Lard_Lad
Registered User
Just got back from the game, 4-1 WHL. Pretty much what I expected based on watching them play the Q, the Russians were badly outmatched but the goalie kept them in it. A few observations:
Brent Seabrook - starting to remind me a lot of Scott Hannan when he was a junior - not spectacular, he just does a lot of things very well and very few things badly.
Shawn Belle - this guy was a first-round pick? He looked badly out of place tonight; most of the best Russian chances came with him and Mike Egener on the ice. Redeemed himself a little later in the game by stopping a partial breakaway, but overall I wasn't impressed.
Josh Gorges - I think this guy is going to be on those "undrafted guys who made the NHL" lists in a few years. Very steady, made a couple of mental errors but nothing serious, and contributed offensively.
Dion Phaneuf - had an Ed Jovanovski game: lots of high-risk/high-reward passes, some of which didn't work too well. I've seen him play better.
Jeremy Williams - a lot of fun to watch in the offensive zone. He's having a great year, too; the Leafs might have themselves a 7th-round steal here.
Nigel Dawes - third time I've seen him this year, and it's been the same story each time: he doesn't do anything obviously spectacular, but offensive chances just seem to happen when his line is out there.
Cam Ward - didn't get much of a workout, but I've seen him a few times now and still haven't seen much evidence to justify his elite status. So I'm starting to wonder.
Konstantin Barullin - Wow. Kept the Russians in the game for two periods. His concentration is amazing - he was handling screened shots and deflections as well as most NHL goalies do. Pretty good with the glove, too. Had some problems controlling rebounds, didn't handle the puck that well, and seemed to give up a little in the third - Gorges' goal was a soft one. But if the Blues can get him to polish those parts of his game, he might be a good one.
One final thing: at what point are the Russians going to clue in that they need to bring some physical guys on a tour like this? They got pushed all over the place tonight and didn't do a thing about it. There must be a few 17-year-old Andrei Nazarovs over there, why not bring one or two along and fight back a little?
Brent Seabrook - starting to remind me a lot of Scott Hannan when he was a junior - not spectacular, he just does a lot of things very well and very few things badly.
Shawn Belle - this guy was a first-round pick? He looked badly out of place tonight; most of the best Russian chances came with him and Mike Egener on the ice. Redeemed himself a little later in the game by stopping a partial breakaway, but overall I wasn't impressed.
Josh Gorges - I think this guy is going to be on those "undrafted guys who made the NHL" lists in a few years. Very steady, made a couple of mental errors but nothing serious, and contributed offensively.
Dion Phaneuf - had an Ed Jovanovski game: lots of high-risk/high-reward passes, some of which didn't work too well. I've seen him play better.
Jeremy Williams - a lot of fun to watch in the offensive zone. He's having a great year, too; the Leafs might have themselves a 7th-round steal here.
Nigel Dawes - third time I've seen him this year, and it's been the same story each time: he doesn't do anything obviously spectacular, but offensive chances just seem to happen when his line is out there.
Cam Ward - didn't get much of a workout, but I've seen him a few times now and still haven't seen much evidence to justify his elite status. So I'm starting to wonder.
Konstantin Barullin - Wow. Kept the Russians in the game for two periods. His concentration is amazing - he was handling screened shots and deflections as well as most NHL goalies do. Pretty good with the glove, too. Had some problems controlling rebounds, didn't handle the puck that well, and seemed to give up a little in the third - Gorges' goal was a soft one. But if the Blues can get him to polish those parts of his game, he might be a good one.
One final thing: at what point are the Russians going to clue in that they need to bring some physical guys on a tour like this? They got pushed all over the place tonight and didn't do a thing about it. There must be a few 17-year-old Andrei Nazarovs over there, why not bring one or two along and fight back a little?
