Went to the Giants game last night, first time seeing Honzek and Lipinski live.I have been watching a period here and there from their series against Everett and they get dominated every time, last night was no different. I’m honestly shocked giants even made the playoffs, they are so not good. Their D is very bad and makes it so hard to breakout of their zone so giants are never even in the others team end.
Honzek had a good game, he made some nice one touch passes on the PP, good for check to create chances, had a very nice goal, great speed and edge work. I think his biggest deficiency is strength, he would lose a lot of board battles by getting slightly pushed and lose the puck. He has great edges and cross overs so he can come out of corners really quick but he needs to get stronger on his skates and bulk up a bit. He is only 180lb but 6’3, that is quite lean. He had great first pass and create chances but his teammates are just so bad. I also see Honzek being a center in the future, I’m honestly surprised he is not one right now. He has all the tools and I saw him win face offs, he plays like a center, just needs to improve his strength to win this board battles.
Honzek will be just fine, he needs to work with Flames development staff and should play in the AHL next season. Giants will be just as bad next year. I can see how Honzek did not get many points this year. His is not a play driver in the way that Catton is where he takes the puck and goes through the whole team, Honzek makes great passes and plays in front of the net, if his teammates can’t do anything with his passes or giants never get pucks on net for rebounds then your points will drop.
Not much of an opinion on Lipinski, he was fine,took some dumb penalties. He needs to get softer on his skates and improve agility and then he might be a decent fourth liner. Good on face offs
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