lawrence
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- May 19, 2012
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Heard Willy Lockwood looked good. anyone confirm this? If this is the case I am ok with losing Virtanen bring this kid up at some point. Heard some Motte comparisons
The Utica Comets | 2020-2021 Thread
- Thread starter Mr. Canucklehead
- Start date
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Comets very strong early and overall the better team. Refs did their best to keep Crunch in the game with some very dubious calls.
Liked
Woo - not as good as the other night but still effective. Has the wheels to play positionally strong throughout. Very much defense first but does move into support the play in the offensive zone when appropriate and takes low hard shots that create problems around the net. Didn't know that much about this player but I find very little to criticize. Presently a +5 which I think is good indicator of his play to date.
Rathbone - superior skater with a rifle of a shot. Uses his speed to get ahead of the play and can take chances because of it. Mostly strong in his end although him and Woo out for one of the goals where they had trouble switching checks and left a man open. Thought it was more Woo when he was trying to do too much.
Lind - his play away form the puck much, especially in his own zone, better. Showed some nice dekes and moves in the offensive zone. However did lack finish and probably should have put some of his chances away. Needs to improve on face offs. Nice unselfish play on the ON goal
Toews - showed good wheels and very good in getting the puck out of his zone and up to the forwards. Also made some critical plays around his net. Strong game
Arseneau - like last year there were games when you wonder if these guy could have an NHL future. But then you see some of his defensive coverage and you give that idea a big second thought. That said you do wonder if he might be just as good as Roussel. Look great on the first goal and was very strong along the boards. Some of the strongest Utica shifts involved Arseneau bumping people around and forcing turnovers.
Lockwood - smooth skater with good defensive anticipation. Gets his nose dirty along the boards and effective on the PK. Again looks offensively limited and doesn't seem to have much of a shot.
Kielly - don't really like the mechanics and I think he tends to over react and gets too much side to side movement. Still he stopped numerous good chances and was important in the win
Others
Baertschi - not really a fan. On one play had a chance for an open breakaway but didn't have the speed to get any separation from a defenseman coming from well back. Got a penalty shot but made a weak effort. This player looks done but can make still make the cute play offensively.
Gadjovich - got some chances in tight but couldn't get the puck up over the goalie. Lagged at times - again keeping a mental edge is important. Not bad, not good, ok
Eliot - team had 7 defense man playing and I don't ever think this ever works well. In this game the comets had good rhythm going early and controlled the play. But this waned and one cause IMO was the changing of defensive partners. You add in the difference in game times caused by special teams and you can see how players kind of fall out of it. Eliot might have been a victim of this. Made some good plays and late game shot block was important. However, he was poor on the first goal against when he take away the player in front of the net.
Focht - surviving but not having much impact on the play. He is positionally good enough and quick enough not to hurt the team.
Liked
Woo - not as good as the other night but still effective. Has the wheels to play positionally strong throughout. Very much defense first but does move into support the play in the offensive zone when appropriate and takes low hard shots that create problems around the net. Didn't know that much about this player but I find very little to criticize. Presently a +5 which I think is good indicator of his play to date.
Rathbone - superior skater with a rifle of a shot. Uses his speed to get ahead of the play and can take chances because of it. Mostly strong in his end although him and Woo out for one of the goals where they had trouble switching checks and left a man open. Thought it was more Woo when he was trying to do too much.
Lind - his play away form the puck much, especially in his own zone, better. Showed some nice dekes and moves in the offensive zone. However did lack finish and probably should have put some of his chances away. Needs to improve on face offs. Nice unselfish play on the ON goal
Toews - showed good wheels and very good in getting the puck out of his zone and up to the forwards. Also made some critical plays around his net. Strong game
Arseneau - like last year there were games when you wonder if these guy could have an NHL future. But then you see some of his defensive coverage and you give that idea a big second thought. That said you do wonder if he might be just as good as Roussel. Look great on the first goal and was very strong along the boards. Some of the strongest Utica shifts involved Arseneau bumping people around and forcing turnovers.
Lockwood - smooth skater with good defensive anticipation. Gets his nose dirty along the boards and effective on the PK. Again looks offensively limited and doesn't seem to have much of a shot.
Kielly - don't really like the mechanics and I think he tends to over react and gets too much side to side movement. Still he stopped numerous good chances and was important in the win
Others
Baertschi - not really a fan. On one play had a chance for an open breakaway but didn't have the speed to get any separation from a defenseman coming from well back. Got a penalty shot but made a weak effort. This player looks done but can make still make the cute play offensively.
Gadjovich - got some chances in tight but couldn't get the puck up over the goalie. Lagged at times - again keeping a mental edge is important. Not bad, not good, ok
Eliot - team had 7 defense man playing and I don't ever think this ever works well. In this game the comets had good rhythm going early and controlled the play. But this waned and one cause IMO was the changing of defensive partners. You add in the difference in game times caused by special teams and you can see how players kind of fall out of it. Eliot might have been a victim of this. Made some good plays and late game shot block was important. However, he was poor on the first goal against when he take away the player in front of the net.
Focht - surviving but not having much impact on the play. He is positionally good enough and quick enough not to hurt the team.
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In the rare chance that Benning gives up on the season and decides to send Hog/Juolevi/Bailey/etc back down for a potential Calder run, how much say does St Louis have on the construction of the roster?
UticaHockey
Registered User
Nothing official from the league yet but all indication is there will no Calder Cup this season. There is some talk of a limited playoff format within the individual divisions but there is still a chance of no playoffs at all.
Fatass
Registered User
- Apr 17, 2017
- 22,043
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The way coved is disappearing down there, and fans now in most rinks, maybe there will be spring playoffs?
UticaHockey
Registered User
This season is about development only. The Syracuse Crunch are one of a shrinking number of teams that are independently owned rather than NHL owned. Howard Dolgon their owner agreed to play this season because he felt he owed it to Tampa Bay to give their prospects a place to play and develop. He also said that he wanted to play as few as games as possible and had no interest in a playoff after the regular season. Every game they play cost him more money with little additional revenue coming in per game. Teams that are NHL owned likely have no interest in extending the AHL season beyond May when the regular season is scheduled to end. A significant number of NHL owned AHL teams are playing out of practice rinks instead of their normal arenas to save costs.
Locally the Comets are not allowed to play with any fans in the building. NY state recently started allowing 10% capacity for arenas and stadiums that seat 10K and above but anyone attending must pass a PCR COVID test within 72 hours of the game. Rochester is the only AHL arena in NY with a 10K capacity and they released a statement this week that they plan to remain playing without fans for the rest of the season. Syracuse which seats around 6K is on record of not planning to allow fans this season. Binghamton which seats somewhere around 4,400 isn't playing in Bingo this year with the Devils moving them to their practice facility in NJ.
I'm not sure what the Comets will do if the Aud gets permission to open up for fans. Interviews with Rob Esche makes it sound like he is open to the idea but with a hockey capacity of around 3,900 we would be limited to 390 fans in attendance.
Right now I'm just enjoying watching them play on TV and hope things return to normal for the 2021-22 season. Get vaccinated when it is available to you. Wear a mask, social distance and wash your hands. Everyone needs to do their part for a few more months.
Wow!.....last day of February and already the 2021 season is dwindling down for Canuck players and prospects.
Only about 20 regular season games left for the Comets; and 30 games or so for the Canucks.....and then it's the off-season with no playoffs in either the AHL or the NHL.
This is season is going to be remembered for 'all the wrong reasons'.
Only about 20 regular season games left for the Comets; and 30 games or so for the Canucks.....and then it's the off-season with no playoffs in either the AHL or the NHL.
This is season is going to be remembered for 'all the wrong reasons'.
UticaHockey
Registered User
I've read reports that the players want some sort of playoffs so there is a possibility of some sort of divisional playoff round. I'm not sure how that would work however as the divisions have been changed this year to reduce travel. The Atlantic division only has three teams in it.
UticaHockey
Registered User
What would be considered the Eastern Conference minus the three Eastern Canadian teams that are grouped in a separate division.
The United States is shown at worldometers.info/coronavirus as having more then 30 times as many active cases per capita as Canada*. Some of their drop in numbers so far may be because people are less active about getting tested when they should as the number of tests has dropped dramatically. Even with the drop in testing, they are showing considerably more new cases per capita than Canada.
They are well ahead of us in vaccinating and that may bring back their activities sooner than ours and many of the states are likely more anxious to lift restrictions than Canadian provinces, but it still looks unlikely to me that there would be playoffs this spring. They could decide to do it in the summer, but realistically I doubt that there is enough to be gained to make the risk worthwhile.
* present figures on worldometers as of 1:14 p.m. PST Feb 28
Active Cases USA 9,040,721 Canada 30,718
Population USA 332,283,263 Canada 37,960,170
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Beauterham
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- Aug 19, 2018
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UticaHockey
Registered User
A 5 minute clip on Utica College head coach Gary Heenan who is doing the color commentary during the Comets home games this year.
Why do they still list him in the Taxi? Out for the season means LTIR.
So, he will go 2 years without playing the game. That won't bode well for his development.
UticaHockey
Registered User
He had shoulder surgery a couple weeks ago.
St. Louis Blues News: Scott Perunovich Out For All Of 2021
Thanks for the medical update article.
I don't deny his injury exists. My question ass to why CapFriendly, that normally makes adjustments to their roster lists almost immediately, hasn't removed him from the Taxi Squad and listed him as LTIR. It's just weird for that to go unchanged for over 2 weeks..
I just checked before I posted this and he's still in the cab. No poster is at fault for this. It explains Santini though. I like the guy, but he is not an NHL D-man and he's shown that in Bingo as well as here. He got his chances in NJ because they were D starved and he couldn't cut it. NJ traded him.
Nashville who was D-stocked gave him 2 games and eventually simply moved on. They waived him to buy out his 2 remaining years.
St.Louis then signed him to a 1-yr deal for this season. The reason was to play in San Antonio and work with their young D-prospects. Thus, the reason he was paired up immediately with Tucker in Utica. Tucker has looked lost since Steve was called up. Apparently Reinke doesn't shelter him in the same way, but it was the same kind of move.
That's also why Woo and Rathbone, 2 promising young D in the Vancouver organization are paired up to keep them away from Eliot and Teves, who are not going to be Canucks, but very well may become fixtures in Utica until they head overseas. Benning has never cared who he gets to play here after his prospects. He has always gone with what's easiest for him which is keep the guys who are there in place if they will sign because that saves him the trouble of finding someone else. He always waits until the last minute which sees the players who were looking for a spot signing elsewhere because they need a secure offer.His GM assigned here has never had any business acquiring AHL level talent.$700k Teves may get that option this summer if Benning decides he blew it with that contract and his QO involves a big pay cut which it should. If Benning is gone, you can bet the next GM is going to look at that contract and compare it to his 2 seasons and make that move in a heartbeat.
Sorry, I wandered.
UticaHockey
Registered User
The Blues haven't placed Perunovich on LTIR so Cap Friendly won't list him there. I don't begin to understand the ins-and-outs of LTIR but it is for cap management rather than injury status. Tarasenko is supposed to be close to returning so when he does I imagine one or more of their other injured players will need to be moved to LTIR to stay under the cap. Everything is different this year with the addition of the taxi squad. Normally if a player is injured they are immediately placed on IR so someone else can be called up as a replacement on the 23 man roster. The taxi squad makes it less of an issue so for now anyway Perunovich stays active on the taxi squad even though his season is over before it even started.
Got around to finishing the Saturday game.
Sloppy, choppy game with lots of PPs. Thought the team played well in the first but then looked tired and not terribly effective for most of the last two periods.
- Rathbone's skating and puck skills pop at this level. Obviously the most talented player on the ice for either team. Did not love some of his defensive work, though - thought he had poor compete level in a long shift stuck in his own zone leading to the 3-2 goal and then was almost dangled the shift after that. Pushes high against the rush which works at this level but think he'd get burned on some of those plays in the NHL.
- Woo is literally the most boring player in history. Solid game, defended well. Virtually never makes a mistake in his fundamentals but there is nothing dynamic there.
- Lockwood hustled and had one very good PK shift but was not as good as Friday.
- Focht was completely invisible.
- Lind finished with 1G 1A but the goal was a PP deflection and the assist on an EN. Skating looked really laboured at times and he was destroyed in the FO circle, although I guess that's to be expected when you're converting a winger.
- Gadjovich knows the places he needs to go but his choppy skating makes everything he does seem so ragged.
- Arseneau has 19 goals in his last 75 AHL games, all at ES, all while playing <10 minutes/game. I'm really curious how he'd look in some NHL preseason games in September if given a chance.
- Teves was very good again.
- some interesting names for Springfield. Remember the name of John Ludvig - was probably the 2nd best defender in the WHL last year to Ty Smith and looks immediately rock solid in the AHL. Will be on Florida's blueline very soon. Gage Gonsalves made his pro debut as a teenager and looked excellent - some more nice work from the TB scouts. Sean Day looked the best I've ever seen him - will be interesting to see how he goes in TB's organization.
Sloppy, choppy game with lots of PPs. Thought the team played well in the first but then looked tired and not terribly effective for most of the last two periods.
- Rathbone's skating and puck skills pop at this level. Obviously the most talented player on the ice for either team. Did not love some of his defensive work, though - thought he had poor compete level in a long shift stuck in his own zone leading to the 3-2 goal and then was almost dangled the shift after that. Pushes high against the rush which works at this level but think he'd get burned on some of those plays in the NHL.
- Woo is literally the most boring player in history. Solid game, defended well. Virtually never makes a mistake in his fundamentals but there is nothing dynamic there.
- Lockwood hustled and had one very good PK shift but was not as good as Friday.
- Focht was completely invisible.
- Lind finished with 1G 1A but the goal was a PP deflection and the assist on an EN. Skating looked really laboured at times and he was destroyed in the FO circle, although I guess that's to be expected when you're converting a winger.
- Gadjovich knows the places he needs to go but his choppy skating makes everything he does seem so ragged.
- Arseneau has 19 goals in his last 75 AHL games, all at ES, all while playing <10 minutes/game. I'm really curious how he'd look in some NHL preseason games in September if given a chance.
- Teves was very good again.
- some interesting names for Springfield. Remember the name of John Ludvig - was probably the 2nd best defender in the WHL last year to Ty Smith and looks immediately rock solid in the AHL. Will be on Florida's blueline very soon. Gage Gonsalves made his pro debut as a teenager and looked excellent - some more nice work from the TB scouts. Sean Day looked the best I've ever seen him - will be interesting to see how he goes in TB's organization.
That's just nuts, but understandable. Yet, seems it shouldn't be allowed.
Thanks for this info. I can always count on you.
Think I'll just watch the Vancouver game now.
LTIR (or technically injured reserve where the team declares the player out long term) has two results:
1. The first, when the player is on IR whether or not he is our long-term, is that he is no longer on the active roster of 23 players so the team can replace him.
2. The second, when his injury is designated long-term, is that the team can in replacing him exceed the salary cap by up to his cap hit.
The taxi squad is confusing, but it isn't part of the active roster and his pay doesn't count against the cap. That being the case, St. Louis wouldn't gain anything by putting him on IR, long-term or otherwise. In fact if I understand correctly, since he's been assigned (to the taxi squad) and isn't on the active roster he can't be placed on injured reserve anyway.
So, the taxi riders get paid as nonentities.
Thank you. This info is appreciated.
As I said 2 years without playing the game isn't a positive for his development and could be harmful to his career. Too bad.
A Hobey Baker winner could have been fun to watch here this season. It's no guarantee he would have been be a sure thing, but he has a leg up with the reputation coming out of the gate. watching THREE top D-prospects could have been exciting. After all. We had never seen ONE "TOP" D-prospect until this season and it's one in which we can't go watch them anyways. TV or computer monitors don't do the same justice as live, in person, up close, and personal viewing.
I sure wouldn't want to have to scout by video.
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UticaHockey
Registered User
You'd think that an AHL team being supplied by two NHL teams would be swimming in extra bodies. The Comets played the last game with 11 F and 7 D and zero healthy scratches. Maybe it's time for Ryan Johnson to sign a couple PTOs so they can get through the quarantine period to be available if needed.
Somehow this description of Woo's game almost excites me as much as the one for Rathbone.
It's the weirdest thing with Woo how his exciting-sounding name makes people give him exciting Bieksa-type projections for his career.
I've been saying since he was drafted that the guy's name really should be Colton Smith or something. His upside is Sylvain Lefebvre, who is probably the most boring 'good' NHL player of the last 30 years.
It's encouraging that he seems to be adapting well to the pace of the AHL - definitely looks substantially better than guys like Juolevi/Brisebois did defensively at the same stage of their careers.
Question is how well he can develop with the puck. Will he plateau as a #7 type depth defender or can he be a #4 type 2nd pairing defensive defender?
Cupless44
Registered User
- Jun 25, 2014
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His footwork is pretty tidy. I wouldn't say he's 'fast' but he gets around all right and doesn't seem to be getting burned at all in the couple Utica games I've seen and reports on the other games were good as well. I expected he might have some issues on that front so I'm actually pretty pleasantly surprised. He's keeping up with things well.
That said, 'solid' AHL skaters are below-average NHL skaters so it's something he will have to continue to work on and develop. But it's good he's stepped up levels without it being an issue. Wasn't the case for Juolevi.
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