GUESTING FROM THE PERCH – Brooke Holland: Here’s how I see things…

NOTE: After seeing a recent discussion on @PredFans, my wife wanted to express her thoughts on the situation in Nashville, and she’s bringing the heat.  Enjoy! – Codey

Here is how I see things…

There are various ways to play a game of hockey, styles of play, if you will.  There are the teams that are the bullies, such as the Flyers (Broad Street Bullies anyone?) There are the “throw everything at the net” teams.  I consider Detroit to be one of the best at this.  If they are in our zone you can believe they will take a shot.  There are also the teams that have the ability to make the beautiful plays time and time again.  The Capitals are great at this.  It doesn’t matter who is on the ice, their passes connect, they always seem to have an organized play developing and they know exactly where their teammates will be.

Finally, there are the defensively minded teams, the teams that rely on a strong goalie and defensive core.  In my opinion, this was Nashville’s style of play in the not so distant past.  We had a strong defensive core, great goal tending and many defensively minded forwards.  Unfortunately, this does not appear to be the case anymore. We still have strong goaltending and some great defensemen, but we’re not the team we once were on defense.

Recently when I watch the games, I don’t see any style of play.  What I do see is a team full of frenzied players trying their best to fill a role in a chaotic environment.  To use an old saying, our Predators look like a bunch of “chickens with their heads cut off.”  They are skating around trying to get something going, but it’s disorganized and in the end, it’s not getting them anywhere.

How many times have I seen Colin Wilson win a battle on the boards or behind the net and center a pass, only to see that nobody was at the net to capitalize and knock it home.

Speaking of Colin Wilson… Here is how I see things with the “youth movement.”

We have great talent on the verge of being completely ready for the NHL.  Colin Wilson, Cal O’Reilly, Cody Franson and Alexander Sulzer, just to name a few, are the future of this franchise.   Unfortunately, their future has been rushed in order to save the start of the season (I say start of the season, as I have hope this horrid play will not continue).   But, we cannot rely on the future to save our present.

We have to see changes in the current team and system that we have in place now.  We can’t keep sending down and calling up various AHL players, in hopes, that some random combination of new and old will spark some amazing Crosby/Malkin-type production.  It isn’t going to happen, players are in the AHL for a reason; they are not yet ready for the NHL.  We can’t send down our recent call ups for “lack of production,” when the entire team is lacking in production.  We can’t expect the young guys to come up and be successful when our veteran players are struggling.

And, here is how I see things with the veteran players…

We have talent on this team.   It might not be Ovechkin, Crosby, Zetterberg talent, but we have talent. Unfortunately, the most talented players are not going to thrive in a chaotic environment.  Some of our most consistent players are struggling to get points this season.  Steve Sullivan only has two points in ten games.  At the end of last season he was a point per game player.  And looking at Martin Erat’s points, last season he had 50 points in 71 games, which amounts to 7 points in 10 games.  So far this season, he has earned one point in ten games (and to get technical, he didn’t actually score the goal, but was awarded a goal that went off the other team’s skate).  If Erat keeps up this dismal production he will earn approximately 8 points this season.

I, personally, do not see this lack of production by the veterans as purely “motivation” based (as I hear from so many fans at games, on twitter, etc).  When I watch the team play, I do see hustle and lots of frustration.  Being motivated to score/win and actually scoring/winning are two completely separate issues.

The veterans can only do so much; they can only work within the plan they are given.  If the plan is not working, then it needs to be changed.  There are few people who can change the plan and style of play (or lack there of) that is currently not working in Nashville.  This change has to start from the coaches and work it’s way up and down through the system.

Here is how I see things with the coaching staff…

I so often hear that Barry Trotz is a great coach, this is usually when I am listening to the NHL Network on Sirius/XM.  I do agree that he has done great things with the talent that he has to work with.  Making the playoffs four years in a row is something to be proud of, unfortunately not getting beyond the first round four years in a row is not something to be proud of.  It’s up to the coaches to put forth a style of play and a system that the players can thrive in.  Right now, our players are not thriving (see the earlier statistics on Erat and Sullivan for proof to that claim).

And I would argue that we didn’t thrive last season as well, since we did not make the playoffs.  I know there were injuries and we barely missed the playoffs, but let’s be honest…all teams have injuries to deal with, it’s part of the game.  Had we won games earlier in the season, then maybe those later injuries would not have been so difficult to overcome.

I am not saying that Trotz, Poile or anybody should be fired, but I do believe that this team needs direction, a path to follow and a style of play.  If Trotz and company can provide that, then let’s stick it out and get this team on the right track.  If there is somebody who isn’t working (power play coach, anybody?) maybe it’s time to go a new direction.

Like I said, this is just how I see things.