Practice Notes - Feb 10

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Naitix

I do not think he played that well there last year, he was whatever just like this year on the 4th line. In the offseason nobody was even talking about trying him in the top 9 on this forum other than me basically. People’s opinion of him last year on the 4th line where the same as they are this year. He is just not a 4th line player, just like many skilled players.

I think he should have been tried in the top 9 spot some games back before Pelletier came up, that was misusing him. Right now I’m more of an opinion of trying these lines first before putting Ruzicka back up there because I think Pelletier plays the game that will let Lindholm to relax a bit on the forecheck and look for open slot to use his shot. As Huberdeau said yesterday, his strength is predicting the play, Kadri is an absolute puck hog and chooses the selfish play most of the time that usually don’t make much sense, and he doesn’t see his teammates. He should play with players like Dube, not Huberdeau

Hub - Lindholm - Pelletier
Dube - kadri - toffoli
Mang - Backlund - Coleman
4th line doesn’t matter

So, you don’t want Ruzicka up on the top 9, but he was previously being misused by not being in the top 9, without being good enough to replace a anyone there now, including the prospect with a handful of games under his belt, and therefore he’s being misused on the 4th line, or… what?

I like Ruzicka but I don’t understand your angle. Should he continue playing on the 4th line? Replace someone in the top 9? or get sent down?

If you don’t think he played well last year and don’t think he plays well on the 4th line this year, how can you blame anyone or even muster a retort to people who don’t think he’s playing well enough to move up?

[PepsiFree]

Also this is what I could find you saying in the summer about Ruzicka’s spot in the lineup:

Originally Posted by Naitix

Ruzicka should be in the line-up imo, he has a lot of skill to his game, I think he could contribute offensively on the 3rd or 4th line (hopefully 2nd/3rd as he has good skills and needs to play with players that are creative with the puck and not dump and chase every time, I remember last year there was a 2 on 1 play and Ritchie did not have his head up and just dumped the puck in lol) as a center that has been missing from this team.

How did you go from “I think he could contribute offensively on the 3rd or 4th line” to “I didn’t like him all last year and having him on the 4th line is misusing him”? Genuinely curious.

[Naitix]

Right I see what you mean. My point is that he was misused when Lucic was playing in the top 6, I think he stayed there for far too long and Ruzicka should have been given another shot before Pelletier call up.

Right now my preference is to switch the lines to what I mentioned above, that is my number one preference. If those lines don’t click, then my next preference would be to get Ruzicka up into the top 9.

Regarding the other point, I think Ruzicka can contribute on the 4th line but Sutter asks players to play a specific way that he wants him to play and I don’t think Ruzicka is a good 4th line player under what Sutter wants him to be.

Not all players need to be good 4th liners to get moved up in the line up, sometimes they just need to be given the opportunity based on their skill set. I think Ruzicka is fine on the 4th line but he is not going to contribute offensively under sutter because the players he plays with don’t suit his style much, and you can see form the way he is playing on that line himself that he is just dump and chasing because that’s what sutter wants from his 4th line.

He plays a completely different game when he is in the top 9, that just tells me that Sutter asks him to be a player that he is not

[PepsiFree]

I see what you’re saying. I disagree, though, that not all players need to be good 4th liners. I think for Sutter, they do. And I don’t think being a good 4th liner is about results for him, it’s about how you play the game.

Pelletier didn’t really “earn” a spot with Huberdeau and Kadri based on production or defensive purity. He made mistakes. But he plays the right way. I think Ruzicka showed a lot of that last year (Had we not signed Kadri i would’ve been happy with him as the 3rd line C) and is more inconsistent this year. It’s on Ruzicka to figure it out and I think he will. Based on Sutter’s history with young players, I think he has a specific development path that he believes works and specific things he needs to see before players get more opportunity. But when he sees it, they’re rewarded. You can call it misusing them, but quite a few young guys have done really well under his watch, and few of them top ten picks.

[Naitix]

Ya fair enough, I think Ruzicka will be given a bigger opportunity next year and he will succeed. I know that Sutter wants his young players all to start on the 4th line and before that in the AHL, I just don’t agree with that development style exactly. At least not on the Sutter 4th line, other 4th lines on other teams play a fast game with skill and tenacity, that is not Sutter 4th line imo