Quote:
Originally Posted by cpltanto
Went to the game and some things really jumped out.
Valimaki is done... Everytime he was on, he was very noticeable and in the worst way possible. He was all over the place, bad passes, getting bodied, bad positioning. He did make 1 good play breaking up a scoring chance, but 90% of the time he was a huge liability.
He started on the 2nd pair with Stone... On the PP he directly led to the short handed goal against. Thankfully Sutter took him off and gave Mackey his spot with Stone and boy Mackey was by far one of the best dmen tonight. He looks ready.
Milano won't be signed. Slow, lazy, cherry picking. Loses puck battles and cruises back hoping someone gets the puck back to feed him instead of helping the back check. Yes our team was out manned, but he showed no ability to rise above and contribute offensively.
Huberdeau looked good playing with 2 dead weights. I live Ruzicka, but he didn't have his best game (Toffoli still doesn't seem to be first line material) . Was nice to see Sutter trusting and testing Hubby even on the PK.
He wasn't afriad to throw the body and get physical which was nice to see.
Hanafin and Andersson were as expected. Legit top pair. Andersson drove to the net multiple times and provided the offense that our forwards were lacking most of the night.
I don't think we should sign Eakin. He's meh to me. Rooney was fine and seems like he'll be good on the PK but Zary looks better. Younger, faster.
Dube also played well. Definitely seems stronger and thirsty.
The biggest surprise was Mitch Mclain... Never knew who this was but he was buzzing and a pest. Laid a big hit and forced Nurse into 2 bad fights. As a 4th liner if you're able to take their top D out for coincidentals is a win... Getting a power play on top even better. I can't believe he drew Nurse to 2 bad fights in a freaking preseason game lol
Finally easily the best player of the game was Vladar. So steady and stole the show. I hope Sutter trusts him with more games this year
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I was there tonight and almost echo your assessment to a t. Very good breakdown!
I liked Eakin tonight but definitely a fair bit of meh. Won’t lose sleep over him getting or not getting a contract.
I really expected the PTO’s to have their best games after Sutter basically saying he expected that. I thought Stone played quite well, Eakin decent, and like you Milano with very much coasting on a night one would have thought he’d have tons of motivation. He even got some late power play time and seemed a step behind. Hoping someone steps up and grabs that spot.