[ComixZone]

Season Opener thoughts:

- Rittich was top notch. That boy wants to be a legit #1. Great start to the season.
- Giordano is going to win his 2nd straight Norris
- Hanifin looks like he’ll be taking a step this year. Notably more aggressive, won battles, moved the puck. Loved him tonight.
- Bennett did everything he could to earn more ice time. Great game. Bennett has 6 points in his last 6 games.
- Monahan/Lindholm/Gaudreau looked awful in the 1st. Johnny got going a bit as the game progressed, Monahan and Johnny each putting up 2 points against the Avs was good to see.
- Kylington looked very good. Mistakes will happen, but he’s learning how to get out of them/fix them. The penalty against him was a complete joke.
- Mangiapane wants more ice time.
- Czarnik looked replaceable, but the boy paid the price tonight.
- Ryan looked okay, more mid-season Ryan, less end of season Ryan.
- Backlund looked bad. I’d say “injured”, but he was awful against the Avs last year as well. He has to be better.
- Tkachuk was rusty and played his best when his line got mixed up
- Frolik was a disaster. Horrid.
- Jankowski was a disaster. Horrid.
- Hamonic was decent, quiet night for him I suppose.
- Brodie had a decent evening of work.
- Lucic did what needed to be done, and it helped spark the team. He put team first. 17 minutes of penalties, and he made a few good passes. He gave us more tonight than Neal did all season.

The way the later parts of the game played out gave plenty of reason for optimism. There was fight.

edit* - forgot PHAT Raz. That post would have been a game changer had it gone in. Loved the hesitation on it. He’ll only get better.