Quote:
Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts
If he can be Goodrow that would be great, but does he play with the same type of game in terms of being physical along the boards? He seems more quiet and checks effectively with positioning and stick work.
The team played with better pace last year, but I didn't think we had fast or quick players for the most part. This year it seems like we have a faster team, maybe not as much on the 4th line but the top 3 lines have speed.
I don't think Lewis will be replaced easily just because Sutter trusts him a lot, and he is a big part of the PK.
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Exactly - they weren't slow, aggregately, but they weren't a team of burners either, by any stretch. They simply played a fast, uptempo game.
Let's compare this team to last year, for actual speed: in / out (my speed rating in brackets)..
Huberdeau (7) / Gaudreau (8) slight downgrade here
Kadri (9) / Tkachuk (3) from one of the slowest to a burner
Weegar (7) / Gudranson (6) Guds wasn't slow, but Weegar is more mobile
Rooney (8) / Monahan (5) big upgrade
Zohorna (?) / Pitlick, Jarnkrok (6 on avg) another upgrade I think but need to see more of Z
Overall, we lost one fast player (Gaudreau), one good skater (Guds), and a whole bunch of mudders, for a group of guys who can all skate, a couple of which are downright fast.
playing Sutter's uptempo game, with faster players, is going to be FUN!