2018-19 Utica Comets, Pt. VI
- Thread starter Bleach Clean
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Megaterio Llamas
el rey del mambo
Megaterio Llamas
el rey del mambo
TheAHL.com
Gaunce's last goal 02/17 vs Cleveland. 22 games. Talk about the tractor trailer going off the cliff.
7 assists since then. Seems like a long tome ago since he was Vancouver's first round draft pick. Must seem like it to him as well.
I'm sure he is glad it's 20 minutes away from being over.
Gaunce's last goal 02/17 vs Cleveland. 22 games. Talk about the tractor trailer going off the cliff.
7 assists since then. Seems like a long tome ago since he was Vancouver's first round draft pick. Must seem like it to him as well.
I'm sure he is glad it's 20 minutes away from being over.
Megaterio Llamas
el rey del mambo
Megaterio Llamas
el rey del mambo
vanuck
Now with 100% less Benning!
- Dec 28, 2009
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I could be wrong but I think everyone's production dropped down the stretch. MacEwen and Kero too for instance.
Well, it's over
Had some interesting times - the Saucer man's arrival and goal in the first game (only one he scored all season), the Dahlen he said, they said debacle, the Archibald trade, the Boucher scoring streaks and the a seemingly endless, frequently hard to spell, band of plugs brought in (most often fruitlessly) to fill holes in the lineup. I mean there was Cameranesi (boy was he bad), Anselmini, Petgrave, Wyszomirski, Thow, Dirk, Leighton, Vanderlaan, Stevenson, Gardiner, Reichenbach, Pratt, Thomas, Saucerman, Szmatula, LeCouvee, Kile, Watson, Manznec, and Kulbakov The one common thread being here that none of them were able to play well or (outside of maybe Saucerman, Kulbakov and Leighton) stick around long. This was just one indication of how injuries and untimely, and often useless, call ups torpedoed the Comets season once again.
From a Canuck stand point the season went awful.
The rookies were not ready at all. Lind showed some skill toward the latter part of the season but was absolutely physically manhandled leading to injuries and being pushed well out of the play. Gadjovich couldn't skate well enough to stay in the play, Jasek survived decently at times but was often gun shine and forced into many turnovers. Hopefully with a year under their belts they can compete better. Also, there was Palmu who was severely in over his head and utterly lost.
Dahlen looked a step slow and too slight to take the heavy going. Had some skill but didn't look like pro material at all. Eventually went to San Jose were he did little and was once again hurt. All the congratulating of Benning for making a great trade now seems the wishful thinking of the easily swayed or, more probably correctly, the ones that like to be swayed.
Gaunce played strongly through the middle of the season but then reverted to the lumbering, often non-involved player we have come to know. 38 points in 60 games, and complete fall off in production in the latter third of the year, is not begging for promotion and you'd think Gaunce should be done with the organization. But with the Dim One who knows.
On defense Chatfield was terrible and probably needed to be at lower level. Most of the ECHLers brought in outplayed him and most of those were poor players.
Joulevi also had significant problems. Showed some ability to find and hit the open man with the pass but was defensively poor. His skating looked sluggish and his pivoting was poor. He just didn't get to loose pucks quick enough to buy time to make a play. Teams could easily dump the puck in, get in on him and tie him up in the corner. Moreover, he was weak around his net and generally could not maintaining inside position. Benning may blow a lot smoke up people's rear ends to make himself look better and talk about how good Joulevi was, but if you watched him I think you saw very important, basic problems in his play. Again hopefully the off season injuries prevented Joulevei from showing his best but from what he showed this season he could well be a huge bust.
Only real bight spots were Brisebois who did improved and did show some NHL potential and the scoring of MacEwen. But even this has to be tempered by acknowledging that Brisebois has not shown much of any offensive upside and that MacEwen continues to have terrible plus/minus totals. Again the highest on the team and a testimony to some of his undisciplined, erratic play. Getting him to play good sound team hockey remains a issue. Might also appreciate the way Sautner overcame a brutal mugging and injury and showed some at the NHL level.
As for the Comets mismanagement continues to be obvious.
Keeping around trash players (and who cares about how good they are in the room) like Bancks, Hamilton, Darcy and others illustrates no concern for getting players you can build a team around. Moreover, the stupidity of not bringing in players that can protect the younger and smaller players is evident. Every year the youngsters and others get terribly run and the injuries are an on-going concern. One of the big problems with some of our prospects this year is that they were commonly banged around. It's hard to play when you getting nailed shift after shift. Having Schenn there made a big difference and really lifted the team during that part of the season. Question is why wasn't there a couple of players like Schenn from the start. That should be a priority.
Beyond this were mindless moves such as the non-papering of players to the minors and the waiving of a player like Beiga at the beginning of the season.
As far as the coaching goes I think Cull did ok with the hand he was dealt. The youngsters were not ready and playing them was usually senseless. He tried to seed them into the lineup as they developed but there was so little to work with. With Demko out and poor start to the season by Bachman, the goal tending was shaky although Kulbakov did better than expected. There were also, as mentioned, the countless injuries and call ups which prevented the coaches from getting more continuity and consistency in the team work.
If there was a key fault it was in management and the inability of the Canucks to provide better prospects to the team. Whether this changes for next season is an open question. There is some hope the defense can be better but there is little in the forward group that gives much hope.
Had some interesting times - the Saucer man's arrival and goal in the first game (only one he scored all season), the Dahlen he said, they said debacle, the Archibald trade, the Boucher scoring streaks and the a seemingly endless, frequently hard to spell, band of plugs brought in (most often fruitlessly) to fill holes in the lineup. I mean there was Cameranesi (boy was he bad), Anselmini, Petgrave, Wyszomirski, Thow, Dirk, Leighton, Vanderlaan, Stevenson, Gardiner, Reichenbach, Pratt, Thomas, Saucerman, Szmatula, LeCouvee, Kile, Watson, Manznec, and Kulbakov The one common thread being here that none of them were able to play well or (outside of maybe Saucerman, Kulbakov and Leighton) stick around long. This was just one indication of how injuries and untimely, and often useless, call ups torpedoed the Comets season once again.
From a Canuck stand point the season went awful.
The rookies were not ready at all. Lind showed some skill toward the latter part of the season but was absolutely physically manhandled leading to injuries and being pushed well out of the play. Gadjovich couldn't skate well enough to stay in the play, Jasek survived decently at times but was often gun shine and forced into many turnovers. Hopefully with a year under their belts they can compete better. Also, there was Palmu who was severely in over his head and utterly lost.
Dahlen looked a step slow and too slight to take the heavy going. Had some skill but didn't look like pro material at all. Eventually went to San Jose were he did little and was once again hurt. All the congratulating of Benning for making a great trade now seems the wishful thinking of the easily swayed or, more probably correctly, the ones that like to be swayed.
Gaunce played strongly through the middle of the season but then reverted to the lumbering, often non-involved player we have come to know. 38 points in 60 games, and complete fall off in production in the latter third of the year, is not begging for promotion and you'd think Gaunce should be done with the organization. But with the Dim One who knows.
On defense Chatfield was terrible and probably needed to be at lower level. Most of the ECHLers brought in outplayed him and most of those were poor players.
Joulevi also had significant problems. Showed some ability to find and hit the open man with the pass but was defensively poor. His skating looked sluggish and his pivoting was poor. He just didn't get to loose pucks quick enough to buy time to make a play. Teams could easily dump the puck in, get in on him and tie him up in the corner. Moreover, he was weak around his net and generally could not maintaining inside position. Benning may blow a lot smoke up people's rear ends to make himself look better and talk about how good Joulevi was, but if you watched him I think you saw very important, basic problems in his play. Again hopefully the off season injuries prevented Joulevei from showing his best but from what he showed this season he could well be a huge bust.
Only real bight spots were Brisebois who did improved and did show some NHL potential and the scoring of MacEwen. But even this has to be tempered by acknowledging that Brisebois has not shown much of any offensive upside and that MacEwen continues to have terrible plus/minus totals. Again the highest on the team and a testimony to some of his undisciplined, erratic play. Getting him to play good sound team hockey remains a issue. Might also appreciate the way Sautner overcame a brutal mugging and injury and showed some at the NHL level.
As for the Comets mismanagement continues to be obvious.
Keeping around trash players (and who cares about how good they are in the room) like Bancks, Hamilton, Darcy and others illustrates no concern for getting players you can build a team around. Moreover, the stupidity of not bringing in players that can protect the younger and smaller players is evident. Every year the youngsters and others get terribly run and the injuries are an on-going concern. One of the big problems with some of our prospects this year is that they were commonly banged around. It's hard to play when you getting nailed shift after shift. Having Schenn there made a big difference and really lifted the team during that part of the season. Question is why wasn't there a couple of players like Schenn from the start. That should be a priority.
Beyond this were mindless moves such as the non-papering of players to the minors and the waiving of a player like Beiga at the beginning of the season.
As far as the coaching goes I think Cull did ok with the hand he was dealt. The youngsters were not ready and playing them was usually senseless. He tried to seed them into the lineup as they developed but there was so little to work with. With Demko out and poor start to the season by Bachman, the goal tending was shaky although Kulbakov did better than expected. There were also, as mentioned, the countless injuries and call ups which prevented the coaches from getting more continuity and consistency in the team work.
If there was a key fault it was in management and the inability of the Canucks to provide better prospects to the team. Whether this changes for next season is an open question. There is some hope the defense can be better but there is little in the forward group that gives much hope.
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There is nothing that states how complete of a failure this years group of rookies were than the fact that the Comets did not even give out a Rookie of the year award...... The AHL chewed these kids up and spit them back out.....
Dab
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- Apr 17, 2017
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Basically a lost season in Utica.....apologists for the current management regime will chime in that the performance of the AHL farm team doesn't matter a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, as prospects like Hughes, Pettersson, Boeser and Horvat basically bypassed the AHL altogether.
But of course they'd be wrong. A strong AHL farm team churning out improving players is the key to organizational depth and critical to survival of the parent team over a long 82-game NHL schedule. When you look at this Comet roster, there's basically nobody they can call up, other than Sautner and Brisebois. And they're NHL-AHL bubble players at best.
So until, and unless, the Canucks do a much better job developing players in Utica who are primed and ready for the NHL, they'll be spinning their wheels. And you can add it to the list of failed trades; squandered draft picks; and terrible UFA signings that have landed the Canucks on the outside of the playoff ring five out of the last six years.
But of course they'd be wrong. A strong AHL farm team churning out improving players is the key to organizational depth and critical to survival of the parent team over a long 82-game NHL schedule. When you look at this Comet roster, there's basically nobody they can call up, other than Sautner and Brisebois. And they're NHL-AHL bubble players at best.
So until, and unless, the Canucks do a much better job developing players in Utica who are primed and ready for the NHL, they'll be spinning their wheels. And you can add it to the list of failed trades; squandered draft picks; and terrible UFA signings that have landed the Canucks on the outside of the playoff ring five out of the last six years.
Bitz and Bites
Registered User
Great post...this absolutely nails it.
It's almost unfathomable that Benning has been in NHL management for as long as he has and doesn't appear to have a clue about the basic building blocks of a successful organization.The guy is completely hopeless at even overseeing his AHL team,never mind managing the Canucks and the results back this up 100%.
The Canucks will be spinning their wheels for years. There is absolutely nobody on the Comets roster that can push the Canucks into the playoffs.
Vancouver will not sniff the playoffs for at least 2 more years. I can certainly wait to see what Benning will / or will not do to the Comets roster next year.
It is truly unbelievable how incompetent he is.
Exactly. I think a lot of posters underestimate the impact of not coming away with away with at least 1-2 NHL players out of every draft. This is exactly why scouts consider getting at least 2 NHL players out of the draft as a successful draft and why accumulating draft picks or at least not trading them away is important.
Some posters like to think of how many drafts Benning has had but in reality, normal progression has the 2016 draft class entering their rookie AHL seasons. Obviously, Lind and Gadjovich are from the 2017 draft class but prospects playing in their draft +2 season is more the exception than the norm. Combined with the fact that Canucks top picks have been able to jump straight to the NHL and the lack of draft pick accumulation, the Canucks' farm team isn't brimming with prospects.
We saw the effects this season. Basically with Juolevi injured and Lockwood in college, the Canucks have nobody from the 2016 draft contributing. With Boeser in the NHL and Gaudette called up, there's only Jasek and Brisebois contributing to the Comets. If Lind and Gadjovich can take massive strides forward next season things will look a lot better. Those college free agent signings on D should hopefully help the Comets as well.
UticaHockey
Registered User
You are correct in the fact that the more draft picks you have each year the higher the chances are that one or two NHL players will be developed each year. But Benning in his first few years traded away more draft picks than he acquired to fix the age gap on the Canucks roster.
A lot has been said about the lack of players being developed in Utica and the ice time the young kids received but not a lot has been mentioned about the fact that non first round picks typically take 2 - 3 years to develop. The coaches in the AHL can work with these kids to get them to be better overall hockey players and to improve their defensive game to the point that they can play in a system that a NHL coach will require them to be competent in. But the AHL coaches are not going to change the physical and skating skills mid season that many non first round draft picks are lacking. And when looking at the big picture the more games played as well as more ice time in the games can be counter intuitive to developing strength and skating skills. Both Ryan Johnson and Trent Cull stated in interviews during the first few months of the season that part of the development plan for some of the first year rookies was to spend more time working on strength and conditioning as opposed to playing in every game.
A common theme with Lind, Gadjovich, Dahlen and Palmu was their skating. Listen to the interview with Kole Lind below about the things he identified that he needs to work on this off season. "Skating, leg strength and power" He went on to say that he was often a half step behind the play this season. Those direct quotes from Kole Lind are nearly identical to what the people who watch every Comets game have been saying all season long.
Players like Lind, Gadjovich and Dahlen were never going to make the NHL during their first pro season. Palmu probably never will. They all need to work on their deficiencies before they are ready and that is a process that will take 2 - 3 years to complete.
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I am toxic
. . . even in small doses
Too wordy
BUT GILLIS!
5 seasons is just enough time to begin starting a plan that contemplates turning things around!
For every Bo Horvat who makes a quantum leap in his skating after junior, there's 10 players that never do. So if Lind, Gadjovich, Dahlen and Palmu were struggling with the pace in the AHL, then there are serious questions about the NHL futures.
And with the exception of Palmu, the other guys were all second-round draft picks, including Dahlen who was picked by Ottawa 43rd overall. But more than just those players, apparently skating is an issue for Juolevi in some people's mind.
When your first rounder and second-rounders are struggling to keep up, then somebody isn't figuring it out in the scouting department. What's really hard to figure out is that guys like Lockwood, Madden and Gaudette were all picked after round #2, and look to be far better skaters.
So somebody in the scouting department gets it as far as skating is concerned (probably Brackett). But as for the rest, what gives?
And with the exception of Palmu, the other guys were all second-round draft picks, including Dahlen who was picked by Ottawa 43rd overall. But more than just those players, apparently skating is an issue for Juolevi in some people's mind.
When your first rounder and second-rounders are struggling to keep up, then somebody isn't figuring it out in the scouting department. What's really hard to figure out is that guys like Lockwood, Madden and Gaudette were all picked after round #2, and look to be far better skaters.
So somebody in the scouting department gets it as far as skating is concerned (probably Brackett). But as for the rest, what gives?
Lindgren
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- Jun 30, 2005
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Ryan Biech at Canucks Army has a preview of who the Comets can expect to see joining the team next season.
Who will be joining the Comets next season?
Note to Ryan: proofread.
Who will be joining the Comets next season?
Note to Ryan: proofread.
Gadjovich's skating has improved quite a bit from the beginning of this season to the last couple weeks. You could see in the final games that he was much more physically engaged mixing it up infront of the net with opposing defenders and causing a lot of havoc with his size and strength. The progression is there with Jonah and if he keeps trending this way, look out. He'll be in the NHL soon.
vanuck
Now with 100% less Benning!
- Dec 28, 2009
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Never realized that MacEwen was Craig MacEwen's son! Don't know if this was ever posted but this is a nice interview with his dad on his journey to the pros:
The Journey To Pro Hockey From The Perspective Of A Parent, With Craig MacEwen
As a side note: MacEwen's 52 points this season were the highest of any prospect in their 22-23 year-old season or younger in the Canucks' farm system since Michael Grabner's 48 points with the Manitoba Moose... ten years ago all the way back in 2008-09.
The Journey To Pro Hockey From The Perspective Of A Parent, With Craig MacEwen
As a side note: MacEwen's 52 points this season were the highest of any prospect in their 22-23 year-old season or younger in the Canucks' farm system since Michael Grabner's 48 points with the Manitoba Moose... ten years ago all the way back in 2008-09.
vanuck
Now with 100% less Benning!
- Dec 28, 2009
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