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Cat Silverman's Subban Scouting Report; Dansk Recalled

March 21, 2018, 1:24 PM ET [2 Comments]
Sheng Peng
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Malcolm Subban returned to action last night for the first time since February 2nd. He might own the Golden Knights crease for the foreseeable future, as Marc-Andre Fleury left last night's game after the first period.

Recently, I asked Catherine Silverman from InGoal Magazine and The Athletic for a more complete Subban scouting report:

Stylistically, Subban is quick with his hands and upper body, moving around a lot and unafraid to use his torso to smother the puck and to provide a seal if he thinks it's going to get the job done the fastest.

On one hand, he's a very strong skater, so you're going to notice his edgework is quick, he can move from post-to-post faster than a lot of guys, and he can recover and transition around the crease (and, frankly, out of it, which is his thing sometimes) much more efficiently than most other goaltenders.

The downside, though, is that he still lacks what I consider to be really strong tracking skills and he doesn't really get set on his edges well, so he sometimes pushes through a save, sort of sliding past the puck as he moves to an angle where he can make a stop. If you watch closely, sometimes he'll make a pad save with his far leg when he probably could have gotten a piece with his torso because he kept passing through after a shot was released, ending up slightly off-angle.

This means that when he allows certain rebounds, you'll find him searching for the puck with his head, and often making a desperation (or flashy, depending on who's calling the game) save for his second or third stop because he's not already set on his skates, which makes it easier to head in the opposite direction. He'll have to throw himself to get back across the crease to face a second shot, which both A) can tire a goaltender and B) can leave him vulnerable to eventually allowing that easy shot over his body when he's prone on the ice.

He plays a little aggressively, but that goes sort of hand-in-hand with his style. If you take a look at old Marc-Andre Fleury and maybe some earlier Anton Forsberg, some older Ryan Miller, you'll find your stylistic comparisons; he's a slightly more active John Gibson, but I think his tracking still needs more work than his.

His agility, flexibility, and skating, though, are off the charts.

If you watch Ryan Miller's progression to his current style (done under Rollie Melanson in Vancouver) and see how he toned things down, that's what I believe is our potential ceiling for Subban. Where Fleury is right now is a possible good comp too, but he's had too many injuries this year (Subban, that is) to really give me a good grasp on how he's developing truly at the NHL level.

Some guys like him come out too far when they start getting tired during a season and get too active, so that's a risk.

That's some detail! Thanks, Cat!

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Not surprisingly, Fleury did not appear at practice this morning. He also did not fly with the team to San Jose. Oscar Dansk will be joining the team in the Bay Area today.


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Vegas emerged victorious against Vancouver last night, but they might have suffered a devastating loss between the pipes, as Fleury was forced to leave the game for undisclosed reasons.



Winning Play

There was more to this play than the Ryan Reaves hit on Troy Stecher:

View post on imgur.com


Of course, Reaves's forecheck mattered:


But more important was Tomas Nosek, who wasn't fooled at all by Reid Boucher's attempted misdirection in the corner. Reaves recovers the puck and tosses it back beautifully to Nosek. At this point, Canucks coverage is broken.

Stetcher is occupied by Reaves. Nosek has left Boucher in the dust. Derek Pouliot has to contend with a Nosek and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare two-on-one down low. Nosek waits out Pouliot's stick, which goes right first (to block a pass to Bellemare high), then left (to angle off Nosek from a direct attack on Jacob Markstrom).

Alas, Henrik Sedin is a step slow on Bellemare.

Pluses

As good as Vegas was, running out to a 4-0 lead, Vancouver was equally bad defensively.

This was the coverage of the game-opening Jonathan Marchessault goal:

View post on imgur.com


Tomas Tatar had two wide-open stabs from the slot here:


Minuses

The story, however, was Marc-Andre's departure from the game.

He took this shot off his mask midway through the opening frame.


There was some speculation that Fleury was being rested, but when's the last time that you heard of a goalie being pulled in the middle of a 3-0 shutout?

While the Golden Knights didn't give up much after the game, all signs point to an injury.


Jesse Granger: Can you give us an update on Marc-Andre Fleury's status?

Gerard Gallant: Not really, no. I haven’t heard nothing yet.

JG: But he was injured? It wasn't a plan to rest him?

GG: (pause)I haven’t heard nothing yet. Trainers told me he’s not coming back tonight. That’s it.

JG: So going in, you have a 3-0 lead, let's give him so rest. Can you confirm that it wasn't to give him rest.

GG: No!

The Knights will fly out to San Jose this afternoon, in preparation for taking on the Sharks tomorrow night.

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