COMMENTARY: Oh D!

By Patricia Greuter
for 2ManAdvantage.com

Published: October 10, 2007

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UPDATE: Well, looks like Richard Matvichuk’s days as a Devil really are over. As reported by Tom Gulitti, the Devils will attempt to trade the 34-year-old defender. What they will get, I do not know. Don’t expect much.

I’m not surprised, to be quite honest. It’s funny, I wrote this piece today with the thought that Mattie would likely be waived or traded. Didn’t think it would happen this soon, but I suppose now is as good a time as any.

Regardless, best of luck to Mattie, where ever you may land — loved ya during the post-season, but your shot-block-awesomeness just wasn’t enough to keep ya in New Jersey.

Sorry.

_________

So, we’re a mere three games into the season, and while many fans are already deeming Red ‘n Black’s season to be a monumental bomb, I am sitting back, waiting rather patiently for one major component of this here team’s system to, well, actually come through.

Yes, I am talking about the defense.

Come on folks, this team is just fine outside of an obviously confused looking blueline. The forecheck is as hard as it’s ever been, the goaltending has looked more than effective, and the physicality has been, well, quite physical.

All positives.

Sigh. What makes my poor head ache is the lack of coordination and general awareness of the defense. While guys like Karel Rachunek and Andrew Greene have stepped up in the offensive scheme of things, they have severely faltered in their own end — and that’s not to mention the obvious shortcomings of one Mr. Johnny Oduya. Okay, okay — Oduya looked significantly better on Monday, but still, he has not impressed me enough to pull his sorry little Swedish butt out of the doghouse.

Paul Martin, our clear #1, has looked as confused as ever on the ice. He made several miscues in Monday’s 4-2 loss against the mighty Ottawa Senators. No good.

Who’s left? Ah, the supposed scrubs that are Mike Mottau and Vitaly Vishnevski. I will say, the former has actually been our best defenseman, while the latter, uh…well, I don’t really remember much from the latter, because he hasn’t done anything to warrant accolades or drubbings. I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing.

MAKE YOUR EYE BETTER, DAMNIT! Dare I say, I miss Anger?

Well, I do. A lot.
We need Whitey back, baaaad. Sure, he’s known to take a dumb penalty or two over the course of a 60 minute game, but I will admit — with what we have right now, I certainly wouldn’t mind those penalties provided he actually helped our netminder out every once and a while.

Let’s face it: the current state of New Jersey Defense is a sad state.

The sheer volume of shots allowed this season alone is enough to send a Devils fan into a furious frenzy. For Brodeur, against Ottawa, he faced 36 shots. The defense fared much better in a 3-1 loss against Tampa Bay, surrendering 23 shots. Kevin Weekes had it far much worse, though, facing 33 shot — 21 alone in the first period! The Devils went on to win that game 4-1, but had it not been for Weekesie, the outcome would have been dramatically different.

My biggest gripe with the D is their confusion displayed on the ice. Lack of talent is one thing, but when you simply look confused on the ice, well, that’s just not good. In each of the three games played so far, I’ve noticed the defenders simply give up on their positioning and instead create a logjam of traffic in front of the goalie, making it an easy feat for a player to merely pick up a loose puck and fling it past a so-badly-screened Devils goalie. In fact, I’ve noticed this successfully happen at least three times, and many more times unsuccessfully.

Guys, this is the NHL, not Mites on Ice — you can’t create a mush of what-the-hell-is-going-on and expect for the best. Mmkay?

Another problem that should heavily be noted is, well, actually something that can be a strength for the boys: the forecheck. It seems, honest to you-know-who, that the forecheck is so gosh darn aggressive that the boys simply cannot skate back in time to save the day when the opposition has the puck.

Don’t you hate when an asset is also a flaw?

So, how do we fix these problems?

Hey, don’t ask me — I’m not the monotonous-voiced head coach here.

Not just yet. What I don’t think is the answer, though, is inserting Richard Matvichuk into the lineup just yet. I still think this team needs to fully buy into a newly implemented system — a system many of these guys really haven’t played too much of, nor have had time to get acclimated. Granted, if we’re still watching this team have the same problems by the end of this road trip, I will surely scream for the addition of Matvichuk and maybe even newly acquired bruiser Sheldon Brookbank into the lineup, but for now? Give them time. And Colin White. Give them Colin White, too.

Really, though, I think this team will be just fine. Despite all my complaints about the weak defense, I still maintain that the Atlantic as a whole has teams full of weak defense, which will ultimately bode well for Louie Lams and the boys.

If not?

Well, I don’t know.

That was quite reassuring, huh?

15 Comments on "COMMENTARY: Oh D!"

PatD on Wed, 10th Oct 2007 1:20 pm

Perhaps one of the problems why our defense is so lazy and undisciplined is because we don’t have a captain telling them that what they are doing is wrong and telling them what needs to be fixed, another reason our defense looks like amateur hour at the Apollo is because that’s what they are, amateurs, they are all young except for Chuck but he doesn’t even play. We really need White to come back and turn into a leader and instead of using his anger to take penalties he can use his anger to yell at the D to get in position.

COMMENTARY: Oh D!

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