These are my unelicited nonsensical thoughts on the league and what happened last week.
The Kooch is Loose : What can you say about Nikita Kucherov other than “wow?… His evolution as a player has been a joy to watch. After being unfairly maligned in the draft with the “Russian Factor.… I mean seriously, he had 11 goals and 21 points in 7 freaking games at the U18’s and NOBODY wanted to use a first rounder on this guy? To moving to the QMJHL to prove his commitment to becoming an NHL player. He never even complained when he was traded, despite the fact that he specifically went to Quebec to play with his friend Mikhail Grigrenko. To taking his AHL assignment on the chin without whining (see another Lightning player for the opposite reaction). To quietly becoming one of the best scorers in the NHL. The fact that he has scored in every single Lightning game is amazing. I’d even say more amazing than OV’s feats this year. Consistency is hard in this league and he’s showing tremendous ability. With a healthy Stamkos it’s a joy to watch. I also find it interesting to see the evolution of Stamkos. Throughout his entire career he has been the triggerman. People deferred the puck to him. He’s never really played with a player that can almost equal his own scoring prowess. Could anybody have predicted that by game 6 of the season, Steven Stamkos would only have one goal on the season…and be playing amazing hockey? I know I didn’t. I think this dynamic duo is shutting up the people who predicted the Lightning to miss the playoffs again. Here’s hoping both stay healthy.
Greener Pastures : Mike Green. What a weirdo. He goes from being one of the most dangerous offensive defensemen of a generation, to a running joke, to being Mike Green again. Injuries didn’t help, but it’s nice to see him having a Greenaissance. It’s hard to believe it’s almost 10 years ago that he scored 31 freaking goals. While I’m sure he will cool off from his over a PPG pace, it’s still encouraging to see that he has some game left at 32 years old. Though this being a contract year, I’m sure he feels the pressure of this being his last shot at making serious money for the foreseeable future. I’m really interested to see what comes of him at the deadline. The Red Wings are a mirage right now and I doubt they will be able to really make waves as the season goes on. However you never know with Holland what he will do or what veteran he will trade for and subsequently overpay. Being a RHD is very valuable these days and I know one team that would really love one in their top-4. *Cough* Toronto *cough*. He’d be an interesting potential fit for Morgan Rielly who right now has been saddled with old man Hainsey who should really be on the bottom pairing. With so many forward prospects and so little room on the team up front, this could be a match made in heaven for a rebuilding Wings squad. They have their first rounder and Kapanen to barter with.
Kopidor and Doghty iz beck : Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty are back! Apparently. Where they went last year is still kind of a mystery…well Doughty was okay, just not his usual Norris level self. Did they really just hate Sutter that much? Was it an anomalous year for the two? Was the system really that stifling? The 4-0-1 Kings probably don’t care right about now as they look really good again. How weird is it that in just 5 games, Kopitar has scored one third of what he did last year? Kopitar has been one of my favourite players for years and that dark visor wearing Slovenian psycho playing well is nice to see. He’s an important player in the league being the superstar from a small country that doesn’t produce many NHL caliber players. I know it is early days, but you have to imagine the Selke is his to lose this year.
Vadim’s Revenge : It was pretty nice to see Vadim Shipachyov score his first goal in his first NHL game. This whole saga around him has been…simply bizarre. In the off-season the 30 year old KHL mainstay signed a 2 year 4.5 million dollar deal and was expected to be the Knights first line centre. Mainly by default, since there weren’t very many quality centremen exposed in the entry draft. Nor were any of the main UFA’s likely to want to sign with an expansion team. Shipachyov was put in the AHL immediately and rumours began flying around about him bolting back to the K. Even weirder is that he played just 10 minutes in his first game. Something smells off about this whole situation and I can’t quite figure it out. Was he honestly just put in the AHL due to McPhee wanting to keep his waiver non-exempt defenseman from being lost for nothing? Or is the 10 minutes an indication that they don’t think he’s ready to be their first line centre…or even third. I’m interested to see how this plays out as this has a bit of the Petri Kontiola vibe about it. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out as a player of his status in Russia would likely not balk at heading home for a chance to win Gold.
Capital Mess : I don’t know if there is a more confusing team this year than the Caps. The big three are absolutely destroying people…and being destroyed themselves. When OV isn’t getting a hatrick, he’s getting a minustrick. The Power Play can only take a team so far, and I fear that it’ll be the same for the Caps this year. I guess it doesn’t help that Grubauer has been the biggest sieve in the NHL, but they were really counting on getting solid backup goaltending this year. I’m going to echo my boy James Tanner here and spell it out. If Taylor Chorney and Aaron Ness are taking a regular shift on your defense…you’re in trouble. The stark drop off of talent from their top-3 is nasty. Orpik in the top-4 is just…eh. Djoos has done a good job taking some opportunity, but I’m really disappointed in Madison Bowey. A few years ago and he looked like a surefire top-4 guy in Kelowna. He was an absolute nightmare to play against in junior. Now at 22, he just hasn’t taken the next step needed and I think it has really hurt the Caps plan. I’m not sure how the Caps will be able to fix this situation in the Cap bind they find themselves in.
Coyotes Ugly : With all of the moves the Coyotes made in the off-season, I was pretty excited. The Coyotes were probably not going to be world beaters, but they had a defense on paper that looked very good. Promising young talent that should at the very least be exciting to watch. Plus some hope in net. What do we have thus far? A train wreck. Oliver Ekman-Larsson is -9 and he doesn’t play well with Hjarlmarsson. The defense in general has been terrible. Goaltending? Mediocre to the worst in the NHL. Worst of all though is that the forwards aren’t even fun. Strome is in the AHL. Duclair isn’t proving last year was an aberration. Dvorak looks lost. Crouse is a complete bust. Perlini can’t do much except shoot from a standstill. Stepan has been Stepan. Aside from Keller, this has been a blasé start. I’m surprised this team is as bad as it is. Or at least as bad as they are and the way they are bad.
Montreal : Where scoring goes to die. How is Karl freaking Alzner their top scoring defenseman? How is that even possible? It’s early days, but it doesn’t look good. This isn’t a high scoring team, they rely heavily on their top-6. They need Pacioretty and Galchenyuk to be top-6 players or else they are sunk. The depth just isn’t there to back it up. Then that weird situation with Streit? What was that even about? Why sign him if he’s just going to be let go immediately? Why Hemsky? This team is a confusing mess. I hope for the fans’ sake that Bergefail is jettisoned at some point before the damage is irreparable.
Ranger Danger : The Rangers really lack centre depth. Zibanejad-Hayes-Miller-Desharnais? Miller and Hayes are both better wingers than centres in my opinion. Desharnais shouldn’t even be in the NHL at this point in his career. This is a team that needs to score by committee and it’s looking a bit rough right now. They can’t expect Z to score on every single Power Play all year long. Worried about the Rangers right now.
Thanks for reading. More unread prospect reports to come!