JJ McCarthy APOLOGIZES to Vikings Fans After Injury: “I Know I Let You Down, But I’m Fighting to Come Back Stronger”
In an emotional and humbling statement, Minnesota Vikings quarterback JJ McCarthy has addressed the growing disappointment among Vikings fans after his injury sidelined him for crucial games. McCarthy, who had high expectations for his first season, expressed regret and promised to return stronger and more determined than ever.
“I know I let you down, and I take full responsibility for not being there when you needed me the most,” McCarthy said, his voice filled with sincerity. “I wanted to be out there leading this team, but now my focus is on my recovery. I will work relentlessly to prove myself again.”
McCarthy’s injury has been a major blow to the Vikings, especially with the growing frustrations surrounding their quarterback situation. Many fans have voiced their disappointment, some even lamenting the team’s decision to part ways with Sam Darnold. “Maybe we should have kept Darnold,” one fan tweeted in frustration, as the team struggles without a clear leader at quarterback.
But McCarthy remains focused on regaining his place and showing the fans that he’s the quarterback they can count on for the long run. “I’m not running from this,” McCarthy continued. “I’ll do whatever it takes to get back out there and help this team win. I owe it to you, the fans, to get back to full strength and show what I can do.”
As McCarthy works through his injury and focuses on his recovery, all eyes will be on his comeback story. Fans are eager to see if the young quarterback can fulfill the promise he showed early in the season and bring the Vikings back to playoff contention.
Nikita Kucherov says Lightning power play was bad. We take a closer look
When Nikita Kucherov wants to dissect the Lightning power play, you have to listen. The star winger typically keeps things close to the vest, but he was candid at Wednesday’s media day, saying the power-play’s top-five numbers were inflated — and it showed in the first-round playoff loss to the Panthers.
“The power play was bad in the playoffs,” Kucherov said. “So, whatever happens during the season, who cares? In the playoffs, it was bad.
“During the season, you can go against the top-five teams and be bad, and then you go against the bad teams and score a few and then all of a sudden your stats are looking better and everybody forgets about the top-five teams that we didn’t score against.
“So the statistics, I don’t look at them,” Kucherov continued. “I just think we’ve got to do better in the playoffs.”
The Lightning power play’s 25.9% success rate during the regular season was fifth-best in the NHL. But in the five-game loss to the Panthers it was just 11.1 (2-for-18), including an 0-for-15 stretch between Tampa Bay’s two man-advantage goals.
The disappointing performance fueled Kucherov as he prepared for this season.
“I really took it personal,” he said. “You’re just hungry to go back on the ice and work on things and (see) why that didn’t work.”
Coach Jon Cooper said he didn’t blame the power play for his team’s early exit.
“When you’re in the playoffs, you’re just going against one team,” he said." So now, coaches get to really dissect, really look at things. ... But I wouldn’t pin us not winning the series on our power play whatsoever, because I don’t think either team did anything.”
Were last season’s numbers inflated?
In the regular season, the Lightning’s success rate against Eastern Conference playoff teams (23.5%) and all postseason qualifiers (22.5%) last season were lower than their overall numbers but not a far cry from them.
And power-play success didn’t always translate to beating some of the league’s better teams. Tampa Bay was 5-for-15 (33.3%) against Toronto last season but lost all four games against the Maple Leafs.
But get this: The Lightning’s power-play numbers against the Panthers during the regular season were exactly as bad as during the playoffs: 11.1 percent (2-for-18). Florida’s penalty kill ranked 10th in the NHL in the regular season.
So against the Panthers — regular season and playoffs — the Lightning scored just four goals on 36 power-play chances.
The Lightning now head into this season still needing to find a way to replace Steven Stamkos, whose hard, right-shot one-timer from the left circle was their biggest scoring threat on the power play for so many years.
With Stamkos on the left flank, Brayden Point one of the best catch-and-shoot scorers from the bumper, all eyes on Kucherov along the right half wall and Victor Hedman always a threat up top, penalty killers had to pick their poison when defending against the Lightning power play.
Last year, not so much.
“Not having Stammer on the left side is, you don’t have the one-timer, (so) there’s no respect on the left side,” Kucherov said. “And if you have a lefty, you care less now.”
A season of experiments
The Lightning experimented with several different power-play looks last season.
The put right-handed shooters Darren Raddysh and Mitchell Chaffee on the left side, but neither stuck. They moved Point to the left circle for a bit, taking him out of the bumper spot where he’s been one of the league’s best scorers (averaging 15.25 power-play goals the past four years). Kucherov even moved to the left side on occasion.
The addition of Jake Guentzel helped — he led the league with 17 power-play goals while playing along the net front — but the hole in the left circle made it hard to keep opponents honest.
“For a lot of years, we kind of had it set, and it worked really well,” Point said. “Last year was the first year in a while where we really had to try different players in different spots. ... Our numbers were good in the regular season, but I don’t know if we really could manipulate PKs maybe the way we used to. And that’s something big coming into camp, and hopefully we can sort it out.”
With Stamkos, the Lightning remained stationary and forced penalty-killers to come to them. But last year, they put more movement into their power play, and a unit that already was prone to overpassing at times became discombobulated.
Hope on the horizon?
A full season of Oliver Bjorkstrand, the quick, right-handed shot acquired from Seattle at the trade deadline, could be an easy solution in the left circle. But Bjorkstrand has received most of his career power-play time in front of the net, and he’s averaged only six man-advantage goals over the past four seasons.
By comparison, Stamkos averaged 16 man-advantage goals over his last seven years with the Lightning. But let’s not get lost in the numbers. Bjorkstrand doesn’t have to match Stamkos’ production; he just needs to be a legitimate scoring threat that penalty killers have to account for.
The timing of Bjorkstrand’s season-ending injury in April — he suffered a left-thigh compartment syndrome injury that required emergency surgery and shelved him for the playoffs — was unfortunate for the Lightning, because Bjorkstrand was starting to find his footing on the top power-play unit.
Bjorkstrand’s only power-play goal with the Lightning came in his second-to-last game, and Kucherov had the primary assist. But it came from the bumper position, as the Lightning were moving players around.
“When you have the right (pieces) on the power play, you don’t have to move,” Kucherov said. “It becomes simple. But when you don’t have (pieces), it’s now, ‘What are we doing?’... And (then when) everybody starts moving, it’s just everybody out of their own comfort zone.
“And you’ve got to get used to the new spots in a short amount of time. I feel it’s more difficult when you move around. And some teams do. I don’t like it. ... When you have the right pieces on the power play, you can be stationary.”
