So i watched the game and I guess ill do a short write up .
First off this was just bad hockey all around. Minors playing with pros in the 1st preseason game. Its just really hard to get an assessment so take everything with a grain of salt.
For example morin had a rough 1st but him and the whole looked remarkably better the rest of the game.
First up is the vets.
Coots really did not impress me. I was hoping for a Johansen like improvement and was disappointed. He is still very thin and is not much faster than he was last year. While he did a good job of puck handling , his diminutive size and lack of speed prevented him from getting to the net or creating any time and space with the puck. This could be a case of a veteran just trying to ease himself into gameshape but his physical limitations were noticeable.
Akeson- He was the best forward on the ice for the flyers and maybe in the game. Great freaking hands and showed some ability to possess the puck in difficult situations, was capable of making things happen on the ice. I think he is going to be on the team for sure this year and will be a good guy to see on the pp.
Raffl, noticeably bigger and stronger. looked great could be a real contributor this year.
Laughton- Played well , but did not stand out. You can tell he has some speed and is a good skater but got pushed around alot. I think he will be in the ahl all year.
Alderson- I really like this kid. Big and can move. Pouliot with out the shot .
Cousins- Showed me more in this game than id ever seen from him in the past. Not a great skater but not a bad one. Better than coots atleast
Read/ Simmer- Status Quo
Those were the forward that stood out to me.
As for the Dmen. I was impressed by our d to be honest.
Schenn and MDZ looked like they have been playing together for years. Very good with one another.
Each looked great individually. Now part of this may be that they were the most experienced players on the ice for both teams sans BOOTH but still they looked fantastic .
MDZ is going to be great on the PP. I see him and streit manning each unit and they are going to be fantastic. I still can't believe how talented mdz is, just such great hands plus that skating ability really makes the pp run smoothly. He played very physically too.
Schenn looked awesome to be honest. I hate schenn this is well known around these parts but he looked like a number 4 guy. He looked more mobile and more decisive. Now he is still slow but didnt look as emery like last night.
Morin- I've seen a ton or Morin in juniors and I have a real problem with how he has been evaluated so far. Right now Morin is not good in his own zone. Its something I saw in junior and it is something I saw again last night. He has a hard time staying in front of someone and was easily beating to the outside last night. I've been saying for sometime that he is further along in his offensive game than Defensive game.
Morin is great at making that 3-5 foot pass and putting it on someones tape in stride that makes for an easy exit out of the zone. He make a no look pass right to alts stick that was so fast and quick. But he also made some off target passes that got us pinned in our own zone.
on offense he looked great. Skating the puck up the ice numerous times, and also sneaking up from the blue line to get involved int he play. He looked for his shot and was able to get it off a couple of times.
Looked really involved on offense.
My surprise of the night was Nick Shultz. Shultz imo looked great and if he is our number 7 i think we are in good shape. He looks quite capable of stepping in at anytime and giving us big minutes.
