Analytical Cornucopia
Sami Salo and Mattias Ohlund.
Our best defensemen tonight. Not to take anything away from Jovo or Allen who were definitely solid, but these guys were our saving grace. What can I say? We wouldn't have made it out of the first period without them.
Sedins and Carter
Finally clicking! They got a nice goal mostly by chance on a delayed penalty and it seemed to spark them. For the rest of the night they played in playoff form and Carter looks like a kid on Christmas whenever he's on the ice. This is the kind of emotion we need infused into our game a lot. I love Carter's commitment to the backcheck as well.
Bryan Allen
Still like him. Got beat by Datsyuk late in the third, but was entirely solid otherwise. Threw a big hit on someone (who it was, I forgot) and generally played a nasty, chippy game with few mistakes. Had great instincts when jumping up on the rush as well, as he did a couple times in the game. That's a part of his game I never thought I'd see come to fruition.
Matt Cooke.
Back to his feisty self. Threw hits, scored a nice breakaway goal. No more concerns here. He's worth the 1.53 million to me so far.
Alex Auld.
Solid. Great positioning and solid glove hand. His size . Most of the pucks just hit Auld without him having to move whatsoever. However, he needs to be a little more effective smothering the puck. Detroit could have easily had six goals with a couple lucky bounces tonight.
Steve McCarthy.
KEEP IT SIMPLE! Don't hit, don't try to split forwards to start a rush. Just make the safe moves. You obviously don't have the raw talent to do these things. Just keep safely chipping the puck out or making safe passes to Salo. What we need out of McCarthy is a guy who can eat up 10-15 minutes at even strength. We don't need him to be a hero, I wish he'd stop trying when games are so close.
Nolan Baumgartner.
Should only be played on the powerplay. With the puck behind the net going the way Auld wasn't facing, Baumgartner decided to chase Schneider who was already covered with perfect position by Ohlund, which left Mikael Samuelsson wide open. Not only that, but he failed to signal to Auld that the puck was going to be coming to the other side. Just lacks basic NHL instincts to be able to stick as an NHL defenseman. Don't get me wrong, he's an excellent defenseman in the AHL, but he can't handle faster skaters, harder hitters, better passers and slicker stickhandlers. I really hope Bieksa recovers soon. Bieksa will be a better fit for the Canucks, while Baumgartner could help Manitoba's losing skid.
Other thoughts
-what is with the Canucks giving up early goals? they can't keep easing into the game like that
-Lidstrom impresses me every time I see him play. Has he ever had a bad game?
-The game has passed Chelios by. I hate to say it because I like him, but he's gotta hang em up after this year.
-Bertuzzi is using his body a little, which is encouraging.
-I was wrong about the line juggling comment in my last update - Naslund-Kesler-Park was pretty effective. Smart move by Crow to throw out a speed-based line to counter the Wings' overall speed based game. I just hope both Naslund and Bertuzzi have the stamina to double shift for the entire season.
-At this pace, Bouck will be replacing Goren when he comes back in January. Goren's definitely got all the time in the world to prove me wrong, however.
-Joe Louis Arena is the flattest arena ever in terms of noise/cheer. I'd hate to be a wings fan.
-Something I noticed today:
Chara - 28 years old
Redden - 28 years old
Heatley - 24 years old
Havlat - 24 years old
Bochenski - 23 years old
Volchenkov - 23 years old
Emery - 23 years old
Spezza - 22 years old
Meszaros - 20 years old
I'm scared. That's a dynasty right there. At least they're in the East.
Our best defensemen tonight. Not to take anything away from Jovo or Allen who were definitely solid, but these guys were our saving grace. What can I say? We wouldn't have made it out of the first period without them.
Sedins and Carter
Finally clicking! They got a nice goal mostly by chance on a delayed penalty and it seemed to spark them. For the rest of the night they played in playoff form and Carter looks like a kid on Christmas whenever he's on the ice. This is the kind of emotion we need infused into our game a lot. I love Carter's commitment to the backcheck as well.
Bryan Allen
Still like him. Got beat by Datsyuk late in the third, but was entirely solid otherwise. Threw a big hit on someone (who it was, I forgot) and generally played a nasty, chippy game with few mistakes. Had great instincts when jumping up on the rush as well, as he did a couple times in the game. That's a part of his game I never thought I'd see come to fruition.
Matt Cooke.
Back to his feisty self. Threw hits, scored a nice breakaway goal. No more concerns here. He's worth the 1.53 million to me so far.
Alex Auld.
Solid. Great positioning and solid glove hand. His size . Most of the pucks just hit Auld without him having to move whatsoever. However, he needs to be a little more effective smothering the puck. Detroit could have easily had six goals with a couple lucky bounces tonight.
Steve McCarthy.
KEEP IT SIMPLE! Don't hit, don't try to split forwards to start a rush. Just make the safe moves. You obviously don't have the raw talent to do these things. Just keep safely chipping the puck out or making safe passes to Salo. What we need out of McCarthy is a guy who can eat up 10-15 minutes at even strength. We don't need him to be a hero, I wish he'd stop trying when games are so close.
Nolan Baumgartner.
Should only be played on the powerplay. With the puck behind the net going the way Auld wasn't facing, Baumgartner decided to chase Schneider who was already covered with perfect position by Ohlund, which left Mikael Samuelsson wide open. Not only that, but he failed to signal to Auld that the puck was going to be coming to the other side. Just lacks basic NHL instincts to be able to stick as an NHL defenseman. Don't get me wrong, he's an excellent defenseman in the AHL, but he can't handle faster skaters, harder hitters, better passers and slicker stickhandlers. I really hope Bieksa recovers soon. Bieksa will be a better fit for the Canucks, while Baumgartner could help Manitoba's losing skid.
Other thoughts
-what is with the Canucks giving up early goals? they can't keep easing into the game like that
-Lidstrom impresses me every time I see him play. Has he ever had a bad game?
-The game has passed Chelios by. I hate to say it because I like him, but he's gotta hang em up after this year.
-Bertuzzi is using his body a little, which is encouraging.
-I was wrong about the line juggling comment in my last update - Naslund-Kesler-Park was pretty effective. Smart move by Crow to throw out a speed-based line to counter the Wings' overall speed based game. I just hope both Naslund and Bertuzzi have the stamina to double shift for the entire season.
-At this pace, Bouck will be replacing Goren when he comes back in January. Goren's definitely got all the time in the world to prove me wrong, however.
-Joe Louis Arena is the flattest arena ever in terms of noise/cheer. I'd hate to be a wings fan.
-Something I noticed today:
Chara - 28 years old
Redden - 28 years old
Heatley - 24 years old
Havlat - 24 years old
Bochenski - 23 years old
Volchenkov - 23 years old
Emery - 23 years old
Spezza - 22 years old
Meszaros - 20 years old
I'm scared. That's a dynasty right there. At least they're in the East.