Prospect Info: With the #196 pick, Minnesota selects Dmitry Sokolov
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nickschultzfan
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- Jan 7, 2009
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All Fenton can do is hire the new AHL coach and fill out the roster. It's not like he's Crosby and moves in with Lemieux...
nickschultzfan
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- Jan 7, 2009
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Disagree. Team's get player individualized help all the time. We do not have many guys in the org that can score like him. Private skating, nutrition coach, trainer, film room, etc.
So the same thing they do or at least offer for every other player? All of that is pretty standard stuff even at the NAHL level (obviously not as good as what NHL/AHL can offer for trainers). But it's the coaches who do most of the determining on what players need to succeed, not the GM.
If this is something that needs to be handled by the organization's GM then he's a really bad GM. Assistant GM, AHL GM, AHL head coach, AHL bench coach, AHL positional coach (probably some VPs along the way too) are all the people that should be taking care of these things well before GMPF has to concern himself with a single prospect who's already been signed.
nickschultzfan
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No not normal treatment. Make this guy a mission for development.
DeagleJenkins
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He looks like he has decent speed once he gets going. I have not seen him in person though.
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Danila Yurov Fan Club Executive Assistant
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Does have good top end speed. His first few steps are not pretty. That, however, is 95% of the time due to a lack of strength and conditioning. If he commits himself to training, the only thing that will hold him back will be defense.
DeagleJenkins
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If the only thing holding him back is acceleration i can deal with that. Like McBain that is teachable i can live with waiting for him to learn that in Iowa while his deadly shot still remains intact.
Props to him on the finish, but he'd never get away with that in the nhl... that was some crappy defense lol
Jesus comma Brodin
Effing Norris-Byng Brodin
Oh I don’t know. I think he’d get away with it... In practice going 1 v 1 against Bittetto.
Spurgeon
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OT winner against the Kings right off the opening faceoff.
Nice recall, that goal looks almost identical.
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Defense was a bit further apart, and Granlund caught them flat footed in OT. So it was 3 on 3.
That was crap defense by the Kings too, but 3 on 3 is barely hockey.
BagHead
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It was crap defense, but against Kopitar and Doughty, who are/were definitely two of the best defensive players at their positions. Just goes to show that sometimes even great defenders make mistakes, and sometimes very skilled players can make them make mistakes.
I think Sokolov is pretty darn skilled offensively. Probably not as good at puck handling or skating as Granlund, but definitely bigger and stronger, and he's no slouch with puck handling, himself. We've seen Sokolov do that play at every level he's played at, I have to think it's possible he'll do it in the NHL (if he ever makes it). It was really clear in that video how slow he is, though. Reminded me a little of Brunette dangling Roy.
Iowa lists him as 205. I thought I had saw that in juniors he was as high as like 220 or something? But it was fat.
I came here to say he needs to cut some more weight and get a skating coach this summer. IDK 205 for him may be light- I could be wrong. Though he be able to re-partition his weight. Leaner, more muscle, less fat.
Point is, he needs to really learn how to skate better. In today's NHL he cannot keep up. AT ALL. He will be a major liability in the defensive zone.
I don't need him to become super agile, but he needs to seriously increase his first few steps and his total speed.
I do not doubt, not for a second, that Sokolov with 'average' speed and a willingness to even pretend to play defense can score serious goals in the NHL. One timer city, wrister death. He's got it all. Ultra heavy shot. And accurate.
But he's gotta skate.
I came here to say he needs to cut some more weight and get a skating coach this summer. IDK 205 for him may be light- I could be wrong. Though he be able to re-partition his weight. Leaner, more muscle, less fat.
Point is, he needs to really learn how to skate better. In today's NHL he cannot keep up. AT ALL. He will be a major liability in the defensive zone.
I don't need him to become super agile, but he needs to seriously increase his first few steps and his total speed.
I do not doubt, not for a second, that Sokolov with 'average' speed and a willingness to even pretend to play defense can score serious goals in the NHL. One timer city, wrister death. He's got it all. Ultra heavy shot. And accurate.
But he's gotta skate.
DANOZ28
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vanek had a successful career and he was no speed swede. im excited to see a wild 3rd line kaprizov / xxxx / sokolov. could be very interesting to watch.
Sokolov may well be a slower skating Aberg if we move him up to the NHL. He needs at least another season in the AHL to show, and improve on, what kind of game he has. I have very low expectations, unfortunately. The fact that he was sitting on the bench and playing down the lineup hints that there is something off about his game, even at the AHL level.
Vanek had some unreal qualities about his game, and he also played his prime years not in this current NHL.
I understand what you mean, and it's true a player can succeed without having to be really fast, but it's becoming very limited in the NHL today. Sokolov needs to become obsessed with his fitness and speed numbers if he is to progress to this level.
DANOZ28
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And that in itself is a Red flag. There is a ton of players who will do ANYTHING to make the NHL. Most coaches are looking to win. If Sokolov gave them a better chance to win by him playing, then he'd be in there.
Having said that, I don't think that is the case. I don't see a young player uprooting himself from his home country, then living up in Sudbury and going through the junior hockey grind, unless he "wants it". Maybe he just doesn't know how to work hard. Maybe he just isn't very smart. You don't have to be a genius to be a good hockey player, but you do have to have street( or rink) smarts.
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