Confirmed with Link: Wood Signs 4 Year Extension, 2.75M AAV

Wingman77

Registered User
Mar 16, 2010
20,251
765
He has been playing his game a lot more so in the middle of the ice rather than on the boards and in front of the net this season which could have to do with some of his slip in production.

Some bright spots have been present from seeing him be able to handle the middle of the ice, his puck handling and play reading relatively well, but it seems to have come at the expense of more offense because his bread and butter was doing work in the dirty areas and he seems to have gotten away from that somewhat.
 

devilsblood

Registered User
Mar 10, 2010
29,457
11,711
He has been playing his game a lot more so in the middle of the ice rather than on the boards and in front of the net this season which could have to do with some of his slip in production.

Some bright spots have been present from seeing him be able to handle the middle of the ice, his puck handling and play reading relatively well, but it seems to have come at the expense of more offense because his bread and butter was doing work in the dirty areas and he seems to have gotten away from that somewhat.
Disagree, imo one of the more notable parts of his game this year is chasing dump ins into the corner and coming out of there with possession. From there he is playing more of a controlled game, looking for guys following up the play cutting through the middle. I think this has been a nice advancement in his game actually, but those passes thus far have not resulted in goals.

I'm also not seeing a ton of true odd man rushes. Which I attribute more to the league realizing they need to stay back. He's still getting rushes, he's still getting decent looks, but the D is back, so he's usually shooting on an angle from a bit of distance. If he just buried more of these decent but not great chances I think we'd all be fine with his play. Needs to work on that snipe.
 

devilsblood

Registered User
Mar 10, 2010
29,457
11,711
To further the first thought from above, how many times have we seen Wood crash into the goal this season? Not many. We saw it a ton early last year and in his rookie year. And while his willingness to play all out was admirable, I think we all knew he could not play that style for the rest of his career. He had to play more in control, and he has. I think in time it will produce positive results but in the mean time there has been a drop of production, but imo this will prove to be temporary. Taking a step back so as to take 2 steps forward.
 

Triumph

Registered User
Oct 2, 2007
13,473
13,796
Wood's playing fine - he's not getting as many breakaways, but the shots are coming and the goals will too eventually. One thing the Devils keep trying is setting him up on the Sedin play - throwing the puck into the offensive zone far corner from their own zone/behind the red line and letting Miles race down to get it first. It hasn't worked yet but it will sometime.
 

Stephen Gionta

Boston College > Boston University
Jun 15, 2015
6,231
2,315
East Rutherford, NJ
He's on pace for 20 points. One little hot streak will put him on pace for 30 points, which is about where we'd expect him offensively. Though I agree he has been a bit disappointing. His impact on the game is not as great as it was the past two years
 

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