GDT: Vegas LTIR Knights vs. Avalanche, Preseason Gm. #2, 7 pm MT

[henchman21]

Will there be any cuts today?

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

Drouin is probably not gonna be with RyJo when the regular season starts. If they both aren’t strong defensively, you can’t put them together, although RyJo did make few good defensive plays including the last second when he lost the faceoff but hustled to break up the play and made sure Avs won the game.

Drouin should be with MacK and Mikko, as Nate will make sure Drouin doesn’t make any lazy plays, and you put RyJo with Lehky and Nuke who will help with the defensive game.

Also RyJo on PP1 bumper spot should do wonders. He’s so smart finding that opening and has a very good shot. MacK, Mikko, Cale, RyJo and whoever the 5th guy is, maybe Nuke or Lehky or even Drouin to be the set up guy, should be a deadly PP1.

Drouin feeding Mikko, Nate and RyJo sounds tasty. Uuuuhh

 

[Balthazar]

Drouin is probably not gonna be with RyJo when the regular season starts. If they both aren’t strong defensively, you can’t put them together, although RyJo did make few good defensive plays including the last second when he lost the faceoff but hustled to break up the play and made sure Avs won the game.

Drouin should be with MacK and Mikko, as Nate will make sure Drouin doesn’t make any lazy plays, and you put RyJo with Lehky and Nuke who will help with the defensive game.

Also RyJo on PP1 bumper spot should do wonders. He’s so smart finding that opening and has a very good shot. MacK, Mikko, Cale, RyJo and whoever the 5th guy is, maybe Nuke or Lehky or even Drouin to be the set up guy, should be a deadly PP1.

To me it makes zero sense to have a 1st line of Drouin - Mack - Mikko and a 2nd line of Lehky - RyJo - Nuke.

The first line will be very poor defensively and the second line has 2 identical defensive players that don't mesh well together and lacks true offense.

 

[JoeSakic13]

Watching that replay package it’s actually pretty wild how good Drouin looked on the PP ahead of the goal.

I know he wasn’t playing against top NHL talent, but he kept that rush alive and set up some great scoring chances.

 

[ABasin]

To me it makes zero sense to have a 1st line of Drouin - Mack - Mikko and a 2nd line of Lehky - RyJo - Nuke.

The first line will be very poor defensively and the second line has 2 identical defensive players that don't mesh well together and lacks true offense.

Let's go with Rantanen-Johansen-Nichushkin - 6'4"/6'3"/6'4". We'll call it the @Hasbro line.

The addition of Tatar does give them some flexibility here. Lehkonen can play a solid game on any of the top 3 lines. A Lehkonen-Colton-Wood 3rd line could be a pain in the ass to play against.

 

[the_fan]

To me it makes zero sense to have a 1st line of Drouin - Mack - Mikko and a 2nd line of Lehky - RyJo - Nuke.

The first line will be very poor defensively and the second line has 2 identical defensive players that don't mesh well together and lacks true offense.

They can always switch Mikko with Nuke but Drouin needs to play with MacK

 

[henchman21]

Let's go with Rantanen-Johansen-Nichushkin - 6'4"/6'3"/6'4". We'll call it the @Hasbro line.

Nah put Tufte in the middle

 

[BobRossColton]

As long as nuke is truly good to go, it needs to be drouin-mackinnon-nuke.

 

[S E P H]

At RyJo's age, this is just who he is. He's not going to change here. Gotta deal with the laziness he normally plays with. It usually isn't a huge deal in the regular season and when he cares he does usually play well. More of the question is does he still have his high level of play in him?

My general thoughts:

OO - I'm not as high in my praise. His best game I've seen in an Avs uniform, that's absolutely the case. I saw some laziness, bad reads... and probably the most frustrating thing... his puck fumbles. In a regular season game, those are turnovers and kill momentum. He's gotta clean up his puck handling as he won't make it as a pure shooter. He showed off his cannon though.

Hanzel - Very solid game. He looks pro ready to me. There really isn't a ton of room in the AHL, but I'd probably try to find some for him.

Achan - If he was 5'10" he'd be an NHLer. He wasn't perfect, but his skating is a thing of beauty and he's going to get a shot at some point this year. This is a guy who might be able to add 90% of what G does and for a bare minimum price.

RyJo/Drouin - Lumping them together as they had the same sorts of games. Flashes of their talent, especially on the PP... but some brutally lazy and soft plays. It is tough to glean anything from a meaningless preseason game, but this line with Poulin was pretty bad 5v5. They gave up a ton of chances and 3 really prime ones.

Ivan - He should be very close to earning an ELC. I don't think there is a ton of NHL upside as an impact guy, but he plays the right way with a good amount of effort. He was the best player on the ice last night.

Byram - Had a good game despite Aamodt being terrible. He needs more reps as a PP QB to make that a bit smoother. Would like to see him play in the preseason a lot in that role to solidfy him as the pointman on the #2PP.

Annunen - Scares the shit out of me. His movement is so poor that it will be exposed greatly. Avs are going to have to play perfect defense in front of him and really break up every seam pass. You might be able to win a few games here and there with him, but once the tape is out for a few weeks, he's going to get ate alive.

Jedlicka - Did enough to earn more preseason games. He flashed a few times and played good defense.

Fairbrother - He had a good game. I didn't see any love, but I was very happy with how he played. Some physical bite. Solid positioning. Skating was better than I remembered. If he plays like that, he could be a nice add to the Eagles.

Comier - Vegas has a gem. G with an actual shot.


Aamont is 6'/6'1" 205... you're not thinking of him if you think he's small.

Solid points, but I actually debate that Hanzel was the best player on the team who wasn't Byram or an NHLer.

 

[henchman21]

Solid points, but I actually debate that Hanzel was the best player on the team who wasn't Byram or an NHLer.

I can't get to that spot. He got trapped a few times (including one really long one) and didn't add really anything offensively. On the plus side, even when trapped they didn't give up an real good chances. But overall his time on the ice was just really quiet... which is not a bad thing. I can't get to the best on the ice because there were no real shining positive moments either.

Whereas the only thing I can knock on Ivan all night was his faceoffs. Beyond that he was great defensively, had a lot of energy, the line produced chances (he was a direct creator too)... I could be slightly off in my memory, but I think Ivan had as many shots blocked individually as he had against him all night.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

At RyJo's age, this is just who he is. He's not going to change here. Gotta deal with the laziness he normally plays with. It usually isn't a huge deal in the regular season and when he cares he does usually play well. More of the question is does he still have his high level of play in him?

My general thoughts:

OO - I'm not as high in my praise. His best game I've seen in an Avs uniform, that's absolutely the case. I saw some laziness, bad reads... and probably the most frustrating thing... his puck fumbles. In a regular season game, those are turnovers and kill momentum. He's gotta clean up his puck handling as he won't make it as a pure shooter. He showed off his cannon though.

Hanzel - Very solid game. He looks pro ready to me. There really isn't a ton of room in the AHL, but I'd probably try to find some for him.

Achan - If he was 5'10" he'd be an NHLer. He wasn't perfect, but his skating is a thing of beauty and he's going to get a shot at some point this year. This is a guy who might be able to add 90% of what G does and for a bare minimum price.

RyJo/Drouin - Lumping them together as they had the same sorts of games. Flashes of their talent, especially on the PP... but some brutally lazy and soft plays. It is tough to glean anything from a meaningless preseason game, but this line with Poulin was pretty bad 5v5. They gave up a ton of chances and 3 really prime ones.

Ivan - He should be very close to earning an ELC. I don't think there is a ton of NHL upside as an impact guy, but he plays the right way with a good amount of effort. He was the best player on the ice last night.

Byram - Had a good game despite Aamodt being terrible. He needs more reps as a PP QB to make that a bit smoother. Would like to see him play in the preseason a lot in that role to solidfy him as the pointman on the #2PP.

Annunen - Scares the shit out of me. His movement is so poor that it will be exposed greatly. Avs are going to have to play perfect defense in front of him and really break up every seam pass. You might be able to win a few games here and there with him, but once the tape is out for a few weeks, he's going to get ate alive.

Jedlicka - Did enough to earn more preseason games. He flashed a few times and played good defense.

Fairbrother - He had a good game. I didn't see any love, but I was very happy with how he played. Some physical bite. Solid positioning. Skating was better than I remembered. If he plays like that, he could be a nice add to the Eagles.

Comier - Vegas has a gem. G with an actual shot.


Aamont is 6'/6'1" 205... you're not thinking of him if you think he's small.

Yeah I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Fairbrother so far except for the two of us. That's why I mentioned him last night. I thought he played well and deserved some love. Much better game than the game I saw from him at the rookie tournament.

Pretty well agree with everything you said here except maybe IMO Hanzel was the best player on the ice yesterday but I really liked Ivan in all the games he has played so far. Nothing fancy, just solid plays at both ends.

 

[Pokecheque]

I literally had not heard of 4Chan, er, Achan until last night, but yeah, the skating and puck skill was impressive. A possibly decent call-up option if nothing else. Gonna be honest I'd much rather see what he can do once injuries inevitably hit the blueline than Brad Hunt.

Jo Drouin/Jo Hansen seems like a solid tandem on the power play but I don't think I'd put them out there at even strength even if I somehow had the option of throwing out a prime-era Patrice Bergeron.

 

[AvsGuy]

It's not even Achan, it's Ahcan - pronounced Ah-Shawn from what I can tell

 

[Pokecheque]

It's not even Achan, it's Ahcan - pronounced Ah-Shawn from what I can tell

Good, I was uncomfortable referencing that particular website, even for lame joke purposes.

But now that I know how it's pronounced we can go with THIS.