I realize that James Van Riemsdyk has yet to light the lamp on the young season (he does have a pair of assists), but his hard work in the offseason has paid off so far. JVR's board work has been 100 times better than it was during his rookie season and he's been much stronger on the puck.
Something else I've noticed: He's even playing with a little more of a edge. On a couple of occasions on Monday, he mixed it up with Colorado players and even had Adam Foote yapping at him as he skated to the bench at the end of one shift. I loved it. That's not something that comes naturally to JVR -- he's a real laid-back sort of guy and he's never going to have a true mean streak on the ice. But he doesn't have to. As long as he competes the way he has in the early games of the season, that's all you can ask.
The goals will come. JVR has already proven that he's got very good hands. The added strength, if he keeps using it, will help set up his finesse game, too.
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On the flip side, I'm a tad concerned about the physical status of Ville Leino. Like Van Riemsdyk, the Finn has a pair of assists on the season, but he has not been anything close to the player who was sidestepping defenders and buzzing around the offensive zone at will in the playoffs last year. It has not been a question of effort whatsoever. Leino is clearly working hard, but his skating hasn't been up to par yet as he continues his recovery from off-season hip surgery.
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Much is being made of Nikolay Zherdev's slow start to the regular season after his five-goal outburst in the preseason. I will only say this: If he wants powerplay time, he's going to have to earn it at even strength.
Earlier today, I spoke with longtime Flyer Brian Propp. The conversation was not directly related to Zherdev but Propper raised numerous points that very much apply to Zherdev's situation with the Flyers.
Said Propp, "Every time you play for a new team or coach, you're on edge. I don't care if you're the best player on the team or the worst, you're starting fresh and you are playing for ice time. ...It takes awhile to get used to a new system. When I went to Minnesota, Bob Gainey was the coach and he had the club playing a left-wing lock type of system. I wasn't used to it, and I didn't like it. I was used to playing a very aggressive forecheck, and it was better suited to my game. It took me at least a month to start to get the North Stars system down, but the thing is that you had to put in the time -- in practice and in the games -- to make the adjustments. It doesn't matter if you don't like it, those are the expectations of the coach. If you don't do it, you won't get the ice time.
"When you are coming out of junior hockey, or from overseas, you are usually the best player or one of the best players on your team. There's a drop-off in talent level from the best players. Not in the NHL. In the NHL, you're competing against the best players in the world and there really isn't much drop off. Everyone can really play. So if you don't pay attention to detail and do the little things right, there isn't a place for you. It doesn't matter how much skill you have or how much God-given talent you have. The guy who works harder will beat you out if you aren't ready to compete."
To me, this sums up to a T exactly where Zherdev stands right now. He deserves some time to adjust to Peter Laviolette's system, but the coach has already sent him a message that he needs to work harder at it if he's going to get the ice time he craves.
Bottom line: If Zherdev responds by digging down and playing his best hockey, he'll succeed. If he responds by sulking and resenting it, he's going to fail. But nothing is just going to be handed to him, no matter how many goals he scored in exhibition games.
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The Phantoms dropped a 2-1 decision last night in Wilkes Barre/Scranton to drop to 1-2-0 on the season. Zac Rinaldo scored the lone goal for Adirondack, while Johan Backlund (in his best performance so far) turned back 32 of 34 shots in a losing cause.
In the opening minute of play, Greg Moore dug a puck loose in the corner and fed an open Rinaldo driving to the net. The lead held until the Penguins converted a powerplay opportunity in the final minute of the period. S/WB went ahead for good at the 1:06 mark of the second stanza, as Joe Vitale scored at even strength.
On the downside, the Phantoms continued to struggle with penalty problems last night (10 shorthanded situations, including multiple 5-on-3 disadvantages). On the bright side, the penalty kill was once again outstanding. In the last two games, the Phantoms have killed off 16 of 17 penalties. That's great, but even when the team kilsl off the penalties, it's been hurting its own momentum by promptly putting itself right back on the PK.
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Revisiting the Propp conversation for a moment, I very much agree with his point about the biggest thing that sets the NHL apart from every other league being that its role players and even players on the bubble of making the team are all tremendously skilled in their own right. If you ever want to measure just how good the NHL really is in terms of the talent level of its players, look at the accomplishments of many of its non-star players when they are competing outside the NHL.
One such player is former Red Wings/Wild role player Stacy Roest. His NHL production was very modest, but the guy is one hell of a hockey player, as witnessed by his stardom in the WHL, AHL and, for the last seven-plus season, in Switzerland. Currently, he is leading the Swiss league in scoring.
Today's
Across the Pond at NHL.com takes a look at Roest's career in Switzerland and some of the key factors that make the difference between starring at the NHL level and starring in the minors and/or European elite leagues.
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Over at Versus.com, today's
Daily Drop looks at the Colorado Avalanche's comeback victory in Detroit last night and discusses my thoughts on the retirement of Kirk Maltby.
The 1996 World Cup of Hockey retrospective will run at Philadelphiaflyers.com in the next couple days, once the staff has had a chance to pull some photos from the archives to run in conjunction with the article.
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