Kraken vs. Leafs - Oct. 28th, 10:00pm - SN

[Chris]

I'm not going to rag on him for the slow start but getting back to his shot and something that has lacked on this team for a very long time. Why aren't they using his shot more? Doesn't make sense to me.He had 10 power play goals last year. Get him using it more it's a weapon.

They are scoring bushels of PP goals without him scoring or shooting much. If teams are taking away that shot it opens space for others. Eventually teams will adjust and that should open up more chances for him to blast away. I'd just like to see him hit the net more when he does get a chance.

 

[rjd]

Well, I'd trade him for Schaefer in an instant but that isn't happening. There are probably others but tough to find a team willing to part with a young #1 defender for a winger. So the question would probably be, do you risk trading him for a defensive prospect (I don't know who that might be) who projects to be a #1 defender. I think you have to consider it because as I've noted before, we've done the top-heavy/all skilled forward offensive team structure for 10 years and it didn't yield much. Huge risk though.

No idea what his ceiling will be but he just doesn't look ready for top line minutes right now. Maybe you just have to play him there for a while until Tavares or Marchenko is back but I think the top line would benefit more from a different type of player (think Hyman-like).

On the PP though, he's great. I didn't realize he was such a good shooter - not necessarily in terms of power but shot placement. Really impressive.

It's tough for sure. The names I have in my head are Werenski and Seider. You would be giving up some years, but you would be getting a piece that you really need.

It's funny, they showed a comparison of Matthews first 15 games versus McKenna. They are pretty close.

Matthews had 6 goals and 6 assists, a -4, in 17:03 minutes played per game in his first 15. McKenna has 5 goals, 6 assists, a -6, in 13:46 minutes of ice time.

We know that he's not as good as Matthews defensively, maybe he can grow into that, but offensively, he may be as gifted.

 

[cw]

That last goal - I haven't looked at it - too painful - looked like a brutal bad goal.

Got up the nerve to look at it
Our eyes were not fooling us
That was an inexplicably very bad goal
No tips. No screen. Lots of distance/time.
That has to rattle confidence

 

[Arn]

I watch the games mostly on the 10 minute YouTube highlights.

I usually watch them first thing in the morning before I’ve seen social media etc so that I don’t know the score.

When you start the video you can usually see the progress bar split into 3 “chapters”, so one per period. If it’s split in 4 you know that there’s OT.

So when I saw only 3 chapters, and then Matthew’s scored just 30 second or so from the end of the third chapter to tie the game I had a very horrible sinking feeling!

It was proven to be the right kind of feeling, sadly.