GDT: Blues vs. Ducks| FSMW, 9pm|Please, No One Else Get Hurt

[Eldon Reid]

Husso has not been very good overall. The first two goals were pretty soft, and he looked awkward on that 4th one. He often looks shaky at the beginning of the game before settling in, but he doesn't really look like an NHL-caliber goalie right now. I wonder if we have the roster space to give Hofer a start at some point in the season. They could probably manage 3 goalies on the active roster with all the injuries.

Nice to get the win, but we shouldn't celebrate barely beating a Ducks team that was missing its top 2 defensemen. Great to see Joshua get rewarded with his first NHL goal. I thought he looked good out there, and a rookie getting his first goal in his first game is a nice little storyline to fire up the boys. A couple observations:

Sanford - Another great game as he's reminding people why he keeps getting chances to make a difference. Notice who Berube had on the ice in the final minute: ROR, Sundqvist and Sanford. That's how highly the coach thinks of his defensive game. Fans need to get off Sanford's back, because he's turned into a useful player even when not scoring (which thankfully he is finally doing). He was looking pretty shaky for a little while, but looks pretty locked in right now.

Scandella - He's another guy who needs a break from fans. He deserves credit for his strong play at both ends in these last two games. Probably our best defenseman in the past two games along with...

Dunn - He's been great since sitting out that game. I don't think I've seen him play such a strong overall game before. Nice to see him playing with confidence and making the right plays.

Schenn - I feel he sometimes gets lost in the shuffle, but he's been outstanding this season providing strong 2-way play and making things happen on a regular basis. Led Blues forwards in ice time as he's taking on a bigger role with all the injuries.

Clifford - Man, what a great signing he has turned out to be. Far from a useless plug, he's contributing offensively and now even on the PK. I hope they bring him back next year, he's such a good fit on this team.

Agree with all of this.

This is the Sanford I want to see. If he has bad game here and there, I can deal with it, but this is how he needs to play more.

On Clifford, Blues signed him to 2 year deal so he will be back next year.

 

[Reality Czech]

Agree with all of this.

This is the Sanford I want to see. If he has bad game here and there, I can deal with it, but this is how he needs to play more.

On Clifford, Blues signed him to 2 year deal so he will be back next year.

Aha, I guess I just had it in my mind that he had signed a 1-year deal. Good to hear! Judging from his reaction he may have been more excited about Joshua's goal than Joshua was.

 

[Blueston]

For ex. Not you

Looks like I nailed it.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

Husso has not been very good overall. The first two goals were pretty soft, and he looked awkward on that 4th one. He often looks shaky at the beginning of the game before settling in, but he doesn't really look like an NHL-caliber goalie right now. I wonder if we have the roster space to give Hofer a start at some point in the season. They could probably manage 3 goalies on the active roster with all the injuries.

Nice to get the win, but we shouldn't celebrate barely beating a Ducks team that was missing its top 2 defensemen. Great to see Joshua get rewarded with his first NHL goal. I thought he looked good out there, and a rookie getting his first goal in his first game is a nice little storyline to fire up the boys. A couple observations:

Sanford - Another great game as he's reminding people why he keeps getting chances to make a difference. Notice who Berube had on the ice in the final minute: ROR, Sundqvist and Sanford. That's how highly the coach thinks of his defensive game. Fans need to get off Sanford's back, because he's turned into a useful player even when not scoring (which thankfully he is finally doing). He was looking pretty shaky for a little while, but looks pretty locked in right now.

Scandella - He's another guy who needs a break from fans. He deserves credit for his strong play at both ends in these last two games. Probably our best defenseman in the past two games along with...

Dunn - He's been great since sitting out that game. I don't think I've seen him play such a strong overall game before. Nice to see him playing with confidence and making the right plays.

Schenn - I feel he sometimes gets lost in the shuffle, but he's been outstanding this season providing strong 2-way play and making things happen on a regular basis. Led Blues forwards in ice time as he's taking on a bigger role with all the injuries.

Clifford - Man, what a great signing he has turned out to be. Far from a useless plug, he's contributing offensively and now even on the PK. I hope they bring him back next year, he's such a good fit on this team.

Excellent post.

 

[Vladys Gumption]

Caveat that I don’t want to be overly critical of a rookie still getting his feet under him, and that I defer to the opinion of those who’ve actually played goalie and have an eye for this stuff...but I don’t see Husso settling down like you describe.

To my untrained eye, he has his glove low or just not good with it a lot. He seems to be going down too early, because opponents seem to be trying to beat him up high, frequently with success. Finally, too many rebounds (partly a function of the glove hand weakness) into dangerous areas.

Does he have a high level of play lurking behind this? Hell if I know. But so far I haven’t been particularly encouraged.

In my admittedly limited viewings the biggest issue jumping out to me is how slow he has been to read/react.

He seems to be struggling with the speed of the game. So he’s behind in his reads, which leads to him having to scramble and flop around.

I’d really like to see him work on his authority in the net and settle his movement and positioning. How much of this is just him being nervous versus how much is just him not being capable I’m still not quite sure.

 

[GoldenSeal]

In my admittedly limited viewings the biggest issue jumping out to me is how slow he has been to read/react.

He seems to be struggling with the speed of the game. So he’s behind in his reads, which leads to him having to scramble and flop around.

I’d really like to see him work on his authority in the net and settle his movement and positioning. How much of this is just him being nervous versus how much is just him not being capable I’m still not quite sure.

The team is playing so atrocious that it might be totally throwing him off. Our D-Corps has seen much better days... Binny has a Cup and was brought in when we had a more solid and established D-First identity and had that going for him as he adjusted. (tbh I don't think Binny didn't need that much adjusting.)

I'd send him downstairs for a few games to get himself together, bring him up and see if that helps. I personally think he needs more time and that he's not ready yet.

It's crazy in that Husso was originally the big touted goalie of the future and Binny was a maybe. Crazy how things work out.

 

[ezcreepin]

Agree with all of this.

This is the Sanford I want to see. If he has bad game here and there, I can deal with it, but this is how he needs to play more.

On Clifford, Blues signed him to 2 year deal so he will be back next year.

Sanford is one of the weirdest enigma's I've ever seen on a sports team. His lows are ECHL lows, his highs are top 10 player highs. I want to like him, but I can't find any stats that suggest he's a good pk'er or a good defensive forward. I'm not saying that there aren't any numbers, I just can't find them or access them.

Having said that, he has been surprisingly good near the net this year compared to the league
--> IcyData » Zach Sanford Stats
If you check out the heat maps this year for Sanford, he's scoring or getting chances near the net at a pretty high rate. Like, it's the only place he's getting chances. If he can start getting better at tipping pucks and just generating more chances with shots or something, then I think he would be extremely valuable. But that's the thing, he's not necessarily doing that right now but rather had a stretch of games where he's been on. If he can take that next step fairly late into his young career and become a much more consistent player, then I'll be happy with him. Otherwise he's just going to die out quietly and probably retire early because he becomes ineffective.

 

[Vincenzo Arelliti]

Sanford's success around that net comes partly from his willingness to go there (which fluctuates), and his ability to just happen to be in the right space at the right time. I don't think Sanford ever finds that consistency, and I do not think he will get any better than he is currently. He's not a bad player to have, but because of how deep this team is when healthy, and how important it is in this system to have players that don't actively hurt you defensively, we just can't afford to have him in the top-6.

We need a player that can drive and park in front of the net, though, which is why I would be very interested in upgrading to Arviddsson, getting Detroit to retain on Mantha+Svechnikov (seriously, Mantha is turning into a buy-low Dubois-type situation). Not likely to happen, but those would be moves I would be interested in making. I really think that's the only thing this team is missing (besides being healthy; getting Parayko back likely means we get vintage Krug, too) to really go deep.

 

[Blueston]

Sanford's success around that net comes partly from his willingness to go there (which fluctuates), and his ability to just happen to be in the right space at the right time. I don't think Sanford ever finds that consistency, and I do not think he will get any better than he is currently. He's not a bad player to have, but because of how deep this team is when healthy, and how important it is in this system to have players that don't actively hurt you defensively, we just can't afford to have him in the top-6.

We need a player that can drive and park in front of the net, though, which is why I would be very interested in upgrading to Arviddsson, getting Detroit to retain on Mantha+Svechnikov (seriously, Mantha is turning into a buy-low Dubois-type situation). Not likely to happen, but those would be moves I would be interested in making. I really think that's the only thing this team is missing (besides being healthy; getting Parayko back likely means we get vintage Krug, too) to really go deep.

There's nothing wrong with this team that full health can't cure. We REALLY miss Parayko and Schwartz in particular.

 

[Vincenzo Arelliti]

There's nothing wrong with this team that full health can't cure. We REALLY miss Parayko and Schwartz in particular.

The powerplay and lack of goals from in tight worry me.