He also had natural finishing ability, going back to his Shattuck days and I am sure earlier, he just knew how to bury the puck on his chances. Haula was very good on the breakaway for the Wild, I haven’t watched Khusnutdinov nearly as much but I haven’t seen that same level of finishing yet, Khusnutdinov is more likely to score his goals in tight on tips and rebounds IMO.
He made confident decisions with the puck, the “F you” attitude Guerin covets is definitely in Marat, noticeable immediately vs a guy like Rossi that still battles with it at times.
Yeah rossi hasnt been completely averse to contact but kind of almost accidentally finds himself doing things or has to force himself to do stuff. Similar to Ek in that way. Like ek is a good physical player but sort of just finds himself doing stuff bc he knows its the right thing to do in the moment.
That just makes me picture the Alex Semin Bongo drums fight, I imagine Khusnutdinov would look similar lol.Yeah, but can he fight?
Yea, didn't see him get many, if any, shifts in the 3rd. Not too concerned about it though, tbh.
if nothing else its better to be on the supply side of NHL bottom 6 players than consumer as the Wild have been for much of their history
he may benefit a bit from some more offensive opportunity and developing that side of his game in the ahl but he’s looking like and nhler at this point. On this wild team he absolutely is an nhl player. He is better than half our lineup as he is.
He's better than 4 or 5 forwards that we are trotting out there, but that isn't saying much. Skating is looking good, is surprisingly strong for a smaller guy. Good on the forecheck, and i think he'll be a good defender once he gets used to the team and system. Shows flashes of offense, but don't think he will ever be a super skilled player with the puck.
Going to give him the benefit of the doubt and say he's still learning the systems but he's smart, fast, very defensively responsible, flashes of skill but nothing to write home about. Give him the offseason to study up and bulk up and he might look a bit different next season.
This is what I see as well. He understands the positioning/his assignments quite well. He has a good motor and seems to be good on the puck considering his size. I think he's going to be just fine being a reliable PKer who plays in the bottom 9, and puts up 25-30 points with maybe a couple of years in the 35-40.
