First impressions: Your team’s newest acquisitions/rookies.

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

Vesalainen has been fitting in nicely so far.

 

[EON]

Bruins:

Donato has looked just okay. He has a great shot but needs to work on rounding out the rest of his game. I'm not sure he's quite ready to be a full-time NHLer.

Bjork hasn't played a lot yet but his speed has been very noticeable in the games he's been in and he is much stronger this season. Looks like a great 3rd liner right now with potential to be a top 6 winger.

Nordstrom is pretty meh, slightly worse version of Schaller imo.

Wagner is a fine 4th liner, little bit of skill to go along with a lot of physical play. Prefer him over Nordstrom.

Moore has been okay, at times he looks good as he is big and skates well for his size. Other times he seems to have lapses where he leaves a man open or makes a poor pass. He's a useful signing while Krug is out but I still prefer Grzelcyk over him when everyone is healthy.

Halak was great against Buffalo. He'll probably challenge Rask more than Khudobin did last season.

 

[JJ68]

The Leafs are exactly wha we thought they would b offensively maybe even better.

The Tavares and Matthews Cmbo is making this league look silly early.

Yup, kinda like how every team is gonna make your D look. lol just playing bud. maybe.

Most of the Habs newest additions are fine. Nothing negative to add.

 

[djpatm]

I look forward to this duo all season long.

 

[Tage2Tuch]

I’ll just go over important ones whether they’ve been good or bad or why.



Sabres: a tad lengthy of course lol, but you’ll know a lot about each guy if you havent watched them thus far and some of them are pretty interesting IMO.


——-


Rasmus Dahlin: Like I was telling someone earlier there is two ways to look at this. He’s not going to come in and take Over like Bobby Orr he’s on a second pair on a team that wasn’t exactly strong defensively and so far he has had 2 of the the “Caruuba collision” (buffalos hit of the game) twice in three games as he uses his body like a weapon and he is hot afraid to jump up and hit guys in open ice or jump up into the play, he’s won battles on the boards, broken up an odd man rushes and makes nice quick break out passes. His passing is also very quick especially once he enters the offensive zone. He also played close to 23 minutes in his first game and he’s still getting used to the small ice. I see great things to come for him he’s had a couple good scoring chances too and had opportunities with an assist but he’s not on the top power play unit yet. He is going to be rock solid. You see the glimpses already And is to me by no means a disappointment and the fact buffalo has won 2 of 3, is all the more reason to believe there already more competent. Hes looked not bad at all despite coughing up the puck a couple times, which for an 18 year old dman, yeah that’s gonna happen, ...especially when he plays so many minutes. Solid so far I believe is the best way to describe him through three, but EP in van and AS in Carolina look like the two Calder candidates so far.



Carter Hutton: my god. I wasn’t huge in Kenner coming in when he got him and I wasn’t hugeom Hutton either even though when we signed him I thought well him or khudobin we probably got the best one available but still wasn’t convinced as the blues had better D then which would help his numbers. But then I watched him three games in a row here and realize he’s 32 so this is his time to shine if he ever going to and to be honest he’s fought hard for a gig like this and he got a three year deal. I’m not even kidding the fans in buffalo have him a standing ovation almost ten times against the rangers. He stopped a 3 on 0 and I couldn’t even hear the commentary it was so loud. He ended up with 42 saves on 43 shots. Next game against Vegas tremendous again, 35 saves on 37 shots and a win allowing just two. So in the last two games he’s made 78 saves on 81 shots. Yeah with how he’s playing Linus Ullmsrm May have to wait a little longer. The MVP of the team so far this year and it’s mega early but even in then first game against Boston he allowed three goals in the loss to Boston had a ton of quality opportunities despite only mid 20s in shots. Then an empty netter that game for Boston made it 4-0 but by no fault of him obviously there. So three games in he’s played pretty good one game to absolutely unbelievable the next game then then great. That’s 3/3. Best player on the team so far. 78 saves on 81 shots in last two for people who maybe just read the last line here.



Eichel: started slow, makes his usual quick plays off he stick and his speed to create chances but absolutely nothing was connecting in the first game, that bruins team was on a mission after getting embarrassed. Against the rangers he looked like his old self made a great move past two rangers for an assist on a tic tac toe to sheary. Then got an empty netter but it was a good one as he blocked not one but two shots on the way there. He looked hurt on the bench after and us sabres fans had a stroke. Not his ankle not his ankle. He ended up okay and after the win in his captain role the buffalo media was all positive but eichel said it’s just one game. I liked that he didn’t get ahead of himself in his comments and Despite 2 pts in 2 games he was pretty meh until game three against Vegas where he was as dominant as he’s ever been. Counted ten chances, not even being biased here this should of been a five point game. Reinhart hit the post on his no look spinning backhand pass, he was inches away from a hat trick in the dying seconds he passed to sheary with an open net who fanned on the puck and he also missed two other glorious chances in close by inches. He did score two nice goals though and I was mostly impressed with his defensive play here. He’s not known for that but he really just played a solid 200 foot game and looked like........., a ten million dollar player. Hope he doesent sprain his ankle a third straight year and has his mackinnon like season he’s due. Then he showed positivity after not getting ahead of himself last win as captain learning the ropes still and this time in the post game comments being extremely positive but still not getting ahead of himself. He waits till his teammates get off he ice a does a fist bump to each player. He’s embraced being a captain and so far so good. I think he finishes top ten in scoring this year if he plays a full year I really do. After watching him versus Vegas, just wow. Glad Jeff marek and John Shannon mentioned how fantastic he was at the end f hockey central even if it was a five second mentionn.


Reinhart: just like last year a slow start but I’d hope he gets more then 11 abysmal points by Xmas. He was like this last year early on in a sense of playing low bottom line minutes but in the second half he went point per game pretty much 39 pts in his final 40 games and ended up with 25 at 50 pts. He took a bridge deal because he’s confident he will prove he can break out and get a long term perhaps 8 million dollar deal I imagine with the cap going up and if he gets 70-75 with eichel I think he could. I’m still waiting but I have a feeling he will get found. He hit the post yesterday and you could See the frustration, as for the early struggles....I don’t know what it is but like I said he will collect points if he stays on a line with eichel which he’s ever done for a full season and even if just some of the time as eich helps everyone’s produce. He’s helped college buddy Evan Rodrigues or Evander Kane and pretty well anyone else (pominville and girgenaens got their points with bim too) reinhart hasn’t been bad though he’s made some good quiet plays that he is always impressive at but you need to watch the games to appreciate it as those little things don’t show up in stats.


Tage Thompson Casey Mittlestadt: combining these two as I feel the same about the both of them right now. Have expected more to be honest I don’t know if it’s jitters for both guys but you see signs of their skill with a lot of plays but they just don’t seem to have it going yet, I think both young guys will get it going soon. I can’t be too judgmental I thought mittkestadt would start as 2C but he’s been 3C for every game thus far. Both guys can and will get better but by how much and.when. I think Tage really believed he would get too 6 minutes with buffalo he, skinner and sheary all said in interviews it will be good to oky with eichel. Lol well only a couple can. To me sheary and Reinhart should be the regular top line with skinner on the first unit pp and second line. Speaking of which....



Jeff Skinner: interesting one here. He played game one on the first line with eichel and reinhart and while he had a good chance early on and almost scored in the first period of game one but afterward he has been bleh at times. He went down to the second line with berglund who I won’t talk about as I wanna wrap this up but quickly berglund had been pretty good and a pretty good teammate. Beeglund in a time-out has his arms around Reinhart and someone else. You can tell he’s committed so far. Back to Jeff skinner though I’ve heard he’s a streaky scorer so maybe it’s a matter of getting it going. It’s a contract year and he got 37 goals two years ago so I can’t see him not playing well later.




Connor Sheary: I’m not a brilliant analyst but I said because of his success with sid, they should out him with eichel and in game two and three he was and right away he scored two goals, and looked great against Vegas but fanned on a nice pass by eichel. So far, so good. He could have three goals in three games all he needed was that little tap.


Kyle okposo and Jason pomonville are just Kind of “there” veterans who can chip in at times.but depth guys however oppose does get opportunity as he still has Lots to offer but both can make costly plays too. However you need a mix of vets.


Rasmus Ristolainen: This guy is the second best player on buffalo this far, Hutton first and eichel third. He gets ripped because his advanced stats or corsi, plus minus sucks but let me tell you something. Being on a team that has such a lopsided goal total and playing so many minutes against every star will do that. He still is by far one of the best defensemen in this league I’d say too 30 for sure. If you watch him he does so much each night and the guy is a horse. Only doughty and one of byfugilen/suter if he’s playing plays more mouths just under 27.l regularly. He is fifth in power play pts in the last five years among dmen. He has to go up against every single top scorer there is and on top of that he is relied on for offense. He is overworked and scandella has helped round him out. Hopefully dahlin and McCabe ghule and Samuelsson in the future will takenthenwork load off him so we can see more qulify then quntity.



So that’s it thus far if anyone else someone wants to know about anyone else I’ll do it.

 

[Riddum]

That's what happens when Garett Sparks is the backup

Let's not blame Sparks... Andersen with 4 goals against tonight.

 

[Theo Von]

Reilly Nash continues to look like an absolute dud, 3 games in now for the Jackets.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Let's not blame Sparks... Andersen with 4 goals against tonight.

Andersen's Numbers will be there at season's end, they always are.

Sparks has never been good at the NHL level be it his first stint, or this past pre season or on Sunday

That's the difference

 

[CycloneSweep]

Tobias Rieder- His play has been very up and down

Kyle Brodziak - He looks bad.

Mikko Koskinen - Average at the best of times Ben Scrivens at the worst.

Evan Bouchard - Looks fine, not NHL ready

Kailer Yamamoto - Doesn't look like an NHL player yet.

 

[bluedevil58]

McLovin has 5 goals in 5 games.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

I’ll just go over important ones whether they’ve been good or bad or why.



Sabres: a tad lengthy of course lol, but you’ll know a lot about each guy if you havent watched them thus far and some of them are pretty interesting IMO.


——-


Rasmus Dahlin: Like I was telling someone earlier there is two ways to look at this. He’s not going to come in and take Over like Bobby Orr he’s on a second pair on a team that wasn’t exactly strong defensively and so far he had had the “Caruuba collision” (buffalos hit of the game) he uses his body like a weapon and he is hot afraid to jump up ito the play he’s won battles on the boards, broken up an odd man rush and makes nice quick break out passes. He also made close to 23 minutes in his first game and he’s getting used to the small ice. I see great things to come for him he’s had a couple good scoring chances too and had opportunities with an assist but he’s not on the top power play unit yet. He is going to be rock solid. You see the glimpses already ha ha ho means a disappointment and the fact buffalo has won 2 of 3 and he’s looked not bad at all despite coughing up the puck a couple times. But come on of course an 18 year old will do that. Solid so the best way to describe him through three, but EP in van and AS in Carolina look like the two Calder candidates so far.



Carter Hutton: my god. I wasn’t huge in legend when he got him and I wasn’t huge in Hutton either even though when we signed him I thought well him or khudobin we probably got the best kne available so ullmark May be ready so this is a good experiment he’s 32 so this is his time to shine if he ever will he’s fought hard for a gig and he got a three year deal. I’m not even kidding the fans in buffalo have him a standing ovation almost ten times against the rangers. He stopped a 3 on 0 and I couldn’t even hear the commentary t was so loud. He ended up with 42 saves on 43 shots. Next game against Vegas tremendous again, 35 saves on 37 shots and a win allowing just two. So in the last two games he’s made 78 saves on 81 sbits. Yeah with how he’s playing Linus hallmark May have to wait a little longer. The MVP of the team so far this year and it’s mega early but even in then first game against Boston he allowed three goals in the lossbur Boston had a ton of quality opportunities despite only mid 20s in shots. Then an empty netter that game. So three games in he’s played pretty good the unbelievable then great.



Eichel: started slow, makes his usual quick plays off he stick and his speed to create chances but absolutely nothing was connecting in the first game, that bruins team was on a mission after getting embarrassed. Against the rangers he looked like his old self made a sick move last two rangers for an assist on a tic tac toe to sheary. Then got an empty netter but it was a good one as he blocked not one but two shots on the way there. He looked hurt on the bench after and the media was all positive but eichel said it’s just one game. I liked that he didn’t get ahead of himself in his comments and Despite 2 pts in 2 games he was pretty meh until game three against Vegas where he was as dominant as he’s ever been. Counted ten chances, not even being biased here this should of been a five point game. Reinhart hit the post on his no look spinning backhand pass, he was inches away from a hat trick in the dying seconds he passed to sheary with an open net who fanned on the puck and he also missed two other glorious chances in close by inches. He did score two nice goals though and I was mostly impressed with his defense here. He’s not known for that but he really just played a solid 200 foot game and liked like a ten million dollar player. Hope he doesent sprain his ankle a third straight year and has his mackinnon like season he’s due. Then he showed positivity after not getting ahead of himself as captain leading the ropes in the post game comments being extremely positive but still not getting away from himself. He waits till his teammates get off he ice and does a fist bump to each player. He’s embraced being a captain and so far so good.


Reinhart: just like last year a slow star but I’d hoe he gets more then 11 abysmal points by Xmas. He was like manner last year early on in a sense of playing low bottom line minutes but in the second half he went point per game pretty much 39 pts in his final 49 games ended up with 25 at 50. He took a bridge deal because he’s confident he will prove he can break out. I’m still waiting but I have a feeling he will get found. He hit the post yesterday and you could See the frustration, as for the early struggles....I don’t know what it is but he will collect points if he stays on a line with eichel by default like Rodrigues evander Kane and anyone else (pominville and girgenaens got their points with bim too) reinhart hasn’t been bad though he’s made some good quiet plays that he is always impressive at but you need to watch the games to appreciate it as those little things don’t show up in stats.

Tage Thompson Casey Mittlestadt: combining these two as I feel the same about now. Have expected more to be honest I don’t know if it’s jitters for both guys but you see signs of their skill with a lot of plays but they just don’t seem to have it going yet, I think both young guys will get it going soon. I can’t be too judgmental I thought mittkestadt would start as 2C but he’s been 3C for every game thus far.

Jeff Skinner: interesting one here. He played game one on the first line with eichel and reinhart and while he had a good chance early on and almost scored in the first period of game one but afterward he has been bleh at times. He went down to the second line with berglund who I won’t talk about but he’s been a good teammate. Beeglund in a time-out has his arms around Reinhart and someone else. You can tell he’s committed so far. I’ve heard he’s a streaky scorer so maybe it’s anmatter of getting it going. It’s a contract year and he got 37 last year so can’t see him not playing well later.


Connor Sheary: I’m not brilliant analyst but I said because of his success with six out him with eichel and in game two and three he was and right away he scored two goals, and looked great against Vegas but fanned in a nice pass by eichel. So far, so good.


Kyle okposo and Jason pomonville are just Kind of “there” veterans who can chip in at times.


Ramos ristolainen: This guy is the second best player on buffalo this far, Hutton first and eichel third. He gets ripped because his advanced stats or corsi, plus minus sucks but let me tell you something. If you watch him he does so much each night and the guy is a horse. Only doughty and one of byfugilen/suter if he’s playing plays more mouths just under 27. He is fifth in power play pints in the last five years among down. He has to go up against every single top scorer there is and on top of that he is relied on for offense. He is overworked and scandals has helped round him out.



So that’s it thus far if anyone else someone wants to know about anyone else I’ll do it.

Do you write books?, you should write books

 

[MinJaBen]

All fanbases are generally the same, the only difference is size.

But I was told size doesn’t matter...

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

McLovin has 5 goals in 5 games.

Matthews has 7 goals in 4 games Tavares has 6 goals in 4 games

 

[ponder]

Matthews has 7 goals in 4 games Tavares has 6 goals in 4 games

JT is relevant to this thread, but Matthews clearly is not.

 

[lawrence]

Jay Beagle : very good role player. awesome penalty killer
Brendan Leipsic : excellent role player also.
Pettersson : heads above anyone on the Canucks roster. He is on a different level and it's not even close. Defensively he is also their best foward. He's bailed out our defence on occasions and today he bailed out Markstrom. Pettersson can officially play defence wing, centre and goalie.

 

[Calgareee]

Jay Beagle : very good role player. awesome penalty killer
Brendan Leipsic : excellent role player also.
Pettersson : heads above anyone on the Canucks roster. He is on a different level and it's not even close. Defensively he is also their best foward. He's bailed out our defence on occasions and today he bailed out Markstrom. Pettersson can officially play defence wing, centre and goalie.

Vamcouver got an awesome player when they picked him. He is a lot of fun to watch and is going to put up a LOT of points against the Flames. I did get a kick out of our second game though, the hype train has definitely been turned up to 11.

In the space of 10 minutes he was compared to Sakic, Forsberg and Datsyuk.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Matthews has 7 goals in 4 games Tavares has 6 goals in 4 games

And some fans still wonder why Leafs fans get a bad rap.

 

[bluedevil58]

Matthews has 7 goals in 4 games Tavares has 6 goals in 4 games

That's great but they are not rookies.

 

[Lunatik]

That's great but they are not rookies.

Not all new additions are rookies. Matthews has no place in this thread, but Tavares does.

 

[bluedevil58]

Not all new additions are rookies. Matthews has no place in this thread, but Tavares does.

Not impressed then. He should have more goals than that.

 

[42]

Vesalainen has been fitting in nicely so far.

I keep reading Jets fan calling for his demotion.

 

[Kel Varnson]

Petersson - exceeded even the lofty expectations he had going into the season. Looks comfortable at Center and has been by far the best player on the team.

Beagle - Very solid bottom 6 player. Still don't like the contract though.

Schaller and Roussel haven't played enough to really properly judge them

 

[Volica]

Lindholm - So, very, very, very happy with Elias Lindholm. Dude looks like a first line talent; and is bringing the defensive aspect of hockey to Calgary's first line as well. I remember being very, very into him during his draft year (I wanted him over Monahan) and being very impressed by his shot and offensive instincts. When we traded for him, I remember being mocked by Canes fans about his muffin of a shot... he's done nothing in Calgary except score goal-scorer goals so far. A+ so far in Calgary.

Hanifin - Similar to Lindholm, was sold a very mediocre bill of goods by not just Canes fans, but other random fans. This guy's soft. He's so poor defensively. The guy needs to be protected in the worst of ways. Turns out the guy's being used as Calgary's 3D, playing big minutes, PKing, looks solid on both ends of the ice; defensively responsible, offensively creative. A+ so far in Calgary.

Ryan - "LOL, Peters' Pet! Get ready for him to play with Gaudreau, be out in 3v3, get top end PP time"
He's been playing the 2nd PP unit (didn't play last game), his TOI is between 10 minutes to 13 minutes a night. Great on FO's, been decently creative. He's now centering the 4th line... the 4th line might be one of the best league wide with him and Frolik on it. Great on both ends of the ice. Peluso - Ryan - Frolik ate up possession and their matchups last night.

Dube - Kid's got skill, speed and a head for the game. Played Centre last night, didn't skip a beat. He could easily have 3-4 points at this time. He's been on breaks and odd-man rushes. Just a matter of time before this kid blows up. Bennett - Dube - Neal is an absurd 3rd line.

Valimaki - Just getting better. Last night he played a career high, almost 18 minutes, including PK time. Didn't look out of place. Had more scoring chances. With him on the ice last night, Calgary gave up 0 High Danger Shots, and created 4. This kid is going to be a stud D in the NHL for a long time. It's absurd we got Valimaki where we did at the draft, and it's even more absurd Calgary's fear of not having a Gio replacement has gone by the wayside with the pickup of BOTH Hanifin and Valimaki.

Andersson - First game last night. Had some first game jitters. Solid pairing with Juuso. Played 6D minutes. Looks creative. Nothing really to harp about, when a guy plays 11 minutes a night. He had good possession numbers and good High Danger chance numbers while playing, but it's limited. Andersson has the ability to be a great top 4 guy for Calgary, for a long time.

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

I keep reading Jets fan calling for his demotion.

I didn't say he was Elias Petterson. If I were to put that into detail I find he's developing slowly but surely in the NHL very nicely.

 

[God King Fudge]

Man I bet it's nice for fans to have their teams play hockey games.