GDT: 2018 NHL Rookie Showdown (Sept. 7th-9th @ Place Bell)

[JungleBeat]

You wouldn't have enjoyed the games, Tkachuk was great.

(I know tone is difficult to convey online but this is intended as good natured ribbing).

Haha, yeah. Tkachuk was outstanding.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Watched the replay of the 1st game. On Logan Brown; He has to increase his pace... Keep the jump in his legs. Playing with Formenton who is lightening fast and Batherson who reads and reacts very quickly, Brown imo, had trouble keeping up with the pace.. On turn overs he's quickly become the third man. Batherson had that one nice move on the left side..off a pass from Brown and he just missed a couple other chances. I like his game. Let's hope he can adjust quickly, he should.
Chlapik and White it seems took turns taking faceoffs and playing C. Chlapik was on the right side on his off wing a number of shifts. Both looked good. I found White better on the draws than both Brown and Chlapik. Both were a step ahead in terms of read/react. I found White's stride to be pretty choppy .. more so than I saw before. He gets around pretty quick though.. I'd like to see him work on lengthening that stride a bit. Chlapik as someone else mentioned has to concentrate on staying on his feet. He is strong on the puck and is looking very close to ready. Formenton definitely stood out as expected. His speed allows him to be a factor. He just needs to get a little physically stronger. Tkachuk had a great debut. Lot's to like in his game and imo he's still quite raw. If he can be that dominant vs rookies .. I would expect him to tear up the OHL if he was sent there after 9 games. He is just at that awkward stage where he needs to refine and get stronger. We shall see where he ends up. Comparatively speaking , he could make the team in Ottawa, but I still think its rushing him and would rather it be in a year or later this year.

 

[HSF]

Brown and White will be more impressive in Pre season. They are guys who do well with structure

 

[aragorn]

Logan Brown plays a cerebral game looking for ways to take advantage of every situation. He looks slow because he plays with Formenton & Batherson who is also pretty fast. I say this so often but it needs to be repeated that Brown plays the game like Spezza, not at full speed but at a controlled speed & with his vision & IQ can spot guys almost anywhere on the ice at anytime. He's going to cough it up occasionally like Spezza used to with some wild passes but he will also make an amazing play occasionally. It takes all kinds of different styles from different players to put together a winning franchise & while most people want speedy players there is also room for Mark Stone & Logan Brown who play much more of a heady game. Tkachuk is not fast either but plays the game with great vision & tenacity & uses his skill set in & hockey IQ in a different way than Formenton. Both IMO are great to have & offers the team different ways of winning games.

Brown is NEVER going to wow you with speed or energy or a dogged determination but he will win puck battles with size, strength, reach & finesse & make remarkable plays out of nothing. I have said this from the beginning with Brown, it's between the ears & having a player like Stone play with him who also has a very high hockey IQ will only help his play. I can see Brown hitting Formenton on the fly for numerous breakaways, he is an excellent passer & playmaker like Spezza was although I'm not sure if he will ever put up the pts Spezza did but he has the potential to do so. I also think Brown could be the kind of player who will do better in the NHL than other leagues since he will play with players who are much smarter & think the game at his level. I'm not too worried about him after the rookie tournament his size & skill set will give teams plenty to concern themselves with him opening up room for others & it will be nice to have someone of his size with skill screening goalies on the PP rather than some 4th liner or defenceman.

 

[Xspyrit]

hey!!! you are not quoting the right guy

You were with me XD Have a good game today :p

But Kalrstrobe report is more complete than mine and i agree with what he said.

wow brain fart on my part, I was pretty tired lol

You're right, Karlstrobe report was pretty good too

Laval cant get people to watch unless the Habs are playing ... When this tourney was in London, it didnt matter who was playing the games were sold out

We were at the game and Habs-Sens was far from being sold out (capacity 10 000)

Sens-Leafs, there was not a lot of people but there was quite a lot of them with Sens gear, and even saw a lot of people cheering on the Sens who were not wearing Sens gear (myself included)

I don't know for Dorion. But Boucher and Crawford were there on Friday. I saw them in person. I shook Boucher and Crawford's hand.

Yeah and I changed the season destiny with what I said to Crawford

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

The box score on Tkachuk's first goal has Wolanin and Chlapik assisting .. I could have sworn that was White that passed it to Chlapik.

 

[Xspyrit]

Here's my report/notes finally. I was at the 2 games in Laval. Didn't put my focus on invitees much as I was focusing on actual prospects. First, the guys who only played the first game. I guess they were scratched as they also look the most NHL ready :

Tkachuk : Just drafted but is a physical specimen with the skills to go with it. The way he battles and use his body, the way he stickhandles through traffic, the way he sees/feels the game, he's born to be a hockey player. After a timid first 10 mins, he gradually took over the game and was the most impressive player in the end. He can do a lot of stuff that helps your team win and is quite entertaining. I think this guy will be an impact player for the Sens.

White : His game is complete/polished, he is not a high end talent that will put 70+ pts in the NHL but he makes a lot of positive plays all over the ice that will make him a coach favorite. He is capable of skilled moves that will allow him to rack up some points. This guy needs experience and to mature into his sophisticated game. He will be a NHL regular probably as soon as the season begins. A positive asset to have that shouldn't ever be too expensive, like a bigger and a bit more skilled Pageau.

Chlapik : Saw him on saturday in a suit, looked taller than 6'1. This guy is probably the hardest to assess. The question is how good will he be? If I would like to play it safe, I'd say a 40-60 pts player. Will he be a Center? The Sens seems adamant on playing him at that position. He is capable of highly skilled plays, very cerebral, great playmaker who sees the ice well and seems responsible defensively. He needs to continue getting stronger but I saw him being strong on the puck on many occasion, however in the NHL it gets harder and harder. Like others, he needs experience and know what to do and not do vs pros.

Wolanin : I was annoying with that guy, like "did you see what Wolanin did?" on many occasions... There's a reason I call him Wowlanin, some highly skilled plays, seems to have a knack for creating scoring chances with his passing/shooting/vision. If EK and Chabot can be efficient #1 and #2, and Wolanin #3, then Ceci more comfortable as a #4, then we might have a much better defense than people expect. But yeah, a lot rests on Chabot and Wow. I have faith in this guy.

Jaros : This guy is a rock, his hits seem to hurt real bad. He has also has a bomb of a shot. He needs to continue to clean his defensive game and improve his decision making. If he becomes more consistent, you have some kind of modern Volchenkov. Considering we have EK, Ceci, JBD in front of him, he won't need to be more than a 3rd pair guy, which could be an advantage.

Gustavsson : looked shaky and rusty at first, which is normal but looked more and more comfortable as the game went on. He made it look easy. Granted if it wasn't for the PPs the Habs got, he wouldn't have faced any quality scoring chance and IIRC only had 14 SOG in the whole game. Good on him that he was able to keep his focus in a boring game (for him). Difficult to have a deeper evaluation on just 1 game with so little action.


Guys who played the 2 games :

Brown : Didn't dominate, needs to improve his first 2 steps acceleration. Like others have hinted, this is a guy who would actually look better in a more structured game. I saw him deliver some nice hits, one that made his team regain possession but he needs to be able to find a way to impose himself physically to create space for himself and his teammates. Personally, I'd see him with Tkachuk and White, guys who create a lot of space themselves, allowing him to have the puck on his stick. That's when he can be good. But don't expect a prime Getzlaf, he is more a passive player like Spezza with superior vision and playmaking. If you can accept that, you won't complain too much on Brown, who should be a real asset on the PP. The plan should be to have a Duchene-Brown-Chlapik 1-2-3 punch down the middle in the near future, but probably not this year.

Formenton : his speed is such an asset, it's crazy. For offense, but also for defense. I saw him backcheck on a 2 on 1 that closed the threat pretty quickly. He has a sneaky snapshot that will catch goalies off-guard. I dream to see him and Pageau on the PK in the near future. He has all the tools to develop as an all around utility player, but the type that scores 20 goals and 20 assists but also make the other team rage. Seeing him live from a short distance, you can see that he has character too. Will be a huge fan favorite.

Batherson : The way he tied the game and won it in OT with the pass to Formenton is why he will also be a huge fan favorite. He is a guy that is always trying to create offense, sometimes it doesn't work and I guess he can get frustrated but with time and effort, it ends up in the net. He seems to have such a great drive and determination to become the best he can be, that's why it's impossible to determine his ceiling at this point in time. He reminds me of young Mark Stone, but faster and obviously not the same hockey IQ because Stone has probably one of the top in the NHL.

Luchuk : Wish I could have seen more for him, seems energetic, some skill, some agility but is a bit smallish. We have to see what he is able to do at the AHL level for a full season. He wasn't able to stand out in any of the games.

Sturtz : Another smallish guy, even smaller. But is quite determined, energetic and agile. He was provoking some stuff in the opposition zone.

Kelly :

Lajoie :

Hollett :

Mandolese :



OK I'm posting to not lose the info. Still have to finish it.

 

[Ouroboros]

The box score on Tkachuk's first goal has Wolanin and Chlapik assisting .. I could have sworn that was White that passed it to Chlapik.

There are a bunch of scoring mistakes here. You're right that it should be White getting the assist on the first Tkachuk goal.

The second assist on Burzan's SH goal should be Erkamps and not Aspirot as listed, and the second assist on Lyle's goal is Batherson and not D'astous. Lajoie should probably have an assist on the OT winner as well.

Not that it really matters.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

There are a bunch of scoring mistakes here. You're right that it should be White getting the assist on the first Tkachuk goal.

The second assist on Burzan's SH goal should be Erkamps and not Aspirot as listed, and the second assist on Lyle's goal is Batherson and not D'astous. Lajoie should probably have an assist on the OT winner as well.

Not that it really matters.

No it doesn't matter but it would be nice if they got it right. Players like to be credited with the points they get.