Buch makes more than enough of "good plays". Great plays. But during the 2nd we also saw a good example why he is not a lock in the lineup. At 8:05 left of the second period, during the second half of a shift he mishandles the puck at the offensive blue line. We are pushed back and he is caught completely gassed on the ice for a long shift. He was not in control at all defensively, lost his composure. The shift ended with Grabner skating up ice being thrown into the boards by Davidsson.
I am not saying this shift is a major problem and that he shouldn't see the ice because of it. Plenty of players make mistake. But Buch's work along the boards is not good -- yet. There is "20x" the amount of board work in the NHL compared to the KHL. He is also a bit weak physically. In some situations, you just want a player to be much more assertive in a specific situation than what Buch was in that play starting at 8:05 in the second. And Buch has that tendency a few times per game at least.
No doubt, he has all the ability to become a player that makes great offensive plays and contributes offensively in the NHL. But, as of today, he is also not quite there along the boards. Don't get me wrong, I really like the kid, but Vesey for example does these things much better than Buch.
