So how has Corey done in Nottingham

So how has Corey done in Nottingham

So, firstly, how has Corey performed in his role on the ice? As an offensive D-man and the ‘quarterback’ of the power-play unit it’s been more of the same from a guy who is regularly referred to as the ‘best offensive defenceman in the league’. A return of 57 points from 56 games (13 G 44 A) makes a good case for dismissing calls for Corey to hang up his skates. Included in his stats are 4 game winning goals and he certainly seems to have a knack, as ever, of hitting the net when it matters, be that when clawing back a deficit or to secure the points.

 

There is, however, another stat against Neilson’s season that is a personal bugbear of mine and, I believe, many other fans. In 56 games Neilson took 106 penalty minutes. Something that needs to be taken into account is that Neilson does log a lot of ice time, possibly providing some justification as to why a defenceman who rarely takes a 5-min major (and even more infrequently takes 10-min misconducts) has accumulated so many penalty minutes. I’m not sure it’s justification enough, however, and personally, whilst I certainly don’t think it’s time for Neilson to give up playing, I’d like to see him log less ice time and cut out the petulant penalties. Too often he’s been sent to the box for an immature slash or hook immediately after he’s lost the puck or an attack has broken down. I’m unequivocally in favour of Neilson remaining on the roster for 2010/11; however he needs to source some real quality D-men, who are less offensively minded than himself, if the entire unit is to do its job. I wouldn’t want to lose Corey’s offensive input, but it’s plainly obvious to all and sundry that scoring goals isn’t our major problem.

 

So, onto Coach Neilson and his second season in the top job in Nottingham. As ever, I’ve got a few thoughts but no real firm and definitive conclusion. Considering the negatives first, I've had real concerns that Corey hasn’t learnt the lessons of the previous season. We still have an offensively loaded roster that relies on outscoring the opposition rather than putting a bit more effort and thought into preventing them scoring in the first place. However, since forming that view, I have had some more, slightly more in depth thoughts around what Corey did differently this season.

 

In terms of goaltending I think it’s fair to say that he acquired a guy who has done enough over the season to suggest he was an upgrade on the previous incumbents. Especially when you consider 2008/09 was yet another year of having two different starting netminder’s after it became apparent that Davis Parley wasn’t up to scratch. So on that front I think Corey did learn a lesson and came up with the goods.

 

Looking secondly at what I, and I think most others, would see as the ‘problem area’ our defensive ability and resilience. He recruited what looked, on paper and by all accounts, like a solid import defenceman in Dominic D’Amour who would be a huge upgrade in terms of defensive ability, on pretty much all of the previous seasons D-men that did not return (Ed Hill, Rumun Ndur, Juri Golicic). He also retained Nick Toneys in what looked like a sensible move, balancing that leaning towards all out offensive play with a genuine stay at home D-man. In the instance of D’Amour I’d be surprised if Corey hasn’t been as disappointed as a lot of us with what he’s seen. The situation surrounding Nick Toneys, however, is the one that concerns me most. At times this season we appear to have been absolutely crying out for someone to slot in and do the simple stuff on defence. I’m led to believe the club were fully aware of Mario Larocque’s personal problems yet he still commanded a place ahead of Toneys despite a string of erratic, unfocused displays. I still cannot fathom why Toneys was left out so often and for so long. Granted he may well, especially in the latter part of the season, have needed to drop an import forward in order to play Toneys however scoring goals has hardly been much of an issue for us has it?

 

The next area to consider is a generic question over a coach’s ability to ‘coach from the ice’. I’ll be honest and say I really don’t know how much of a factor it is. It’s a question I’d love to pose to a few coaches, both those who spend game day suited and booted and those who lace them up and play alongside their team, to compare their views on it. It almost certainly means they miss certain things that happen on the ice as they finish a shift or perhaps swap a stick but do they get a counter balance by being alongside guys on the ice and getting to see their abilities and weaknesses up close? I don’t have the hockey experience to offer anything like an in-depth analysis on the subject but I think it’s fairly certain that we will get to assess the merits of a player coach this time next year as I think Neilson will stay on for a third term. Do I think that’s the right thing for Panthers? Whilst not 100% convinced I’d have to fall on the side of ‘yes’ if forced to answer. I think that we need that stability and we need to give a coach that three year period to prove himself; however that’s a more generic view which is about what is good for the club not whether Neilson is the right guy to afford that loyalty to. The best way for me to surmise Corey’s year as Coach is to say I think that he’s been slightly unlucky in terms of the return he got from a couple of players this year, but also he’s got to counter some of his arrogance with a humble look at his own faults in order to improve our chances of the big prize in 2010/11.

Cardiff
v
Edinburgh
11th February 2012 19:00
Dundee
v
Hull
11th February 2012 19:00
Nottingham
v
Belfast
11th February 2012 19:00
Sheffield
v
Coventry
11th February 2012 19:00
Fife
v
Braehead
11th February 2012 19:15
Braehead
v
Fife
12th February 2012 00:00
Dundee
6-2
Fife
5th February 2012 18:30
Cardiff
4-5
Braehead
5th February 2012 18:00
Sheffield
2-4
Belfast
5th February 2012 17:00
Coventry
6-1
Fife
4th February 2012 19:30
Belfast
4-1
Cardiff
4th February 2012 19:00
Nottingham
6-2
Dundee
4th February 2012 19:00
  Club GP W L OL GF GA Pts
1 Belfast Giants 41 33 8 3 167 83 69
2 Nottingham Panthers 40 30 10 2 182 87 62
3 Sheffield Steelers 35 30 5 0 133 77 60
4 Coventry Blaze 40 25 15 1 153 113 51
5 Cardiff Devils 39 20 19 10 124 112 50
6 Braehead Clan 39 22 17 2 146 127 46
7 Hull Stingrays 41 11 30 4 107 165 26
8 Edinburgh Capitals 38 11 27 3 89 170 25
9 Dundee Stars 40 7 33 5 95 163 19
10 Fife Flyers 39 7 32 5 79 178 19
Peterborough
v
Guildford
8th February 2012 19:45
Swindon
v
Basingstoke
11th February 2012 17:45
Guildford
v
Peterborough
11th February 2012 18:00
Slough
v
Sheffield
11th February 2012 18:30
Milton Keynes
v
Bracknell
11th February 2012 19:00
Manchester
v
Telford
11th February 2012 19:00
Slough
3-0
Basingstoke
5th February 2012 18:30
Guildford
4-2
Milton Keynes
5th February 2012 18:00
Manchester
6-3
Swindon
5th February 2012 17:30
Telford
6-8
Peterborough
5th February 2012 17:30
Sheffield
3-0
Peterborough
4th February 2012 19:30
Milton Keynes
1-3
Manchester
4th February 2012 19:00
  Club GP W L OL GF GA Pts
1 Guildford Flames 38 26 12 3 172 111 55
2 Manchester Phoenix 39 24 15 3 145 123 51
3 Slough Jets 37 24 13 2 167 117 50
4 Sheffield Steeldogs 38 22 16 4 119 101 48
5 Milton Keynes Lightning 37 22 15 1 116 99 45
6 Basingstoke Bison 38 21 17 2 135 126 44
7 Swindon Wildcats 39 15 24 5 126 134 35
8 Bracknell Bees 37 13 24 8 107 142 34
9 Peterborough Phantoms 38 14 24 2 123 164 30
10 Telford Tigers 39 9 30 2 106 199 20
  Club GP W L OL GF GA Pts
  Club GP W L OL GF GA Pts
  Club GP W L OL GF GA Pts
  Club GP W L OL GF GA Pts
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