sil wrote:I was at the Bears/Baby Pens game on Saturday...a few thoughts...
(1) It seems Tangradi's role has been dug-in to what management wants from him when he goes to the NHL. In years past, in WB/S, he's carried the puck more and distributed it, but now his role seems to be more geared at havoc in the corners and net-front duties...perhaps some of this is due to all the new personnel.
(2) KV looked really good saturday night. Went hard to the net, looked strong in the corners...just stay healthy for once Keven!
(3) Dumoulin looked slower than I expected...unless he was hurt/off, he looked nowhere near adjusted to the speed of the pro game yet.
(4) Morrow's minutes were extrememly protected...really strong handling and crisp passing...but MAN! WHAT A BOMB FROM THE POINT HE HAS IN PERSON!
(5) Despres had a terrible night...tried to do everything by himself in the defensive zone...reminded me of a really young Letang in that regard.
(6) I like Dom Uher...A LOT.
(7) Bennett consistently looked like one of the best players on the ice when he was out there, which I wasn't expecting to be the case. Good motor...strong in the corners and never taken off his feet...made a slick defensive scoring chance breakup early in the first...showed incredible control with the puck, both in transition and on the PP...and made one heck of a nice backhand-through-the-crease assist on WB/S' lone goal. Not the best at reading the play just yet...made some poor turnovers over dumb decisions with the pass, but he had me quite excited about his potential.
Just my 2-cents.
Thanks, this was great. There are so many opinions out there that it is hard to follow if you never get to actually see them play.
1. Good to hear about Tangradi and Bennett - that will change my thinking reagarding a ton of worrying about no prospects for forward player in a few years - if they keep it up and/or can translate it into the NHL it will be a huge plus.
2. First bad note I heard about Dumoulin so I will assume off night or injury but interesting none the less
3. Not to sound overly concerned since I have not actually seen him play (and Mikey maybe you can answer from what you have heard) but should we be worried about Despres at this point? I have been hearing a lot all of a sudden this season about his poor play in his own end, sure there is room to improve but he has been around long enough now - this is also the AHL. Just curious, as I said this all based off of second hand reports.