azzurri63 said:
Biggest problem I see and I have mentioned it before is our overall team defence which I feel has been awful since Wilson got here. It's not the chances we allow but the quantity of good chances. Eventually it catches up to you no matter who's between the pipes. Is it Ron'? I don't know. Players have changed and we're still doing the same things. Ron has had some good defensive teams before so where lies the problem? The team needs to simplify it's whole system and limit the number of good scoring chances. Albeit the offensive side suffers and the team will not be as exciting to watch but in the end I think we win more games. Good defensive teams always seem to be there in the end.
I agree with a bunch of your remarks.
I quoted the above because it is a bit of a quandary with Wilson. Last year, he tried to implement defence first and this group couldn't play it - because they couldn't do it and still score.
This year, in part, I think they're doing better because they went to more of a run & gun type system which I think suits the talent that they have better. But as you point out, when they do that, they give up more quality scoring chances. Generally, I still feel it's the right way to get the most out of them.
I felt at the start of the season and still do that the weakest talent aspect on this club is defence.
Evaluating NHL goaltending these days makes my head spin.
Having said that, I recall a fairly recent Chara goal the last time Gus faced the Bruins that a number criticized Gus for (I wasn't very criticial of that goal). Since Reimer returned, I've seen a couple that seemed far more stoppable but I didn't see the same level of criticism.
Maybe one thing we can take from Gustavsson & Reimer this season is that it may take a number of NHL games before these goalies find their groove and James is still trying to find his (hopefully). I didn't think Reimer looked as good in the games before he got hurt either though.
After many personnel changes over the last few seasons, Wilson is still failing on the PK though it's shown glimpses of recent improvement. I think the team dmen he has to work with are a significant part of the problem there - none of them have proven during their careers to be really good at it over a season (aside from maybe Komisarek years ago - I'm not sure).
Generally, I think Wilson has to stay the course on his run & gun system and nibble at improving the PK and minimizing defensive gaffes. Hopefully, one of the goalies can get hot and carry them to the playoffs.