zeke
Well-known member
yeah he wasn't been blessed with great partners that's for sure, especially given his shutdown role.
Year 1
Rielly-Hainsey 104min, 58.7xgf%, 71.3gf%
Muzzin-Zaitsev 99min, 47.3xgf%, 33.5gf%
Dermott-Gardiner 71min, 41.9xgf%, 49.3gf%
1. That number for Muzz-Zaitsev is probably pretty solid given their usage...and how awful Zaitsev was. Though the goals might tell a story here about "big msitakes", or could be noise.
2. Man we've really been a bit cursed with very good dmen suddenly falling off cliffs without being that old - Gardiner, Muzzin, Brodie. How the heck was Gardiner so useless here even in a sheltered role?
Year 2 - no Muzzin
Year 3
Rielly-Brodie 105min, 71.8xgf%, 100.0gf%
Muzzin-Holl 76min, 40.1xgf%, 59.0gf%
Sandin-Bogo 30min, 31.6xgf%, 22.8gf%
Dermott-Bogo 23min, 63.5xgf%, 00.0gf%
Muzz-Holl did better by actual goals but that covered up them getting wiped out in on-ice play, the opposite of the year prior. probably flukes both ways.
This is the only year that Rielly played with another good dman in the playoffs, instead of a bottom pair type, and hole moly was that pairing dominant.
Year 4
Muzzin-Brodie 96min, 55.2xgf%, 49.5gf%
Rielly-Boosh 83min, 50.8xgf%, 43.6gf%
Giordano-Holl 53min, 58.8xgf%, 34.8gf%
Giordano-Lilly 22min, 33.2xgf%, 64.3gf%
Muzzin finally got a legit shutdown partner here and unsurprisingly they were very good in elite tough matchups.
but despite everyone loving boosh, he kinda killed Mo, unsurprisingly. Mo's worse playoffs year by a good bit.
So yeah playing with Zaits/Holl in the toughest matchups is definitely no help.
Then McCabe.....
Year 1
McCabe-Brodie 145min, 52.3xgf%, 33.4gf%
Rielly-Schenn 163min, 58.6xgf%, 81.5gf%
Giordano-Holl 65min, 36.2xgf%, 25.0gf%
Giordano-Lilly 37min, 39.4xgf%, 48.2gf%
McCabe in the same role with Brodie as Muzz the year before....and while they were solid possession wise, they kept giving up goals....and IIRC many of those were kinda blatant overaggressive errors by McCabe. He was out there trying to kill people every shift and kept getting burned. Tho iirc Brodie was fucking up too and was looking like he had already lost a step before completely falling off a cliff last year.
Schenn worked out much better than Boosh on a pair with Mo.
Year 2
Rielly-Boosh 91min, 55.4xgf%, 81.2gf%
Benoit-McCabe 91min, 48.2xgf%, 35.0gf%
Eddy-Lilly 73min, 37.9xgf%, 23.7gf%
Don't be fooled by the 35.0gf% - it was only 1 goal for and 2 goals against for the Benoit-McCabe pairing, basically dead even in tough usage just like their xgf%. A pretty solid performance in that usage given that Benoit is never a guy that should be on a top usage pairing.
Mo-Boosh much better this second time around. Just as good as the Mo-Schenn pair.
I think the biggest disappointment looking at all these years is that despite the bottom pairings being plus pairings on paper and in the regular season, pretty every single bottom pair combo we've tried has stunk in the playoffs. It's possible that's some poor coaching in not being able to get the right matchups, but still, their usage was soft enough that most of those should have been strengths not weaknesses.
And it's pretty amazing how good playoffs Mo is.
I still look at our dcorps this year and get the feeling that a McCabe-Tanev shutdown pairing might be the way to go, with Hakanpaa doing the Schenn/Hainsey/Boosh role with Mo if his knee can handle it. It really doesn't seem to matter to Mo if the guy beside him has zero skill or skating.
and then we could have OEL-Lilly as the bottom pair.....which really should be a good bottom pairing for once. I think.
