Montreal @ NY Islanders Saturday Oct 19 @ 7 PM EDT

[seventeen]

The counter argument, Skilly, is that shooting a puck uses up all a player's effort. If the mechanics or strength aren't there yet, either physically or mentally, the results aren't there. Is that commutative? Quite possibly. But what about his passing? That got better and he put up way more assists. Still computes. Passing doesn't require the effort that shooting does.

Think of a basketball player who is a great 3 point shooter in college. Goes to the pros and the buckets aren't dropping (this is hardly uncommon, Gradey Dick being a recent example). The 3 point line in the pros is about 18 inches further out that the college line, so it requires more effort to get the ball to the basket. Having to shoot a little harder can change your mechanics and your results drop. Dick got stronger over the summer and now he's hitting 3 pointers from further out and far more effectively. If you don't have to worry about strength, you can focus on your touch.

Caufield may believe he felt fine, and it may have felt the same to him, but I don't think he had the strength until late in the season, after a lot of reps and then the puck started going in. The facts fit the theory.

Dach may say he's 100% but he's not as fast as he was or as strong as before. Is he 100% or is the back side of his brain telling him to not push the knee because it may give out and then he's out for another season? His knee may very well be back to it's pre-injury state, but does his subconscious believe it? I think if we have patience and reduce his responsibilities temporarily, anywhere from game 50 to 70, he'll play to the level we believe he can. By reducing his responsibilities, I suggest we put him on the wing, so the game is simplified. Do that for 10-15 games and then back to centre.

[Cranky]

I didn't think I had to write this in HabsRus, but here we are.

You guys know that I had a bike accident. It didn't end there. I had a very slow brain bleed that took 3 weeks to start shutting me down. The blood was pushing on the motor cortex and I was slowly losing control one limb at a time, starting with right leg.

Anywho....here is the post I wrote elsewhere...............

.............

I had a weird, totally out of the blue accident early summer that resulted in a head injury, some brain bleeding and it temporarily affected my balance.

It's taken care and gone.Everything is healed....BUT

Scan is showing nothing, multiple scans actually, I still have a small persistent feeling of balance issue. It doesn’t actually happen, but i FEAR that it may. I NEVER had balance issues or fear of them in my entire life. EVER. I can't even remember ever falling other then playing hockey decades ago.

Brain surgeon chalked it up to my brain being psychologically defensive on its own. The feeling is better now the several weeks ago. It will disappear completely in time as the brain "forgets" the incident.

It's as simple as this, a physical trauma can induce psychological trauma.

Dach had serious knee injury and even though it's healed, he may want to do something physically but he has this fear buried deep inside his brain pulling him just a bit back. He is likely not aware of it as it's happening.

Dachs knees may be fine. Maybe perfect physycally, but not his mind.

Give him time.

[Cranky]

And I also feared riding my ebike. Haven't touched it since June 4th. Took it out yesterday and today...and fell...fell in love with it again.

Fear gone.

Funny how that big lump on top of our shoulders can have a huge effect on our lives. Sometimes we are not even aware of its effect.

[Willie Dog]

Great to hear your back doing what you love... Dach needs time, but not on the PP1

[Skilly]

Oct 21, 2024 14:40:08 GMT -5 seventeen said:

The counter argument, Skilly, is that shooting a puck uses up all a player's effort. If the mechanics or strength aren't there yet, either physically or mentally, the results aren't there. Is that commutative? Quite possibly. But what about his passing? That got better and he put up way more assists. Still computes. Passing doesn't require the effort that shooting does.

Think of a basketball player who is a great 3 point shooter in college. Goes to the pros and the buckets aren't dropping (this is hardly uncommon, Gradey Dick being a recent example). The 3 point line in the pros is about 18 inches further out that the college line, so it requires more effort to get the ball to the basket. Having to shoot a little harder can change your mechanics and your results drop. Dick got stronger over the summer and now he's hitting 3 pointers from further out and far more effectively. If you don't have to worry about strength, you can focus on your touch.

Caufield may believe he felt fine, and it may have felt the same to him, but I don't think he had the strength until late in the season, after a lot of reps and then the puck started going in. The facts fit the theory.

Dach may say he's 100% but he's not as fast as he was or as strong as before. Is he 100% or is the back side of his brain telling him to not push the knee because it may give out and then he's out for another season? His knee may very well be back to it's pre-injury state, but does his subconscious believe it? I think if we have patience and reduce his responsibilities temporarily, anywhere from game 50 to 70, he'll play to the level we believe he can. By reducing his responsibilities, I suggest we put him on the wing, so the game is simplified. Do that for 10-15 games and then back to centre.

The very fact you are talking about subconscious is fact that you are not talking g about facts, just a feeling to support what you'd like to believe. One man might subconsciously favour an injury , doesn't mean everyone does. The guy himself said the shoulder was good. Again, no in depth subjective analysis required

[jkr]

Oct 21, 2024 17:36:34 GMT -5 Willie Dog said:

Great to hear your back doing what you love... Dach needs time, but not on the PP1

Maybe Cranky needs to lrnd his e bike to Dach.😀

[Skilly]

Oct 21, 2024 16:50:42 GMT -5 Cranky said:

I didn't think I had to write this in HabsRus, but here we are.

You guys know that I had a bike accident. It didn't end there. I had a very slow brain bleed that took 3 weeks to start shutting me down. The blood was pushing on the motor cortex and I was slowly losing control one limb at a time, starting with right leg.

Anywho....here is the post I wrote elsewhere...............

.............

I had a weird, totally out of the blue accident early summer that resulted in a head injury, some brain bleeding and it temporarily affected my balance.

It's taken care and gone.Everything is healed....BUT

Scan is showing nothing, multiple scans actually, I still have a small persistent feeling of balance issue. It doesn’t actually happen, but i FEAR that it may. I NEVER had balance issues or fear of them in my entire life. EVER. I can't even remember ever falling other then playing hockey decades ago.

Brain surgeon chalked it up to my brain being psychologically defensive on its own. The feeling is better now the several weeks ago. It will disappear completely in time as the brain "forgets" the incident.

It's as simple as this, a physical trauma can induce psychological trauma.

Dach had serious knee injury and even though it's healed, he may want to do something physically but he has this fear buried deep inside his brain pulling him just a bit back. He is likely not aware of it as it's happening.

Dachs knees may be fine. Maybe perfect physycally, but not his mind.

Give him time.

Glad to hear you are better

Dach has access to sports psychologists for this kind of thing. In your post, you state you started to feel better several weeks later. Dach has had a year to deal with this and test his knee on the ice. He had training camp to test getting hit. I agree he has to get used to trusting that knee in a game situation, but I totally disagree the timeframe is another year. He has had injuries before and has been playing high level competitive hockey since he was 14. It does not take these athletes long to get in game shape and realize the knee is good to go

[Cranky]

Just like Dach who now has an injury that has the potential of destroying his young career at 22, I also fear losing my World TiddleWink Crown.

What will I do without free hot dog (one dog with bun) and beer (small glass).

We both have injuries that may weigh on our minds without us being conscious about it. Particularly since I have 220 pound Neanderthals trying to kill me at every snap.

Did I mention "conscious about it"?

[folatre]

For sure, Caufield was 'off' last season, probably as a result of not having the full strength back in his shoulder that had been operated on. Yet I must say that I liked the maturation of his overall game last season. Not that he was Selke-like, but his defensive positioning and work rate without the puck improved. And we could all see that Caufield found the handle and vision to evolve the playmaking element of his game.

What is scaring me about Dach in this very small sample size is not that he looks a little hesitant about what kind of moves he can make and what kind of contact he can take post-surgery. But he is making boneheaded plays -- turnovers and penalties -- and looking as lost as a NHL rookie forward in the d-zone.

Look, if St. Louis is happy with Gallagher and Anderson (and apparently he is) through six games, so then slide Newhook into the pivot and give him those two vets. Dach can drop down to the bottom six while he gets his body and his head right.

[chicagohabs]

Dach had played 4 periods in the last 18 months going into the regular season. His season ended in April 2023, played a game and a half in October and then not again until Oct 2024.

[Cranky]

I think that Dach is having phsychological problems that he's not aware about.

Going back to my experience, I had to make a split second decision and my mind completely ignored a 30 foot poll behind me to deal with a cliff in front of me. An entire, massive poll which I just passed less then a second before.

Why would it be different when Dach is making split second decision that his mind is blocking out what may hurt him? Making decisions that make no sense from a top talent.

It doesn't take many questionable decisions to define his game.

Honestly, before my attempt to bring a pole down with my head, I thought last spring that Dach will jump right in and add 20 points to our bottom line. Now, I can see what he may be suffering from. It may not make us happy as fans, but we could just back off a bit and let him get back in. What is the alternative? Run him out of town? Trade him for used pucks?

We have no choice but to let him heal at his own time and pace...

[Cranky]

Here is another post I wrote elsewhere. The question was where to play Dach....

‐-------

I don't know what's better for Dach. Getting thrown on the first line as winger and more pressure OR put on the 3rd line and less pressure.

It would be a complex question of how he feels and if he's taking pain killers.

And of course how he feels about it and the compounding with other injuries.

In my case i was a little bit depressed with "why me" for a while. No career or finiancial issues whatsoever to worry about yet...even fully healed it still a bit of a mental scar that only time will wear away.

In Dachs case, the next accident may hobble his career. It may weigh more on him then he wants...or admits.

SUPRISE...Dach is as strong and as frail as the rest of us humans!

I sound like a broken record but worth repeating...give him time. Let repetition and his will to succeed heal him. I'm 90% we will get the monster Dach by Xmas. If we don't, his life must go on...and so will ours.

------

Depending if Dach has physical scars vs mental scars.

If they are mental scars then getting on the top line and scoring will pump lots of scar clearing endorphins in his system.

If they are physical scars, meaning still pains skating then only time and exercise will reduce them. So playing winger on the second or third line for now is a solution.

We don't know for sure what ails him...