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Originally Posted by nmhen
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Suter was brutal early. Short camp, didn't have time to acclimate to the system, etc, etc. He's been better the last couple of games. He's partnered up with Jonas Brodin whose skating and poise belies his extreme youth. In fact, in my humble opinion, Brodin - not Granlund - has been our best rookie so far. Granlund has had trouble adapting to A) not being the most-skilled player on his team, B) playing on a smaller ice surface and C) actually encountering opposition players who are of a mind to, aided by said smaller ice surface, actually check him. He needed to watch a game from the press box recently, and came back from that experience....better. At least he didn't fall down as soon as one of the Predators looked at him.
Our goaltending is solid if unspectacular. Same old Wild.
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I agree about Brodin. I don't think it's even a discussion that he's been the best rookie. He looks amazing for a guy with only a few NHL games.
As for Granlund, I thought he looked rookieshly okay at the start of the season while the team was doing well. When things went wrong and the secondary scoring lines were all playing badly, he was lost in the same shuffle, and at this point he's obviously not the guy to lead his line during trouble.
Yeo said that he benched him because he wanted to give the veterans a chance first. I'm sure it was deserved but a lot of other forwards would have deserved it too at that point. Strength is an issue for him (I don't think his body has matured yet so he hasn't been able to add much), but like you say more than that it's the adjustment to the fact that the defenders are closer to him. Furthermore, I'd say that he's been struggling to find the right balance between taking on defenders and picking his battles.
He is the most skilled player on the team though. You just haven't seen it yet. From what I've read, Minnesota press and some fans have been pretty flaky about him. All I see is normal rookie struggles.
I agree about Parise. The work ethic is amazing to watch from a top-line player.