GDT, Oct 8, Canucks at Carolina, 4 PM PST, SNP

[theman]

Zeev with his first point of the season?

[UWSaint]

Lekke developing chemistry with Petey and Jake, getting more comfortable with play away from the puck.

Sushi is getting manhandled the same as always has. But he is making some progress off the puck in the offensive zone, and is increasing his decisionmaking speed. Don't like him in the d-zone. The verdict is very much still out, and we need many more games before we see whether those counting stats are a product of good fortune. Given his success in the AHL (when not injured) and the possession of a couple NHL+ skills (shot and hands), folks were way to early to write him off. And yet the things that indicated reasonable skepticism remain.

[Ronning's Ghost]

Nothing ensures a good tank like bad goaltending.

The problem is that the team could play a great game, and then have Tankinen let in 6. If that happens enough (and it will), it will get a little demoralizing. I'd rather see them at least be competitive most nights.

Coaches like winning, and hate losing.

But until I see evidence to the contrary, I will continue to hope that Malhotra & Co. have the sense to stress that for this season (at least), the numbers on the scoreboard are irrelevant. He will only be stressing individual developments (including, of course, individual developments in effective team play), and that whether or not that that is happening on schedule, and how hard the players are working to keep it on schedule, are the only factors against which they should be measuring whether to be encouraged or discouraged.

For instance:

Lekke developing chemistry with Petey and Jake, getting more comfortable with play away from the puck.

Zeev with his first point of the season?

Like I said, dig out a couple of AV's old "process" speeches and just put them on loop. Or in Manny's words, the difference between losing and playing losing hockey.

In sum, I would say that if any of the players are getting discouraged after a loss in which their individual play was on or above their targeted development curve, the coach is not playing the right kind of head games.

DeBrusk had a strong game and against a contending team always on the look out for help come TDL.

Management should also be emphasizing that every player has a chance to play themselves on to a winning team, whether that's the Canucks in 5 years, or another team before the trade deadline (and they get some say in which).

Back-up with good showing in relieve of Tank.

But of course, fans get discouraged, too, and an empty building will discourage Francesco, whom I see as the real potential mental weak link in the re-build.

Lankinen has the 3rd worst save% in the league, at .796, but Merilainen has the 6th best, at .941. So if discouragement becomes an issue, it would appear that there is a switch to throw to make games competitive.

I'd be planning to give Merilainen the starts at home against the toughest opponents. Still lose, but look really good losing against likely division champions and finalists.