thewave
Registered User
- Jun 17, 2011
- 40,416
- 10,322
Wouldn't surprise me if he starts the season on line #4, but I don't see it lasting.
50/50 at best. I think he will end up on another team if not playing here and he will play in the NHL.
Wouldn't surprise me if he starts the season on line #4, but I don't see it lasting.
What? He used his body a fair amount when in the NHL. He even fought and crushed some guys pretty good. I was shocked he was pretty physical although not Martin level. He more used his size along the wall, heck he even drove to the net like a power forward a couple times.
He's looked really solid so far.
At 5v5
55.37 CF%
100% GF% (2 GF, 0 GA)
53.49 xGF%
He doesn't have the shooting talent to actually score goals, but if he can keep other teams pinned down in their own zone for extended periods of time, tiring the opposing team out while giving our stars a minute or so to recover, I'd say that's more than enough. The biggest surprise of the year for me.
Always liked him and he is exactly where I pretty much always said he would be. I can't imagine that changing any time soon either (No reason)
I'm glad they're giving him a chance. He was never going to reach another level of play in the AHL, and NHL experience is the only thing that's going to allow him to develop into the prototypical fourth line center he could be. All he's got to do is PK, win faceoffs and not get scored on for 5-10 minutes a night, and if he can do those things at a high level, then he can actually be a valuable piece for this team regardless of whether how many points he puts up.
If you want to see an exaggerated example of what he can be, go rewatch the gold medal WJ game he was a part of. Once Canada had a lead at the end of the second, he and Reinhart pretty much took every other faceoff and completely shut the rest of the game down. He'll never be as dominant in the NHL as we saw there, but it demonstrates the value of a guy like him.
That said, I do wish he'd use his body more. I don't mean throwing hits, but just asserting himself and taking whatever space he wants. He seems to "play down" to everyone else instead of making them deal with the fact that he's a giant.
I'm going to issue a mea culpa -- Goat has been very, very good in his limited but difficult '18-19 deployment. 38 ZSR, but has managed to help carry play (55% CF). His play cycling in the offensive zone has been excellent. I don't care if he never scores a point for the rest of his NHL career if he plays like he has in the first part of this season.Like I've been saying for years (we're now five years removed from this pick!), decent fourth NHL liners are good AHLers, and great CHLers. This was never going to work.
Actually good NHL 4th liner Brian Boyle put up nearly 1ppg at the same age in the AHL as Freddie.
I'm glad they're giving him a chance. He was never going to reach another level of play in the AHL, and NHL experience is the only thing that's going to allow him to develop into the prototypical fourth line center he could be. All he's got to do is PK, win faceoffs and not get scored on for 5-10 minutes a night, and if he can do those things at a high level, then he can actually be a valuable piece for this team regardless of how many points he puts up.
If you want to see an exaggerated example of what he can be, go rewatch the gold medal WJ game he was a part of. Once Canada had a lead at the end of the second, he and Reinhart pretty much took every other faceoff and completely shut the rest of the game down. He'll never be as dominant in the NHL as we saw there, but it demonstrates the value of a guy like him.
That said, I do wish he'd use his body more. I don't mean throwing hits, but just asserting himself and taking whatever space he wants. He seems to "play down" to everyone else instead of making them deal with the fact that he's a giant.