Coach needs to keep peace with Karlsson
OTTAWA — In one of his first media appearances, new Senators head coach Dave Cameron famously used a baseball analogy to describe his star defenceman, Erik Karlsson.
“I don’t want to cut his home runs down, I want to cut his strikeouts down.”
After Cameron’s first game behind the bench, a 5-3 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night when Karlsson played 28 minutes, 25 seconds, had six shots on goal, zero points and was a minus-2 with a few misadventures, it was natural to ask about that home run/strikeout ratio.
“I didn’t add them all up,” Cameron says of the strikeouts, “but in our conversations with Karl everything is going good. I’m not going to keep tabs on the number of strikeouts.”
Cameron used another baseball story to illustrate how players have to move past their mistakes.
One of his brothers on his fast-pitch team, Cameron said, would still be thinking of his strikeout when he was out playing the field the next inning.
With Karlsson, the issue is harnessing his own Godgiven talent.
“Great players like that,” Cameron said, “if they have a problem, it’s usually because they’re trying to do too much.”
That is a familiar issue with Karlsson.
His team falls behind and he feels the urge to do more, to create offence, to take risks, including stickhandling around checkers.
On Thursday, he was stripped of the puck at least twice, an issue that doesn’t concern the new coach.
“Turnovers are part of the game,” Cameron said.
“Everybody makes them. Elite players make more turnovers because they have the puck more.”
Fair enough, but who talks to a former Norris Trophy winner such as Karlsson about his defensive play and urgency away from the puck? At times, both have been lacking during a season in which the Senators have a win-loss-overtime record of 11-12-5 and are in danger of falling out of the playoff picture.
With a critical game looming in Boston on Saturday afternoon — a regulation win would pull Ottawa to within two points of the Bruins, who currently hold the second wild card spot — the Senators are counting on Thursday’s valiant effort against the Kings to mean something in future games.
This is a team that needs every player committed to the cause, a team that needs Marc Methot back and playing alongside Karlsson if only Methot’s back/hip injury would co-operate. He is, yet again, doubtful for Saturday.
It certainly needs Karlsson on his game in both directions, like the Karlsson of his Norris season, not the Karlsson post-Achilles heel injury.
Asked what he and the team need to do differently, Karlsson answered in a word: “Nothing.” Really? To his view, the Senators played hard against Los Angeles — no disputing that — and lost because of a few bounces, pucks deflecting in off bodies and sticks. Fair enough. It is also true that were issues with defensive zone coverage, which there have been all season. Karlsson himself was caught out of position a few times.
“The ones where we’re out of position, we have to clean up a bit,” Karlsson said.
“We created enough scoring chances to get seven to 10 goals and their goalie (Jonathan Quick) made some really big saves.”
Getting the most from Karlsson, especially on defence, was an issue for former head coach Paul MacLean (who can forget his “we like him when he plays for us, not for them,” quotes). In his last game behind the Senators bench, MacLean had an animated bench discussion with his captain.
If the Cameron era is to last, he will have to find peace with Karlsson, which is not another way of saying he can do whatever he wants.
Everyone loves the free spirit aspect of Karlsson, but sadly NHL hockey is not outdoor shinny. More’s the pity.