from Ansar Khan of Mlive,
Here are five things to watch coming out of the break:
Seider, Chiarot plus-minus concerning?
The Red Wings’ top defensive pairing of Moritz Seider and Ben Chiarot has been intact since the start of training camp. Seider (minus-14) and Chiarot (minus-13) have the worst plus-minus ratings on the team, but that isn’t indicative of their play as much as it reflects being matched up against top lines consistently.
“There’s some times their game has dipped a little bit, maybe not as tightly gapped,” Lalonde said. “But it’s a matchup thing for them. I think Bob (assistant coach Boughner) has managed it very well. Bob has done a good job when those two haven’t been at the top of their game, even giving (Olli) Maatta-(Filip) Hronek that top matchup.
“Not alarming to me. I know some people consider plus-minus outdated. There’s some truth to that with how much we have with underlying numbers, and their underlying numbers are fine.”
four more things to watch...
Last year Mo was a -9 for the year. If I remember correctly, he would have had a plus rating if you took out the number of times he was on the ice at the end of the game when Detroit's net was empty. I'm not sure how much of his -14 rating this year is a result of that, but I don't think it's as much as last year.
Just using the "eyeball test," Mo doesn't seem to be playing with the same level of confidence that he had last year. And until the last few games, he hasn't really been that aggressive physically (especially those "reverse hits" he used so effectively last year). Hopefully those things will change as the season progresses.
Create an Account
In order to leave a comment, please create an account.