He's an every third or fourth game player at this point

Lol I said the same thing earlier today. Whenever you have the chance to break up the best pair in the league you gotta do it.

Now chara is dragging down Pulock

We'll trade you Chiarot, Savard, Wideman or Kulak for him. Or take them all for all i care

literally. substitute him in for greene on back to backs and otherwise play someone else.

St.louis has a couple cheap capable leftie defenseman they could send you and a Russian sniper. Could address some of the issues.

Yeah haha lol. On ice 5v5 SVA CF% 46.33% and xG% 22.98%. Pulock was our worst player last night, next worse? Chára... Greene actually had a good game. Mayfield took it to another level next to Pelech, real good game from him.

I would try this against Arizona (a good team to try something new).

Lee - Barzal - Palmieri
Beauvillier - Nelson - Wahlstrom
Parise - Pageau - Bailey
Martin - Cizikas - Clutterbuck

Pelech - Pulock
Aho - Mayfield
Greene - Dobson

Sorokin

Our top three best- and worse players by average game score 4 games in, is interesting.

Best:
1. Oliver Wahlstrom
2. Noah Dobson & Adam Pelech (exact same)
3. Mathew Barzal

Worst:
1. Zdeno Chára (by a lot)
2. Josh Bailey
3. Ilya Sorokin

But of course, it's Wahlstrom and Dobson who are the problem.

Let's make a trade, you can have Andy Greene, Zdeno Chára, Leo Komarov, and Thomas Hickey for those. Deal? Haha.

Pulock had a poor impact because he was constantly being pulled out of position to try to cover for Chara lol.

Greene did have a good game , but I think that’s more to do with Dobson pushing play. Obviously it’s a small sample size but so far this season Dobson ranks top 10 among all NHLers in goals above replacement - I thought Dobson hasn’t shown anything offensively 🤔

Pelech has been great at driving play offensively the last two seasons (starting from the bubble) - Mayfield was solid last night but Pelech makes it so easy for his D partners to have success. That pair had 1.5 xGF last night.

I agree with putting Wahlstrom with Beau/Nelson. The only time that line scored was after Wahlstrom won a puck battle behind the net. Let Pageau carry Bailey, Pageau has a history of carrying underwhelming players. Maybe Parise/Pageau work ethic will rub off on Bailey

Of course, Chára seems to be completely done at this point (judging by a small sample size of course). I agree on Dobson being the main reason for it, yes. He created a lot of space for Greene to calm down the pace for sure. Haha yeah me too, he should be traded no?? lol.

Yeah, that Mayfield had a really good game only tells me how elite Pelech is. He's sooo good.

Absolutely. And light a spark in him, he's looked absolutely terrible so far this year. I don't know what's going on.

The complete list by game score after 4 games (small sample size, and of course game score is impacted by 100 aspects, but still...)
1. Oliver Wahlstrom
2. Noah Dobson & Adam Pelech
3. Mathew Barzal
4. Matt Martin
5. Kyle Palmieri
6. Anders Lee
7. Cal Clutterbuck
8. Zach Parise
9. Scott Mayfield
10. Ryan Pulock & Andy Greene
11. Kieffer Bellows
12. Anthony Beauvillier
13. Casey Cizikas
14. Leo Komarov
15. Jean-Gabriel Pageau
16. Brock Nelson
17. Ilya Sorokin
18. Josh Bailey
19. Zdeno Chára

There are a couple of beloved veterans that need to step up their game fast. I'm not particularly worried by this in general, but clearly, some changes regarding a Chára or Bailey need to be addressed soon.

Chara or Greene would be fine playing 12-13 min- the problem is Trotz has both of them in the lineup and putting them against elite competition. It makes no sense lol.

I wanted to sell high on Bailey during the offseason. He’s a good 3rd liner who has been carried by Beau/Nelson over the past two years. Bailey is a great passer, that’s all he’s good at. Despite being a good passer, he is awful on the powerplay, constantly gives the puck away and makes dumb decisions. Imagine if Wahlstrom was on a powerplay with Barzal instead of Bailey?

I think game score is a good tool, but doesnt it put a lot of emphasis on points. I’m pretty sure Pageau leads the team in xGF% so far.

The one thing that’s holding the team back is having Greene and chara In the lineup at the same time. Put in one of Aho/Salo and they’ll be fine. Greene and Chara not being able to clear the Dzone results in extended zone time for the other team which affects the isles ability to generate offense

Pageau leads the xGF you're right, I agree that game score isn't perfect by any means. But an easy tool to use this early. Sure when you score 2 goals it will give you a good game score even if you are terrible at 5v5 possibly...
It's crazy to me how Wahlstrom isn't on the first pp with Barzal, or why they don't even bother trying Palmieri in a shooting position, that's where he's been so successful in his career, I don't get it.

this is it. pelech needs to be playing 23-24 minutes a night. chara and greene need to be the 3LD and rotate in and out for each other. i think greene’s been a bit better since getting paired back with dobson, so i’d go mostly with him. a puckmover (ideally salo at some point this season, but maybe aho for now) needs to be playing, probably with mayfield, and then you put P&P back together.

Wahlstrom has 14 goals in his last 37 regular season games (31 G pace) while playing 3rd line minutes and no PP time with Barzal , it’s insane.

Over the last 5 years Palmieri has scored at a similar rate to ovechkin on the powerplay , most of his goals from the ovi spot. Did Trotz not watch any tape on him?? Lol I always find it funny when isles fans complain we need a sniper for the Powerplay. There are maybe 5-10 players in the league that have a better shot than Wahlstrom and Palmieri has always had an elite shot.

Pelech : 24 Pulock: 24
Aho: 17 Mayfield: 21
Greene: 13 Dobson :21

Boom. Easiest way to tank is to add some weight : D