DownUndaCanuck Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 AV is a genius for putting Alberts in instead of Ballard. Ballard is a small, mobile defenceman who was victimized on countless times last year in the playoffs against the big, physical L.A forwards. This game, Alberts absolutely owned the Los Angeles forwards. When you take away their physicality their depth guys really don't have enough skill to score goals. Carter and Kopitar were two of the biggest and hottest forwards in the NHL coming into this game - Carter with a 5 game goal streak and Kopitar with 9 points in his last 4 or 5 games, and both were shut down in this game. The only offence they generate is on a powerplay and off a brain-fart from Schneider. Alberts and Bieksa in particular played much more physically than the Kings forwards did and we contained them. They really didn't have many good chances and you can thank our defence for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canuckelhead70 Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 AS a team, we really need to work on our defensive zone coverage. Too many open guys in shooting zones and we have to pick our spots to jump up in the play so we don't have 2 on 1 or 3 on 2 coming back. That's on all the d-men. It also seems we are back to giving up one soft goal a game. That's just shooting our selves in the foot game in and game out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyNameIsTom Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 The only scenario in which I think a new coach is in order is if they miss the playoffs. "Fire AV because the winningest coach in franchise history who brought them to game 7 and two consecutive PTs can't win the cup OMG the sky is falling!!!!!!11!!1" Seriously. They had TWO PT seasons in a row, and so far they've beaten the hawks once (almost twice), and just beat the defending SC champions 5-2 and you want AV fired because he sat Ballard? FYI: most of their games have been inter-division. So the argument that its just the weak NW doesn't hold much water. Besides, firing AV and replacing him midseason will NOT translate to a cup. Just cause it worked for the Kings last season does not mean firing the coach is the best option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xur Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 ya i absolutely hate Av hes crap at managing players ballards whole career hed get 20-30 points a yr 20 plus minutes a game but in vancouver hes has 15 points and like 14mins a game in 2.5 seasons on a president cup team. What a waste of talent gillis should be fired for keeping av ballards been nothing be a professional through the whole situation i hope gillis trades ballard soon just so he doesnt have to deal with this bull. I hope a contender picks up ballard and he wins cup this yr that would be hilarious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIP Ripper Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 Perhaps because the Kings are the largest team in the league (average size) and Alberts is much bigger than Ballard? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake Doctor Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 How's the hangover! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WL Canuck Fan Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 I'm happy about the win. But not happy about coaching decisions obviously. This game was excited but it wasn't all roses, Raymond scored against hte flow of play which began to sink LA, then the Sedins grabbed momentum and shifted it to our side completely when Danny scored. Just unhappy AV makes biased decisions, since Ballard has probably been our best defensemen, far more consistent than the others aside from Tanev, and AV scratches him and has to rock the boat by saying the others gave us a better chance to win, especially when Alberts didn't have an amazing game himself. Also unhappy about his stupid line-up decisions. Anyways I have wanted to ask, what is it about AV that makes him such a great coach in your mind anyways? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesB Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 Ballard has had a decent season. Better than the last two years. But people have a tendancy to exaggerate his performance given his history in Vancouver. On the facts, he has only 1 point (an assist) in 19 games. While the main job of a D is play defence, offensive support is important and other guys are all chipping in more. His plus/minus is exaclty zero, despite playing on the 3rd pairing and seeing much less time against the other team's top pairing than Hamhuis, Edler, Garrison and Bieksa -- and even less than Tanev -- who is a respectable +4. Ballard does not play a physical game. He has a reputation as a body checker, but he does not make a lot of hits and below average size for D. He is one of the Left-hand shots who struggles on the right side, which also limits his value. Bottom line: he is okay but would have to rank 6th on the depth chart right now. I suspect AV put Alberts in to have a bigger body to play agains the very big and physcial LA team. And it worked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kesler's Nose Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 I thought Alberts in over Ballard was weird too... But AV did it last season, I guess it was stupid to think he would this season as well. lol We need a cheaper D-man that can provide the same type of defensive play as Ballard. Offensively he isn't really providing anything, I'm sure we can get someone who is defensively responsible for cheaper... Just a matter of time. Booth needs to either step his play up or he is going to be on the trading block as well, so far they have both been busts. Even with Ballard playing better a few games ago, he doesn't belong on the bottom pairing for 4.2 mil! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobopan Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 Nah, seems AV wanted more size against the Kings and aside from the 1 mixed up with Schneider behind the net Alberts played quite well i thought..nothing more to see here imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombieksa Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 How's the hangover! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Hockey Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 AV always picks someone to put in the doghouse. Trevor Linden Matthieu Schneider (brought in for our power play, yet never used for it) Brad Lukowich (Stanley Cup winner) Brendan Morrison (instead AV asked to keep Desbiens, while BMo played with Iginla) Keith Ballard. There's others but I can't remember. These are players without a history of coaching challenges. I am not a professional, but I do know enough hockey to know when a player is getting the short end of the stick! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baggins Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 I agree with the 2nd comment of your post. Although it wasn't the flu. it was AV making stupid, biased decisions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disisdayear Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 AV is a genius for putting Alberts in instead of Ballard. Ballard is a small, mobile defenceman who was victimized on countless times last year in the playoffs against the big, physical L.A forwards. This game, Alberts absolutely owned the Los Angeles forwards. When you take away their physicality their depth guys really don't have enough skill to score goals. Carter and Kopitar were two of the biggest and hottest forwards in the NHL coming into this game - Carter with a 5 game goal streak and Kopitar with 9 points in his last 4 or 5 games, and both were shut down in this game. The only offence they generate is on a powerplay and off a brain-fart from Schneider. Alberts and Bieksa in particular played much more physically than the Kings forwards did and we contained them. They really didn't have many good chances and you can thank our defence for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L'Orange Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 His record speaks for itself, I also trust that mangement will know when to pull the trigger on letting him go. I'm not in the locker room or there when personnal decisions are being made therefore don't feel it is necessary to criticize them. As long as our team is competitive I'm pretty happy about him being here. He's been successful 6 of 7 years, you really can't complain about that in a league this competitive. That said maybe changes are made in the offseason depending on how the playoffs go, but in reality there is no point whining about every little thing YOU think he does wrong because you have no idea what is going on behind the scenes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kryten Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 Ballard was one of the few bright spots against the Kings last year. I don't agree with the decision to scratch him (if Ballard was indeed healthy). The only player who has been more consistent than Ballard this year has been Tanev. Leaving a healthy Ballard off the roster sends a message and not a good one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray_Cathode Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 Alberts didnt look to fly. Time to cut bait and get Ballard to a team that knows how to utilize his skill set. If he is scratched for health reasons,I can live with it. But if not,they really know how to run a guy down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-DLC- Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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