Good for Raanta, he deserves it.
- DarthKane

There goes my plan to bring him back. I'm not surprised they signed him to an extension, he is a good goalie.

Totally agree. Some of the best coaches were mediocre players who had to work hard and learn how to do things. If they can communicate what they learned — or saw repeatedly in practices— they might be successful.
- Spec41971

My brother and I talk about this quite a bit about some of the best coaches are the ones who were either role players or mediocre players and rarely ever the all stars and elite guys. Some may not have even lasted long as a pro, at least not in the NHL. Q played in the NHL obviously but I don't think he was a star player yet he's one of the all time great coaches. Although a much shorter track record, Colliton had a brief pro career in North America and seems to be regarded as a great teacher and developer of talent. Then there's coaches like Darryl Sutter, Barry Trotz, Lindy Ruff, Claude Julien, Randy Carlyle, Mike Babcock, and Ken Hitchcock who all have had varying levels of staying power as coaches yet were not awesome players.

The same in other sports, too, like MLB. Terry Francona, Joe Maddon, Ozzie Guillen, Mike Scioscia, Eric Wedge, Brad Ausmus, A.J. Hinch, Bruce Bochy, Joe Girardi, etc. have also had varying levels of staying power and success as managers. Lots of catchers on that list. From their vantage point behind the plate, they see everything so maybe that helped them analyze the game more thoroughly than say an infielder or pitcher. Definitely helps that they call games with pitch selection and all that.

He can still take faceoffs and play wing.
- DarthKane

That wouldn't be a bad strategy worth trying: have Toews take faceoffs but play wing. Opposite for Schmaltz: put a winger on his line who is better than him at faceoffs so that he can play center after the draw.

You play him consistently. Should have had more than 50 games last year. Should have played more than 31 with Chicago this year.

Part of the problem with those European players coming to the states is they need time to adjust to the amount of room they have to work with on the ice. TT was a prime example of that. Being able to coast up the boards in Europe whilst that isnt an option here was kind of a rude awakening and took him two full seasons to adjust.

Guys like Murphy and Kempny who have all of the physical tools in terms of size, mobility and being technically good enough to make a tape to tape pass and have a heavy shot who show hints of getting it at times ought to be given more changes than guys like Osterle who are just bad.

Maybe he fails miserably at some point but I don't think that he was given enough of an opportunity to figure it out. It'll be interesting to see what Trotz gets out of him if anything.
- fattybeef

No he wasn't given as much time as i would like. But i tend to brlieve the stuff about just doesn't get it, where to move puck or what to do sometimes ....so he makes bonehead decisions That is how he has not improved since his first practice in Chicago

Now i would think Bowman, Q, Samuelson ser his speef, his shot, his toughness and looked next at how quick he reacts and if at speed.

So we know that each of the depth young dmen has certain things they do well. So the dman who fetched us the draft choice was Kempny and not the others. You have two questions and two answers:

WASHINGTON CAPS: Why Kempny instead of the others
CHICAGO: Why let Kemny go

Washington doesn't know what Chicago thinks it does. Chicago was determined to get a draft choice for one of them, which was made possible by playing them all often enough to show them off.

Furthermore i bet Bowman had this TOI plan for them full steam ahead when it became obvious the team was not too good.

Maybe in one or two seasons we can reflect which one of these guys is able to be the more consistent dman. I think they all go eventually because the newbies have a higher ceiling. Based on early results i like Hillman more i like Kempny..

Will you be ablevto watch any icehogs fri, sat, and tues an

Another thing I noticed in Wednesday's game, more so than any other, is that his pinches were genuine forays deep into the offensive zone. And, if the puck happened to come back out quickly, there was almost always a forward skating backward as one of the defensive pair.
Made me guess the team is being coached to do this.
- 35Tony0

Hopefully that strategy/way of thinking is second nature to everyone on the team. Shouldn't have taken this long for the team to figure that out. Seems pretty basic that even rec league teams do that.

One thing I noticed about him lately, he is trying to throw more hits, but he kinds spins off the guy and is losing positioning in the process sometimes.
- breadbag

Thought it was just me observing that "spin off" kind of hitting.

That wouldn't be a bad strategy worth trying: have Toews take faceoffs but play wing. Opposite for Schmaltz: put a winger on his line who is better than him at faceoffs so that he can play center after the draw.
- AEL_Fox

I'm not sure why they don't have all forwards practice taking face-offs on a regular basis.

*NEW* blog up: http://www.hockeybuzz.com...the-Same-People/253/92159

No he wasn't given as much time as i would like. But i tend to brlieve the stuff about just doesn't get it, where to move puck or what to do sometimes ....so he makes bonehead decisions That is how he has not improved since his first practice in Chicago

Now i would think Bowman, Q, Samuelson ser his speef, his shot, his toughness and looked next at how quick he reacts and if at speed.

So we know that each of the depth young dmen has certain things they do well. So the dman who fetched us the draft choice was Kempny and not the others. You have two questions and two answers:

WASHINGTON CAPS: Why Kempny instead of the others
CHICAGO: Why let Kemny go

Washington doesn't know what Chicago thinks it does. Chicago was determined to get a draft choice for one of them, which was made possible by playing them all often enough to show them off.

Furthermore i bet Bowman had this TOI plan for them full steam ahead when it became obvious the team was not too good.

Maybe in one or two seasons we can reflect which one of these guys is able to be the more consistent dman. I think they all go eventually because the newbies have a higher ceiling. Based on early results i like Hillman more i like Kempny..

Will you be ablevto watch any icehogs fri, sat, and tues an
- jhawk59

I'd add that I think Kempny being traded away wasn't a bad deal for the Hawks. I felt like his numbers here were inflated because he was sheltered a bit. Washington has given him slightly more icetime and more defensive zone time and his performance hasn't been stellar.


With Washington
21 games - 1 goal / 1 point / -3 / 19 goals against his team while he is on the ice.

With Chicago
31 games - 1 goal / 7 points / +13 / 13 goals against while on the ice.

I mean, I think the numbers show he was a bit lucky in Chicago in terms of the goalie making saves while he was on the ice and that has not been the case in Washington. I'm glad they moved him and got a pick since they needed to move some of these borderline dmen.