Well, I'll try and throw out some positive news this morning. Jaret Anderson-Dolan. Color me impressed. Hard to believe he is only 18. Yes, he is not a big kid, looks like about 5-11 or so. But he can play. For a kid in his first pro game that matters, he looked like he's played for a couple years already at this level. Spacing, IQ, speed, skating, grit, passing skill, defensively responsible, plays without hesitation or fear, even physical. Really caught me off guard. Very noticeable. Played some shielded minutes late in the game, but not unusual for Stothers when we were in the process of a playoff clinching game. Compared to say Eyssimont in his first two games, Anderson-Dolan was better. Noticeably better. Especially in the speed and pace of the way Anderson-Dolan plays. It's high level. In fact, Eyssimont was scratched last night.
Maybe even a bigger surprise to me was Steven Johnson. This was his first pro game. 4th round pick in 2014, Kings have until August 15th to sign him if they are interested. I think he is 6-0 or 6-1 and he's 23 I believe, needs to put on some weight, but he handled himself very well. His positioning all night was exceptional. Just a solid, quiet game. Looked better to me with fundamentals defensively than many of our D that have played here for some time. I didn't have very high expectations since he'd been here a few weeks but never drew into a game. Pleasantly surprised to report, albeit only one game, he looked pretty darn good. Let's hope we see more of him.
I try and keep expectations in check, and we'll need to see a lot more of these two guys, but acquitted themselves very well in their debut in a pivotal game where the Reign are fighting for home ice against their biggest rivals by far in the AHL.