GAME DAY #68: Senators @ Hurricanes - 7:00 pm - Tuesday, March 8 2016

The saga of the sophomore coach versus the team's leading scorer continues. Hoffman -- 5 goals shy of 30 on the season -- found himself stapled to the bench in the third period against the provincial rivals. The next night, against a weak defensive team, Cameron played Hoffman on the 4th line. Not surprisingly, the Senators lost 2-1. And reports indicate that this will continue tonight. 14 shifts last game (Scott Gomez had 24!); it's like Cameron is hell-bent on making sure that Hoffman doesn't get to 30 this year and that someone else will take over the team scoring lead.

#TradeHoffman

Ev wrote:#TradeHoffman

Can we trade him for an upgrade at Coach?

It will be Cam Ward in net for the Hurricanes...I am guessing Hammond for the Sens, although did go with the team to Carolina.

On the whole Hoffman thing, he's earned his spot on the 4th line, although I'd continue to put him on PP1, which is exactly what Cameron's doing. Patrick Roy does the same thing with Iginla in Colorado. Hoffman's game just isn't good enough 5v5 to warrant a spot on the top line. One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is the number of times he decides to change when the play is going back to Ottawa's end. He'll just casually skate off as the opposing team is entering the zone...it's frustrating to watch. As I've said for months, he won't be around here long-term. Hopefully we can get something good for him.

wprager wrote:

Ev wrote:#TradeHoffman

Can we trade him for an upgrade at Coach?

No. Coaching is overrated. It's all about the players.

It's funny that coaches keep getting blamed here when the actual problem is that we have a mediocre roster. Guess what you get with a mediocre roster? Mediocrity.

No NyQuil or warm milk required.

tim1_2 wrote:It will be Cam Ward in net for the Hurricanes...I am guessing Hammond for the Sens, although did go with the team to Carolina.

On the whole Hoffman thing, he's earned his spot on the 4th line, although I'd continue to put him on PP1, which is exactly what Cameron's doing.  Patrick Roy does the same thing with Iginla in Colorado.  Hoffman's game just isn't good enough 5v5 to warrant a spot on the top line.  One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is the number of times he decides to change when the play is going back to Ottawa's end.  He'll just casually skate off as the opposing team is entering the zone...it's frustrating to watch.  As I've said for months, he won't be around here long-term.  Hopefully we can get something good for him.

First, he is not on the first unit -- he is 6th among forwards in PP TOI/G; granted, one of those forwards ahead of him is now playing for the Leafs, but still.

Second, half of this team has earned a spot on the 4th line.

Third, Iginla doesn't have the wheels any more. You can get away with it on the PP. Completely different story with Hoff, as he is one of the fastest skaters in the league.

A couple games ago Poulin correctly point out how Smith was very slow coming back to the bench which indirectly led to a goal (ironically, it was Hoffman that replaced him and he was late on the back-check because of it). Point is that, again, this is not something that only Hoffman is guilty of but pretty much everyone on the team.

And doesn't that all come back to coaching?

tim1_2 wrote:It's funny that coaches keep getting blamed here when the actual problem is that we have a mediocre roster.  Guess what you get with a mediocre roster?  Mediocrity.

Thing is, we don't have a mediocre roster. We have some mediocre players, true, but with the cap, so does everyone else.

Ev wrote:

wprager wrote:

Ev wrote:#TradeHoffman

Can we trade him for an upgrade at Coach?

No. Coaching is overrated. It's all about the players.

Then he should get the Diddle out of the way and let the players play.

Smith-pageau-stone
Paul-zibanejad-chiasson
Dzingel-gomez-ryan
Hoffman-lazar-neil

So, has Smith earned top-line minutes or has he simply benefited from it?
How are Paul and Chiasson on the second line?
Why are we giving a 36-year-old has-been 3rd line minutes instead of evaluating prospects?

This is not a lineup built to win, it's an Ikea entertainment unit assembled without instructions.

wprager wrote:

Smith-pageau-stone
Paul-zibanejad-chiasson
Dzingel-gomez-ryan
Hoffman-lazar-neil

So, has Smith earned top-line minutes or has he simply benefited from it?
How are Paul and Chiasson on the second line?
Why are we giving a 36-year-old has-been 3rd line minutes instead of evaluating prospects?

This is not a lineup built to win, it's an Ikea entertainment unit assembled without instructions.

The Pageau line is now the defacto top line with Turris out. Why? Because Pageau is better than Zibanejad right now.

Gomez with Dzingel and Ryan is the 2nd line, don't be fooled by that. Zibanejad on line 3 with Dung and Paul, Hoffman absolutely buried as usual...but we only have 18 games or whatever until Hoffman is no longer an issue.

tim1_2 wrote:It's funny that coaches keep getting blamed here when the actual problem is that we have a mediocre roster.  Guess what you get with a mediocre roster?  Mediocrity.

Murray made two lethal mistakes last off-season.

1.He didn't upgrade the D. He went with Cowen and Wiercioch instead of getting a real 2nd pairing D-man.

2.He had faith in Zibanejad as the 2C. No real fault on Murray there, although he should have "Legwanded" someone as a stopgap (hopefully not someone useless like Legwand was, but a vet).

Those two mistakes cost us the season, especially the D.

SpezDispensed wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:It's funny that coaches keep getting blamed here when the actual problem is that we have a mediocre roster.  Guess what you get with a mediocre roster?  Mediocrity.

Murray made two lethal mistakes last off-season.

1.He didn't upgrade the D.  He went with Cowen and Wiercioch instead of getting a real 2nd pairing D-man.

2.He had faith in Zibanejad as the 2C.  No real fault on Murray there, although he should have "Legwanded" someone as a stopgap (hopefully not someone useless like Legwand was, but a vet).

Those two mistakes cost us the season, especially the D.

Again he has performed admirably as the 2C

wprager wrote:

Smith-pageau-stone
Paul-zibanejad-chiasson
Dzingel-gomez-ryan
Hoffman-lazar-neil

So, has Smith earned top-line minutes or has he simply benefited from it?
How are Paul and Chiasson on the second line?
Why are we giving a 36-year-old has-been 3rd line minutes instead of evaluating prospects?

This is not a lineup built to win, it's an Ikea entertainment unit assembled without instructions.

We've been evaluating prospects all year long and the results have been underwhelming. ScoGo is an upgrade so far on our beloved "Young Guns." The goal is still to win games at this point so The ScoGer will keep ScoGing until he gets an extension. Which, I hope, is sooner rather than later.

Smith took advantage of an opportunity and the coaching staff deserves credit for seeing that potential. It's one thing to get a shot, it's quite another to actually do what Smith has done with that opportunity.