I'm extremely happy with the way these last two drafts have turned out. I know some aren't thrilled about Reinhart's offensive production, but defensively he brings exactly what we are lacking at the NHL level. We need that guy who we can throw out there in crucial defensive situations and be confident that he'll get the job done. A guy like Marc Staal or(if the offense does come around a bit) Ryan Suter. Reinhart could quickly become our most reliable defensive d-man once he makes the jump.
As far as Pulock goes, I still can't believe we were able to nab him with the 15th pick. I would have bet anything that he would have been gone by pick #11. IMO if he were eligible for this year's draft, he would easily go top-5, and perhaps even beat out Ekblad as the #1 defenseman. As others have said, if he can continue to solidify his play in his own zone, he could really turn into something special. A true 2-way #1.
One of the best defense pairings of the past decade has been Suter and Weber, and ironically enough I think that is the max upside of these two prospects, Reinhart(Suter) and Pulock(Weber). Obviously that's best case scenario, but even if both fall a little short we'll still end up with a potentially elite top-pairing.
Obviously there is a lot to be concerned about right now with the Isles, but at least thinking about the potential future with these two as well as Strome makes it a little easier to deal with... for me at least.
Well said Blinkman. I'm a big Reinhart fan, even before the Isles drafted him you could see this kid was so raw yet already seemed to have the size, skating and smarts to be a special player one day. And as much as I saw Reinhart as a top dman in camp/pre-season, part of me still thinks he needs some AHL time. Not because he can't be effective in the NHL right away and not because he's already better than half the defense - but because he has a lot of upside to his game that big AHL minutes could really help. I felt the same way about Matt Martin. He could have spent another year or two in the AHL, developed a much better offensive game.
Tough to be patient with the big club suffocating but sometimes it makes sense. Pulock seems to have a more developed offensive game and body, but I'm sure he could use some AHL time to adjust to the defensive side, size of the players, speed of play, etc. We shall see. Those decisions are 11 months away and a lot will happen in the interim.
You're forgetting a few. Vladimir Malakhov had a huge shot... problem was he never hit the net and was an automatic clear for the opposing PK 90% of the time.
There were a few other big shots (Berard, Marc Andre Bergeron, Aucoin etc) but they were just PLUS shots. Pulock is a PLUS PLUS (so was Malakhov in my opinion, just had an issue with the accuracy).
But your point is well taken. Again Donovan has a PLUS shot but I'm not sure whats going on with the shanks this year. Kid looks nervous/flustered. I'm thinking/hoping its just a confidence type thing... this has to be the least amount of playoff time he has ever experienced at any level so there may be some rust on that bomb.
I was always high on Donovan since the WJC where I was surprised he made the team and more surprised at how well he played. He's gotten better and better since and I just wish Capuano would recognize his KEY STRENGTH and use him on the PP, especially with Visnovsky out. It boggles the mind and bothers me to no end! He's the smartest offensive dman after Visnovsky and he's got the best shot.
Malakhov is someone I wanted to forget, thankfully I finally did! So much potential, his wrist shot was as hard as his slap shot, big, amazing skater, smooth, solid defensively - when his head was in the game and he tried, he could dominate. Too bad it only happened once a month, then once every two months, then never.
Reminded me of Kent Nilsson. Some nights he looked like Gretzky, other nights, he made Alexei Kovalev look like Ryan Smyth with his effort level.
Cappy's inability to evaluate his players, assess "fit" and proper roles, adjust to game situations (be it line matching, when to use timeouts) is astonishingly bad. Worst bench coach I've seen in the NHL (well, maybe Butch, Sterling - Isles have had a few!)
