Again, not so fine in Carolina

Come on Vokoun! This bunch of clowns has no understanding of what the word consistency means! So tired of hearing players say, we have to give more effort, etc! Talk, talk, talk, that is all this bunch does! Nice two game winning streat kitties!

U.S. Thanksgiving is when the trades start. It's time to part ways with Mezei and Stumpy. Ryno is making too much to get a trade for him.

JM needs to stop playing with the lines. Booth may have energy, and guys may have been flat footed, but Booth has no business going above the 4th line. Peltonen also has no business going above the 3rd line (maybe on 2nd at times, but not often).

Vokoun saying there are 5 or 10 players not playing hard is a big problem. JM better address this now, because it has become a constant theme when they lose. Identify and terminate.

it was our 3rd game in 4 nights, and 2nd in as many nights on the road.

Seriously...what did you expect?

I actually thought we had some good chances, but Grahame had a solid game.

We lost the game on special teams more than we did for "lack of effort."

The Panther's were flat in the first period. I thought that when they got out of it down 1-0 that maybe they would be able to wake up and start skating. They played pretty well in the second period but couldn't sustain the energy in the third.

How much of it was caused by playing 3 games in 4 days and having to travel twice? No one can say. I know from playing in amature tournaments that it is very hard to go full speed on every shift when you play 4 games in 3 days. Yeah I know these guys are professional athletes and they should be prepared but there has to be an advantage to the team that is better rested. It has to be even harder when you travel to Buffalo and play a hard game, get dressed fast and catch the charter to Raleigh get in the hotel late and try to get some rest.

Vokoun's take on the game is pretty insightful. If there are players that aren't prepared to play every night it does have to be addressed. If any player has a habitual problem with this the players and coaching staff needs to take care of it asap. Pulling a player aside and saying something similar to this just might get their attention. "If you don't want to play in Florida tell the staff that you want out. I'm sure that they will do their very best to accomodate you. If not start skating or we will find someone who will."

I said it before and will say it again: look for the guys who were
almost invisible on the Bufallo game when "most" of the team played well....after mneetings and meetings....Weiss was not moving too fast and Allen keeps doing sloppy mistakes...and always play the other goalie on consecutive nights, it doesn't take a genius coach...

Johnny Vermont wrote:

U.S. Thanksgiving is when the trades start. It's time to part ways with Mezei and Stumpy. Ryno is making too much to get a trade for him.

Stumpy and Mezei haven/t been playing that bad in the last two games. Van Ryn effort has also improved lately. The salary cap makes trades much harder to accomplish and messing with the chemistry of a team is always a crap shoot. Look at the trade for Pavel Bure. Sure he scored a lot of goals but look what it did to the team long term. By the time he left Florida even his brother Valerie was disgusted with his attitude. While we are talking trades what about the trade that sent Luongo to the Vancouver? Yeah they scored a lot of points last year but they are struggling this season. It just goes to show you that you need a solid all round team to win night in night out. The days of one or two player's carrying a team all season are gone forever. There is too much talent in the league for that to happen.

Vermont, get off Stumpy's back you were wrong 3 seasons about him AND Luongo. IT"S NORMAL that a 36 year old
won't fly at 100MPH the second night in a row- still you idiot can't you see he is piling assists or goals every night and is the best player to assist both Olesz and Zetnick. Trade Allen and Weiss !!!

Johnny Vermont wrote:

JM needs to stop playing with the lines. Booth may have energy, and guys may have been flat footed, but Booth has no business going above the 4th line. Peltonen also has no business going above the 3rd line (maybe on 2nd at times, but not often).

Johnny your dead wrong about Booth and Peltonen. Both of these guys work hard every night and while it may not show up on the stat sheet they make a very big contribution to the team. Booth and Peltonen are amog the teams more persistant fore checkers (along with Greg Campbell) They consistantly harass the defense during the break outs causing bad passes and turnovers. Don't forget that Peltonen was responsible for Nathan Hortons goal on Friday. He out hustled the Carolina player and then set up Horton. Booth or Peltonen will never be top stars in the NHL but they are solid grinders who play way above their size. Our up and comming stars of the future(Norton , Weiss) need to look at the effort these guys put in and try to emulate them now!!!!!

Vokoun saying what he feels is GREAT !! The guy NEEDS to vent his frustration and it shows that he's IN THE GAME AND HE CARES...little mistakes are human...careless play infront of him by VanRyn and Allen need to be addressed! Van RYn is useless !

Johnny Vermont wrote:

JM needs to stop playing with the lines. Booth may have energy, and guys may have been flat footed, but Booth has no business going above the 4th line. Peltonen also has no business going above the 3rd line (maybe on 2nd at times, but not often).

Sorry Jonny in the last reply I misspelled Horton

The guys lacking right now are Weiss, who can't hit the net, Horton, who is still too inconsistent for his talent, and Allen, who is making horrible passes every time he steps on the ice. Still, we have some positives. A lot of people criticized Martin for signing Zednik, and the guy is on pace to score 30! Plus Peltonen is playing pretty good, especially on D. I kind of like that Vokoun is calling them out when they don't play hard; Luongo would have never done that.

Also, VanRyn will be certainly traded if he keeps this up, and if Allen continues to suck, Martin may be looking to see what he gets in return. Weiss thinks he's a golden child, but, although he may survive this season here, since he was just signed, he may be traded in the offseason for someone who actually cares to exploit their own talent by skating hard and putting the puck in the net.

Mezei has improved tremendously-Van Ryan is a below average defenceman and he should go before Allen-Stumpel is fine-the real trouble is no consistent effort from everyone every game.Horton is not a big star just and 2nd or 3rd line power forward.The most consistent player we have is Olesz and he is out!Vokoun is an excellent goalie.Bouwmeester has been making alot of bad passes and having mental lapses lately-I sure hope it is not due to drinking.All in all we have a decent shot at beating Tampa.

seraph120 wrote:

I kind of like that Vokoun is calling them out when they don't play hard; Luongo would have never done that.

Are you kidding? Luongo did it all the time, but you naysayers called him a whiner. He said it often - that people played lazy and that they didn't make enough effort to play strong team defense. Wow, amazing selective memory on some of you people - Johnny V included.

Wait a Minute wrote:

<quoted text>
Are you kidding? Luongo did it all the time, but you naysayers called him a whiner. He said it often - that people played lazy and that they didn't make enough effort to play strong team defense. Wow, amazing selective memory on some of you people - Johnny V included.

umm regardless he is a whiner because of the way he handled himself with his contract and trade. I feel great having Thomas in net, whether Louie is better or not Thomas is gonna take us to the playoffs, something Luongo could never do.

By the way, Matt Cullen fired in a long shot on the power play. Cory Stillman tipped it in but it doesn't matter. Vokoun wouldn't have stopped it if Stillman had taken the shot and Cullen had tipped it in.

Wait a Minute wrote:

<quoted text>
Are you kidding? Luongo did it all the time, but you naysayers called him a whiner. He said it often - that people played lazy and that they didn't make enough effort to play strong team defense. Wow, amazing selective memory on some of you people - Johnny V included.

I'm no sure what my "selective memory" issue is in what I said today. was saying they need to address the slackers. Reboundo blamed everybody except himself. That's the difference with Vokoun.

HUMMERMEISTER wrote:

Vermont, get off Stumpy's back you were wrong 3 seasons about him AND Luongo. IT"S NORMAL that a 36 year old
won't fly at 100MPH the second night in a row- still you idiot can't you see he is piling assists or goals every night and is the best player to assist both Olesz and Zetnick. Trade Allen and Weiss !!!

What a joke, another internet tough guy throwing names when he thinks that he actually has a clue and everyone else's opinion is wrong.

At least you're able to advertise your oral exploits through your name. No thanks.