2014-2015 Hartford Wolf Pack/Greenville Road Warriors Thread Part IV

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GAGLine

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Pack up 2-0 in the 2nd on goals by Crabb and Lindberg.

Edit: Haggerty missed on a breakaway earlier, but scores on another breakaway to make it 3-0 on a great pass from Lindberg. 3 points so far for Lindberg.
 
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Edge

Kris King's Ghost
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The Bears are a scrappy, dig in kind of team.

I see a lot of them, live about 20 minutes door-to-door from where they play.
 

Ola

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I've watched a period here and there and took the time today to watch last nights game.

Skjei finally won me over. I love how he is moving, the NCAA is a great place to develop in for sure and Skjei has kept developing since the WJCHs which I in all honesty thought he was pretty avg in.

In short;
-superb lateral movement defensively. Very good gap controll;
-someone has told him to 100% focus on -- IMO -- the right thing, when he get the puck explode with his skating and make a high caliber first pass. Does he deliver on it? like 50% of the time at best, but thats not the issue. One to two years from now he might deliver on it and thats what it will take for him to become a good top 4 D in the NHL, its a must really. Its a big challenge he has but he is taking it;
-big and strong infront of the net and along the boards, not very physical but he plays the body;
-he is involved offensively, sometimes when rushing the puck, other times when shooting it, still raw here and not outstanding, but could develop a decent ability offensivel at least. The key however is his passing game coming out of his own end, if he can pin that down he can build a functional offensive game in the NHL off that platform;
-so how ready is he? Kinda hard to tell since he is so fresh in the pro game. He aint replacing someone out of camp next year thats a given, but who knows if he needs half a year (doubtful but maybe not impossible), a year or two?

McIlrath is playing very solid top 4 hockey late in the AHL season IMO. I have nothing to complain on him on. Making a simple first pass quite well. Really strong infront of the net and along the boards. Has come a long way IMO since last year. Awsome to see.

Bodie is HFDs best D every time I see them lately. He has really stepped up compared to the regular season, building on the phenomenal PO run he had in College before turning pro. Despite his size, I don't want to count him out as a prospect. Can he stay healthy? Can he keep building on this game? Needs to be -- super super super -- poised with the puck to get to the NHL in like a Toby Enstrom role. But he is playing real well right now so its at least a start.

Lindberg has really picked it up lately. How many pts do he have in his last 3-5 games? Fleet with the puck and hard to catch, solid defensively and making a lot of clutch plays.

Kristo and Haggerty really rubbed me the wrong way when I saw them late in the regular season, but they have picked it up and is playing solid PO hockey.

So is Crabb, Vaive and co too. Chris Bourque is previous MVP of a AHL PO and it shows too. Muller is an established franchise AHL forward. Allen, Kostka and Hughes are very good Ds by AHL standard.

I will stand by what I said in October, this HFD team is as talented as any HFD team I've seen since Shooter, Armstrong and Co raised the Calder Cup. Not as talented as that team, but the most talented team I've seen since it. They could end up playing late this year, which is great for us since we will have a taxi squad ready to go if needed. Hersey is decent too however, so they won't be a walkover. Far from it. They are really experienced too prepared to do what is necessary to keep playing.
 

Ola

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8 pts in 5 games for Lindberg vs Hersey.

Edit: 8 pts in last 5 and 5 pts in 4 games vs Hersey, thx trjx
 
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Trxjw

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Lindberg wrapped up the regular season with 20 points (12g/8a) in his last 19 games. After a shaky start against Providence, he came up huge in the final game and has carried that over into the series against Hershey with 5 points in 4 games. Looks like he's ready to make the jump next season.
 

Mikos87

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I've watched a period here and there and took the time today to watch last nights game.

Skjei finally won me over. I love how he is moving, the NCAA is a great place to develop in for sure and Skjei has kept developing since the WJCHs which I in all honesty thought he was pretty avg in.

In short;
-superb lateral movement defensively. Very good gap controll;


McIlrath is playing very solid top 4 hockey late in the AHL season IMO. I have nothing to complain on him on. Making a simple first pass quite well. Really strong infront of the net and along the boards. Has come a long way IMO since last year. Awsome to see.

Bodie is HFDs best D every time I see them lately. He has really stepped up compared to the regular season, building on the phenomenal PO run he had in College before turning pro. Despite his size, I don't want to count him out as a prospect. Can he stay healthy? Can he keep building on this game? Needs to be -- super super super -- poised with the puck to get to the NHL in like a Toby Enstrom role. But he is playing real well right now so its at least a start.

On Skjei: he's a real sexy skater eh? The first few games in the AHL he was nervous, and the confidence wasn't there... but he just leap frogged a bunch of guys in the depth chart once he settled in. He's an upper echelon NHL skater imo... I don't think the offense will be there, I don't think he's punish guys physically, but he can take away time and space and he knows it.

When he played in Minny he played on bigger ice, so I never really noticed that closing speed on a game by game basis... on smaller ice and in a tighter checking game it's much more effective. He's a big kid that moves like that... imo he's already better than John Moore. He actually ties up sticks and takes away lanes.

On Bodie & McIlrath as a pair; earlier this year they were crap together, absolute crap. But their respective skill sets really compliment each other well, and you see the McIlrath effect on Bodie.

Bodie was afraid of getting hit earlier, and would completely disengage at the threat of a bigger more physical player. Next to McIlrath he has the confidence that he isn't going to get run over and you see him playing with a lot more confidence.

McIlrath isn't a guy that has a really good transition game, and he needs a guy like Bodie to handle that. You see Dylan either chip it, quickly move it to his first option, or get it to Bodie who can let the play develop before making the pass.

A much better pairing than early in the year when they frequently had -3 outings together.
 

Bluenote13

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The Bears are a scrappy, dig in kind of team.



I see a lot of them, live about 20 minutes door-to-door from where they play.

Edge, would like to hear your thoughts on Lindberg.


Lindberg wrapped up the regular season with 20 points (12g/8a) in his last 19 games. After a shaky start against Providence, he came up huge in the final game and has carried that over into the series against Hershey with 5 points in 4 games. Looks like he's ready to make the jump next season.

Can he make the jump next series if the pack are out ? :D
 

Beacon

Embrace the tank
May 28, 2007
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Can Lindberg make the jump next series if the pack are out ? :D

Lindberg is essentially half a year behind Fast. Not identical players by any means, but both are smart two-way guys. Lindberg is ready if the Rangers need him, but rather than have him sit in the press box, it's better that he plays as a 1C in every situation in the AHL playoffs. If the season was just beginning instead of being in the second round of the playoffs, Lindberg would be in New York right now.

You better learn to love vanilla with him. He's even more vanilla than Fast. But personally, I like smart, high-IQ two-way vanilla. Gives me fewer heart attacks during the game than the opposite type of player (e.g., Del Zotto) does.
 

Edge

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Edge, would like to hear your thoughts on Lindberg.

Lindberg has been a personal favorite for several years now - I've always liked his game. His offensive upside has always been the main question mark and so it was hard to say if his upside was a third liner, or more comfortably a fourth liner.

However, his offensive game has looked good in the AHL - though probably not quite top 6 at the NHL level. However, I think he will bring some offense to the NHL level and I'd be pretty surprised if he didn't play at the NHL for a pretty long time.

If you're talking projections, I can see his long-term upside being in the same range as Dom Moore. He'll never wow anyone, but he's got a valuable skill set that a lot of teams like - solid defensive play, would certainly help on faceoffs and (if) he can show a knack for chipping in a few points, he's exactly what you're looking for in your bottom 6. He also seems to be a little bit bigger and stronger than his listed 190 pounds would indicate.

I think he's done what you'd expect a "long term" prospect to do - he's developed each year and improve his overall game. Though he never reached blue chip status, he has the tools to be an NHL player for the next 10-12 years.

I think he's also versatile enough to shift lines as needed to help his team. He can probably not look out of place playing alongside most players.
 

Matz03

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McIlrath isn't a guy that has a really good transition game, and he needs a guy like Bodie to handle that. You see Dylan either chip it, quickly move it to his first option, or get it to Bodie who can let the play develop before making the pass.
Sounds like a perfect partner for Yandle.
 

Matz03

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He would be... would also give Yandle confidence that a guy will lay down the punishment if an opposing player were to make Yandle feel vulnerable out there.
I really think Yandle is either playing hurt or his confidence is just so low knowing Boyle is on his right, or maybe even both. I'd love to see a McIlrath and Yandle pairing next season, reminds me of Leetch-Beukeboom lite.
 

Mikos87

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I really think Yandle is either playing hurt or his confidence is just so low knowing Boyle is on his right, or maybe even both. I'd love to see a McIlrath and Yandle pairing next season, reminds me of Leetch-Beukeboom lite.

He had a stomach flu in the last series, he just has to elevate his game. I'm hopeful that he can do it, but I do think having a monster next to him will give him free reign.

Leetch was a hell of a player, but he did play his best hockey next to Beukeboom.
 

nyr2k2

Can't Beat Him
Jul 30, 2005
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Pack in Hershey tonight at 7 EST. The series is tied 2-2, so this is a big one. Win tonight and they can close it out at home in Game Six on Friday. If we advance we'd play Manchester. They can really score. Jordan Weal. AHL veteran Brian O'Neill. Shore. This big kid Michael Mersch has been tearing it up in the playoffs. Good goaltending as well with Bartosak and JF Berube.

The AHL playoff scheduling sucks. Rockford and Grand Rapids have only played two games of their series, whereas Manchester and SWB finished their series in five games last night.
 

Ola

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On Lindberg, looking at what he does well, he is kinda like in the Jonathan Toews mold in that he won't dazzle people with the most flashy stick move, nor is he the fastest or strongest player. But when things is said and done he can still be the player that gets the last word so to speak...

One thing that stands out is that he thinks the game real fast and got a real quick release. You often see him score on shots that comes so fast that the goalie don't have time to set up for the shot.

He isn't entirely vanilla though, he has a bit of a good ol playmaking side to his game, but remember that the AHL game is really straight forward so there is little room and neither are your teammates really setting up for a player to take his time with the puck. That isn't the case in the NHL, although Lindberg probably won't see much of a role like that in the NHL.

Anyway, overall the downside with OL is that he don't quite have the intensity in his skating to be perfect in a Dom Moore II role. A player like that won't play with creative players and he can sit on the bench for long stretches, and often a coach will look for energy shifts from a line like this, so it's real good if you have a 4th line center like say a Darren Helm that just can turn on the Jets and drive the puck up ice and keep pressure on it. It's not a big issue for OL, but he is not an optimal 4th line C fit in general but OTOH depending on the linemates he gets he could be a great fit still in certain environments.

In terms of potential, I would be a little cautious capping his potential. This is a kid that still is improving and he has done that on a regular basis for some time now. He does a lot of things real well, before you know it he just gets the job done in a bigger role in the NHL too. But that's far from given of course...
 

Inferno

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Rangers next year...

Kreider - Hayes - Nash
Hagelin - Stepan - MSL
MZA - Brassard - Fasth
Sheppard - Moore - Lindberg
 

Matz03

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Rangers next year...

Kreider - Hayes - Nash
Hagelin - Stepan - MSL
MZA - Brassard - Fasth
Sheppard - Moore - Lindberg
Lindberg has some decent size too and I'd like to see him graduate. If the playoffs turn out like we all hope there will have to be some changes.

Nash-Brassard-Miller
Kredier-Stepan-MZA
Lindberg-Hayes-Fast
Haglin-Moore- Hrivik /Bourque

Many of the forwards can be bumped up or down and still fit. But that's probably a pipe dream knowing AV loves his vets. Too many green guys but I'd like to see something like it.
 

Inferno

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Lindberg has some decent size too and I'd like to see him graduate. If the playoffs turn out like we all hope there will have to be some changes.

Nash-Brassard-Miller
Kredier-Stepan-MZA
Lindberg-Hayes-Fast
Haglin-Moore- Hrivik /Bourque

Many of the forwards can be bumped up or down and still fit. But that's probably a pipe dream knowing AV loves his vets. Too many green guys but I'd like to see something like it.

i dont know how i lost JT Miller in that. im changing my lines.

Kreider - Hayes - Nash
Hagelin - Stepan - Miller
MZA - Brassard - MSL
Fasth/Lindberg - Moore - Lindberg/Fasth

man that 4th line is very very good.
 

nyr2k2

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If Lindberg makes the team I'd like to keep he and Moore on different lines. Lindberg may immediately become our best or second-best face off guy along with Moore, so it would be nice to have them as options on different lines. We'll see how it plays out though.
 

Inferno

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If Lindberg makes the team I'd like to keep he and Moore on different lines. Lindberg may immediately become our best or second-best face off guy along with Moore, so it would be nice to have them as options on different lines. We'll see how it plays out though.

or you could put em both out there on really tough assignments, and let the first guy cheat as much as he can, and if he gets tossed, youve got a great backup plan.

just a thought.
 

GAGLine

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i dont know how i lost JT Miller in that. im changing my lines.

Kreider - Hayes - Nash
Hagelin - Stepan - Miller
MZA - Brassard - MSL
Fasth/Lindberg - Moore - Lindberg/Fasth

man that 4th line is very very good.

Great, now all we have to do is figure out how to fit all those players under the cap.
 
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