Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Biotti
Just got back from the Rose Garden, watching Portland beat Kamloops.
I never post but I figured to throw in my two cents on Bartschi from what I saw of him tonight. It looks as if he has a ton of talent: fast, soft hands, easily outplaying Kamloops smaller d-men, and great hockey sense. Also, Sven always seems to be in the right place at the right time -- his goal would attest to that. His centre, Noebells (sp?) stripped the puck from a Kamloops dman behind the net and threw it out front where Sven was waiting to snipe it home to the low corner. His assists were nothing to write home about -- he fed a pass to Morrow along the point for a 4-3 pp goal and he got an effortless second assist on Noebells goal late in the third.
Kamloops has a couple dmen with decent size, Tyler Hansen and Tyler Bell who worked Sven over pretty easily. Sven definitely shied away from any contact throughout the game and turned the puck over in the corner at least once rather than take a hit. He really seemed to have a hard time physically.
I know it's only one game but I came away tonight thinking Sven is rather soft. Portland has an incredible team and is well coached. Their dmen, specifically Morrow and Pouliot stood out with tenacity and a bit of offensive flair. Wotherspoon was unspectacular (besides his rather large frame) and didn't make any mistakes.
I know it's only one game, but I can't see Sven making an impact at the NHL level. I just can't see him playing against NHL dmen yet. (FWIW Rattie didn't standout either, though he walked away with a 2A night). Sven has talent but looked pillowy soft.
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The Nuge (I hate that name btw) has the frame of a teenage girl and he is having a pretty big impact this year. I know they are obviously completely different as RNH went first overall for a reason, but soft small players can succeed in the NHL and he still has years to bulk up and become stronger, he's only 19.