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UticaHockey

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Everything posted by UticaHockey

  1. Also hearing that Kero is on his way to Vancouver today. Not sure what that is about.
  2. Cull said it is not related to his latest concussion and should be short term.
  3. Goalies don't count against the veteran limit and it's only a limit on the number dressed each game and not a limit on the roster. Hamilton is hurt again and Bancks left the ice in the final minute last night doubled over in pain after blocking a shot. Injuries always find a way of taking care of the veteran issue in the long run.
  4. What I meant is that the speed of the AHL is such that he processes the game faster than most players in this league and can read and respond to plays quicker. The biggest adjustment that young players out of juniors have adjusting to the AHL besides playing against bigger more mature players is adjusting to the speed of the game. They are always chasing the play and have less time to react to it with and without the puck on their stick. The game looks very slow for Gaunce right now and he is making good decisions on each end of the ice. His skating is what it is. His straight line speed is more than adequate but his quickness and edge work hold him back. His skating will never be an asset in the NHL but I think it is good enough to be an effective big body fourth liner in the NHL.
  5. Gaunce has been the Comets best player since coming back down. He plays a complete 200 foot game and looks every bit of a NHL player in the AHL. He looks very much like a player that has been playing the game at a higher pace and the speed of the AHL is very slow for him. I can't say enough good things about him.
  6. From what I see there has been slow process in McEneny overall game as the season has gone on but I still don't think his skating has come back enough where he could handle the pace of the NHL. Faster skaters are still taking advantage of him.
  7. And it's not like the Vancouver media to use that to create a big story during a slow day would it? Look at the timing....the Canucks finished up the road trip and had multiple days off before they started the home stand. With two sports talk radio stations in Vancouver and countless Canucks Experts on Twitter it's always a race for higher ratings and more clicks.
  8. Why do so many people take Palmu's comments as the gospel without questioning if they are 100% accurate? Palmu was interviewed by Vancouver media member and basically threw his GM and coach under the bus for not communicating to him why he didn't play as much in Utica as he thought he should. Both Ryan Johnson and Trent Cull have since been interviewed and basically said that the expectations and feedback to the players are consistently communicated. If you go to page 100 of the Utica Comets thread you will fine a series of Tweets from Craig MacEwen (Zack's dad) I posted that supports the Comets coaching staff and their use of video review as part of communication process to each player. MacEwen states that onus is ALWAYS on the player and he finds it hard to believe that Palmu was left hanging. Is it not possible that Palmu's ego got a little bruised by his experience in Utica and wanted to deflect the blame back on his coaches? I'm not willing to take his word blindly over Cull or Johnson because Petrus Palmu has his own credibility issues that need to be taken into consideration. Go back to page 15 in this thread and read about the legal issues that this kid got into in Finland because of illegally catching protected species of fish in restricted areas. Not once but he did this multiple times after being previously warned about it. In the grand schemes of things do I really care about his illegal fishing activities when he was a 20 year old kid? No....but it does make me question the word of a now 21 year old kid over the adult coaches and GM that he threw under the bus to the Vancouver media. At the end of the day he did not play well enough when he did have his chances to stay in the line up. I have no idea what was said to him or what he was asked to work on. But I don't automatically believe what he claims was said or lack there of. And a word of advice to him....throwing adults who are there to coach and guide you under the bus when you are a 21 year old kid that has proven nothing is not a good career move.
  9. They have been averaging around 20% but it's deceiving. They will go a couple games in a row where they score 2 or 3 PP goals to boost the average back up and then they will be dreadful for the next several games. The most frustrating part to watch is they almost always lose the opening faceoffs on the PP for an immediate clear and then they are terrible at zone entry on the PP. They are so bad a zone entry that they end up trying to dump or chip the puck in which almost always results in a clear.
  10. Ditto. It had to take a lot of time and effort to put a post together like that. Well done.
  11. With all of the discussion about Palmu's comments today here are some interesting comments from Zack MacEwen's dad. And let's keep in mind Big Mac has busted his butt the past year and a half to improve every aspect of his game. Gadjo comment
  12. Kulbakov is on an AHL contract and after having a few good games when Demko was out has been very bad lately. He gave up 8 goals in his only game since being recalled from Kzoo. There is no way that he should be considered for a NHL contract and potential goalie depth if Markstrom or Demko get hurt.
  13. But why are you so willing to have your management assume the risk and not Ottawa? Don't be concerned with the Sen's goaltending depth when Vancouver has only two healthy goalies under NHL contracts.
  14. Let me clarify something before too many assumptions are placed on me. I have no problem with trading Nilsson to open up a spot for Demko. Thatcher is ready to make the jump to the NHL and has played well enough after returning from injury. In my eyes he has been playing even better even if the stats don't show it because he is playing behind a very poor defensive team. Demko is staying up that half second longer and not getting beat up high like he was last year. He has done everything he needs to do in the AHL and it is the right time to move up. But again read my post above.... "The proper move when considering risk management would be to insist that Ottawa waives McKenna first and then make the trade after he clears. If he clears we have the exact same trade and if he doesn't the trade never happens."
  15. Yes it probably wasn't wise to have three waiver eligible goalies on the roster to start the season. But consider this while using the same example of the Leivo trade...... Maybe the Canucks didn't have a good trading partner that would have brought back a goalie that already cleared waivers and maybe they liked the Ottawa deal better if they did. The proper move when considering risk management would be to insist that Ottawa waives McKenna first and then make the trade after he clears. If he clears we have the exact same trade and if he doesn't the trade never happens.
  16. They need someone on an expiring contract to get them through this season because Bachman will be back next season and DiPietro will be AHL eligible. If they want an upgrade over Bachman for next year as the primary depth goalie then someone not on an expiring contract could be an option. And it's not specific to Benning it is the management team that is in place has to do a better job of risk management.
  17. That goes back to the assumption that McKenna will not be claimed in the first place. That is not how you manage an organization especially with goaltending. You do not know with 100% certainty that McKenna will be available in a couple of weeks and can not have only two healthy goaltenders under contract while waiting to see if he gets placed on waivers again. They will need to made a move sooner than that.
  18. I will get crucified by the Benning lovers in this forum again but so be it. This is another example of a poorly managed organization. Here is an example of a well run organization the Toronto Maple Leafs. They needed to make room for Nylander on the 23 man roster and worked out a trade for Leivo to the Canucks. But they were not willing to take a player back that would require waivers so they had Benning place Leipsic on waivers and if he cleared they would have traded Leipsic for him. When Leipsic was claimed they traded for Carcone instead. The Canucks assumed the risk of losing an asset to waivers and the Leafs were guaranteed not to lose an asset that they could send to their AHL team. In contrast Vancouver wanted to clear up a roster spot for Demko by moving Nilsson. With Bachman out for the season they had to receive a goalie in return. But instead of finding a trading partner that had a NHL contracted goalie that is in the AHL and had already cleared waivers they took the route with more risk. A goalie that needed to clear waivers before he could be sent down. The chances of McKenna being claimed may have appeared slim but obviously were not zero. But this is not just a Utica problem it is a Vancouver problem too that will require an immediate solution. With Bachman out for the season the Canucks only have two NHL pro goalies under contract. DiPietro can be an emergency recall but that is not a long term solution if Markstrom or Demko gets hurt and lets not forget Demko already missed two months this season with an injury. There is no choice now but to trade for a depth goalie that has already cleared waivers and playing in the AHL. And to do so they have to trade away another asset or draft pick that they should never of had to do.
  19. The other reason for keeping the farm in Utica. Beyond the favorable travel and practice schedules and fan support it allows young prospects to develop as players and mature as young adults away from the microscope of the Vancouver media.
  20. There is no way to look at the Loui Erickson signing and not come to the conclusion that it was a bad signing. But my point was for a team that is rebuilding Benning has not done a good job of acquiring additional draft picks both at the deadline and other times of the year. And on top of this too many of his trades included both an asset and a pick going the other way. Ex. Pouliot for Pedan and a 4th. Gudbranson for McCann plus a 2nd and a 4th. Etem for Jensen and a 6th. Just too many times Benning has sweetened the deal by throwing in a draft pick. Then let's not forget the rights to Phillip Larsen for a 5th. A counter point would be these 4th and 5th round picks have a low percentage of turning into NHL players but a team rebuilding should be stockpiling them to increase their overall odds of finding some success stories. Don't forget that Gaudette was a 5th round pick which I will more than happily give Benning credit for but he should be acquiring more of these picks instead of trading them away to find the next Gaudette.
  21. I am familiar with the fact that previous Canucks management teams traded away draft picks to stay competitive but that tradition has continued under Benning instead of being halted. In the Benning years the Canucks have still traded away more draft picks than they have acquired. The Canucks should have been stockpiling draft picks the past four seasons but they didn't. I'm not even close to being a Lightning fan but I do admire how successful they are at drafting and developing players and how well they run their AHL farm team. They are the gold standard that other teams should be trying to emulate in my opinion.
  22. Still better than all the Comets fans that drove to Syracuse for the 10 - 1 embarrassment and have to put up with drunk obnoxious Crunch fans.
  23. There were a few that posted pics to a Comets Facebook fan group. It's about a 4 hour drive from here.
  24. Others have already responded with good comments but I will add this. Gadjo has been a healthy scratch on a fairly regular basis as he tries to work on his game in practice and bring that work over to the games that he has played in. But it has been a relatively slow process as he hasn't been noticeable when he has played and certainly not on every shift. This is not uncommon with rookies in their first year out of juniors. The step from juniors to the AHL is much larger than most of these kids realize. When you strip out the elite players that go straight to the NHL or the players that dominate in the AHL the majority will start out slowly in the AHL. The better prospects will usually start to figure things out around Christmas while others will show a slow development curve over a couple seasons. What was encouraging about Gadjo's game on Saturday is that he looked confident and energized on every shift. There is no question in my mind that it was a result of the entire line had a great game and Gadjo will benefit greatly if that line is kept intact moving forward. So much of the development process is about gaining confidence and that comes with time. Let's hope that this confident look will last more than one game.
  25. Someone in a different Comets fan group mentioned that they talked to Boosh and he said that he hurt his elbow in the game against Syracuse. No mention of the severity of the injury though.
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