You know - I think I probably agree with you on this this ... Kopecky started out sort of hot (which to me read like he knew how to get the puck to Hossa), but since Hossa had been out - he seems to be completely ineffective.
So I suppose he is one of those wingers that will only produce in certain situations - and if taken out of that situation will be invisible as a best case scenario. All of which means is that if a winger is not a puck carrying sort of guy - but more of a puck advancing type or shooter -and is put on a line with no one that carries the puck -the entire line will look like crap -and probably end up getting hemmed in their own zone routinely.
Our 4th line ... well, yeh - ok- considering the overall situation - 2 scoring lines (where the guys on those lines are put in all sorts of situations -and seem to think they have to do it all (and aren't able to)... a third line (sort of a "checking line" -which can't score), and a 4th line which is pretty much without a theme or purpose ... seems like a ticket to 'meh'.
Yeh lovely a fight the other night, - well the situation is (in theory) they seem to think they have an enforcer guy -but the problem is the enforcer guy has to "protect" like 4 or 5 or 6 guys in no particular order - and -well, it doesn't happen predictably ... I suppose a certain element enjoys a fight at the game, and I'm not one of those guys that thinks that fighting doesn't have a purpose --- but I suppose the real situation is in this case -is that it has zero effect -and takes up a roster spot.
At some point during the season the coaching staff will have to come to a decision as to what all this current season is about. It isn't last year -and the personnel, necessarily, is not last season's -- and a different approach would need to be taken.
Yes, I understand that in a guy like Skille -you are getting a guy that is generating a fair amount of shots on goal - but, they aren't even fluking in the net ... even a guy like Scott might score if he could get hit in the ass in front of the net (as long as it was not an intentional ass cheek deflection I guess). But - you know the question is -are some of these guys high energy, up tempo type games? If so - it might be interesting to look into setting up some lines, with a de-emphasis on team defense -only to the point where losing games by one goal consistently is still losing games. Of the team's wins -a good deal of them were one goal wins -- with a couple of really hot guys at the time -- it could have been a lot uglier than it has been.
