GDT: CAPS @ CANES

Lempo

Future Considerations Truther
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Feb 23, 2014
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I do not like this comment.

I love it
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Boom Boom Apathy

I am the Professor. Deal with it!
Sep 6, 2006
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A few observations from the game. Overall, a very sloppy game, but still fun to watch.

1) Aho has not looked good 2 games at C now. Still only preseason, but hasn’t looked good. Wallmark will likely make the team because of it.

2) Teravainen is going through the motions. Maybe because it’s preseason, but he’s invisible.

3) after struggling the 1st period, fleury was very good in the 2nd and 3rd. Liked what I saw after the first.

4). Svechnikovs passing is incredible. He makes split second decisions and finds the open guy and puts the puck on his tape. Uncanny how well he does this.

5). Foegele, enough has been said, no way he doesn’t make the team. He’s such a disrupter and constantly is on the cusp of getting a breakaway.

6). I didn’t think the Faulk/ CDH combo was as bad as some made it out to be. I could tell they are still getting used to each other, but they recovered well. I think they will be ok. They both made some very good plays as well.

7). Necas is going to be good. Made a few rookie mistakes with some ill advised turnovers, but that’s youth.

8) Williams had to stop that idiotic play where he is along the boards in his own zone and tries the no look pass to nobody in the center of the ice. Saw it twice tonight resulting in a turnover/ contested puck.
 

Canes

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Oct 31, 2017
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An Oblate Spheroid
I feel like most of the veteran forwards have been basically invisible. Maybe it's because of them knowing it's just preseason and not going 100% since they know they have a roster spot and just want to be healthy, maybe it's because they're trying to develop some chemistry with the younger guys, or maybe a bit of both. The young guys have been the best forwards so far.

Defense has been outstanding. Obviously some d-men have been better than others but I'm not too down on any particular guy's play.

The goalies will have no excuse other than themselves if they're bad behind this defense.
 

My Special Purpose

Registered User
Apr 8, 2008
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1) Aho has not looked good 2 games at C now. Still only preseason, but hasn’t looked good. Wallmark will likely make the team because of it.

2) Teravainen is going through the motions. Maybe because it’s preseason, but he’s invisible.

IMO, these two are connected. RBA is experimenting with a lot of stuff early in the preseason, but I think TT and Aho will end up together. Roddy is just trying to see if anything else "clicked." I think it's safe to say it hasn't. It's probably not fair to have tested Aho at center without his security blanket on his left wing, but whatever. We probably should give Aho a game or two with TT before we conclude the Aho-to-center project a failure.

But after three preseason games, I think we're starting to see what we have. As nice as it's been to win, our center issues are clearly not going to fade neatly into the background. If Aho does need to be a winger again, the lines just do not shake out neatly. For the purposes of this exercise, I'm going to go with a center group of Staal, Necas, Wallmark and Martinook. It's not pretty, but it's what we have.

Zykov - Staal - Svechnikov
Teravainen - Necas - Aho
Ferland - Wallmark - Williams
Foegele - Martinook - McGinn

This puts the situation in pretty glaring relief. Five rookies and only *one* experienced center. I love our players, especially the young guys, but it's going to be tough for any team constructed like this to compete over 82 games. Waddell really needs to work some magic in the coming days and weeks. (Martinook played most of 2016-17 at center for Arizona and had a pretty decent season (11-14-25) but the jury is clearly still out on him as a center.)

On defense, I really just don't like Justin Faulk. I don't think he pairs well with de Haan. I don't think he pairs well with anyone. He's Skinner of the defense. In my perfect world, he's traded with a guy like Saarela and a pick for Duchene, but that won't happen. In my next reality, we dress seven d-men like Lavi did almost all of 2005-06 and use Faulk as an offensive/power-play specialist and maybe stick him with de Haan if we fall behind early. (If we do this, I have no problem sitting McGinn or Martinook on a fairly regular basis.

Slavin - Hamilton
de Haan - Pesce
Fleury - van Riemsdyk
Faulk
 

Vagrant

The Czech Condor
Feb 27, 2002
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random observations

1. when asked about the difference between a guy like laine and svechnikov, the pass on the zykov goal is an example. orlov attempted to pressure the puck carrier and drifted too high to recover. by the time svechnikov got the puck, there was a 2 on 1 situation with the isolated defenseman. svechnikov drew him in with the shot and slid the pass over with enough pace to make sure the defenseman that got caught high in the zone wouldn't be there to recover. maybe it's not enough to appreciate without watching the replay, but you should if you have doubts about this kid as a full on offensive threat and not just a shooter. a high number of players look the goalie off and try the lower percentage shortside post. pure shooters never pass there for better or worse. it even sounds like they picked up someone telling him to shoot on the broadcast mics. he waits the extra second and puts it right on the doorstep. he knew where he wanted to go the whole time. impressive.

2. zykov is playing like a guy who knows exactly what he's being asked to do. that's how you make the stick puck team. he's winning so many individual position battles against defensemen without the puck and putting himself on the right side of the play with the defense to his back. he knows most of his goals at this level are going to end with him taking a crosscheck to the back and he's there for it.

3. foegele. he has some really fast hands to go with his skating. you can't project a lineup without him at this point. it's glaringly obvious he's an nhl player and it feels uncomfortable to cap him at any obvious stereotype offensively. if someone asked me to project his long term future there wouldn't be an answer i was totally comfortable with giving. with the way he's playing right now, it's up to him.
 

Joe McGrath

Registered User
Oct 29, 2009
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I feel like seeing a bit more of Svechnikov, comparing him to Laine isn’t really viable. They are both goal scorers and #2 picks, but they are very different players. Laine has a BOMB of a shot. Svech is more about release than power.

I think Svech is more in the Jagr mold. I don’t think he’s going to be Jagr level obviously (who is?), but I think he’s going to generate a lot of offense for others. If he hits his potential I think he could be more of a 35-50-85 type as opposed to the 40-40-80 type I thought at draft time.
 

The Faulker 27

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Nov 15, 2011
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Sauna-Aho
Not reading too much into 3 preseason games, but the Center situation is hurting Aho. He and TT work well together in that capacity. He has center-esque qualities to his game, but I'm not convinced (and never have been) that position is in his wheel house. RB doesn't seem like the type of coach to stubbornly force a situation even if it isn't prudent, so we'll see how the rest of the preseason plays out. I wouldn't be surprised if Aho is moved back to wing.
 

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