Was an interesting game to be at. Attendance wasn't too bad for a preseason game with only a few veterans. I am getting used to the goal song (sort of) but I HATE that they changed the warm up song to something insipidly stupid.
Actually, I was pleasantly surprised with Girardi. Made some decent defensive plays. Didn't get out skated too much. Not afraid to block a shot or make/take a hit. Cooper did swap defensive pairs now and then, so Hedman was with most of the RD kids at one time or another during the game. The difference in his skill level and speed of decision making compared to the babies was soooo evident!!
Sergachev might prefer RD, but I thought his passes were rather awkward and/or sloppy. As the game went on, he became less defensively sound. Coburn had to bail him out a few times. Serg's performance on the PP also wasn't very impressive. He's got some serious skills but he's more raw than I'd expected considering all the hype. I wouldn't mind him staying up if he could get protected minutes on a 3rd pair with someone like Girardi (if Serg plays LD) or Coburn (if Serg plays RD). But if Cooper decides that Serg will play RD regularly, that complicates matters considerably considering Dotchin and Sustr are still around.
Strålman played LD with Dotchin or Witkowski on RD after Garrison went down and he did fine, but I don't think he likes it. lol Coby seems pretty comfortable on either side which is very good for flexibility in case of injuries. Not sure, but I always thought that Yzerman and Cooper prefer to keep Dmen on their natural shot side if possible. But it might be that tonight was a 'show us how good you are on RD' time for Serg. They've certainly given him loads of ice time to show what he can do.
Koekkoek just has not made much of an impression at all.
Peca was still aggressively attacking every chance he got.
But Volkov was simply amazing! Back when I watched him at Dev Camp, I said he was amazingly agile with a wicked quick release and ability to make the sneaky shot. He certainly showed that tonight. lol
For the rest of the vets, Coburn looked really solid and was skating very well. Defensively covered some prospect butts more than once. Killer was also not bad. Paquette was okay too.
Will be verrrry interesting to see what cuts are made tomorrow.