally flashed a single moment of a thing! 

Lucic remains cooked beyond cooked. He has an assist and is -7 in three games. He is so bad that it's funny to watch.

Konawalchuk is overmatched.
 
The self styled "prospects reporter" Korac may be unaware that Burns has not played a single game this season. Zero report on him, zero report on Stancl who he "reports" on and is is apparently significantly injured and has been for a month plus, and now Stenberg is out for either healthy scratch or dinged up reasons, could be either. Prospect Roundup Guy can't tell you. It would require ten whole minutes of getting to the bottom of it!

I had a busy week so I am about 4 games behind on each of Carbo and Fischer. Carbo is not showing me any particular development in his game beyond the offensive danger he already is. He looks like he's trying to score as many goals as possible rather than work on using his teammates better. Fischer's been solid but who knows what's gone awry in the last four games assuming he's matching everyone else.

[kimzey59]

On Springfield;
As I understand it the "vet's" are the ones that are completely MIA.
Luff is clipping; but Peca, Alexandrov, Wagner, McGing and now Lucic have all been extremely under-performing. Which is a problem since Konowalchuk seems to be playing the same games down there that Monty is playing up here(shortens the bench at the first sign of momentum and then overplays the underperforming vets).

Between that and an extremely inexperienced defense and you get the T'Birds being putrid.

[seattleblue]

On Springfield;
As I understand it the "vet's" are the ones that are completely MIA.
Luff is clipping; but Peca, Alexandrov, Wagner, McGing and now Lucic have all been extremely under-performing. Which is a problem since Konowalchuk seems to be playing the same games down there that Monty is playing up here(shortens the bench at the first sign of momentum and then overplays the underperforming vets).

Between that and an extremely inexperienced defense and you get the T'Birds being putrid.

Even Luff has been bad. The kids are not carrying the vets at all. The lines and pairings are in a continual blender. I have watched every game this year and I have zero confidence in the coach

[DawgDad]

On Springfield;
As I understand it the "vet's" are the ones that are completely MIA.
Luff is clipping; but Peca, Alexandrov, Wagner, McGing and now Lucic have all been extremely under-performing. Which is a problem since Konowalchuk seems to be playing the same games down there that Monty is playing up here(shortens the bench at the first sign of momentum and then overplays the underperforming vets).

Between that and an extremely inexperienced defense and you get the T'Birds being putrid.

Even Luff has been bad. The kids are not carrying the vets at all. The lines and pairings are in a continual blender. I have watched every game this year and I have zero confidence in the coach

Was this to be expected after pulling the plug on those veteran's NHL dreams?

Sounds like Mailloux has an opportunity to demonstrate maturity and leadership. If the coach is a problem - change.

[seattleblue]

On Springfield;
As I understand it the "vet's" are the ones that are completely MIA.
Luff is clipping; but Peca, Alexandrov, Wagner, McGing and now Lucic have all been extremely under-performing. Which is a problem since Konowalchuk seems to be playing the same games down there that Monty is playing up here(shortens the bench at the first sign of momentum and then overplays the underperforming vets).

Between that and an extremely inexperienced defense and you get the T'Birds being putrid.

Even Luff has been bad. The kids are not carrying the vets at all. The lines and pairings are in a continual blender. I have watched every game this year and I have zero confidence in the coach

Was this to be expected after pulling the plug on those veteran's NHL dreams?

Sounds like Mailloux has an opportunity to demonstrate maturity and leadership. If the coach is a problem - change.

Mailloux was completely inept against his old team Laval but looked better yesterday.

[a smell of green grass]

When Army declared that the re-whatever was over about 6 months ago...

Some were happy. They are happy with whatever slop Army throws over the fence.

ASOGG was not one of those. In fact, he went livid. He knew IMMEDIATELY that that was Army's way of burying the truth about the 2023 and 2024 drafts. No way that Army does not take a long bow on his accomplishments if he saw good things coming.

So now I hope that we can all see what Army saw.

No. Army does not draft well. Period.

[SameOldBlues]

Only extremely insecure turds who most likely have thousands of illegal pics and vids on their hard drives talk about themselves in the third person. Stop your obsession, mongoloid.

[a smell of green grass]

Only extremely insecure turds who most likely have thousands of illegal pics and vids on their hard drives talk about themselves in the third person. Stop your obsession, mongoloid.

No pics. No vids. Clean as a whistle here. Just my way of having a little fun.

[Army's Mom]

No. Army does not draft well. Period.

And yet, somehow, Bolduc was the "steal of the decade"...

Quit trying so hard.

[2forDiving]

Well, they can improve Springfield AND St Louis by getting Kessel back there.

[TBone]

When Army declared that the re-whatever was over about 6 months ago...

Some were happy. They are happy with whatever slop Army throws over the fence.

ASOGG was not one of those. In fact, he went livid. He knew IMMEDIATELY that that was Army's way of burying the truth about the 2023 and 2024 drafts. No way that Army does not take a long bow on his accomplishments if he saw good things coming.

So now I hope that we can all see what Army saw.

No. Army does not draft well. Period.

On the bright side... Sack Bolduc is on French milk cartons all over Quebec.

[John Cocktoastin]

First, thank you Seattle. Good stuff as always.

I think the record speaks for itself, but you can also look at it individually. But even through that lens, it's a downer.

Knowing not too long ago we led the NHL with nine prospects participating in the 2025 World Junior Championship, it's even more of a letdown.

I can say the Lindstein development, or lack thereof, is the most disappointing or shocking. At the same time, I'm not too worried. This team is terrible. He may be suffering from the overall osmosis of crappiness. Hopefully a general lack of success doesn't stunt anyone's growth. I think he'll be fine.

The bright spot, Pekarcik, is nice to hear. He's my guy and can see him being a solid contributor and NHLer for a while. Not a superstar, but a player. Solid. I think his shot is catching up to his set-ups.

Here's hoping Stancl gets healthy. And this team turns it around.

[Bluesfan1978]

Springfield struggled last year as well but Ellis stood on his head most games to give them a chance to win.