Enjoyed the game last night. Good effort and fun to watch despite the loss. Few comments to add to the fray:
1) The coaches need to get Ramo to calm down a bit in the net. The minute he loses sight of a puck he does a crazy 180 turn and full on scrambles, which makes matters worse. Even the commentators noticed how many times he ended up facing the back of his net during a scramble. I think he's generally solid and when he is anticipating well, his lateral movement is good (see his saves on Ovie this weekend) but when reacting his lateral movement tends to push him into a slide and he slides out of his crease. Needs to add little economy to his movements.
2) Colborne has been fine. He's definitely getting better, and I say this as someone who was generally skeptical of picking up a player basically sight unseen. He's definitely being played to fit and has not yet been held to the same standards as a couple of the younger players. That's the irrationality of life.
3) Just loving the Kris Russell acquisition. Smart player who is getting more and more fluid with every game. Is not physically big but uses his body well in the corners not necessarily to hit, but to quickly wedge in between the player and the puck to protect and regain possession. Has been very solid in the offensive zone, patient and calm at the point.
4) Love TJ Brodie, great skater and good vision. I think the coaching staff needs to continue to support his jumps up in to the offensive zone as he did last night. But as a trade-off, I think they need to ask him to make simpler plays coming out of our defensive zone. If he makes that first pass out earlier and safer, things will work out better and he has the speed to jump up into the play if he sees an opening. He's been caught quite a few times this year trying to stickhandle and/or holding the puck a bit too long, allowing teams to pick his pocket or forcing a turnover from a bad pass.
5) I don't agree with Backlund sitting. See #2 above regarding different standards, but I'm not overly outraged by a player sitting one game. However, I do think that the coaching staff does collateral damage to the team when sitting Backlund and replacing him with a player like Jackman. With Jackman *and* McGrattan on the 4th line, it means that the 4th line plays less. That results in less ice time for Bouma, who I think can help this team and can provide 10 minutes of solid effort a game. This team can get more out of the 4th line than it does, and I'm disappointed that the coaching staff is making moves that limit the contribution that Bouma can provide.
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