L’utilisation actuelle de Nick Lardis par les Blackhawks ne fonctionne pas et n’a pas de sens
—
marshmellow1328
@Blackhawks de Chicago
L’utilisation actuelle de Nick Lardis par les Blackhawks ne fonctionne pas et n’a pas de sens
—
marshmellow1328
7 Comments
Thought this was an interesting article from Ben Pope. Saw similar discussion in the Tuesday night post game thread from the Minnesota game.
Summary:
Nick Lardis should get more minutes to develop as a top 6 guy instead of a bottom 6. Hawks are banking on Frondell and Kantserov hitting which isn’t guaranteed. Blashill has been willing to let young defensemen get minutes like EDM over Gryz Tuesday night. Why not play Lardis over Burakovsky?
Interesting bit at the end is they’ve been working with Lardis on carrying the puck more vs immediately deferring or chipping it out of the zone. Knowing where teammates will be either based on systems or scanning before he gets the puck. So that’s something to watch for.
If Burakovsky was in early season form, I’d probably be ok with Lardis playing down. But given the current state of the team, I don’t think it hurts to give him more minutes. Let him start to find his way with more reps and active coaching from the bench.
I agree, but I’m also okay with Lardis getting tough love at this stage of his career. Set the expectation, and I would be very surprised if this is his role next year
Personally, I’d like to see Lardis in the top 6 for a few games and Burky to the third line.
Why are the 2 main beat writers writing the exact same article? Like do we really need both of them writing about something so minuscule
The problem is that Burakovsky is somehow even worse in the bottom 6. He can’t grind out corners, play physical, back check etc.
I’m not a hockey coach but I’d imagine Blash is trying to get Lardis to round out his game a bit more to be a complete two way player. We know he has great O-zone skills and a sick shot. Maybe let him learn how to grind in the D zone
Thought this was a great take by Ben. Couldn’t agree more with his position on this Lardis situation. Give this guy a shot, for the love of god don’t break the guys confidence with stupid double standards that seem to only apply to him.
Lardis is a puck possession black hole. He cant win the puck in a board battle or dump in and when he does get it he gets rid of it asap, usually shooting it. The Hawks are already one of the worst in the league in puck possession (they might be the literal worst). Bedard isnt good at that either and that’s too much to pit on Greene’s shoulders. That line would be extremely one dimensional. So you cant just replace Burakovsky, who is doing a lot of the puck carrying for that line (which other teams scouted, and now key on him instantly, which is why he is turning it over so much), with Lardis.
He could do better with Nazar and Moore but Moore is still hurt and this leaves off Bertuzzi who is already far more effective than Lardis anyways. Neither Nazar nor Bertuzzi can get Lardis the puck consistently so you can’t just replace Moore.
Until Lardis becomes a player that can gain and jold possession of the puck he’s no more useful in top six than Reichel was. If he is not that player and never will be, then he’ll have to wait for a higher skilled forward who is to arrive for him to play with. The Hawks don’t have one of these in the system. I am co cerned that this is one of the reasons they want Lawrence because he would be if he levels up fully, I just dont think he’s a good pick at the Hawks likely pick spot.
Lardis is going to need to be more complete to win a top six spot against the competition currently there or imminently coming.