How Are Your Rookies Doing So Far?

[McDonald19]

Corey Perry has 1 goal and 2 assists in 3 games. He hasn't looked great, but he has played pretty well.

Ryan Getzlaf on the other hand looks kinda lost out there...I think they should let him play in the AHL for a few weeks.

 

[Jori]

I don't think Wojtek Wolski can be sent to Lowell just yet. He was born February 24, 1986. Anyway;

Wojtek Wolski: Definitely getting used to the NHL, but he has had some very good plays and is a very skilled player. Sofar, he hasn't scored any points yet, but has come very close. In last night's game in Dallas, Wolski had a great scoring opportunity but was robbed by Marty Turco. However; the puck will eventually go in for him if he keeps playing like he can.

Marek Svatos: Sidelined on opening night with a groin injury, Svatos has only appeared in 1 game this season (5th career NHL regular season games), and scored the game winning goal on the powerplay late in the third period. In Svatos' 5 games, he has 3 goals dating back to last season. Marek Svatos will thrive under the new rules.

Peter Budaj: Peter Budaj and David Aebischer split the first 2 games of the season. Budaj, like Svatos, has only played once this season, which was last night in Dallas. Budaj was victimized on two somewhat 'fluky' goals by the Stars, but benefited on a game that he only had to make 16 saves for the win. Budaj is a very skilled goaltender who was once named as the OHL's top goaltender.

Just to update...

Wolski scores his first career NHL goal last night against the Flames and added two assists. Svatos didn't play in the Avs opener against Edmonton, but in two games this year, he has four goals (two game winners) and one assist.

 

[phillyphan]

For the Flyers

Nitty-Only played one game but looked like he hasnt lost a step since the calder cup playoffs

Carter-Looks like he is not use to the speed of the nhl but hopefully will pick up his play a lot. if not he could be looking at even less ice time then now

Richards-Has been amazing. Looks like a born leader and i no im getting ahead of myself but possibly the second coming of bobby clarke!!!

 

[spintheblackcircle]

Sharks:

Michalek-1st line winger. Will be an all-star in time. Great with the puck, but may still be overpassing a bit. Big, tough to move. Been great so far

Goc-Rock solid. Sharks best faceoff man (not saying much...still an awful faceoff team). Took a puck off the knee last night, though. Needed help getting off the ice.

Clowe-Been ok. Picked up a few assists, but hasn't really made his presence felt. Hasn't been a liabilty by any means, but basically been....eh.

.....Foy picked up his 1st 2 goals last night for Minn. He's going to be a keeper. He is one of the few Wild players with size up front and can plant himself in the crease and take up room. I don't see him going back to the AHL.

 

[Fan-of-#9]

Vanek has been very impressive and he only has 2 assists in the 4 games so far. All of us Sabres fans are just hoping he can get that first goal out of the way before it becomes a mental thing. Last game vs. the Pens he hit at least 2 posts and was absolutely robbed on one chance by MAF.

 

[Cayouche5]

Update for Montreal

Yann Danis got his first win in his first start ever in the NHL, a 2-0 win over Atlanta.

 

[Bookman]

Matt Foy just scored the first 2 goals of his career vs. the Canucks last night.

 

[kickice]

New York Rangers rookies:

Henrik Lundqvist - started two games now, got his first win last night v's NJ Devils. He is looking good!
Tootin and Drats - our two young Russian d men are doing good too. Both getting plenty of ice time. Kondratiev was +3 in the game last night, and picked up his first point.
Petr Prucha - has only played 2 games so far, but last night played on the top line, and of what I heard, saw, and read, didn't look out of place! Renney has suggested he may well spend some more time alongside JJ and Nylander.
Ryan Hollweg - back in the AHL at the moment, but once a roster spot is free again, he could be back up. Really hardworking guy, who gives his all. Maybe not the best talent wise, but a real character guy, who gives the team energy.
Dominic Moore - despite being 25, he is a rookie! He's had a solid enough start, and got a goal too. Again, like Hollweg, maybe not such an eye-catching rookie as Lundqvist, Prucha or Drats for instance, but a steady player who's doing a good job on the 3rd/4th lines.

Other rookies: Al Montoya has been called up but just for bench duty while Weekes is injured, so he'll be back with the Pack soon I'm sure. Bryce Lampman has played 1 game too, when Malik was injured.

 

[nally]

For the Flames Dion Phaneuf has been either better than expected or played up to expectations depending on how good you thought he would be off the start.

From my perspective though he's shown way more poise than I thought he would at this point. He's played very physical, made nice pinches, and has played a great deal more than anticipated (in part to Reg's injury). He's had only the occasional gaffe in decision making, but frankly much fewer than the likes of Andrew Ference, Steve Montador or even some of the blueliners higher on the depth chart.

Overall a very impressive start to his career. My only complain would be that the PP (which has been brutal so far) seems to be too focused on getting the puck to him to shoot. I'd like to see less pressure on him on the PP - its far too early for the PP to be so geared around him.

Man, dropped the gloves against Guerin last night...took it to him too...good job!

 

[FlaPanthers7]

Panthers: Olesz has been one of our top two-way players. I don't know how much that says about the team, but his passing skills are superb and he plays a very solid defensive game. He's been starting on the top line alongside Jokinen and Niewendyk all 5 games. Has a 1 goal (empty netter), 1 assist I believe.

Also Juraj Kolnik has 2 goals playing on the 4th line with limited minutes. Denis Potvin called him simply a pure scorer during one of the games. Most pantherfans want to see him get more ice time with the top lines. He scored 14 goals in 50 games in his first season before the lockout.

 

[thestonedkoala]

Don't care what people say but Boogaard got his first assist tonight after a wrister...Congrats to the guy! He's working hard and he'll make it tough for the Wild to move him down to Houston.

 

[Kovy274Hart]

New York Rangers rookies:

Henrik Lundqvist - started two games now, got his first win last night v's NJ Devils. He is looking good!
Tootin and Drats - our two young Russian d men are doing good too. Both getting plenty of ice time. Kondratiev was +3 in the game last night, and picked up his first point.
Petr Prucha - has only played 2 games so far, but last night played on the top line, and of what I heard, saw, and read, didn't look out of place! Renney has suggested he may well spend some more time alongside JJ and Nylander.
Ryan Hollweg - back in the AHL at the moment, but once a roster spot is free again, he could be back up. Really hardworking guy, who gives his all. Maybe not the best talent wise, but a real character guy, who gives the team energy.
Dominic Moore - despite being 25, he is a rookie! He's had a solid enough start, and got a goal too. Again, like Hollweg, maybe not such an eye-catching rookie as Lundqvist, Prucha or Drats for instance, but a steady player who's doing a good job on the 3rd/4th lines.

Other rookies: Al Montoya has been called up but just for bench duty while Weekes is injured, so he'll be back with the Pack soon I'm sure. Bryce Lampman has played 1 game too, when Malik was injured.

Nice review. Lundqvist picked up his first career win last night making 20 saves, including a robbery on Madden and one on Gomez. He definitely looks very relaxed in there. Has good poise. Tomorrow against Atlanta will be a test.

Fedor has looked okay. Nothing great but nothing awful. Last night, he was steady.

Kondratiev looked really good last night. They paired him with Kaspar and boy did they ever play well together. He was jittery his first two games but last night was a real eye opener.

Prucha I love. This guy might be heard from. He always seems to be in the right place offensively. Gets into good position and has a rocket of a shot. Missed a couple last night over the net. Also had a redirect wide. Very good skater whose extremely shifty. I'd keep him on that top line. Something's bound to happen for Petr soon.

Hollweg is what I'd call a fan favorite. He gives his all every shift and hits everything in sight. A sparkplug kind of player. Has taken a couple of penalties from overaggressiveness. Nice fourth liner.

Moore is what I expected. A gritty two-way center who can kill penalties and never looks out of place. He could play PP too if they chose to. He redirected a goal on one against Montreal. He's getting 11-12 minutes a night. So far, so good.

 

[Behn Wilson]

Hawks Updates tonight against Colorado. None of the 6 rookies dressed dented the scoreboard tonight. (Vorobiev, Bourque, Ellison, Seabrook, Barker, Keith).

Vorobiev netted the game winner in the shootout, the kid has skills. Bourque seems to be in the coaches doghouse and hasnt been getting much ice time.
Searook another solid all around game. Barker made his NHL game andlayed sparingly but made no real mistakes, not bad for a debut.

 

[NWT Habs Fan]

The lockout and salary cap sure have focussed the importance on having the dual class of rookies shine for many GM's. Sounds like a lot of this class of 2005 are really stepping it up so far. Great to see all around the league IMHO.

I would also hazard a guess that many GM's are sending their scouting teams with different attributes by which to scout given the new NHL rules and focus on speed and skill and opposed to size and ability to neutralize. Future successful rookies may be a different looking bunch over the years if the NHL is serious about its clamp down.

 

[thestonedkoala]

Okay, Arby posted a link on a hit Boogie made on Ohlund...OUCH! If Boogie can hit like that more often, I think he'll become a valuable player for the Wild.

 

[Levitate]

lundqvist just got his 2nd win, nice game against atlanta and made some big saves against the likes of hossa and bondra

would have been a shutout except the thrashers got a goal when a pass banked in off kasparitas's skate

 

[Transported Upstater]

Okay, Arby posted a link on a hit Boogie made on Ohlund...OUCH! If Boogie can hit like that more often, I think he'll become a valuable player for the Wild.

Boogaard: "OHLUND BAD!!!!!!" :smash: "ICE TIME GOOD!!!"





I never said he couldn't be valuable for the wild...I just think it illustrates the skill level difference between enforcers and the rest of the league. And I'm not just picking on Boogaard....I don't think we'll see too many "Oliwa wins Hart Trophy" bandwagoners...

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

Brandon Bochenski got his first NHL goal tonight and Patrick Eaves got his first NHL assist and has looked great so far. But still, Andrej Meszaros looks amazing on the blueline, especially for someone whose only been 20 years old for two days.

 

[Mess]

Rookie NHL Scoring Race

1, Sidney Crosby, PIT ....... points 9
2. A. Ovechkin, WAS ........ points 7
3. Alexander Steen, TOR.. points 6
3. Marek Svatos, COL ....... points 6
3. Pavel Vorobiev,CHI ....... points 6
6. Kyle Wellwood, TOR .... points 5
6. Brent Seabrook, CHI ......points 5
6. Mike Richards, PHI ........ points 5

 

[thestonedkoala]

Boogaard: "OHLUND BAD!!!!!!" :smash: "ICE TIME GOOD!!!"



I never said he couldn't be valuable for the wild...I just think it illustrates the skill level difference between enforcers and the rest of the league. And I'm not just picking on Boogaard....I don't think we'll see too many "Oliwa wins Hart Trophy" bandwagoners...

True but you can't say they aren't valuable for their team. And some of them show great work ethic and heart on trying to make their teams and stay with their teams.

 

[Crossroads*]

Rookie NHL Scoring Race

1, Sidney Crosby, PIT ....... points 9
2. A. Ovechkin, WAS ........ points 7
3. Alexander Steen, TOR.. points 6
3. Marek Svatos, COL ....... points 6
3. Pavel Vorobiev,CHI ....... points 6
6. Kyle Wellwood, TOR .... points 5
6. Brent Seabrook, CHI ......points 5
6. Mike Richards, PHI ........ points 5

Very impressive. Both Steen and Wellwood played great tonight against Montreal.