He's exactly as advertised. He's very mobile, really wears down opposing forwards, is okay (not great) with the puck in his own zone (he makes the competent, safe play), and lacks confidence in the offensive zone. I expected him to allow Dobson to do his thing without all of the negative consequences - Romanov is there in defensive transition when NYI turn it over with Dobson up.
He hasn't done anything much more than that. I hope he'll get more confident offensively as time goes on, because playing with Dobson, he's often left open. He hasn't yet done anything with that.
In short, he's a solid #4. I hope NYI get more out of him for a 1st round pick, but I think the consensus is that he's meeting expectations to start.
He's shown less proclivity to wander/freelance defensively since the season started. NYI still have the 'do your job/don't try to do too much' defensive mentality, and I think he's getting acclimated to that.
Honestly that's a great description of him and accurate to how he was with the habs so I'm hoping you guys are loving him the way we did.
I think he'll improve defensively, he was good with us but I think there is room for improvement there...his giveaways is what hurt him (almost 80 last year, looks like he's pacing for the same this year) but a lot of it also had to do with how bad the entire team was and how bad our system was before the coaching change. Otherwise I find he was making the competent/safe plays like you said.
Offensively is where I find he was frustrating, you can tell the potential is there but it's just the lack of confidence you speak of. We saw flashes of him trying to run the play in the offensive zone, so he's definitely capable.
Either way, I'm sure I'm one of many habs fans who was sad to see him go and hoping he'll settle in nicely. I know a 1st round pick might seem steep but he's a #4 at just 22 years old, even if this is his ceiling, I think this is a great trade for you guys but maybe I'm biased. Here's to hoping it's a win/win because this was essentially a Romanov for Dach trade so we need our guy to pan out too.
He’s doing well. He’s a young defenseman, who in our first 3 games was kinda running around all over the place-playing like a wild man. The last 4 games he’s really become a stalwart on our defense-not trying to blast anyone through the boards, he plays with structure, doesn’t leave his D partner to guess where he should position himself. I’m really satisfied with his play.
Sounds like him alright. One thing I liked about him is that he didn't chase the big hit, if the opportunity came then he took it. He's a smart kid who knows he can't put himself out of position whether it's to lay a hit or because his partner is prone to pinching.
Only thing he needs to learn is how to pinch himself more, the offensive talent is there, someone just needs to help him untap it