The Utica Comets | 2020-2021 Thread

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docbenton

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Gadjovich and Lockwood look pretty close to being good bottom 6 six players for the big club. Gadjovich is a just a fantastic grinder who is good around the net but also has a heavy shot that can score from distance. Lockwood plays with dynamic speed and skill, one of those guys (like Hoglander) who's point totals will never reflect how dangerous they look on the ice. Both players manage the puck well and can be trusted in their own zone. If they are on the 4th line a year or 2 from now that'll be a really quality line.

Lind has skill and smarts but still isn't winning enough battles/playing a solid enough game in his own zone in this game. Jasek is decent all round but just doesn't bring enough in-your-face-ness compared to Lockwood and Gadjovich. Focht looks close actually, another player with speed and pace who looks both dangerous and responsible, but isn't really producing yet.
 

lawrence

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Why don’t we just pull all these guys up and give them all a stretch?

Sell the assets off ASAP. Free up the spots (should be free anyways).

I actually wouldn't mind this, in our latter 20 games or so. Season is a lost. We might as well start sampling our younger guys from the farm and see how they play against NHL players. Lind, Gadg, RathBone see some games before the end of our season. who knows, maybe some of these guys might end up being better in the NHL than the AHL (Juolevi)
 
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WTG

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Why don’t we just pull all these guys up and give them all a stretch?

Sell the assets off ASAP. Free up the spots (should be free anyways).
I don't think Lind is ready for the big show. Good offensive instincts but defensively he's a bit lost. Had 4 turnovers in one shift. But to be fair he set up a goal in the same shift.
 
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VanJack

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With things looking like a bit of a wasteland in VanCity, it's encouraging that some of the young kids on the Comets are showing well. From the sounds of things, Gadjovich might be on the track you'd expect from a late second rounder.

And Rathbone is just a revelation. It's hard to underestimate how much of an impact it would be for the big club if they had two d-men with the dynamic offensive instincts to drive play from the back end.

And Woo has quietly had a solid start to his pro career....nothing flashy, but good positionally and already a beast on the pk.

You can only hope that when some of the contracts of some of the Canucks' lackluster veterans expire, that Jimbo doesn't rush out and sign a flock of new guys on the UFA market. Give the kids a chance.
 

Bad Goalie

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Rochester Americans (4-1-0-0) @ Utica Comets (3-1-0-1)

The Amerks have won 4 in a row and have the #1 PP in the AHL
The Comets have the 27th worst of the 28 AHL teams on the penalty kill.

Forwards:
(81)McKenzie/(19)Focht/(17)N. Stevens
(47)Baertschi/(13)Lind/(9) Jasek
(21)Gadjovich/(16)J. Stevens/(10)Lockwood
(18)Arseneau/(26)Kaspick/(14)McGing

D-Pairs:
(3)Rathbone/(22)Woo
(4)Teves/(52)Eliot
(2)Tucker/(28)Reinke

Goal - (32)Gillies

Scratches:
(23)Jackson
(24) Wesley
(31)Fitzpatrick

Period 1
The Comets came out strong. Heavy forecheck and good pressure for the first 4 minutes.
Then Rathbone established possession inside the offensive blueline and sent a pass to Lockwood on the RW 1/2 boards. He skated the puck out to the blueline and sent a pass 2/3 of the way across the blueline. He wound up and fired a slapper on net. The save was made, but John Stevens scooped up the rebound and deposited it in the open left side of the cage.

1-0 Comets

The Comets continued the pressure from the ensuing faceoff. The Lind line applied pressure and the Focht line kept up the heat. Woo and Rathbone are noticeably playing well together. The Amerks finally catch a break with a TV TO after a whistle. When play resumes the roles shifted as trhe Amerksa mounted sustained pressure and the Comets couldn't get the puck out. The Lind lion was completely befuddled and Jasek took a slashing penalty.

The Comets would now have to face the AHL's best PP unit. They broke up plays all over the ice and actually applied a little offensive pressure of their own. They killed it and when they got even they immediately got called for too m any men and had to go right back at it. They did it again, but needed a couple big stops from Gillies to kill it off. The big contributors were Nolan Stevens, Curtis McKenzie, Tanner Kaspick, Nolan Stevens, Will Lockwood up front and Jett Woo, Tanner Tucker, Josh Teves, Mitch Eliot, and Mitch Reinke on the back end. Over the next 8 minutes after the TV TO Amerks outshot the Comets 8-0.

During the remaining time left in the first Lockwood, Woo, and Rathbone set up a couple good scoring chances from the points with both Woo and Rathboine getting good hard shots on net.

END of PERIOD 1
SOG:
Amerks - 12
Comets - 10

Amerks 0/2 on the PP.

PERIOD 2
The period is barely 2 minutes old when Teves gets 2 for hooking after losing an end boards battle and hooking the Amerk breaking away from him towards the net front.
It took the vaunted PP 6 seconds to put goal #1 on the board.

1-1

McKenzie leads a big shift right after the goal along with Focht and N. Stevens.

O-h-h-h-h! A big hit by WOO Inside the offensive blue line.

Amerks called for too m any men.

Comets to the PP. Amerks too many men.
PP1
McKenzie - net front
Baertschi/Lind/Nolan Stevens
Reinke

PP2
Gadjovich
McGing/Jasek/Focht

Not much going on this one.

A minute after the last PP fizzled the Amerks get 2 for tripping.

Lind loses the draw and it's all the way down.
Several efforts to gain thew zone fail. Lind makes poor passes and fails to skate it in on most efforts.
Another PP chance goes down the drain.

Arseneau drives right down the center and put it off Luke's shoulder ,but crashing the net pumps the rebound back on net.
Vinnie modeling a behavior that produces scoring chances.

Guess somebody took note. Lockwood digs hard along the corner boards and feeds the puck to Kaspick in the circle who slides the puck over to John Stevens charging down the slot and he wrists it without stopping it and.........

S--------C--------O--------R-----------E--------S !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2-1 Comets

3 minutes later Tucker commits a terrible turnover in the neutral zone. Amerk captain Fogarty snipes from just below the dot and it's 2-2.

Late in the period we see another failed weak rush by Lind and then once the puck is regained in the Comes end he makes jhis 1st good rush of the night, feeds Baertschi in the right circle, who is stopped on a pretty good shot. Sven looks to be zeroing on a goal. It will not be too soon if he gets it figured out.

Tucker gets in too deep and knee trips an Amerk jumping out of the zone. 2 for tripping.

(Side note here. John Stevens leaves the rink through the end boards gate. Injured? That's the usual reason.)

On the PK Jasek and Kaspick get out shorthanded and Kaspick is stopped after taking a tape to tape pass.
Soo after Nolan Stevens and McKenzie are up the ice on a 2 on 1. Stevens gets off a shot attempt that is partially blocked and goes wide.

Period ends with 19 seconds carrying over to start the 3rd.

END PERIOD 2
2-2

SOG:
Amerks - 7
Comets - 14
2 period total: 24-19 Utica

PERIOD 3
The second the first whistle blows, John Stevens goes back to the locker room. His attempt to see if he could go was a failure. This would mean tomorrow the Cometw would suit up every single forward they have left - 12.

Cull starts mixing up every line and also repairs the D.
Woo is with Eliot. THe Comets are hemmed in and Eliot intentionally ices the puck. The 5 on the ice are gassed. Finally a hand pass by the Amerks and the Comets change.

Tucker with Rienke.

Rathbone comes out with Teves.

Gadjovich gets 2 for holding in the offensive zone at 17:22. Lockwood steals it in the Amerks slot and is stopped on the right edge and the rebound is backhanded on net by Kaspick from the other side

Tucker is lost without his regular partner of the past 5 games, Santini. With him Tucker was progressing very well and they looked to be a solid pairing. No Santini and Tucker has been an error machine.

McKenzie another big shift and the penalty is killed.
This is the best game McKenzie has played for the Comets.

1st line comes on to revitalize the Comets pressure after the kill and they can't get out of their own end. Anas is dearly missed and Jasek has been playing without a RW for many seconds of every shift.
Finally Lind gets out of the zone, skates up ice, kicks it over to Gadjovich on a line change and he steps right into it at the top of the right circle and...................

S__________C_________O________R________E___________S

3-2 Utica at 5:34

Jasek gets the puck in the crease and misses the net while getting knocked to the ice.

TV TO 13:04 to go in the 3rd.

Comets are in the Amerks zone. Teves gets it at the point and moves down to the top of the circle, turns his body towards the net and rips one into the far top corner!

GOAL UTICA!!!!!!!!!!!!

4-2 at 7:15

2 goals in less than 2 minutes

Forget even thinking about any type of fixed lines. It's 3 different guys every time. It reminds me of pickup hockey when guys change one at a time based upon fatigue.

Comets with more pressure led by Lockwood.

Every guy comes onto the ice and works his ass off while Lind is coasts around like a slug when he doesn't have the puck.

HOLY CRAP! Arseneau picks off a pass in the slot that was mistipped by an Amerk right to him while he was headed back towards the Comets end. He whirls around and wrists it home. He's been hammering Amerks all night long with clean hits every shift. This goal is a well deserved reward.

5-2 Utica

I haven't checked the Amerks complete lineup, but the Sabres have been stalled by a big COVID outbreak and I'm sure that may have cost the Amerks some bodies much like injuries to St. Louis has left the Comets cupboards bare. I will say this though, the team they put on the ice tonight was much bigger than the Comets. However the Amerks had 17 forwards to draw form while the Comets had 13. Murray is a 6'4" 216 pound forward and he has been a real handful for the Comets D as have 6'5" Franco, 6'3" Fogarty, and 6'2" Mersch and Smith. Their reach and strides require a little extra when defending against them.

Rahbone takes a run down the boards, behind the net, into the far corner and loses the puck. I haven't seen a Utica D-man do that since Rafferty. The kid is confident. He doesn't have a shy bone in his body. I wish the Comets were playing a normal schedule so we could see him play against the best every Eastern team had on their rosters instead of the watered down AHL teams on the ice this year, the Comets right in there with the rest of them.

Oh man, Vinnie just keeps finishing his checks. 6:05 to go. Murray and Gadjovich are yapping and pushing at one another while getting to their benches on a line change. A "Why I oughta" moment , but both ended up on their benches. Right after they got off, Fogarty is called for tripping. The Comets were terrible on their previous attempts.

Stevens passed the puck to Rathbone and hit Baertdschi in stride inside the left dot for a beautiful shot and........>>

G_______O______A________L!!!!!!!!!!!!

6-2 Comets

On the very next shift Rathbone carries the puck down the outside to to the outside of the left circle and centered it to Gadjovich coming across the middle and he backhanded it home>>> G--O--A--L!

7-2 Comets

Arseneau is back on the ice and the Amerks are targeting him. He is meeting their efforts to hit him with equal resistance and winning. He goes to the end boards and rams a guy who doesn't have the puck, but that guy had been a perpetrator of the targeting. The whistle goes. He comes off the boards and starts out towards the circle and he is jumped by 2 Amerks. A lot of wrestling and lots of bodies in the pile. Everyone gets separated and no punches were ever thrown. Somehow Vinnie gets a double minor and the Amerks escape scott free. I can see an interference call on the hit on the end boards and even a roughing for the group ground sprawl, but for the Amerks to get away without a reciprocal roughing for 2 guys jumping him was ridiculous. Whatever.

The Comets kill the 2:58 left in the period and the Amerk PP comes up empty again. 1/7 on the night.

END of GAME
Final score:
Utica 7 - Rochester 2

SOG:
Amerks - 12 7 7 - 26
Comets - 10 14 15 - 39

PP:
Amerks - 1/7
Comets - 1/3

3 Stars:
1st - Jonah Gadjovich (Utica Comets) 2G/1A
2nd - John Stevens (Utica Comets) 2G
3rd - Jack Rathbone (Utica Comets) 3A

John Stevens (2) from Gadjovich (1) and Rathbone (1)
John Stevens (3) from Kaspick (1) and Lockwood (2)
Gadjovich (5) from Baertschi (4) and Lind (1)
Teves (1) from Nolan Stevens (3) and Curtis McKenzie (1)
Arseneau (1) Unassisted
Baertschi (1) from Rathbone (2) and Nolan Stevens (4)
Gadjovich (6) from Rathbone (3)
 

orcatown

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Very good game by the Comets. Took advantage of some very sloppy play by Rochester and less than good goal tending. Lots to like among the Canucks prospect. You don't want to get carried away and gauging play in the AHL this year is difficult but you had to like several of these prospect

Woo - thought he was the best defenseman. Eliminates people out of the play with authority and makes the good up ice play almost every time. Used his wheels to skate puck out of trouble and to come off the blue line to break up plays or keep the puck in. Made numerous clearances on the PK and established a solid zone of coverage around his net. Again we don't know if we are comparing apples to apples this year in terms of AHL quality (although Amerks had some NHLers in the line up) but I think Woo is playing better than Joulevi ever did at this level. There is no hesitation in his game and he consistently establishes space to make a play. Sticks his nose in physically in all situations. Led team in shots in this game.

Rathbone - outstanding wheels - looks a little like Hughes. Smart with the puck and able to make plays low in the offensive zone and get back on D. Stick handling is good and has a good shot. Very good range in his play. Can see he will produce offense. Never saw him physically challenged in his zone so difficult to determine how that will work out. Highly skilled and mobile player. When they were together, him and Woo formed an effective unit

Eliot - IMO Eliot continues to impress. He probably doesn't have the physical game of Woo or the speed and foot work of Rathbone but he has a wide area of coverage and the timing to get his stick in to break up plays or to bump players when they are about to shoot or make plays. Made a critical play when the game was 2 - 2 when, after the Comets had been hemmed in for sustained period, he forced the puck up the ice then got it to Gadjovich for a goal.

Gadjovich - putting the puck in the net. Seems stronger on his skates and quicker to the play. At times he still seems to mentally check out some but he is far more involved than in the past. Is taking steps in the right direction although you still worry about his skating.

Jasek - played on the first line with Lind and Baertschi but didn't do much there. Over-passed as did the whole line. Looked better when he was out with Arseneau and MacKenzie.

Arseneau - intimidating presence. Created some havoc on the forecheck and scored a nice goal.

Lockwood - not much in the way of stats but again showed real good quickness and strength on the forecheck. Was good on the PK and almost scored a couple of short-handed goals

Baertschi - scored in the same place as most of the others did (low on the glove side behind a screen - maybe good scouting here) but otherwise ordinary.

Lind - very poor at getting the puck out of the zone or picking up his check defensively. After a great start looks to be struggling. Missed not having Anas on his line.

Focht - ok but often seem to get bogged down in traffic. Needs to hold his feet better when trying to fight for position around the other teams goal.
 
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Hansen

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Gadjovich and Lockwood look pretty close to being good bottom 6 six players for the big club. Gadjovich is a just a fantastic grinder who is good around the net but also has a heavy shot that can score from distance. Lockwood plays with dynamic speed and skill, one of those guys (like Hoglander) who's point totals will never reflect how dangerous they look on the ice. Both players manage the puck well and can be trusted in their own zone. If they are on the 4th line a year or 2 from now that'll be a really quality line.

Lind has skill and smarts but still isn't winning enough battles/playing a solid enough game in his own zone in this game. Jasek is decent all round but just doesn't bring enough in-your-face-ness compared to Lockwood and Gadjovich. Focht looks close actually, another player with speed and pace who looks both dangerous and responsible, but isn't really producing yet.

i agree about Gadj and lockwood

Lockwood I might be more interested in allowing to simmer though and see if he can figure out offense more at pro level,

Gadj though, even though his skating is sus he has such a great touch around the net, kind of Holmstrom-esque. He is a battler and smart with the puck. Would be a welcome presence on our team and maybe even the PP
 
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MS

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Renewed my AHLTV pass for this year.

First off, really miss Joe Roberts. His replacement is generically OK enough but the colour guy is awful.

Fairly even game until Utica absolutely blew it open in the 3rd.

- Rathbone was good. Don't know if he was *quite* as amazing as some are making out but he clearly skates well and is confident with the puck on his stick. Showed good vision, made good offensive decisions. Thought he got caught a bit high in his coverage on a couple occasions but it worked out for him. Wasn't really put in tough situations defensively.

- Woo was solid. Same incredibly boring player as in the WHL and doesn't have high upside but skates well enough and makes the right plays and finishes his checks and did a good job. Looks substantially better than, say, Brisebois did at the same age. Polished defensive player for his age.

- Lind ... meh. Picked up an assist at the end of a terrible shift where he turned the puck over 4 times in his own zone. First step still clunky. Had a couple nice puckhandling sequences but does not look anywhere close to the NHL in his 3rd pro season.

- Focht looked a little better at this level than I expected. Expected him to look like the horrible 18-19 Lind, looked a bit more like the OK 19-20 Lind in terms of effectiveness. Weak on his skates but involved reasonably well.

- Lockwood works hard and did some good things but man is he small for a bottom-6 NHL role. Niche PK skills might be his ticket - did a very good job there and looked dangerous SH.

- Gadjovich had a nice game and is off to a huge start but I still don't think he's close to keeping up with the pace of the NHL game.

- Arseneau was an absolute monster. Flattening guys on almost every shift. What a shame for him he was born 15 years too late or he would have been a better version of Darcy Hordichuk.

- Teves is a non-prospect at this point but thought he had a pretty nice game.

- Baertschi ... scored but when you watch him at this level it's mindnumbing that Jim Benning gave him a $10 million deal. Probably a roughly equivalent player to JS Dea on Rochester.
 

Canuck Luck

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Renewed my AHLTV pass for this year.

First off, really miss Joe Roberts. His replacement is generically OK enough but the colour guy is awful.

Fairly even game until Utica absolutely blew it open in the 3rd.

- Rathbone was good. Don't know if he was *quite* as amazing as some are making out but he clearly skates well and is confident with the puck on his stick. Showed good vision, made good offensive decisions. Thought he got caught a bit high in his coverage on a couple occasions but it worked out for him. Wasn't really put in tough situations defensively.

- Woo was solid. Same incredibly boring player as in the WHL and doesn't have high upside but skates well enough and makes the right plays and finishes his checks and did a good job. Looks substantially better than, say, Brisebois did at the same age. Polished defensive player for his age.

- Lind ... meh. Picked up an assist at the end of a terrible shift where he turned the puck over 4 times in his own zone. First step still clunky. Had a couple nice puckhandling sequences but does not look anywhere close to the NHL in his 3rd pro season.

- Focht looked a little better at this level than I expected. Expected him to look like the horrible 18-19 Lind, looked a bit more like the OK 19-20 Lind in terms of effectiveness. Weak on his skates but involved reasonably well.

- Lockwood works hard and did some good things but man is he small for a bottom-6 NHL role. Niche PK skills might be his ticket - did a very good job there and looked dangerous SH.

- Gadjovich had a nice game and is off to a huge start but I still don't think he's close to keeping up with the pace of the NHL game.

- Arseneau was an absolute monster. Flattening guys on almost every shift. What a shame for him he was born 15 years too late or he would have been a better version of Darcy Hordichuk.

- Teves is a non-prospect at this point but thought he had a pretty nice game.

- Baertschi ... scored but when you watch him at this level it's mindnumbing that Jim Benning gave him a $10 million deal. Probably a roughly equivalent player to JS Dea on Rochester.
Lockwood is 5’11 172. A little underweight for a bottom 6 role but if he plans on making it as a speedy forechecker with a solid 2 way game, he’s not too undersized. Plus he could put on 10-20 pounds by the time he’s nhl ready

Our very own Tyler motte is 5’10 192. Most people here consider him an elite 4th line player. Paul Byron and Tyler Ennis are both 5’9 160-165. Casey cizikas is also around motte’s size of 5’11 190-195 I believe.

those are players off the top of my head around lockwoods size that are solid bottom 6 players. There probably are more I can’t think of at 3:30am
 
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orcatown

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Agree on announcer. Over-doing it and trying to entertain too much. Color guy seems to know the game but too much irrelevant banter. Like the old announcer a lot -down to earth and honest.

One thing I didn't like was how they kept lauding the defense man Tucker. He made some ordinary play and they were kept describing it as excellent. Then at other times didn't even identify a player like Woo - just said "and the Utica defenseman clears the puck" and things like that. No big deal but kind of annoying from a Canuck perspective.
 

UticaHockey

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Agree on announcer. Over-doing it and trying to entertain too much. Color guy seems to know the game but too much irrelevant banter. Like the old announcer a lot -down to earth and honest.

One thing I didn't like was how they kept lauding the defense man Tucker. He made some ordinary play and they were kept describing it as excellent. Then at other times didn't even identify a player like Woo - just said "and the Utica defenseman clears the puck" and things like that. No big deal but kind of annoying from a Canuck perspective.
The color guy is Utica College head coach Gary Heenan. He is a good addition and will be working home games when Utica College isn't on the road.
 
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Diversification

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Want to be excited about Rathbone, but then I recall that Niklas Jensen had a 3 point game in his AHL debut. Want a few more data points here.

Really liking the reports on Woo. @Bad Goalie: do you think Woo has NHL upside? And is there chemistry between Woo and Rathbone?
 
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Canucks LB

My Favourite, Gone too soon, RIP Luc, We miss you
Oct 12, 2008
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Where is the best place to watch these utica games?
 

clay

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Gadjovich is a guy who knows that the only way he’s going to be an NHL player is by mucking it up in the dirty areas and going hard to the net and creating havoc. He said when he was drafted that he modelled his game after Tomas Holmstrom. That’s the perfect answer for a player with his skill set.
 

Mr. Canucklehead

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How does Gadjovich’s speed look? IMO, that was always going to be his biggest stumbling block in his path to the NHL. He certainly has size, grit and willingness to use it, but his speed needed work.
 

UticaHockey

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Woo looked very confident and moved the puck well. Very noticeable in a positive way. I think it was his first game playing on his strong side. The Comets have had an excess of RD and not enough LD. The addition of Rathbone and the insertion of Teves back in the lineup gave the Comets more balance on the backend.
 

MS

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Lockwood is 5’11 172. A little underweight for a bottom 6 role but if he plans on making it as a speedy forechecker with a solid 2 way game, he’s not too undersized. Plus he could put on 10-20 pounds by the time he’s nhl ready

Our very own Tyler motte is 5’10 192. Most people here consider him an elite 4th line player. Paul Byron and Tyler Ennis are both 5’9 160-165. Casey cizikas is also around motte’s size of 5’11 190-195 I believe.

those are players off the top of my head around lockwoods size that are solid bottom 6 players. There probably are more I can’t think of at 3:30am

Most of those guys are either *really* fast or built like a tank. Lockwood is a good skater but I don't know that he's an absolute blazer out there.

Lockwood is also already almost 23 - not sure how much more he's going to fill out. Reminds me a bit of Bill Sweatt, who was a good farmhand for us about a decade ago but just too weak to take the next step. Ironically his brother was a fire hydrant.

We'll see. I'm not writing him off or anything. First impressions at this level were just that he's going to be very size/strength challenged to reach the next level.
 

Canuck Luck

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Most of those guys are either *really* fast or built like a tank. Lockwood is a good skater but I don't know that he's an absolute blazer out there.

Lockwood is also already almost 23 - not sure how much more he's going to fill out. Reminds me a bit of Bill Sweatt, who was a good farmhand for us about a decade ago but just too weak to take the next step. Ironically his brother was a fire hydrant.

We'll see. I'm not writing him off or anything. First impressions at this level were just that he's going to be very size/strength challenged to reach the next level.
Even though he’s 4 months off being 23 he can still easily add 10 to 20 pounds. I added 20-30 pounds from when I was 22 to when I became 25-26. Most of it was fat haha but i play basketball and its helped me playing defence in the post against bigger guys.
 

Hansen

tyler motte simp
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How does Gadjovich’s speed look? IMO, that was always going to be his biggest stumbling block in his path to the NHL. He certainly has size, grit and willingness to use it, but his speed needed work.
Gadjovich has noticeably gained a step since the last time I was watching over the last couple years. He can keep up, he's no speedster in any way, but I think with the right positioning and if he can read the play he could keep up at the NHL level too.

If he can keep progressing in the skating department like he has I think he should get a look in our bottom 6 in the future
 

Hansen

tyler motte simp
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Most of those guys are either *really* fast or built like a tank. Lockwood is a good skater but I don't know that he's an absolute blazer out there.

Lockwood is also already almost 23 - not sure how much more he's going to fill out. Reminds me a bit of Bill Sweatt, who was a good farmhand for us about a decade ago but just too weak to take the next step. Ironically his brother was a fire hydrant.

We'll see. I'm not writing him off or anything. First impressions at this level were just that he's going to be very size/strength challenged to reach the next level.
Lockwood might not be a total burner at the NHL level but the way he uses his body and drills guys reminds me of Motte quite a bit. I think he's got a touch with the puck that we haven't seen all of yet so far in the AHL. If we could have two guys like Motte in our bottom six I'll take it. It's always nice to have a 6'1+ winger to crash and bang but the game is getting faster and faster, if they can move like MacEwen then wonderful but otherwise not gonna keep up
 
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MS

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Vancouver, BC
Gadjovich has noticeably gained a step since the last time I was watching over the last couple years. He can keep up, he's no speedster in any way, but I think with the right positioning and if he can read the play he could keep up at the NHL level too.

If he can keep progressing in the skating department like he has I think he should get a look in our bottom 6 in the future

He's keeping up in the AHL now - which admittedly is a substantial improvement - but there is a *huge* difference between keeping up in that league and keeping up in the NHL. I don't think he's close to bridging that gap yet.
 

MS

1%er
Mar 18, 2002
53,367
83,458
Vancouver, BC
Lockwood might not be a total burner at the NHL level but the way he uses his body and drills guys reminds me of Motte quite a bit. I think he's got a touch with the puck that we haven't seen all of yet so far in the AHL. If we could have two guys like Motte in our bottom six I'll take it. It's always nice to have a 6'1+ winger to crash and bang but the game is getting faster and faster, if they can move like MacEwen then wonderful but otherwise not gonna keep up

We'll see. I've called him a poor man's Motte before.

Motte's skating is more explosive, he's more physical, and he was a more dynamic scorer at lower levels. And he's *barely* eked out a career as an NHL 4th liner.

I'm not writing Lockwood off. There are some things to like there and he'll be a good middle-6 player for Utica this year. But it's hard to be a 5'11 175 bottom-6 NHLer unless you do something else that's really dynamic. And I'd say the same about Jasek.
 
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Fatass

Registered User
Apr 17, 2017
21,951
13,921
Lockwood might not be a total burner at the NHL level but the way he uses his body and drills guys reminds me of Motte quite a bit. I think he's got a touch with the puck that we haven't seen all of yet so far in the AHL. If we could have two guys like Motte in our bottom six I'll take it. It's always nice to have a 6'1+ winger to crash and bang but the game is getting faster and faster, if they can move like MacEwen then wonderful but otherwise not gonna keep up
Lockwood is clearly an NHL player. He stands out every shift. He will be in our middle six next season.
 
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