If Kings coach Terry Murray is concerned about the play of Matt Greene and/or Jack Johnson, he’s doing a good job of publicly hiding it. Greene and Johnson had been a pair, but were split up before the Montreal game, and tonight the Kings are expected to stay with the same pairs (Drew Doughty and Alec Martinez, Johnson and Rob Scuderi, Greene and Davis Drewiske). Johnson had a plus-5 rating through 15 games, but is minus-10 in his last six. Greene had a plus-5 rating through his first nine games but is minus-6 in his last six. Of course, the merit of the plus-minus stat is often debated — and rightfully so — and today, Murray talked about the play of each defenseman, starting with Johnson.
MURRAY: “That’s the unfortunate thing about it. There are minuses there, and they build up pretty quickly. There were two games there where it was minus-3, two games in a row. You take a look at performance on the ice, and it’s not a matter of placing responsibility anywhere else, because it’s a team effort, but sometimes you’re in the play and you’re just (in one place) and it happens over there. And you’re doing what you’re supposed to do, or it’s a line change and there’s not a lot you can do about it. Now, what you can do about it on the other side, offensively, is creating and scoring and shooting the puck more often, in order to get some points and get some pluses on that side of it. I watch and analyze the defensive part of it. There’s more than 50 percent of those minuses where he’s just doing his job, in the play, and it goes in.”
(on Greene’s recent play…)
MURRAY: “He’s such an important part of our team. In the off-ice part of it, he’s obviously one of the captains, but his leadership in the locker room is incomparable, when it comes to that vocal preparedness for the rest of the guys and himself. On the ice, his game is good. He was better, at times, on the checking side, more physical. I think there have been a couple of goals against him, when he’s out there, that we’d all like to see a different look, a different reaction, but overall his game has been pretty good. It’s more (about) effectiveness than minutes for me. I think, overall, his game has been effective for us. It’s getting back to where it was at the early part of the year for us right now.”
1 Brian Campbell
2 Jake Dowell
3 Jonathan Toews
4 Jack Skille
5 Jassen Cullimore
These are the top 5 for +/- on the BlackHawks. This is why I dont give this stat much thought.
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22 Niklas Hjalmarsson
23 Duncan Keith
24 Patrick Kane
25 Patrick Sharp
26 Tomas Kopecky
and the bottom 5 for Chicago …. LOL
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Belexes Reply:
November 27th, 2010 at 5:44 pm
@Belexes,
This looks more like an Allstar team, rather than the +/- worst. I wonder if any of the Chicago fans are screaming to get rid of any of these guys because of this dumb stat. lol
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DLB Reply:
November 27th, 2010 at 6:41 pm
@Belexes, Yes, the crticism of Keith has been quite sharp.
Of course, they were giving him playoff minutes in regular season games, so you’d expect him to be tired. But they aren’t happy.
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Move Greene to right wing alternating with Westgarth depending on the opponent (fourth line) and let him also play defense as a penalty killer. The Kings would be dressing seven defensmen and using one as a part time forward. Greene would be an asset and no longer the liability he has been recently.
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Belexes Reply:
November 27th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
@Crown Royal,
Isn’t this a contradiction? Are you stating that Greene is not good enough to play D, except that is on the penalty kill? I’m confused.
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Crown Royal Reply:
November 27th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
@Belexes,
On the penalty kill he can ice the puck. No concerns about breakout passes. Also he is basically only playing in one zone, not three.
He can use his strength and shot blocking ability more effectively in that situation. I think he’s fine as a penalty killer.
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kingfisher Reply:
November 27th, 2010 at 11:24 pm
@Crown Royal, there goes murray again will not tell it like it is ,these guys have been bad lately and need guidence which apparently is not happening………..fire murray and get a leader with some nads that will tell it like it is and demand accountability
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Greene is a good gritty defesemen that we do need in our lineup. He has not been as good as he can be this season but he knows he has to be much better. He has the leadership n grit we need, and at least admits to the mistakes on his part on D. He’ll improve as the season progresses I’m sure.
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Belexes Reply:
November 27th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
@Rob,
Even if Greene doesn’t improve, I’d hardly consider his -1 rating a gamebreaker.
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Is this unexpected? One guy back from injury, and another who is still gaining experience. Inconsistency is the norm.
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looking back,it seems things started to slip when Poni
went down.couple more weeks should do it.
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Kingsfanone Reply:
November 27th, 2010 at 6:26 pm
@8ball,
I agree with your thought. Things started changing when Poni wasn’t there, an intangible bad thing that affected a lot of areas. Losing Mitchell at the same time just compounded things.
I think Poni’s more valuable than a lot of people suspected, and Mitchell, well, I think it’s obvious.
The bigger problem is, when they get back and if things start clicking again, what does that say about the team’s real depth? That should be a concern, right?
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8ball Reply:
November 27th, 2010 at 6:40 pm
Kingsfanone
i don’t want to belly-ache about hickey again.
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Crown Royal Reply:
November 27th, 2010 at 6:48 pm
@Kingsfanone,
Good point. When Poni and Mitchell went down it made TM’s decisions on who to play where and with what other players, more difficult.
Tm struggles with using his players correctly. Poni helped stabilize the third line which he (TM) is always fixated on. Mitchell was really the glue holding the defense together, as he had been in Minnesota with the Wild some years before. Mitchell is vastly underrated. All of a sudden TM had to juggle lines and he’s not good at doing that. It’s his biggest weakness as a coach.
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Dominick Reply:
November 27th, 2010 at 7:01 pm
@Crown Royal, I posted before I read your comments.I agree 100%.
Dominick Reply:
November 27th, 2010 at 6:58 pm
@Kingsfanone,
I think you’ll see Detroit, Washington, and just about every team in the league go through spurts of losing 5 out of 6 at different times in the season. It doesn’t have any bearing on the state of our depth unless we do it consistantly.
I do think there is a direct correlation to Mitchell and Poni going down at the same time and the Kings not adjusting well, but not because of lack of depth. More a lack of proper adjustment, and focus.
If I’m wrong than our depth is suspect. If I’m right I hope next time we make the proper adjustments.
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Kingsfanone Reply:
November 27th, 2010 at 7:04 pm
@Dominick,
Then the larger problem would be, if you are right and it’s a lack of proper adjustment, who do you go to with that little tidbit and how do you fix it?
I like Crown Royal’s analogy above and I fear he is correct.
Dominick Reply:
November 27th, 2010 at 7:07 pm
@Kingsfanone,
We basically said the same thing. I just didn’t name the Coach.
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Kingsfanone Reply:
November 27th, 2010 at 7:10 pm
@Dominick,
I know. I think I did not name him either, but maybe that’s a problem in and unto itself?
Kingsfanone Reply:
November 27th, 2010 at 7:12 pm
@Dominick,
BTW, welcome back from not seeing you posting lately. I saw your first post a couple threads back. Hope all is well with you.
Crown Royal Reply:
November 27th, 2010 at 7:15 pm
@Dominick,
All of you are making good points and it seems we’re pretty much in agreement about the problem. TM is a good systems coach and relates well to the players but has trouble figuring out how to use them most effectively.
The most obvious solution is for DL to supply him with so much talent that he can’t screw up the lines and D-pairings. Eventually that might happen but if he still can’t get it right, then DL will have to consider making a change. It is too early to decide that now.
Dominick Reply:
November 27th, 2010 at 7:17 pm
Thanks. It’s been a tough time of the year for me, but these are the times that make us stronger. Glad to be Back with Kingsfans, talking hockey.
The only goal, I can recall, that I would place directly on JJ was the goal in Ottawa where he got turned inside out by Alfredsson.
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USHA#17 Reply:
November 27th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
@AZ King,
I would have to agree.
Still waiting for someone to take up chicken little as a pen name.
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lets be realistic…his team is worse then last year right now……No Frolov….No Parse…No Mondin….Until we get our guys back from injuries and add a LW we will not be better then last year. Everyone is also gunning for us now.
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puck73 Reply:
November 27th, 2010 at 5:08 pm
@neil, Must agree with ya dude. Everyone is gunning for us now and we do have some key injuries. Thank god for some depth in Manchester or we would really be in a lot of trouble.
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8ball Reply:
November 27th, 2010 at 5:18 pm
puck73Reply
those fractured digits can take years to heal.especially if you can’t score.
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Kingsfanone Reply:
November 27th, 2010 at 6:41 pm
@puck73,
I gotta tell ya, the problem I see is either the so-called depth in Manchester isn’t doing any good, or the coaching staff doesn’t know how to fix the holes caused by key injuries.
The reason I say this is have they come out of this tail-spin since the SJ game? No, they have not fixed anything, in fact, they looked pretty exposed last game, didn’t they? After that last game, if they don’t win tonite, I would have some doubts about both questions.
If it works tonite, then I will agree they found something, but I don’t see many wins being chaulked up since SJ. The only reason their record is what it is is because of their fast start.
I don’t think they can use the “everyone is gunning for us” excuse. These guys are professionals, they should expect that type of game every single game, regardless of who it is. If they play to their standards, who cares who they play? It should not matter.
That’s how you see Detroit play, San Jose, Pittsburgh, etc. They don’t care who they play. I want to see that attitude here.
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Player-X Reply:
November 27th, 2010 at 5:24 pm
@neil,
How can you say that with 2 better players injured, Mitchell and Poni, we are not a better team than last year? We are the same basic team without them, but when they come back from injury it is certainly an upgrade overall.
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neil Reply:
November 27th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
@Player-X, i was saying NOW wrt to the injuries….When Mitchell and Ponim comes back..its a better team but until then….
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USHA#17 Reply:
November 27th, 2010 at 6:44 pm
@neil,
Modine joined the Kings towards the end of the season.
And Dr. Frolov became Mr. Nolov. A clutch player with a burnt out clutch. The Rangers should have taken him to a mechanic before buying.
And Parse hardly played last year. My money says he is gone for the season.
We can really use a break out player to emerge and a little stability in the bottom 2 on D.
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Kingsfanone Reply:
November 27th, 2010 at 6:52 pm
@USHA#17,
Excellent!
The reason they didn’t take Frolov to a mechanic first is it’s against their business model.
Remember, they wanted Avery too!
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i like greene and how physical he plays.. Johnson had a few games where he played great but his mistakes are pretty bad at times. Maybe with greene its just being in the wrong place… When kings arent playing physical it always seems greene is and johnson usually too
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YoBro Reply:
November 27th, 2010 at 5:04 pm
@jason, And wouldn’t that tell you they’re not playing physical? If that’s greene’s strength, he’s not playing to his potential.
Go Kings
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we need an eddie shack-type stunt to get us going.
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Harty Reply:
November 27th, 2010 at 6:50 pm
@8ball, eddie shack was in our twon today for the santa parade, lts of autographs
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he knocks ‘em down and he gives ‘em a whack.
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