[Cali Panthers Fan]

I mentioned this a few times in the game, but you can tell that guys just aren't sure where to be yet in the D-zone, and that hesitation or skating slightly the wrong way is giving openings to the attackers. That will get cleaned up as the season goes on, I know that Huska can get them to play the system he wants defensively. I can see signs of what they want to do offensively, but again, a work in progress. Plays to the middle, creativity to confuse the defense, bodies to the net when possible. It all makes sense and isn't a perimeter style of offense. The powerplay looks a lot better so far, so that's encouraging.

However, there shouldn't be a lot of judgement about this team's level of play until about game 10. It's gonna take some real game action for a lot of these guys to adjust to the new system, and even after game 10, mistakes are still going to happen for a bit. I just hope that Marky continues to be strong to start the year while they figure it out.

The good news is that they now go on the road for almost 2 weeks against a group of teams that aren't locks to be in the playoffs this year. Pittsburgh, Washington, Buffalo, Columbus, Detroit. A couple of extra days in between games to practice these systems. No distractions from home life. It's the perfect recipe for fine tuning their game. Let's hope they take advantage of the favorable schedule to start the year.