MN_Gopher said:
As far as Chucko goes. I ve seen almost all of the gopher games. I go to every Saturday home game. He gets better and better every time he plays. While it looks bad, well really bad, he will get back on D and has more than once been able to get his gloves down and try to block passes and play the man while skating backwards. Always keeps his head moving when in D zone to pick up forwards. On the O side he just plays like a bull. Drive hard and hit anything that is not a teammate. He works hard and it shows, his intelligence is there. But IMO power forwrds just take time, plus he is a year younger than most freshmen. If he gets his agility down i see him more of a first or very good second liner that plays PP.
Zajac: Seen him on TV twice and if NoDak makes it to final five i ll see him live. He looks good out there. At time he looked like the best player for NoDak. Did drive net hard and got a tip goal. Probally would benifit from better finishers around him, Solid passer too.
Who is better i do not know. If Chucko becomes a real power forward i give it to him. Right now i say Zajac.
Thanks for the unbiased observations. I too have seen a lot of Chucko and a little of Zajac, but I come at it as a UND fan instead. Chucko has been better than I expected. Right now the best thing about him is that he is good at using his body, which is not as common as it sounds. He goes into the corner, hits the opponent to create space and win the puck, and then moves the puck. As he fills out, he will be a monster in college and will rarely lose in the corners. His hands aren't great now, but he is young. How his coordination comes along as he matures will tell the tale of his top-end.
I hear from people who have seen a lot of UND games that Zajac has been a work of art in his own zone this year. His offense has been spotty (as has the whole team's), but he has never stopped working and has been real responsible all over the ice. A comment made earlier that Chucko might be ranked higher because the rankers value "more than just offense" suggests Zajac is some kind of Spehar-like cherry-picker. Nothing could be further from the truth. This kind of uninformed homer commentary from a UND basher helps no one understand the players.
As for Stafford/Zajac, I guess I understand that Stafford has proven himself at the WJC. However, when they play side-by-side every game, it's hard not to think you have a good basis for a comparison. For the next season-and-a-half, I'd rather have Zajac than Stafford on my college team.