Few thoughts.
Mika looked like an animal.
Ck showed good chemistry with mika.
Kreider also looked like a man playing against boys. Haven't seen that much power and creativity out of him in...ever. Preseason and all, harder to do against NHL vets and top players, but man I loved seeing him moving his feet and not just using his speed for trying to chase down breakaway passes. Looked confident and strong and yeah and Zibs played off each other real well.
Brandon pirri will help on the pp and can score 20 for this team. Legit shot and should play a top 9 role and certainly the pp.
Was somewhat surprised at how active Pirri was with his skating. For some reason I had the vision that he floated a lot. At least he's trying to forecheck, backcheck, etc. Effort will get you a lot of credit with coaching staffs. And yeah, he and Zibs on the power play makes it tough for teams to defend both of them on opposite sides.
Clendening showed something that stood out. He's got skills and looked good on the pp point. Need another looksee
My hesitation with Clendenning is that when the real NHL competition starts up, he's shown in the past to have slow decision making and be overwhelmed by pressure. He also looks small, almost Matt Bodie small. That said, if he can keep moving the puck confidently against tougher competition then he really makes some decisions hard
Mcilraths game was steady and controlled last night and the goal was very nice. He walked the puck nicely and found some space and delivered a bomb. Showed smarts and progression. After a so-so start, he rebounded nicely. Needs to keep it simple and let the game come to him. Would still like to see more from him near the crease. He does his best work in tight. when he starts chasing out too far or taking bad angles when he pursuing, he can look foolish.
Part of the problem with some of the man system...lot of discipline needed to not get too far out of position no matter how good a skater you are.
Buchnevich wasn't as involved as I would like. His linemates carried the play and he was either not directly involved or an out right passenger on most scoring plays. Seemed timid and too easy knocked off pucks. Did not see his positioning to be that strong. Lots of roaming in offensive zone rather than in good scoring spots. I saw some continuation from traverse last night and that's not really a good thing. Expecting more from him but allowing for his game to develop. Needs to show more creativity and create some scoring chances.
I'd be less harsh on him, I think he chased down pucks well and made some good plays, took some strong shots on net, but yeah was also obviously sitting back a bit compared to his linemates. Makes sense, he said he was super nervous. I think you keep giving him games and see how he settles in, and at the very least I felt he helped enable Zibs and Kreider to do their thing which for a rookie in his first "NHL" game was pretty good.