Open Gameday Recap Thread Coyotes @ Ducks (Pre-season)
by Jen Neale on Sep 21, 2011 12:35 AM PDT
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JEN:
Hmm. Well, that was interesting. I guess I'm not really surprised that the Ducklings lost 7-4. It was an extremely young lineup. How young? Had the team won, Teemu Selanne, Saku Koivu and Lubomir Visnovsky would have had to buy the beer for their teammates to sneak back to their hotel rooms.
Since this is the first recap of my reign of terror, I'm going to try out a couple recap ideas and see what sticks. For tonight, we're going to break things down in to the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The Good
-- Prior to the national anthem, the Ducks paid tribute to all the lives lost over the off-season with a video showcasing the players. Ruslan Salei's picture was the last to appear, and the clip of his overtime goal in the playoffs was played. Before the moment of silence, it was announced that Salei's family was in attendance. A spotlight was focused on a club level box where the family and the rest of the Ducks wives and girlfriends were together. I got a little choked up.
-- Teemu Selanne is fine. He was flying around the ice, and his own teammates had trouble keeping up.
-- The Ducks finally got rid of that creepy flying sheep and replaced it with a black Ducks blimp
-- Emerson Etem is finally beginning to show how good he could be. He was drawing penalties, incredibly quick, and has a good shot. Earl Sleek also noticed that Etem gets hit really well. I guess that's a good thing?
-- As he said in the video, Andrew Cogliano played left wing for the entire game. He ended up with 1 goal, 1 assist, and was +1. We all were pretty sure he was going to be a center on the 3rd line, but I'm thinking now that Carlyle will want to keep him at wing and get one of the Ducklings at center.
-- And that Duckling could be Peter Holland. He was second in TOI with 21:33 and played 27 shifts (tied with Lubo for the most). He ended up with 1 goal, 1 assist, and was even on the night. His faceoff win-loss record was 11-13. He could be like Ryan Getzlaf, but without rage issues.
-- With the exception of the power play, Carlyle split up Koivu and Selanne most of the game. This might shock you, but I think that's a good idea. By playing the vets on different lines, they're able to get the kids involved in every shift. There were many instances where Teemu would have normally taken shots, but instead he was passing trying to get the Ducklings moving around.
-- Nate Guenin is a nasty player, and kind of creeps me out. He scored on the most random fluke goal. We watched the replay a couple times on the jumbotron and it looked like puck was being remotely controlled as it switched directions. On the upside, he had 5 blocked shots...as he went -2.
-- Who the hell is Sean Zimmerman?? 1 goal on 1 shot and 5 hits. Sleek gives him a "+". I have no idea if that's a good thing.
The Bad
-- Kyle Palmieri had a good night with 1 goal and 1 assist, but I wasn't impressed. It was like he was trying too hard. His minutes were shortened (12:53 total). He took 1 face off the whole night. There just wasn't anything that made me want to see him play more often.
-- Both goalies, Captain America John Gibson (his mask is covered in American flags) and Bond villain Igor Bobkov showed their inexperience. There was lots of flailing. I won't hold it against them, though. They held their own on the big stage considering they will be heading back to juniors following training camp.
-- The crazy, loud cougar sitting in front of Earl and I at the game.
The Ugly
-- Dan Sexton was terrible. He was getting leveled by the other team, and could not find the net. For some reason, they thought it would be a good idea to put him on the penalty kill. He's not Corey Perry. He doesn't know what to do when he gets a breakaway.
-- Joseph Cramarossa had one great hit where he dumped one of the Coyotes into his own bench face first. Beyond that, the kid was in way over his head. There were several times that he'd turn the puck over and as the Coyotes were skating down the ice, he'd drop a loud f-bomb as he skated back to the bench.
-- I don't know what is going on with Devante Smith-Pelly. He shows flashes of greatness by slamming his opponents into the boards, only to find himself screening his own goaltender later. He had one of the lowest TOI with 10:05. Maybe he's hurt or maybe Carlyle doesn't like something about his game. He's just not getting any better.
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Posted this on the Previous thread but decided to duplicate it here seeing as this is the recap.
The line pairings I saw were as follows:
Selanne-Holland-Cogliano
Etem-Koivu-Palmieri
Sexton-Cramarossa-Jaques
DSP-McMillan-Zimmerman
I think that was the general pairings. As far as which players I thought looked good tonight, I’ll be honest. I felt Holland was the best player out there. Of course I was watching him a bit more. Etem and Palmieri set up a nice goal. Sexton I didn’t feel had that bad of a game but I honestly wasn’t watching him like a hawk. I did notice that he tends to have trouble keeping track of his teammates. Over the last few years I have seen him collide with a teammate numerous times which bothers me a bit. Cogliano played on the wing tonight which I thought was interesting but it may just have been a way for Carlyle to take a look at more of his young centers to see who is closest to NHL ready. On D I wasn’t terribly impressed with anyone at all. Contrary to Robby I didn’t like Smaby at all. By the end of the game my brother and I were joking with the row below us on how many times the guy managed to lose his stick, which is a huge liability in the defensive end. As for DSP, I wasn’t overly impressed, I saw him throw a few hits but it usually put him out of position. I saw some tenacity from Cramarossa that I liked but otherwise I didn’t really notice him much.
I was impressed mostly with Holland, Etem, and Jacques. I thought Smaby and Guenin also made a decent shut-down duo. Smaby was visibly physical in his own end. I would agree that Sexton didn’t have a strong game, although he wasn’t paired with the greatest of players. I feel he finds a different gear with stronger players. Other than one good hit and some above average defensive play, DSP was largely disappointing. The guy was sluggish and had practically no handle on the puck.
I was really unimpressed with Cogs. He had multiple opportunities to dish the puck to Teemu for a tap in, but for some reason thought it was better to pull a Jason Blake (God, we really need another one of those). Here’s to a better performance from our goalies tomorrow because tonight was just no bueno.
I got a fever and the only prescription is more cowbell
So glad to see that I wasn’t way off base when I left the game last night…cause I agree with a lot of this.
I definitely walked out of there impressed with Holland as well. I will admit that I am kind of pulling for the kid though. If I recall correctly…last year at camp didn’t go as well for him. However, I did try to take into consideration that he was playing with Selanne and Cogliano…but hey that’s a good thing in the long run because he’ll be playing with NHLers anyway! Needless to say, he stuck out last night in a positive way.
And you’re right. Selanne is definitely healthy! I thought they’d give him more off time in the preseason, but there’s clearly no need for that.
As for the goaltending…it was pretty gross, and awful rebounds were a given…but I took all of that with a grain of salt. I was hoping to like Smaby in this game-like setting as he was growing on me over the weekend at camp…but meh. He was a give/take.
As for DSP…he’s trying too hard. About 3/4 of the way through the 3rd I realized we hadn’t seen him on the ice for a long time…and I’m not surprised. He’s trying way too hard and it’s not complimenting him well at all.
Tonight should be interesting. I was really hoping for a random line combo like Ryan – Cogliano – Perry, but I guess that will just have to be a wish.
BTW, I like the good/bad/ugly…keep it up!
GO DUCKS!!!
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Cogliano
I always thought he’d be better on the LW with Koivu and Selanne. It will be interesting to see how the 2nd line shapes up, because Koivu might be a better (Pahlsson) like 3rd liner too. Maybe Holland could be a good 2nd line C with Selanne and Cogs.
I can’t really imagine a world where Loive and Selanne are split up.
by Daniel AC on Sep 21, 2011 11:29 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions
Thats what I’m pulling for. I haven’t seen Holland play yet, but he sounds solid. Its more likely though that well see a Bonino, McMillan, Cogs line coming out of the gate. I still think that 3rd line C is Bonino’s job to lose. Well see how he plays tonight and if he can hold off Holland for the time being. That being said I think that line is young, fast, and all of them are 2-way players. Can’t wait to see what happens tonight.
I suppose only time will tell, but I haven’t entertained the thought that McMillan and Cogliano would play wing on the third line. It’s worth merit, but something about it isn’t clicking for me. I’ll need to see it first. I just can’t imagine that line. Hmmmm…
by Daniel AC on Sep 21, 2011 2:17 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
I think it could potentially solve our 3rd line faceoff issues. Rather than putting in a specialist (I think Holland and Bonino are both serviceable but not great) you can take a “committee” approach instead and maybe see better results. It also allows McMillan to focus on 2-way skills, Cogs on Offensive opportunities, and Bonino/Holland doesn’t have to worry about doing that much as a rookie playing with two experienced wingers. I think it could be a surprisingly balanced and effective 3rd line.
I really want to see Holland play for us. He really is a mini-getz. Has unlimited talent but tends to be inconsistent with his effort. He can dominate games without putting a point on the board.
I’m not saying it will happen, but if teemu wants to play with Holland and Holland proves he can play, we may see Saku on the 3rd line. Witch I think gives us plenty of options with our bottom 6.
We will see. A lot of intriguing stuff happening out there.
I’d agree with Daniel in that the chances of Saku and Teamu being separated are slim to none. Unless Koivu takes a huge step back, and Holland looks like a stud (ala Fowler) I would say its impossible. Teamu doesn’t need another player he’s going to have to teach and cover up mistakes for….he’s got Blake already to do that with. Still I’m fascinated to see what happens with the bottom 6. I’m starting to get a feeling we could see 4 legit scoring lines being rolled out on some nights.
No one makes more mistakes in their own zone than teemu. Blake didnt make mistakes he just didn’t click. Koivu would be an ideal 3rd line center. But, in the end, you are probably right, the odds are low that teemu and koivu are seperated.
I 100% agree, I am fascinated as well. Its fun to speculate the thousand different ways it could go.
How about a beefy fourth line with Bell ©-Mcgratton- Parros, ala the 07’ shit kicker line featuring parros and thornton?…. There really are many ways this could go.
I’m sorry if I wasn’t clear. I meant mistakes in the OFFENSIVE zone. Not Defensive. Also I think a Bell-Jacques-Parros line is more probable. And I think its also what we will see most nights (maybe Marron comes up, but I’d rather see him playing with others) rather than two youth lines.
I’m not sold on Jacques, at least not in terms of need. I suppose it’s good to have two enforcers for games against rivals, SJ and LA for example, but I think if you put Maroon or Beleakey on that line, you get a very new dynamic. It’s not really a scoring line, but it’s got a guy who can occasionally score.
by Daniel AC on Sep 22, 2011 8:31 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions
I’m with Daniel here. You will not see Bell, Jacques, Maroon or Mc Grattan in together unless some extenuating circumstances occur.
I also like the idea of putting Beleskey on 4th since his skill set can match up well against teams lesser D lines. He hits, shoots and has speed.
Holland definitely stood out… He played bigger than what most scouts said about him.. Knowing Carlyle he will want to further develop him.. I would expect the same treatment as bobby.. Up and down a few times to get the feel… Hopefully he stays mentally strong because that is another thing that scouts said about him.. That second line will be blown up next season so I expect him to fill that void so he’ll get some work with the big squad this season…
Here's how I saw last night...
First of all, great to see some Ducks back on the Pond!
Players that impressed me:
Holland: He really did a lot well last night. He lost his man around his own net a few times but other than that he was the best player on the ice for the Ducks. Surely, it helped to be flanked by Teemu and Cogs, but he did not look out of places at all. Plus, he was solid in the faceoff circles.
Nate Guenin: His AHL experience really showed as he made plenty of solid plays in all zones. Would not be surprised to see him make the opening trip with the team.
Joseph Cramarossa: I remember 3 maybe 4 neutral zone turnovers he caused; the guy has that tenacious quality that coaches love. Remember his name as he might be the Ducks’ 3rd or 4th line center in a few years.
Thoughts on others:
Kyle Palmieri: I want to see more from him. He has skills and goes to the front of the net. But I do see him not moving his feet sometimes. I saw a flash of some feistiness when he did a he check on a Phoenix player. If he brings more of that, I can see him endearing himself to fans and coaches alike.
Emerson Etem: the guy can play, He is bigger than I thought too (at one point he shoved a guy down with one hand still on his stick). He just got a little puck focused in his own zone. I wish he could get that AHL seasoning sooner rather than later because he could make that jump up here sooner than many think.
DSP: It looks like they are trying to fit him in role he isn’t used too. He looks lost out there and I think you’d see a much different game from him if you put him with some other skill players on a top line situation.
Rickard Rakell:
He logged top powerplay time and was as cool as a cucumber out there the whole game. Can’t believe his only 18. If he were a little bigger i’d say he is closer than we think. The guy is pretty solid I was pleasantly surprised as I haven’t seen much of him.
The D:
Sean Zimmerman, Matt smaby, Bryan Rodney and Jake Newton were disappointly soft in their own zone. I saw them beat in the corners and waiting a split second to long on some outlet passes. I assume a lot of it was figuring out the system and playing with new partners but we’ll see…
by cal-S- on Sep 21, 2011 2:15 PM PDT via mobile reply actions
Cal, I heard the same about Rakell, glad you pointed it out. I guess the pace was something he adjusted to quickly. Really excited for him in a couple of years. Just a smart, solid hockey player that can put the puck in the net.
When I saw Rickard in the lineup I was very interested to see how he’d play. He was pretty much as advertised. Very solid fundamental player. He did some very crafty veteran plays like chips off the board to breaking centermen throughout the game. Held the puck a little long on the powerplay at times, but was able to control the play and make spot-on passes across the pk box. He even did a little -tween the legs dump to Sexton while being barred down on by 2 charging Coyote players without flinching.
My only critical statement is he looked physically like a boy among men out there. He was noticeably lanky compared to other players. But yeah, I can see a Niedermayer (Rob) type player developing easily…
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