Looking forward to see Johnny play again, regardless of how things unfolded in the offseason, he’s still a spectacularly entertaining hockey player and seeing him with the puck on his stick is just a treat. I’m actually shocked with his stat line, must be difficult to be on a 90+ points pace with Boone Jenner as his #1 center.
In terms of Matthew Phillips, don’t think it’s a big deal that he’s starting off on the 4th line. Pretty sure Darryl won’t care about his production this evening. I think it’ll be more so about his ability to compete at this level, can he play at the NHL pace, how he performs in and along the boards, can he make plays in his own zone to help his line break out, then there’s puck battles, stick positioning, mistakes, absorbing punishment and etc to pay attention to. So goals won’t be the key to Matthew’s success, it’ll be all the little things that I think Darryl will judge him on.
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