Scratch Åberg there. I have zero faith he will ever produce in the NHL at this point.Hartnell looked decent next to Bonino, but hasn't been nearly as effective with Bones on IR.
If Fiala - Sissons - Smith works out,I'd like to see a bit more of that Hartnell - Bonino - Aberg line given a chance when they're all healthy.
i think his move he made against maata the pylon in the finals is giving him every opportunity. agree with you.Scratch Åberg there. I have zero faith he will ever produce in the NHL at this point.
For those bemoaning Hartnell's even strength play of late, you have to remember his linemates have been Jarnkrok and Salomaki. It would take some sort of miracle or a top end player to NOT look disappointing offensively with those linemates. I've been disappointed with Johansen so far myself, looks like he's going to start slow this year as well. Lots of ill advised cross ice passes that are being constantly intercepted, only 12 shots in 8 games and only 3 even strength points (all assists, of course) so far.
jarnkrok has shown zero ability to help wingers get scoring chances. neal suffered the same with him. hartnell is useful as a 3rd line winger and a body in front of net and on PP. there are a lot of more pressing issues than hartnell not producing ES at the moment with jarnkrok as his center. no one should expect a line centered by jarnkrok to produce.I didn't realize that linemates made one slow as ****. And I have more faith in Salomaki than Åberg.
I didn't realize that linemates made one slow as ****. And I have more faith in Salomaki than Åberg.
Salomaki has 13 points in 93 NHL games, including 0 for 6 this year.
Aberg has 8 points in 38 NHL games. Though just 1 for 5 this year. He's also developmentally a pro season behind Salomaki.
Aberg had high expectations this season, but how everyone is giving up on him after five games this year when the entire forward group after JoFA is barely scoring is beyond me.
We have a struggling group in flux this year. Fisher, Neal and Wilson are gone, Bonino is hurt.
So we found out so far that Aberg isn't going drive offense by himself, but this start hardly means that he doesn't have NHL skill and won't produce in the NHL. If our middle-six players were scoring at all I think Aberg is perfectly capable of being an effective third line scorer in the 30-40 point range.
I didn't realize that linemates made one slow as ****. And I have more faith in Salomaki than Åberg.
Hartnell has always been slow. In fact, he's in better shape this year than last after losing 15 pounds. Being slow didn't stop him from posting dominant even strength numbers in Columbus or Philly for that matter. Linemates that are lost and awful on offense will though.
303.. what's your view on emelin weber bitetto irwin? I'm calling them WIBE. maybe im a little critical of our guys but i can't find anything positive to say about any of them really.
I understand that, but Hartnell due to his slow speed, is more dependant on these guys. And I honestly thing Jarnkrok is the problem here. No matter where he goes this year (even last year for that matter) he's a black hole. Much like Olli Jokinen was in his short stint here.
We should look Jarny's numbers from last year. Who did he play with last year?
maybe i see things differently but i see irwin as our worst defenseman. i think bitetto should rotate as the 6/7 defenseman and girard should be in every night as we need puck movers. girard for sure in. josi, ekholm, subban, girard, weber, and then emelin. whenever one of weber or emelin struggles, plug bitetto in.sorry noneck, didn't see this.
a small part of the problem i think we have seen from some of our bottom d-men is the fact we have had to play some of the left handed dmen on their offhand side because of our shortage of right handed guys. (emelin, irwin, girard and ekholm all been forced to play on the right side at times because of the ellis/weber injuries). this tends to get them in trouble attempting to clear the puck and it's a nuance in positioning that sometimes causes mistakes.
part of the problem is that the 4 guys you mention all are weaker puck movers in general and need strong puckmovers as pair mates to hide that. and at times they have been paired up with each other which is asking for trouble.
part of the problem is of course we have been forced to play irwin and emelin 2nd pair type roles and minutes and they aren't 2nd pair type talents.
part of irwin and weber's trouble are they simply aren't that good lol.
i think the jury is still out on bitetto being a better third pair guy than irwin on the left side, but it looks like we think irwin is better.
with everyone healthy i think a third pair of emelin-weber might be passable. maybe.