So, what is the deal with Max?

[SDS]

Skating is 90% of hockey and he has that in spades... He can stick handle pretty well. Does he just have a marginal feel for the game and compensates for that with his speed? Half the time I have no idea what he is thinking out there.

[inkman]

Skating is 90% of hockey and he has that in spades... He can stick handle pretty well. Does he just have a marginal feel for the game and compensates for that with his speed? Half the time I have no idea what he is thinking out there.

 

I think it comes down to hands. He just doesn't have a good feel for the puck. He can seemingly keep the puck on his stick through traffic but when it comes to shooting, he just doesn't have the ability to do ANYTHING with it. Almost all of his goals come on empty net situations whether it's Max dekeing the Goalie out of his pads of finishing a play where someone else did that for him(even though he still misses those about 50% of the time. Which brings me to my other point. I believe Max is the anti-Drury. He shrivels up when it matters most and plays like a scared kid when it's all on the line, IMHO.

[Stoner]

You know, people have talked all season long about how the Sabres are the ultimate team, they don't have focal points that other teams have to shut down, they roll four lines, no "I" in team, never up, never in, if it smells like fish and tastes like chicken, hold your nose and keep on lickin... OK, that's enough. Hold it right there fella.

 

But my point is... Uhhhh... I don't like Max being the whipping boy. He was our leading scorer in the regular season. His speed changes games. He is generating chances. He just can't score at the moment. Not unlike J.P. Dumont, Jochen Hecht, Mike Grier and a few others, including Thomas Vanek, who has NO chance of scoring from the press box. A few days ago I pointed out our inability to score many goals in elimination rounds under Lindy Ruff. Well...

[The Goat]

I said it in a previous post that I can't find now but, as a Canes fan, Afinogenov does not scare me.

He refuses to fight through checks, and his possessions often end up on the stick of a Canes defender and quickly out of our zone.

Now Drury on the other hand...

 

The Goat

[Taro T]

I really think that Max is missing Connolly far more than the rest of the team is missing him. Timmy seemed to be the ONE player on the ice that had an idea of where Max was going and where he was looking to send the puck. He also has an ability to put the puck on Max's stick with that wide open net. They seem to click and a large portion of Max's assists came on plays that he sent the puck to Tim.

 

Max, probably because of the incredible speed and incredible lateral movement he has, never really had to LERAN the game as a youngster. He just played his own version of it, and no one else could play it. That hasn't been nearly as successful at the NHL level until this season.

 

Having Tim out there enabled Max to appear to finally be getting it. Timmy is nearly as creative as Max is and had his own issues to figuring out the NHL game but for the most part has finally figured it out. I still think Max is figuring it out, but without his security blanket, he is playing much more like the Max of old.

[Kristian]

I really think that Max is missing Connolly far more than the rest of the team is missing him. Timmy seemed to be the ONE player on the ice that had an idea of where Max was going and where he was looking to send the puck. He also has an ability to put the puck on Max's stick with that wide open net. They seem to click and a large portion of Max's assists came on plays that he sent the puck to Tim.

 

Max, probably because of the incredible speed and incredible lateral movement he has, never really had to LERAN the game as a youngster. He just played his own version of it, and no one else could play it. That hasn't been nearly as successful at the NHL level until this season.

 

Having Tim out there enabled Max to appear to finally be getting it. Timmy is nearly as creative as Max is and had his own issues to figuring out the NHL game but for the most part has finally figured it out. I still think Max is figuring it out, but without his security blanket, he is playing much more like the Max of old.

 

That's basically as good a reason as I've heard so far, I didn't even think of that.

 

However, Max did seem to disappear before Tim went down, or didn't play on the same line against Philly? I don't recall.

[rickshaw]

Max just plain and simple is NOT a natural goal scorer.

 

To suggest he doesn't scare his opponents is laughable. Max often is just missing his shots or just missing getting yet another breakaway. I'm sure his opponents fear him. They are just lucky he isn't a finisher.

 

It may come with time, but just not yet it seems. Max does miss Timmay that is for sure.

 

Again, it goes back to not having a complete team. Carolina is very lucky we are shorthanded, or this series would be over imo.

[Allan in MD]

Max just plain and simple is NOT a natural goal scorer.

 

To suggest he doesn't scare his opponents is laughable. Max often is just missing his shots or just missing getting yet another breakaway. I'm sure his opponents fear him. They are just lucky he isn't a finisher.

 

It may come with time, but just not yet it seems. Max does miss Timmay that is for sure.

 

Again, it goes back to not having a complete team. Carolina is very lucky we are shorthanded, or this series would be over imo.

Perhaps more importantly, Max is not a natural passer. His whole mindset appears to be, especially in this series, "it's me against them." And it never works against a team as defensively sound as Carolina.

 

As an earlier poster stated, Max apparently grew up dominating, wherever and whenever he played, because of his speed and lateral movement. So learning the "team game" was an afterthought. Unfortunately, that still appears to be the case.

[ddaryl]

Max = a prettier skating Christian Rutuu

[Bmwolf21]

But my point is... Uhhhh... I don't like Max being the whipping boy. He was our leading scorer in the regular season. His speed changes games. He is generating chances. He just can't score at the moment. Not unlike J.P. Dumont, Jochen Hecht, Mike Grier and a few others, including Thomas Vanek, who has NO chance of scoring from the press box. A few days ago I pointed out our inability to score many goals in elimination rounds under Lindy Ruff. Well...

 

I really think that Max is missing Connolly far more than the rest of the team is missing him. Timmy seemed to be the ONE player on the ice that had an idea of where Max was going and where he was looking to send the puck. He also has an ability to put the puck on Max's stick with that wide open net. They seem to click and a large portion of Max's assists came on plays that he sent the puck to Tim.

 

Max, probably because of the incredible speed and incredible lateral movement he has, never really had to LERAN the game as a youngster. He just played his own version of it, and no one else could play it. That hasn't been nearly as successful at the NHL level until this season.

 

Having Tim out there enabled Max to appear to finally be getting it. Timmy is nearly as creative as Max is and had his own issues to figuring out the NHL game but for the most part has finally figured it out. I still think Max is figuring it out, but without his security blanket, he is playing much more like the Max of old.

 

 

I agree - the offensive struggles can't be laid at Max's feet, but if he is getting scoring ops, at some point he needs to shock everyone and finish a breakaway. FWIW, I thought he was finally playing his best hockey of the playoffs in periods 2 & 3 of Sunday's game. Until then, he didn't really have many chances - he was doing his SuperMax impression for most of the series. Maybe the loss of Timmy has hurt him more than others, but he wasn't playing that well before Tim went down.

 

Dave does make a good point though - and I think it applies to Vanek as well - that as the fastest/most talented guy on the ice through juniors, etc., he never really had to learn how to work hard, use his teammates, finish opportunities, etc. With his speed, I would bet that he probably had a ton of breakaways during his junior career, so if he missed one it probably wasn't a big deal - he'd probably get two more before the night was over. Now he needs to take full advantage of all his chances, and there isn;t a sense of urgency to fight through checks, fight his way out of the corners, etc. When he does that, he is tough to stop, but he needs to do it more often. Also, I think a lot of times his feet are moving faster than his hands.

 

I am sure there are some coherent points in here, but I know I am rambling a little bit - still kind of tired from the trip to and from Raleigh.

[Knightrider]

I guess I had thought he had learned to pass it this year as his assists are what improved dramatically this year. (03-04 he had 17 goals and 14 assists while this year he had 22 goals and 51 assists.) He seems to have forgotten that though in the playoffs.

[bottlecap]

Max is a chaos maker. With his blazing speed he creates

situations. He's in his own time zone. The one time he

scored, when Roy passed it to him, it went in and the

goalie didn't even understand there was a shot until

after the crowd was whoopin it up.

 

max's feet are incredible. His hands aren't the problem.

It's his head. His head can't catch up to his feet...he's going so fast

he can't think fast enough on what to do.

 

In Timmay's absence, Roy is his best partner, but

Roy is effective just about anybody.

[nfreeman]

 

max's feet are incredible. His hands aren't the problem.

It's his head. His head can't catch up to his feet...he's going so fast

he can't think fast enough on what to do.

 

 

This is what I think the problem is -- right now he's got the yips. The pressure and intensity have gotten to him and he's just not making the right split-second decisions. It doesn't mean he's not potentially a great player. He had a great regular season and hopefully these playoffs will be a good learning experience for him, so that in future playoffs he can be more effective.

 

Of course, a breakout game tonight would be OK too...

[ATL61]

Everytime he gets the puck he looks like he's going to spaz out.

 

I got the puck, I got the puck, I got the puck, I got the puck, I got the puck,I got the puck, I got the puck, I got the puck, I got the puck, I got the puck, I got the puck, I got the puck, I got the puck

 

My brother was the same way.

[wjag]

I haven't had the benefit/pleasure of watching many games this season. But watching the playoffs, one thing jumps out at me, Max plays alone. He jumps on pucks and heads to the goal. He tries to make a deke around some defensemen and invariably they block with the body and the puck goes harmlessly off his stick.