Mayhew

[lynxrattle]

Mayhew has seemed pretty invisible so far. I think that if a player scores like he does in the AHL, at least some of that should translate into the NHL, even if the player would not be able to grab a role in the NHL. He's had PP time, hasn't he, he has decent TOI. Why aren't things clicking? Is there something Evason should try to do, to see if that AHL goal scorer could be transformed into an NHL goal scorer? Do you think that Mayhew should do something differently, to really fight for that roster spot? 

[CreaseAndAssist]

(shrugs)  He's being used as the bumper on the power play.  That isn't where he plays in Iowa.  He's more of a trigger man on that power play.  I listened to Tim Army talk with Michael Russo.  Army admitted the systems his team runs is different than the Wild and by what I see it looks like Mayhew isn't sure where he should be.  He did take a few shots against the Sharks and IMO he needs to take any chance he can to shoot the puck.  He has a fairly quick release and the shot has good velocity.  But he's mostly been most useful in throwing his body around, adding a little speed and retrieving pucks.  But overall...not scoring but I can see the scoring instincts.  He finds the dead spots on the ice; if only someone would pass him the puck.  That's probably the biggest difference for him; where in Iowa he's the focal point...kind of like Fiala is with the Wild.  Everyone wants to find a way to get him the puck so he can do his thing and score.  That isn't happening up here in Minnesota and I don't think its a pecking order thing.  Yet if he's just going to sit in the press box, I know Iowa could certainly use their go-to scorer back because they've been kind of lost without him.  

[4Check]

I liked his first couple of games in his return last week.  IMO, he struggled a bit vs the Sharks.   I thought he had the possibility to become  a Brendan Gallagher type.   So far,  (only 12 game sample) IMO not seeing enough anticipation or abillity to drive play at the NHL level to warrant that comparison.

[lynxrattle]

Atkinson, Maroon, Palmieri, Toffoli, Niederreiter, Johnson - all players with similar AHL scoring years ago. But there's a lot more of forgotten players with similar scores as well. Maybe they should give Mayhew's linemates a mission to feed Mayhew for five games, and for Mayhew the order to shoot the puck whenever he can. Then he would know what he needs to do grab his chance and we would know if he would be able to do it. Possibly Mayhew and his linemates are confused about what's expected of him right now.

[Tomdog]

I haven’t seen a lot of mayhew but what I did like was his patience with the puck and the ability to see where he can go to stay out of trouble. 
I am so tired of watching players panic every time they touch the puck.