After Week 1

[Cousin Eddie]

Hey guys,
I've missed out on the conversations here over the last week but have seen all the games. Just curious of some of your opinions of the team and some individual reports of players. I'm wondering if my opinions are similar to yours.

For me:

Duchene. Hasn't been a better player on the ice for any team, any night. He's just beasting out there but is having some bad luck and bounces. If he continues to play this way he can finish at a ppg. The points will come.

Barrie: Very very impressed with his play. Comes to play every night. Makes some mistakes but it's expected with his style of play.

EJ: Same old EJ. Absolutely solid. He is our defense and our entire team would be screwed without him.

Everberg: Biggest surprise of the season for me. He brings the biggest effort on the team night after night. Deserves to be in the lineup when everyone is healthy.

Landeskog. Looks great, then looks meh. He's always a slow starter though so I have no worries.

Mackinnon: Only seems to care when he has the puck on his stick. He has all the skill in the world and will put up points but I really want to see more of an effort.

Mcginn: Brings his hard game. Very impressed with what he's brought.

O'Reilly: Ranges from bad to meh. Not sure what's going on with him.

Briere: What I expected. I'm fine with him in the lineup.

Iggy: He isn't a slow skater, but he has no quickness/agility. I can see some chemistry finally starting to develop with Dutchy and I love his leadership. I cant complain.

Tanguay: Looks lost.

Talbot: Great forechecker, bad at everything else.

Cliche/Mcleod: Wish they weren't in the lineup.

Malkin: Played well in his first game.

Hejda: Looks bad but then looks likes decent. Never exceeds decent.

Holden: I'd sit him out only for there's so many other guys that needs to sit before him.

Guenin/Wilson/Stuart: Painful.

Click to read more...

 

[The Shermanator]

Sounds about right.

Duchene has made a lot of terrible passes.

MacKinnon was never going to succeed with ****** Tangs and Briere.

Iggy has taken a lot of shots from distance. Still hasn't really had a good scoring chance.

 

[InjuredChoker]

duchene one isn't quite right, he's been avs best players so far but struggled against ottawa for example.

not sure if mcginn and iggy are the right wingers for him atm.

stuart has been somewhat passable on third pairing. or something like that.

but yeah, pretty much agree.

 

[Foppa2118]

I more or less agree with most of these though I'm fine with McLeod and Staurt has had some good moments to go along with a few bad ones.

I really disagree on MacKinnon though. I think he cares a lot when he doesn't have the puck. I think you're confusing this with him intentionally coasting more so he doesn't get out of position. He's thinking the game a lot when he doesn't have the puck, and he's trying to figure out where he needs to be positionally in different settings. Pretty soon he won't have to think as much and will just react quicker because he'll have more confidence in his reads.

We saw how quick of a learner he was last year. I think he'll figure out how to balance his defensive responsibilities at center with being aggressive offensively quicker than people think. I've said this before but I wouldnt at all be surprised to see him become better defensively than Duchene by the end of the year.

 

[the_fan]

defense is still bad.

 

[Avs71]

I'm surprised people are happy with Barrie. I think people are too tantalized by him skating the puck to the other team's corner. To me, he hasn't done much at all. He is good for one or two rushes a game, but other than he is so soft defensively, can't win any battles, and hasn't been sparking the scoring.

Mitchell is showing why it was correct to give him a 3 year deal.

I actually don't think Johnson has looked that great so far either. He's good defensively, but hasn't brought that same offensive skill he was showing in the majority of last season. Perhaps it's because Holden is next to him and he is holding back similar to when he couldn't trust his partners. He's playing a crazy amount too now though. (27:40, 24:20, 26:27, 24:56, kicked out, 22:50).

Guenin was benched last night in the 3rd. Hopefully that is a sign of things to come. I thought him shooting it over the glass was going to be the final straw, but he managed to get into another game after that. When the team is 1-4-1, some changes should be made. Swapping the third pairing won't be the big difference maker, but it might create a little more speed.

People are harping on Iginla everywhere I read, but he looks fast on the forecheck, and him and Duchene make lots of quick short range passes. The chemistry is coming for those two. Agreed that he isn't agile, but he is definitely still quick.

Duchene is so snake bitten it's crazy. He should have around 5 or 6 goals by now. That, or he just isn't a natural scorer.

I think this team just lost its way. They're not a big physical team. They're not a quick skilled team. They're caught in between with guys being too far in the extreme one way or the other. Not sure if that's something that will mould together as the season goes on but it's like the team is divided into two. The only players who really fit both descriptions are Landeskog, Johnson, Iginla, and McGinn.

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

Duchene looks like elite player in this league, he could have gotten 4 goals vs Habs alone. Amazing player.

 

[Miri]

I wish we have kept Stastny and did not monumentally feck up the chemistry of our offense the way we did. In other words, dont fix whats not broken, and the offense was one thing that worked awesome last year.