Upperchucker
Registered User
- Oct 10, 2017
- 42
- 56
Playing for a new coach, especially after not being around to learn a new system, would be a detriment. Has he really been playing first line minutes and on the PP lately? The "team chemistry" thing sounds like Robbie Ftorek, and his weird and probably egotistic, use of Gretzky when he was with Los Angeles. The move to start taking faceoffs seems odd as well.
He doesn't appear to be getting first line minutes right now. I haven't been keeping track but it doesn't seem like he's on the ice as much. He's been on the PP1 some but hasn't really been noticeable during his shifts, which also seem to be shorter now too. I think the team has more guys with something to prove so they're putting in the effort to get noticed by scouts. He hasn't taken that many face-offs that I've seen other than when he's had to slide in when the ref boots the first guy.
Let me know what you guys want me to keep a watch on and I'll try and update you with what I see from his game. The really disheartening part is his passing has gotten much better from last year, but he's about a half stride ahead on his passes and his teammates don't always expect them. I'm not so concerned about the goal scoring since he's being double teamed so much, which leaves the rest of the team 4-3. With the rest of the team getting more looks and getting more scoring opportunities, teams are going to have to back off some.
I really hope he finds his groove because he was an absolutely awesome player to watch last year.