Slowly but surely, he has all the makings to be a top of the line power forward in the mold of Wheeler.
Wheeler? Not to be contradictory but that's an odd comparison. First of all, Wheeler is very fast for his size. It's not even sure that Sokolov will be fast enough for the NHL. Also, Wheeler is more of a playmaker, Sokolov is more of a goal scorer, his best tool is his shot. And Wheeler is not really a powerforward, he uses his size to win battles in the corners and protect the puck but he doesn't really play like a power forward. I guess it depends of one's definition for that term
Is Sokolov playing like a PF? I haven't watched the last few games (decided it was too awful to watch), but in the first 4 games, I thought he was getting manhandled by smaller Laval players, I was actually very surprised by this but didn't think it would last though. Is Nick Paul a powerforward? I wouldn't say so even though he's strong as an ox and good luck to win a battle in the corners with him.
Finally, not to be pessimistic but I doubt Sokolov even comes close to become a Wheeler who has 423 pts in his last 423 games, PPG since 2015-16
I would be very happy if Sokolov learns to play like Nick Paul, and maybe bring more offense with his shot. Nick has a very good shot too but doesn't seem to have that many occasions to wire it.
Troy Mann talked about Sokolov the other day and offered a bit of an explanation of what you saw. He said that they have been throwing a ton of information at Sokolov so he has a lot to process. He said that in the first few games you could see Sokolov really thinking on the ice and that maybe his feet hadn't caught up with his head. He said since then Sokolov has got his feet going and that is why he is so successful at this point.
Thanks, didn't catch that
So you are now shifting to comparing the defensive ability of this team to average NHL teams ? The original point was comparing this team to last years team. I guess a year softens some people’s recollection of how horrible our D zone play was last year, constantly hemmed in our own zone multiple times a period zero breakout etc..
Forgot to answer this. Of course, our defense was still below average last year, but not as bad as this year in the sense that it was more structured and less prone to terrible giveaways in dangerous areas. I can tell you as a goalie that it's easier to make saves against a team cycling the puck/having OZ time than on BROKEN plays.
But admittedly, playing only these high scoring canadian teams doesn't help. That's why we are so outmatched on the road, playing against Toronto, Edmonton and Winnipeg big guns (Calgary, Vancouver and even Montreal also have guys that can hurt you)