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Ray_Cathode

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Everything posted by Ray_Cathode

  1. That was a slick move, not only the stick move, not only the head fake, but the juke too. Impressive, you don’t often see that happening often even in the NHL.
  2. Neither of Tryamkin nor Woo are untalented in their own rights. On his first year back in Russia, Try was 9g 17a in 42 GP that is nearly a fifty point pace in an 82 game season. Woo racked plenty of points in the WHL. Partnered with Rathbone will likely add to Woo’s point totals as the season wears on.
  3. There was a good reason Tanev could not make the 2010/11 team: ahead of him were: Ehrhoff,Edler, Hamhuis, Bieksa, Ballard, Salo, Alberts, and Rome. Alberts and Rome alternated in the lineup because they provided toughness. Tanev got in for 25 games because Salo was hurt - there was nothing wrong with his play, Edler, Ehrhoff, Hamhuis, Bieksa, and Ballard were ahead of him and he only got in because Salo was hurt. He was a worthy replacement. Similar story in 2011/12 -we lost Ehrhoff, but Salo was healthy for most of the season, only missing a dozen or so games. No room for Tanev - again, nothing wrong with Tanev. In the 2012/13 shortened season, Tanev played in most of the Vancouver games. In my opinion, Chatfield is not in Tanev’s league even when Tanev was breaking in. Tanev had to fight his way through a terrific defence. Our current defence is Swiss Cheese by comparison and Chatfield can’t crack the line up - he is too erratic, j7mps out of position, and makes bad judgements. That was his story in the AHL and it continues here. We have a far better RD prospect than Chatfield in Rafferty, but Green is not comfortable with him. Green is comfortable with Roussel, Eriksson, Beagle - essentially talentless, expensive has beens. It’s good politics - can’t let that 12.5 million look like it is wasted money by the guy in control of firing him.
  4. Subban was entirely one dimensional in the A, he couldn’t/wouldn’t defend to save his life, definitely not enough to save his career. He was totally over-rated by most of CDC who overlooked his massive defensive deficiencies. The coaches never gave Subban the kind of defensive responsibility given to Woo and Rathbone almost immediately. Woo gets lots of PK time, and Rathbone none yet, but Rathbone and Woo were thrown out in the last minute to protect a one goal lead. They break out immediately and it’s Baertschi from Lind for the open netter. This was Rathbone’s second game, and yes, it is only his second game. Other teams will pick up on his tendencies, and we have yet to see how he adjusts. But his defensive play has already adjusted from his first game to his second game. In his second game he began anticipating passes to players advancing through the neutral zone and he took advantage of players looking back to step up on them. The first winger, he hit hard, and the second two he took the puck and immediately transitioned the play. Of the defencemen on the Canucks, I have only seen Edler do this - but this edition of Edler is older and slower to close than the Edler who used to blow wingers up in the neutral zone - now he is often on time only to hold, trip, hook or stumble backwards when the forward blows by. The play is still in Edler’s head, but the body doesn’t manage to execute as it did. Wingers will start to look for a 5’11” 190 lb train on their tracks and adjust, and some of those wingers will be very big - I hope Rathbone knows how to use his hip.
  5. Yep, there were a lot of stiff checks by Woo, and Rathbone was hard on the other team all game. It was so entertaining that enjoyed some hard liquor - a couple of stiff Scotches.
  6. Yeah, he had a strong game today Sid, not just with points, he was effective all over the ice, including on the special teams and closing out the game. The Comets are leading their division with a game in hand, and Jasek is a big part of that on both special teams.
  7. Jake is not a hi IQ player, Lockwood is - that does not mean that Jake cannot be a valuable player - he did, after all have18g 18 a in a shortened season. Jake can bring something that Lockwood will never be able to bring, a massive physique. But what Jake needs to learn is that that physique is only a value with the head and the heart attached. If Jake had Lockwood’s character and smarts he could be one of the best players in the league. When a guy has Jake’s size and skating, all he needs to do is being in focus when he works out, when he practices, and for the length of a game - that is not a lot to ask of a guy making a couple of million per. That said, the NHL has a history of players who only need a different coach, and looking at the way this team is playing, this might be the situation here. Jake is not the only player in this lineup who is not getting the most out of himself.
  8. Lockwood was very good tonight, he is a really well coached defensive player who pressures hard on the forecheck. Like Motte, he is pretty much always in motion and making contact. He and Jasek made a strong PK pairing tonight.
  9. Rathbone had been flipping sides with his right shooting partner, Woo or Elliot in both of these games. He plays equally well on either side, both Woo is a very good skater able to take excellent body position no matter on which side he plays and is very assertive physically. Rathbone is an extra-ordinary skater, that as far as I can tell, gives up nothing in either end of the rink. Who did Cull (or maybe Agnew) have out there in the last minute of a game with a one goal lead? Woo and Rathbone with Lind, Jasek and Baertschi. The result? Out of their own end, slick as a whistle - Lind makes a generous play to Baertschi for the empty netter. So, I played back the game, isolating on Rathbone. After two games, of course, nobody has a read on him, so it is admittedly early, but there were three times in this game where Rathbone anticipated a pass to the winger on his side of the ice and stepped up in the neutral zone. The first guy he took out with a strong physical play - no flies on Jack. The other two times he stepped up and made the winger turn over the puck. It is an auspicious beginning for both of these rookie defenders. Rathbone also runs a pretty good power play. It is amazing to think that he hadn’t played a game in the better part of a year before these two. He is not flashy like Hughes, at least not so far, but based on two games where he has snuck up on the opposition, he has been remarkable. The announcer remarked the coach Cull, commenting on Rathbone’s first game, noted that he had played well, but that they did not expect him to get three assists every game. When told that, Rathbone remarked that he would have to try and get four in this one. He didn’t, but he and Woo were outstanding enough that Cull had them out there in the last minute o& a game where they were nursing a one goal lead. That is not common for Cull. Two years ago, when a Juolevi was a highly touted AHL rookie, he did not get that kind of responsibility and last year it took Cull a couple of weeks to warm to Rafferty running the power play, and half a season before Rafferty saw the PK - and only a Brisebois had a better +/- than Rafferty. But the coaches have warmed to these two kids immediately, and the team leads the North division at 5-1-0-1 with a game in hand. This is without Goldobin and Boucher (both now in Russia), and (Sautner, Rafferty, Brisebois, Juolevi, Chatfield, Bailey, MacEwen, and DiPietro) who were all standouts last year with Utica, and Graovac who is outstanding this year with the Moose. Granted they have the St Louis farm team sharing, but for the most part they are not the players who are outstanding on this team. I was looking forward to seeing Sam Anas play, and he did not disappoint, lining up with Cole Lind early, but Anas has missed the past two games (injured?). The two Stevens brother have been very good for the team, but John is a Utica property, while Nolan belongs to the Blues. I have to confess to not being as focussed on the Sat Louis properties as I have on our own prospects, so there is stuff I may have missed on them.
  10. Oh hell, I watch every damn game, it’s just that I might become an alcoholic trying to endure this season. I perform recovery by watching all the Comets games. The are the opposite of Vancouver, they defend well (Rathbone had a great 3 assist pro debut tonight, and Woo is going to make a big difference in Vancouver down the road). They spent most of their time as a pair tonite. None of the Canuck prospect defenders in Utica is particularly big (Woo might be the biggest at 6’0 203), but they are all very mobile and very smart. They are first to pucks all over the ice, very heads up players, great exits. On the PK they are quick to pressure and quick to retreat. Watching Edler and Myers is like watching a couple of oil tankers by comparison. Rathbone is not shy, but Woo is like a pit bull - very aggressive and hits a ton.
  11. Rathbone with 3 assists tonight in his first AHL game. He and Woo made a great pairing
  12. 5-2 Comets now: Stevens (Gadjovich, Rathbone) Stevens (Kaspick, Lockwood) Gadjovich (Lind, Baertschi) Teves (Stevens, McKenzie) Arsenault Baertschi (Rathbone, Stevens) Gadjovich (Rathbone)
  13. Right now I like the Jett Woo, Rathbone pairing.
  14. Gadjovich with a goal and an assist so far tonight. He ain’t purity, but he sure is effective. The Utica D is very active tonight with Canuck prospects Rathbone, Woo, Teves and Eliot leading the way.
  15. In the real world, and you have a welder whose welds all crack, you replace the welder. If the plumber’s joints all leak, you replace the plumber. If the electrician electrocutes himself, you find a replacement. Only in the imaginary world of government is failure rewarded with raises and promotions and no danger of losing your job. In the hockey business, when you fail, you’re fired and ownership finds someone else. If the owner fails so badly he goes broke, that bank appoints a receiver and he finds new management. When you are being paid millions it’s a little harsher than when your greatest act of failure is consistently burning the burgers and fries.
  16. So, everything else is true, but your central focus is that he didn’t say he was happy. Okay, he didn’t say he was happy, he just acted like he was content with Benning’s handling of the cap and any issues with Benning should be blamed on Covid. There are a number of teams that take advantage of other team’s desperation, those would be the teams with good cap management, Covid or not.
  17. Thanks for keeping tabs on this guy, he is a really interesting prospect. Seeing him replace Roussel for the Canucks would save me money for dry walkers and painters for where my head has been striking the wall.
  18. Lind is new to centre ice, he still has much to learn. Jasek is much more NHL ready right now for a bottom six role.
  19. Yep, Woo has no problem with the physical aspects of the game, something in short supply in Vancouver.
  20. He tried to blame the Canuck situation on Covid, which is ridiculous - all teams are all affected by Covid - our failure has nothing to do with something that is common to all. What is not common is that we sacrificed assets for a player we could not afford to retain because Benning had mismanaged the cap. Never mind all the other players we lost due to that same financial mismanagement.
  21. Are you fine with what we gave up to get a guy that you are happy is gone?
  22. Myers, like Roussel and Edler, is a guy that takes endless stupid penalties.
  23. It is bad because other teams have scouted us and we keep doing the same damned things. Same thing with our coverage in our own end. The playoffs was an illusion created by two goalies playing miles over their heads. This was a playoff that we got into only because of a Covid shortened season - at the time in the regular season that the season ended, we were busy losing a playoff spot. Then, in the offseason because of Benning’s terrible financial management, we essentially disassembled whatever little chance we had. This team could not afford to lose Markstrom, sure as heck couldn’t afford to lose Toffoli and the assets we gave up to get him, definitely couldn’t afford the loss of Tanev, never mind losing Stetcher and Leivo. We are seeing why Schmidt and Myers were available ar six million per and these contracts, like reflections of the Eriksson, Sutter, Beagle, and Roussel deals that preceded have affected the past three years, will hand cuff us in the future. I think Benning was a guy desperate to keep his job, bowed to ownership demands for something now. This is precisely what happens when you manage only for the short term -then your short term lasts forever just slapping six million dollar patchon six million dollar patch, and never having the resources to take advantage of the real bargains that occasionally show up.
  24. Count on Roussel for at least one stupid penalty per game, usually at the worst time.
  25. The next left winger in the depth chart is Eriksson followed by the trainer’s mom. Not a lot of LW depth. Motte’s hurt.
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