Unfortunately, Appert is coaching Granato’s style to a T which means theres a definitive lack of physicality in the Amerks game. Its especially concerning for our prospects who are going to have this huge hole in their game going forward. Our next coaching regime will have to try to undo this mistake and we will be sitting here watching them struggle once again as our prospects weren’t properly developed and prepared to play a winning style of hockey.
I would be curious to see how well Appert would do with a directive to play a more rounded style of hockey. I’d imagine he would do well since to his credit and our detriment, he’s done an excellent job mirroring Granato’s coaching.
A coach can bring that out of a player if the raw material is there. I would ask whether the scouting staff had been focused on adding those types of 'glue' or 'sandpaper' guys in the later rounds, and are they developing? I see very few of those guys, and one JUST made it to the AHL. Lots of talk about trading our picks and prospects for help on the NHL roster. I would argue they should also consider prospect for prospect trades where they get some character that is further along in their development that came out of those same draft years of the players I mention below. Shift away from one prototype and slot in depth.
Do you really think Rosen, Kulich, Kisakov, Neuchev, Novikov, or RyJo have that in them? Give Appert (and I guess Donnie), something to work with.