mojo1917

so who saw the game and what are your thoughts on Bourdon and Marshall ? i'll say this having never seen either of them, if they're our best homegrown prospects on defense, then why not play them now and see whether or not they can cut it in the bigs ... or do they not have the ability ? who's got a take

i have a suspicion he's getting used to his new more muscular frame as well, i spent most of my youth as a skinny athlete when i was in my 20 and 30's my body changed, partially because i worked on it in the gym but also i physically matured. after adding my 20 lbs of muscle (over years ) i did not feel near as quick and wasn't sure what to do with the new found strength and power. eventually about a season, i figured it out and all of my athletic endeavors, volleyball , tennis, and golf saw improvement but while i was getting used my new self i felt heavy footed, and slow to react. perhaps some of this is going on with JvR since he spent the summer pulling ford 150's around in parking lots...

while i agree that Harry Z has played pretty well and Rinaldo has been a total pleasant surprise with the skill he brings with his edge, they are not the guys you traded your captain for . Brayden Schenn he's that guy, by the time he got hurt he was starting to look comfortable, since it was only his 4th game i'd like to see a little more of what he can do.... i think i've read he cam play right wing , plus as awful as this team is on faceoffs wouldn't it be a good idea to see if 10 can help there ? the swoon that occured on his first call up was on bryzgalov not being able to stop a beach ball, not schenn. the jagr giroux hartnell line hadn't come together yet either it's a long grind let's get the blue chipper some quality nhl ice time , see what he can do before we have to rely on him due to an injury.

do you really think that ? i mean that they had Harry Z on the first line ?? um there's probably room in the roster for schenn if we're sliding Harry Z up to the first line. just saying.

well to be realistic about wayne, he was the "throw in " in the deal for Richards, he came out of the gate well, i never expected him to continue to score at the pace he was early on, i think we're seeing what he's going to be and that is a Hartnell type, hard to play against, pot you some goals to the tune of 15-23 a year. play strong where the men play and be an energy guy who can throw the mitts when needed. to expect him to significantly pick up the scoring hole left by richards and carter's departure isn't fair to wayne and his abilities. i like what he brings to the team , but he's a depth energy guy and probably not a permanent top 6 forward. you can slide him up occasionally as we've seen he's responded well then he comes back to earth.

this is a discussion where i can see all sides.... i fall squarely in the camp that want to see him on the ice in the NHL though; he's got size, he's not jeff carter hockey stupid, he's been a man among boys at every level of hockey except the KHL an NHL i also don't know where he fits on this roster, play him outta position on the wing ? put him on the 4th line ? none of those options sound very good to me. i will say if schenn turns out to be a good player we're in a pretty nice situation with our depth at forward and that is all good.

@ HACK 55 that's a nice picture you have there... the divorce starter is what i call that brew... packs a wallop. !

@ claude monet some guys are just late bloomers, hell michael jordan wasn't a "child prodigy" . i remember when i was a kid i saw some major league baseball scouts at a york county, pa adult league game... the take away from that was ,if you can play they'll find you.

Harry Z has a lot of jump and jam to his game... so while Homer was dealing draft picks like a hill-billy would deal oxycotin, he and the scouting department has done a fantastic job of finding these undrafted free agents, i went from feeling pretty meh about the future as far as our young players and prospects went to feeling like we'll be pretty solid. Read might not be an elite NHL player that the league markets around, but he's damn good, plays smart and , as other people have said, tenaciously... you need that guy on your team.

i think the next time i go, i'm just going to bite the bullet and pay a little more for the club box seats, it's a pretty expensive night for 3, tickets, parking a soda, and some food winds up being about 250-325 that's a lot . to sit in the top ring, i have a friend who suggested to just pony up a little extra for the club box and the whole experience is more family friendly and easier to stomach financially . have fun hexy !

Sharp and Richards... don't know how it would have been possible to demote 18 and keep him in the fold, but i liked his game when he played it... as for gagne, when he took that big shot in last year's playoffs i thought he was done, he's had a history of concussions and with our luck that shot would have him in crosby country. but like gagne i think richard's game took a toll on his not large frame , he isn't known for being a fitness nut, so maybe it works out that his career levels out and he's just a really good 2 way player not a guy that could take over a game... dennis seidenberg would probably be a serviceable defenseman for us... just saying he's logging big minutes in beantown i know his partner is chara and that doesn't hurt him any but, he'd be better than lilja &, walker...

@ spinorama, you make good points, & i don't want to let on that i have a couple of carter replica jersey's in my closet, 'cause i don't.... i just think the guy got a lot more hate than he deserves. that's all, i'm not sorry he's not on the team anymore, but it's not like the guy was a total bust ala pavel brendl

@ brelic agreed, the guy ( Carter ) was frustrating... and his hockey sense just wasn't what you wanted to go with a guy with his skills I often compared him to baseball player jd drew, who is gifted physically but dumb as a sack of hammers, and too laize faire for any fanbase outside of southern california

@ brelic i totally understand about carter, and agree that he's not the guy you build your team around. i also think he's gotten a bad rap here, for some good reasons, you mentioned a couple and i'll add that he never looks to be working hard, things come easily for him and philly hates that in their athletes, if he could grimace on strides 1 and 2 people would view him differently but he's certainly not as bad as 85% of the posters say...

@ hexy27 the guy wearing 27 now is making it look pretty good though.

carter was solid defensively, he was a plus player while he was here... he got back on d as well as anyone and while we all know he wasn't a physical player he used his reach and positioning to ride guys off the puck. i get it people are glad he's gone, i'm not sad we got 2 nice young players back, but to act like he sucked is disingenuous.

the propp, kerr, poulin, howe mccrimmon team was the team that cemented my fandom. the late 80's team could have won a cup were it not for gretzky's oilers being at their apex too. i'm with you, those guys deserve some recognition from management.

the shot he scored his second goal on was filthy. holy smokes, that guy has some skill.

i noticed him defensively too, in a good way, some folks were pretty down on the guy calling him zherdev 2.0 but i think that's too harsh... jake isn't a prima donna, he hustles and hasn't sulked because things haven't been going as well as everyone would like for him offensively... he'll mix it up , defend a teammate. there's a lot to like about this version of 93. nice point about playing with jagr, that's his boyhood idol, and he's getting to live the 8 year old jake's dream. skating with 68 and hopefully he's picking up some good work habits from jagr too.

Seguin, is such a powerful skater, he's fun to watch on the rush. his play has really improved this year, he started in the POs last year and has continued that level of play unlike the aformentioned JVR whom i think may be a better skater than tyler.

i kind of mostly agree here but with this twist, I think he's confident in his positioning and that keeps him quieter in the crease. and when his confidence is bad or his positioning is bad we see quotes like "i am lost in the woods" i don't see him battling during those scrums though, maybe it has something to do with his size, along the lines of once he's down that's a lot of gear to pick up.

i think 3 players for 1 is too much to give up i don't care how the guy "projects" he's still going to have growing pains and this town is tough on not quite ready d men... maybe i give up 3 guys for weber, but not for a guy who isnt' "there" yet.

plus coburn got juked pretty hard just inside the blue line, it was pretty good move by (Moore ?) so he was playing catch up and not really able to shot block or lift the puck carriers stick... all in all it was pretty disheartening, to have the ice tilted our way and lose on the first rush by the bolts. in soccer we said "unlucky" but it still stinks.

Carle getting pushed around is complaint #1 against him from the past, so forgive my standard Carle answer... 25 doesn't look as comfortable with the puck this year, i've said this else where, a lot of the time he looks rushed even when he's not being pressured directly not sure what's going on there, he's made some nice plays in the games i've watched and has had the real bad turnovers at the worst times too. maybe he's pressing ?

If we're lucky, i don't see Gustavsson stepping into top 4 minutes next year, maybe not ever. Carle might not be your boy ,play the way you'd like to see him play, but he doesn't suck, in fact he does a lot of things well. Gustavsson's size might be bitch kitty in the equation, i like his speed and hockey sense but if people are dogging Carle for being pushed around ...how's gus going to handle malkinstien, staal, ovechkin and other big skilled forwards that are in our conference.