Any clue as to why he was giving about 50% effort for a calendar year. It would be interested in hearing why he was playing so poorly. His effort clearly wasn't there IMO. He has really picked up his game the 2nd half of this season.
I am not sure that Duchene is happy and after last night I can understand why he may be upset. I thought he played better, but he still was essentially benched down the stretch of the game.
It would be one thing if the other forwards were producing goals, but they are not, and the argument that they are creating more chances only goes so far.
Management may have to intercede in this situation if the relationship continues to decline. People are bashing Duchene, but that wasn't the case two to three months ago before he was injured. At that point it was Stastny that was the board whipping boy, which is merely an illustration of the fickle nature of this board at times.
People that are advocating any trade of Duchene fail to realize that it is unlikely we will get a fair return. As far as trading both Duchene and Statsny, in what universe could that actually take place?
If we are getting into a situation that where Sacco has issues with every single skill player that is not a grinder by nature, it seems like the organization may have issues going forward. If the plan is to reduce our skill level and simply play a defensive oriented, mucking and grinding style, that would represent a 180 degree shift in philosophy from Pierre Lacroix's vision.
This may just be me, but I don't think he's totally getting benched. I think he's hurt. Notice poor play by Mueller as well and he kept playing. Maybe there is a reason by the 3rd period his time gets shortened, maybe it's a mix between pain and contribution.
It's clear he is hurt, and maybe Sacco knows that so he puts someone else out there who can bring more than someone who is injured.
What do you guys think about Doan coming to Denver if PXN relocates?
In my opinion, there are only two possible locations for Doan. Wherever Phoenix goes to continue being their captain, or back to Winnipeg who would welcome him with open arms.
While I certainly wouldn't mind Doan, I think he's redundant on this team. Another 20 goal scorer that has a similar playing style to Downie, Lando, ROR. You can't have to many of those but I think after awhile it's apparent, especially after our recent stretch we need goal scoring.
Now with that said, I don't think we get Parise, if we do, I think he's priority over D at this point. We're still rebuilding. If you don't have a shot at Parise I think you throw all your eggs in one basket and nab Suter.
I think our D will get there, we have alot of promising prospects, Elliot, Barrie, Siemens, Gaunce etc....
Honestly our D is better than a decent amount of other teams D in the league. I think I'd rather stand pat on D, make a smart addition, but try and get a player of Parise's caliber. Now if that can't happen and your out of the running, go for Suter and sign Doan.
The benefits of adding Doan is you get a captain, veteran leadership, and a player that would fit into our teams system almost immediately. Our forwards would be hard to play against thats for sure.
You can already see it, sure the pucks not going in anymore but our cycle and grind away game is getting better. Our fourth line is even holding a good cycle. I think this is the system our team wants to put in place. I do think better passing is needed and will come with practice but our offensive tactic will be successful once our team buys into it and gets it.
They've finally started too. There were periods of the Van and SJ games where the other teams couldn't even get going. We did get wooped by the Sharks, but if you look at the cycles, there were points where the Avs were simply skating circles and winning puck battles and forecheck battles against the Sharks, it didn't pay off, but with more practice, experience and consistency it will.
I really think the scoring funk we have been in for the past 3 weeks has skewed people's opinions. Now everybody says Parise is the priority.
We have SEVERAL offensive players who have underperformed. On average, we would expect more from them than they have delivered.
Can we say the same for defense? Who has massively underachieved from the defense? It's still a mess most of the time, we get pinned in our zone over and over. Varly's miraculous form has hidden a lot of the issues in the past 2 months.
Suter over Parise for me, absolute no brainer. Build from the back out.
While I certainly wouldn't mind Doan, I think he's redundant on this team. Another 20 goal scorer that has a similar playing style to Downie, Lando, ROR. You can't have to many of those but I think after awhile it's apparent, especially after our recent stretch we need goal scoring.
Now with that said, I don't think we get Parise, if we do, I think he's priority over D at this point. We're still rebuilding. If you don't have a shot at Parise I think you throw all your eggs in one basket and nab Suter.
I think our D will get there, we have alot of promising prospects, Elliot, Barrie, Siemens, Gaunce etc....
Honestly our D is better than a decent amount of other teams D in the league. I think I'd rather stand pat on D, make a smart addition, but try and get a player of Parise's caliber. Now if that can't happen and your out of the running, go for Suter and sign Doan.
The benefits of adding Doan is you get a captain, veteran leadership, and a player that would fit into our teams system almost immediately. Our forwards would be hard to play against thats for sure.
You can already see it, sure the pucks not going in anymore but our cycle and grind away game is getting better. Our fourth line is even holding a good cycle. I think this is the system our team wants to put in place. I do think better passing is needed and will come with practice but our offensive tactic will be successful once our team buys into it and gets it.
They've finally started too. There were periods of the Van and SJ games where the other teams couldn't even get going. We did get wooped by the Sharks, but if you look at the cycles, there were points where the Avs were simply skating circles and winning puck battles and forecheck battles against the Sharks, it didn't pay off, but with more practice, experience and consistency it will.
How many 20 goals scorer do we actually have? One, there is plenty of room for a guy like Doan on our team. Veteran leadership, physical, plays a good two way game, would do wonder on the wing with Duchene. If he wants to come here you ask him how much and give him the cheque.
