Nielsen and Timashov were the most underwhelming players to me tonight, relative to expectations. Nielsen in particular, was pretty horrible.
Liljegren was pretty good. He had some great moments, particularly running the PP. He didn't really have the same jittery moments in his first game- where it's clear he was just getting used to the NA ice + clearly not used to the loose game + low quality of play.
Dermott was pretty good all night. One bad pinch that led to a odd man rush. Though that pinch is on him, the pass to set him up was terrible and set him up poorly regardless.
Hoburg was the player of the game. He played lights out all night, into O.T, and into the shootout.
Grundstrom was probably our best player. He tried to set up in his teammates on the cycle and they couldn't do much with his short passes...you could tell he's used to playing with better players (SHL). He created some great plays all by himself which led to some great scoring chances.
He has 2 goals in 2 games and has drawn some penalties
You may have a point there in terms of projecting him more favorably as a bottom 6, utility player. Maybe my expectations were not align with his skill-set. Still, I thought the other forwards (besides Grundstrom, maybe Bracco, and Dzierks- for his role) were underwhelming.
Timashov in particular is a guy with serious tunnel vision. Hasn't changed since last season with the Marlies but admittedly, I'm going off a one game sample size.
Our C depth this entire exhibition was pretty horrid as well...almost no impact up the middle. We are spoiled on the big team.