Very poor performance last night, but here are my thoughts on the guys.
Teemu Pulkkinen - Beauty of a goal, had me laughing and even the home crowd with a wowed response. I would guess it hit near 100 and was just flat blasted off a face off play. Overall his skating continues to get better, guy really has an impressive lower body, massive legs and he turns them over pretty well and gets where he wants to go. Plays with his head up all the time, very good passer, his transition to NA has gone well, he has a lot of talent.
Calle Jarnkrok - Really has an NHL mind. He thinks the game and processes it in all three zones impressively. Needs to get stronger and at times more assertive, but he has a lot of talent and it shows up a ton in person. Never on the wrong side of the puck, very active stick and a smart hockey player. Needs to start scoring more though.
Landon Ferraro - very poor game out of him, still skated pretty hard, but one of his least physical games I have seen him play. Just didn't seem to be very into it, fumbled the puck a lot, most of his shots were weak and lazy. Hope the fact basically everyone except he and Callahan got a legitimate look hasn't gotten to him.
Mitch Callahan - was not very physical last night but was not terrible either. Good on the pk and skated hard and tried going to the dirty areas. He too struggled with shot selection attempting a couple hopeless long-rangers. Not a bad game and he seemed more frustrated than most at how bad they played in the second period.
Martin Frk - It is time to get worried, even if he is a rookie and has not played a whole lot at this level. He is out of shape, can basically only last for 25-30 seconds. He is very awkward when he skates and never seems to be on the same page as his linemates. Very little puck control, he was at least somewhat physical. but an extremely alarming performance, he has to work on everything to be honest.
Aubry - big kid, skates well for a guy his size, but seems to be regressing at this point in his career. I wish him well in Europe next year, hopefully he can carve something out over there.
Parkes - pretty fast, has some decent hands and plays the body well. Just for whatever reason he doesn't do all of them often enough. Another guy that you can say wish him the best over in Europe.
Nestrasil - of the eventual European bound guys, I really do think he is the best. Big, skates pretty well and has some nice hands. Also reads his teammates pretty well, has consistency issues from shift to shift. Not a bad player, just not a very good one either.
Forward vets - not very good performances, Emmerton was probably the best, Tootoo was the worst. Honestly I think Grant is better at the role most like to attribute to Tootoo anyway. He certainly isn't play his way back into the NHL with performances like last night. Between Tootoo and Frk for who was the worst forward on the team last night, Ferraro was probably third worst.
Ouellet - Much like Pulkkinen really the only bright spot on the D last night. Composed game and a smart game. Really good puck mover, physical on the boards. I really think he could develop into a Vlasic or Hamhuis type, I hope he does. Has leadership qualities too, he talks on the ice and on the bench. I thought he might actually beat Sproul up for his ghastly change.
Marchenko - Not one of his better games in my opinion. But he is a good passer and he is big guy that doesn't mind the rougher elements of the game. Pretty smart player needs to work on getting his shot through a little more. Has the ability to change speeds on his passes, very good under forechecking pressure. Seemed to get sapped of energy like most of his teammates last night and fade. I don't think he was bad, but I have seen him play much better and was really looking forward to watching him in particular last night and was kind of disappointed.
Almqvist - Had a decent defensive game, has a good stick but man I wish he would use a longer one especially given his size and position playing with a short stick is quite questionable. Had a couple timely blocks and is very good at D to D passing, that area he could honestly teach a clinic on. Really exceptional passer everywhere, has his head up at all times and is getting better in the corners and in front of the net. Seemed to fade as the proceedings went on though as well.
Sproul - Well everyone is going to have bad nights I guess, but this was a pretty horrific game for Sproul. I mean he was terrible, just absolutely brutal in his own zone the entire night. He was soft in the corners and in front of his net, he missed a ton of outlet passes, he flew the zone sometimes before his team was in total control. As discussed in the previous thread Sproul made perhaps the worst change I have ever seen a professional hockey player make. He has all the tools, his skating really is breathtaking and his frame is going to put on a lot more weight still and he looks quite big in person. But he might need the entire waiver period to sort his defense, it is bad, it has looked bad most the year online and I do think this was his worst game so rough to just say it was in person but have seen him twice in person in Milwaukee and he is out of position a lot. He needs to ramp up his physical play as well. Didn't look to shoot last night, didn't really dictate much on offense and he needs to learn to vary the speed on his passes as he basically bullets it all the time. People claiming he should come up are just flat wrong, Sproul would get abused by NHL teams right now. Was deservedly benched by Blashill, playing very sparingly after the third goal and was torn into by his own teammates a great deal for that one. Had he been allowed to play the rest of the game we might have lost 7-1 and he probably would have been a -5 or -6.
Vet D - Both guys were not very good last night, Evans in part because his partner Sproul was wretched. But they didn't seem to grab hold of the game and I didn't like that Ouellet (did like it for him but still) seemed to be the big talker over on the bench. They needed more from those guys, in particular with Grant out, I would have liked to see Evans try and spark the team, they didn't have much in the way of fire because Tootoo thinks he is too good to play at that level and Ferraro was off all night.
McCollum - had a vintage game for him. Was off his angles most of the night, over committed a decent amount and was in trouble even before they stated scoring. For as much as he struggled he really did compete his tail off. He just wasn't sharp last night and he picked a poor night because his teammates weren't going to bail him out last night. Made a couple nice saves and he is a big gifted athlete, but didn't like the return of the more out of control version of McCollum. They didn't really have any softies though I must admit I missed the fourth goal getting a beer when he was actually yanked. But it was kind of clear from the onset he didn't have it.
Coreau - My God is this guy big, they didn't really have a lot of quality chances, but he uses his size pretty well and is athletic with good movement. Would be interesting to evaluate him over 60 minutes, he has a lot to work with. The Paterson and Coreau tandem if that is what it ends up being next year should be pretty talented.
Overall, not a very good game by the boys. Ferraro, Frk, Tootoo and Sproul were real low points and they all need to be much better than how they played last night. They deserved to get beat and they were shredded pretty good in the second period. Would not surprise me if Sproul hits the pressbox for a game after this one, really miserable performance, his teammates and Blashill looked angry and mystified by him.