O Mamma, Bonino è Buono
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Mar 30, 2010 1:34 AM PDT
Email
Print
Anaheim Calling's profile on Nick Bonino
ARTHUR:
Anaheim calling to the hockey world...
He was beaten by a post and turned away on the doorstep twice, but Nick Bonino would not be denied. In just his second NHL game, the Ducks' rookie put a bouncing puck past Kari Lehtonen on the power play. He's made an immediate impact, but then again, he's also played more marquee ice time than kids typically see under Randy Carlyle (with the possible exception of Dan Sexton).
Daniel, you and I have always had a favorable opinion of Bonino-- mine actually based on seeing him semi-regularly --but now that you've seen him in action in a Ducks sweater, what do you think of Nick Bonino?
DANIEL:
Well, he has had a fantastic debut so far. I realize that assessment is based on two games, but the kid doesn't seem to be over his head at all. He's keeping up with Bobby Ryan and Corey Perry, and he's generating scoring opportunities. He also has a knack for finding the puck on the doorstep. As far as I'm concerned, in terms of offense, the kid has been as good as you've advertised. He's certainly capable of being the pivot on a second line, but if we manage to bring back Koivu, he can also center a great third line.
Of course, not everything about Bonino's game has been wonderful. While he doesn't lose his man in the defensive zone, he doesn't finish his check either. He's had a few opportunities to finish along the boards and take his check out of the play, but he let him get away and reset in the offensive zone. He's responsible in his own end, but I think Bonino needs to improve the physical side of his game to make it a full season on a Carlyle team. Still, it's been a promising start.
ARTHUR:
Well, I'm going to agree that there's some value to the obligatory check. I admired it in Dan Sexton's game, but then he stopped and didn't get scratched for it, so I'm assuming it's not as important to Carlyle as it used to be. And I'm not really worried about Bonino becoming physical once he gets settled. I've seen him not only finish guys but put a nice elbow into them while doing it. Removing the NCAA cage only makes that play more effective.
I think Bonino is well on his way to proving that he can be dropped directly into the NHL. It looks like he'll have his poise and his playmaking ability at the next level, and those were the skills that made him a key contributor to an NCAA championship team. But the best part of his potential immediate impact is that the naysayers can now eat their words. The sixth-round center that a lazy scouting report in 2006 declared a skinny poor skating forward looks pretty good out there.
I wish I could say that this is why people should watch college hockey. Because they're missing the Sexton's and Bonino's of the world, and because they're liable to sound as foolish as the GM's that pass on these kids-- GM's that also don't watch college hockey and seem to have little interest in players headed there. But, actually, I cherish these moments, when Tim Burke and I can look around the hockey world and laugh and laugh.
27 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
I don’t speak Italian. The title is just a rough translation to fit the meter to the chorus of Luna Mezzo Mare. If I did speak Italian, I would write a verse to that song about what would happen if the girl married a hockey player and paste it at the end.
O mamma, me voglio marita. O mamma . . .
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Mar 30, 2010 1:37 AM PDT reply actions
Just read your Armchair Scout Report on the kid...
…and it looks like he’s won on every level he’s played on. If he can translate that to the pros: being much in the clutch, the go to guy with a couple of minutes to go, he’s going to be exciting to watch.
All for it, but
I’ve already run into a problem. I’m not sure if I can get the n+tilde character on my iPhone. I’ll have to say El Ni~o when I mobile comment
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Mar 30, 2010 10:52 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions
hey arthur who will the ducks pick with number 10 or will they trade up for fowler… i dont see any need cuz we got sbisa coming up and gardiner developing… we got holland and bonino for the center spot and palmieri in the right wing… only hole i see is maybe goalie or left wing but other than that i guess we could use a natural goal scorer
I don’t think Madden drafts for need. I don’t think he’ll ignore need, but I don’t think he will go into the first round to draft for need. Plus, at tenth, it’s probably better to take the best player available. Not all of the top ten kids will come to the pros from the draft, and we’re not hurting such that that’s what we’re looking for either. I doubt we’d trade up to get ANYONE who would start next year, but I don’t think overdepth will be the deciding factor either
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Mar 30, 2010 10:42 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions
Bonino
When he entered his freshman season at BU people I know had seen him play at Avon Old Farms and said all he needed to work on was his skating. His skating compared to his playmaking ability…lets just say one was spectacular.
He’s always had gifted hands and a nice shot. Great puck awareness and hand eye coordination. But when he entered college he was not a great skater and the scouting report was not wrong.
3 seasons with Mike Boyle (BU’s strength coach), considered the best in the business for preparing and conditioning athletes for the NHL level and his skating has improved dramatically.
He’s going to return in the summer to what we Terrier fans call “Chez Boyle” and he’ll get even stronger. Sharks got a steal when they drafted him in the 6th round, and the Ducks got him in a steal from the Sharks with that trade.
"I got my pregnant wife (the Yankee fan) with me. Hoping my kid learns to kick her everytime the Mets score." -Schifftis-
well, the scouting report was set to expectations. I’m saying it was lazy, because it was ready to dismiss him as both undersized and a poor skater i.e. a classic NCAA player, which bumped him down to the sixth-round, where Tim Burke and anyone who trusts college hockey recruiting staffs was glad to pick him up. We got him because Bob Murray and Doug Wilson are friends, and Muray had just thrown Brian Burke’s picks out the window.
Again on the skating, though. It boggles my mind that people are still calling him a poor skater after last year. I saw him his freshman year, and yeah, he’s not a guy you want making moves on the rush, but to continue to say ‘poor skater’ or ‘needs to work on his skating’ after last year and this year— it’s just stupid, and I think it confirms that the person isn’t interested in letting him break out of a scouting report. It’s like the people that continue to call Getzlaf inconsistent. No one was willing to understand why he had bouts of inconsistency then, and they’re not particularly interested in it now, but it’s no mystery.
If they’re not going to watch the kid and believe that he’s progressing, then they’re just as bad as the GMs and scouts that passed on him in the first place. To hear people talk about his skating, you’d think he was George Parros out there.
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Mar 30, 2010 11:08 AM PDT up reply actions
oh, and Yip is often praised as a good skater, but Bonino kept up with him fine last year. It’s not that I don’t think he should become a better skater. This is the NHL; everyone should become a better everything. I just don’t see the need for it to be the first thing mentioned in terms of negatives.
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Mar 30, 2010 11:13 AM PDT up reply actions
I don't agree on that
I think Yip is a superior skater. Bonino is obviously the superior playmaker.
"I got my pregnant wife (the Yankee fan) with me. Hoping my kid learns to kick her everytime the Mets score." -Schifftis-
To add to that observation
Combine the strengths of Yip and Bonino and you would have a stud, the speed and physicality of Yip and his blistering shot and the playmaking ability of Bonino.
:)
"I got my pregnant wife (the Yankee fan) with me. Hoping my kid learns to kick her everytime the Mets score." -Schifftis-
yes, I know Yip is a great skater, but to note that someone “needs to improve his skating” as an initial observation would imply that he couldn’t keep up with an NHL skater. Are you saying that Bonino and Yip couldn’t run a play together? Couldn’t run a forecheck together last year? Couldn’t run a rush together? That goes against everything I saw in every BU game I watched them play. He’s played with great skaters and he hasn’t dragged his line down. If you want to talk about him being more mobile defensively or physically capable of shutting down his check, sure, that’s something on the table in the Western Conference. But to continue to paint him with this negativity about his skating is a little unfair, especially if you’ve seen him play.
There are still people that talk about Corey Perry “needing to improve his skating” and that scouting report feels a little absurd when he’s tuning up 72 point seasons. I just think, if you’re going to be negative, you should actually point to things that will hurt him at the next level. His bulk might be one of those things. His skating? not so much.
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Mar 30, 2010 2:19 PM PDT up reply actions
Skating
Was the only negative when he came out of hs. You have to understand he also didn’t play any juniors and was a true freshman: a true rarity in this day and age of college hockey.
Now his drawbacks in the NHL are more likely to be his lack of physicality and his attention to his defensive duties when he needs to be backchecking.
I’m curious to how many BU games you saw, NESN’s on satellite…do you live in NE?
"I got my pregnant wife (the Yankee fan) with me. Hoping my kid learns to kick her everytime the Mets score." -Schifftis-
You have to understand
Look, I appreciate you coming to the site, but I’ve linked my profile of him twice in this post, multiple times on this stie, and I don’t think you’ve read it. You’re simply reacting to what I’m saying in this post, which is a reference to that one. I keep up with a lot of what Tim Burke does as he is one of the few scouting directors that respects college hockey and I am a lifelong college hockey fan. I’m well aware of how Bonino was scouted coming out of New Englands and how he performed early on. BU is a popular choice for ESPNU broadcasts, what I’ve come to think of as national games, and I have caught every BU game on ESPNU as well as the Beanpots and obviously the NCAA tournament games. I slingbox WCHA, so I see all of there televised games and there is a bit of a western bias, but I do respect the other conferences.
As I say in my scouting report, the issue was his north south skating. Scouts expected to see a little guy scorer and that wasn’t what Bonino was. He had neither blistering speed nor effortless moves. As such, he reviewed poorly. But even at that time, he admitted that that wasn’t his game. He wasn’t fond of speeding into open areas. He likes to hold the puck and make moves with it. He likes to stickhandle. He likes to use short bursts of speed. That looks very untrained when Pavel Datsyuk isn’t the one doing it. And I think he, McCarthy and Yip were able to create a forechecking line that closely served his skills and the player he wants to be. The fact that his skating didn’t drag down that line, and hasn’t exactly dragged down the offensive chances of Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan, I think, is ample proof that he’s not going to be a ‘poor skater’ at the next level. Not more than Corey Perry, who every scout seems to have forgotten they called a poor skater up until he lifted a Cup above his head.
To say that a player needs to work on his skating is to say that that will be a hindrance to his performance or the performance of his line. Offensively, I think that’s a joke. I think Brandon Yip, after playing some NHL time himself, would say that’s a joke. Defensively, maybe. The Western Conference has a lot of big stars who can really move. I don’t know how Bonino would do against Getzlaf. Ultimately, though, it’s just not the number one knock on the kid anymore, and he’s done everything on paper and on the ice to address it, so it just comes across as lazy for anyone still willing to say it. He goes to the AHL tonight, I guarantee you they talk about size and learning the system to get him back to the big club. Skating isn’t a number one concern, and it certainly doesn’t need to be footnoted to every good thing said about him for the rest of his career.
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Mar 30, 2010 4:08 PM PDT up reply actions
Alright
You’re entitled to your opinion. I’ve read your profile. Btw, I’ve seen Bonino play in person 25-30 times and on tv another 15 or so. These are just my views on watching him. Is he a decent skater now? Sure. But I honestly think he could be a superstar if he shores up his weaknesses.
Of course if you improve the weaknesses of a lot of players they’d be superstars.
"I got my pregnant wife (the Yankee fan) with me. Hoping my kid learns to kick her everytime the Mets score." -Schifftis-
I’m sorry if I came off as dismissive there, but I didn’t take the “you have to understand” very well. I had to cancel my trip to see the Minnesota high school state tournament this year so I’m going to be getting a lot of legitimate “you have to understand”s at the Draft in LA this year. I wasn’t about to take one on a kid I actually followed when he was drafted.
I don’t think he’s reached the upper limit of his skating ability, but I also don’t think he becomes Pavel Datsyuk just because he becomes a better skater. I don’t think he sees the game or plays the game in 5th gear, so I don’t think adding that gear automatically makes him a superstar.
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Mar 31, 2010 9:39 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions
Scouting from the Avs game
Friend saw him play in person in CO and said Bonino’s skating definitely lagged behind those of his linemates Ryan and Perry, FWIW.
Only one game, (small sample size alert) but he also said that Bonino had good poise with the puck. I think we have high hopes for him sticking at the NHL level.
"I got my pregnant wife (the Yankee fan) with me. Hoping my kid learns to kick her everytime the Mets score." -Schifftis-
I’d say he’s on par with Perry, not Ryan, but he actually just doesn’t move as often as they do. He doesn’t actually skate as much as the coaching staff and any NHL coaching staff would want him to. But he dropped back to cover for Niedermayer and looked fine on several occasions. When you light a fire under him, he moves fine. Carlyle has been pretty open about asking him to move more without the puck and not just stand around.
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Apr 1, 2010 12:10 PM PDT up reply actions
if you have read the profile
I apologize, but skating was NOT the only negative coming out of Avon. He was a skinny kid, and he wasn’t as fast as they like skinny kids to be. I included that in my profile.
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Mar 30, 2010 4:11 PM PDT up reply actions
hey… but really? we dont need any more centers or wingers unless you palmieri is gonna bust.. which is unlikely…but yeah i guess they could be good trading chips in the future
you never know who’s going to bust, who’s going to blow out a knee, etc. If we were a true rebuilding team with a few really bad contracts and consistently picking in the Top 5, then of course you draft for need. It would be like the NFL in that sense. For example, 49ers have the first overall pick, they desperately need a quarterback, the quarterback field that year sucks, but too bad, they gotta have one. It’s rare that you find bubble or playoff organizations really drafting for need, and Murray and Madden didn’t seem like need guys last year.
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Mar 30, 2010 2:25 PM PDT up reply actions
so if you had to bet who will be the ducks second line center of the future… bonino or holland(he has a better skill set if he is physical or consistent)… my bet is one of them gets traded in a couple seasons… also update us a lot cause im gonna be bored as crap this offseason… one more thing… who do you think will be the ducks coach next year?
For what it’s worth, I don’t like Holland as the second line center of the future. I haven’t watched him this year, and I’m sure he’s improved from camp, but from what I remember he’s too much of a perimeter player and he doesn’t have a great sense around the net. I’m not saying the guy can’t be an effective scorer, I’m pretty sure I just read in one of Arthur’s updates that he’s been producing at a point/game or better recently, it’s just that the puck finds Bonino and he finds people. I never got the impression that Holland has that luck/skill. I’ll need to see both of them in camp next year to have a better idea, but right now in a snap decision I take Bonino. Holland might be better off being moved to the wing.
Also, I think Carlyle stays as coach. There’s a lot of uncertainty out there in changing a coach, and this team isn’t so far away that a drastic change is needed. I think missing the playoffs will be a sufficient wake up call for the likes of Getzlaf and Perry.
I couldn’t make a bet like that because it isn’t all about the kid. There are systems, coaches, GM’s, none of which would necessarily be the same. Bonino struggled without great castmates, too, so I’m not going to knock Holland for needing Beck and Latta to help him finish the season strong. Still, I think the comment, “I would rather have Beck or Latta” is getting thrown around Holland right now and that can’t feel good.
And since you’ve asked this question before, I have to say again, this is a 1988 guy and a 1991 guy, one of which people are talking about dropping right into the NHL for next year. Maybe Deschamps or Holland would be a better discussion, but right now, there’s no reason to talk about them like they’re in direct competition.
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Mar 30, 2010 4:29 PM PDT up reply actions
Sharks fan here
I come in peace. I was a bit upset at seeing Bonino go last year for Moen and Huskins. I’d rather the Sharks have given up a 3rd or 4th round pick. He seemed to mirror the scouting report on Pavleski (regarding the skating and small stature knocks), and Pavs has turned out pretty well.
Bonino’s not short, just skinny. Pavelski was pretty key on that Badgers championship team, probably more than Bonino was on his. But yeah, both late round steals.
I’d bet you dollars to donuts, though, that despite the fact that Murray says he wanted to talk Bonino with Wilson, the discussion probably started with Stalock. Bonino’s a good pick up as far as late round NCAA from Burke’s cupboard, but we could just as easily have ended up with Barriball or McCarthy. It’s dangerous to let McNab and the Ducks shop in an NCAA stocked cupboard, but Wilson and Burke weren’t losing their shirts as long as you weren’t losing Stalock, and you didn’t lose Stalock, so there you go.
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Mar 31, 2010 3:09 PM PDT up reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Anaheim Calling
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
SBNation.com Recent Stories
CK Photo Galleries
