Post #354 by RTWAP » Sat Jul 05, 2014 10:53 am
I watched the 5-on-5 scrimmage last night.
Positive Grades:
A+ -- Lazar
A -- Stone, Paul, Guptill
A- -- Ceci
B+ -- Hogberg, Hammond, McCormick
B -- Lindberg, Rutkowski, Dzingel
B- -- Perron, Kramer
The above are mostly based on offensive plays. Claesson probably played great but it's hard to notice solid defensive play unless you focus on just him.
Specific comments:
Gendron looked a little lost a times, and then I realized this might be his first time playing against anyone older than 18. Yikes.
Buddy Robinson is still frustrating to watch. 6'5" and 230lbs, and plays like he's 5'8" and 170lbs.
Puempel is pretty invisible most of the time.
Prince didn't play, despite being listed in the lineup.
Sdao wasn't listed in the lineup, and didn't play. Don't know why.
Wikstrand made a bad pinch, but also some good coverage on guys going wide, and pushing guys into the corner (at least I think it was him, far corner).
Driedger let in three in 20 minutes, but his team was being shelled, and left guys open in the slot quite a bit. It could have been 7-0 based on the defensive breakdowns. I wasn't close enough to see how the goals beat him so I didn't feel comfortable giving him a grade, but if I had to guess I'd say B or B-.
Nic Paul looks big. And his game has everything that's missing from Buddy Robinson's. He's direct.
It was funny seeing Alex Guptill do a slow double-take when he saw a packed arena for a prospect scrimmage in July. I'd estimate about 200 people on one side of the rink and 400 on the other.