Guadana
Registered User
As top-9 player I think he is better option than Holtz and Boqvist for now. (I like Holtz, please don`t shoot me)
2022-23 Utica Comets and ECHL thread
- Thread starter NJDevs26
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Bone Density
Registered User
- Jul 27, 2022
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Johnsson is an NHL player. I explained that last week.
Today NJ recalled him.
It's a sad day for the Comets. He was their only steady point producing player. The fact is the Comets are settling into the rut I said I was worrried about ------- They lack skill in the worst way. 2 of the centers are hard pressed to play a high level AHL game and the rest cannot really play an AHL game at all. All but 2 of the wings are goal challenged players due to the skills that make a hockey player a threat to score.
At the moment the Comets can be thanking the Heavens they have played Cleveland twice to give them their only 2 wins. Having lost the other 3 wouldn't be that big of an issue this early on until you consider how they lost them:
Loss #1 -
3-1 to Hershey
-1 PPGA
-1 ENG
Comets lone goal from Pinho/PPG
Loss #2 -
2-1 to Providence
Comets lone goal from Pinho
Loss #3 -
2-1 to Toronto
- 1 PPGA
Comets lone goal from Thompson/PPG
Even the wins vs Cleveland:
#1
3-2
Johnsson from Clarke and Walsh/PPG
Clarke from Johnsson and Thompson
Thompson from Johnsson and Clarke
#2
5-1
Pinho from Johnsson
Walsh from Johnsson and Dugan/PPG
Nemec from Hutchison and Senyshyn (first points, assists for these 2)/PPG
Laberge from Nemec and Clarke
Dugan from Thompson and Senyshyn/ENG
Pinho is being paid $325K to produce for this team. He has 5 points (3G/2A). 1 PPG Avg in the 5 games on record.
Bigger than that he was the only guy to score in the first 2 1-goal game
efforts.
Johnsson and Thompson entered the fray in the 1st Cleveland game and together with their other wing produced every point in a 3-2 win.
They both played vs Providence in the 2-1 loss and Johnsson assisted on that goal.
It took until game 5 before someone other than Pinho or one of the Clarke/Thompson/Johnsson line scored a single goal.
Go on to game 6. Johnsson is back to NJ. Thompson scores the lone goal on a very late PP.
The defense and goaltending must be commended for the games they have played. Every single game has been good enough to win from their end. 10 goals in 5 games and never more than 2 in a game when the keepers were on the ice or 9 goals.
Goal top shelf numbers
Schmid - 1.68/.928
Daws - 1.94/.934
The main pairs have been:
Wotherspoon/Nemec
Vukojevic/Walsh
Groleau-Blujus/Russo
They have mostly been stellar.
Okhotiuk was injured in game 1 and has not played since.
Putting the puck in the net is another story.
Besides Pinho, Johnsson, Thompson, and Clarke, and with Johnsson not here any more, the rest of the players up front have been terrible at finishing.
Dugan was the other "major offseason acquisition" to offset the losses of AJ Greer, Chase DeLeo, and Frederik Gauthier. Basically as simply as I can put it, he ain't been anywhere near it so far.
The losses of Holtz and Zetterlund were hopefully to be offset by the upsurge in the development of Thompson, Clarke, and Foote.
Thompson is slowly revealing what we here suspected. He is not a top line AHL center. He belongs on the wing and he is being done a disservice. The problem is there are no centers here to even put him with.
Clarke has shown what he has always revealed. Put him with playmakers and he will put up points.
Foote has misfired, whiffed, fallen, missed the net, etc. game after game. He looks as far from an NHL power forward as one could be.
Halonen, signed to a 2-yr contract, can't hit the net from anywhere. He had the same problem in the 12 games he played here at the end of last season. Puck handling isn't in his tool bag either.
Talvitie hasn't shown any improvement and in fact seems to have regressed. Maybe it's due to the fact that the 4th line wings he's been dealt this season don't compare to those he had last season and they are playing on the 3rd line. He's already been a healthy scratch on a center starved team.
From a scoring standpoint, Geertsen is as worthless as teats on a boar hog. He is lucky to actually touch the puck more tah once on any given shift. He's not scaring anyone either.
Gambardella has been out of the lineup since game 2 with some kind of medical problem, not an injury, and not Covid, but a medical problem. We'll have to see where this goes. They could use him.
That's it for NJ contracts.
Senyshyn has shown why he's a bust at 25. 1st RD pick? How? Why? When it comes to handling the puck in scoring range he just can't get anything done. Most of the time a shot never happens for a plethora of reasons. No lack of effort. Works hard every shift. Can't get anything to happen. Had a breakaway on Friday night and fluffed his shot from the doorstep. It's like that all over the ice for him.
Hutchison is being counted upon to center a line. His wings are Dugan and Geertsen. It hasn't worked for him anywhere previously. I don't hold out a whole lot of hope for him now either.
Laberge is what he is, a hard working, hard hitting grinder. Hard pressed to get 10 goals out of him if he plays every single game. As of Friday night he was creeping into 3rd and sometimes 2nd line situations. That's another indication of how lackluster the efforts of so many of these guys are becoming to the coaching staff so early in the season.
However, he got hurt Friday and was out of the lineup tonight. Coupled with Johnsson's recall, Gambardella's medical issue, and whatever seems to be the problem with Nolan Stevens, who we hasn't seen since game 2, the Comets dressed the only 11 forwards in the house and ran with 7 D-men, all of whom played considerable amounts.
If this is the center situation for 2022-23, it's going to be a long season. It will be an excellent goaltending tandem coupled with a solid d-corps trying desperately to hold down the score with hopes that this forward group can somehow cobble together 2 or 3 goals a game for a chance to amass some points. They will give you a hardworing effort every game, but without the necessary puck skills, scoring will be at a premium.
Today NJ recalled him.
It's a sad day for the Comets. He was their only steady point producing player. The fact is the Comets are settling into the rut I said I was worrried about ------- They lack skill in the worst way. 2 of the centers are hard pressed to play a high level AHL game and the rest cannot really play an AHL game at all. All but 2 of the wings are goal challenged players due to the skills that make a hockey player a threat to score.
At the moment the Comets can be thanking the Heavens they have played Cleveland twice to give them their only 2 wins. Having lost the other 3 wouldn't be that big of an issue this early on until you consider how they lost them:
Loss #1 -
3-1 to Hershey
-1 PPGA
-1 ENG
Comets lone goal from Pinho/PPG
Loss #2 -
2-1 to Providence
Comets lone goal from Pinho
Loss #3 -
2-1 to Toronto
- 1 PPGA
Comets lone goal from Thompson/PPG
Even the wins vs Cleveland:
#1
3-2
Johnsson from Clarke and Walsh/PPG
Clarke from Johnsson and Thompson
Thompson from Johnsson and Clarke
#2
5-1
Pinho from Johnsson
Walsh from Johnsson and Dugan/PPG
Nemec from Hutchison and Senyshyn (first points, assists for these 2)/PPG
Laberge from Nemec and Clarke
Dugan from Thompson and Senyshyn/ENG
Pinho is being paid $325K to produce for this team. He has 5 points (3G/2A). 1 PPG Avg in the 5 games on record.
Bigger than that he was the only guy to score in the first 2 1-goal game
efforts.
Johnsson and Thompson entered the fray in the 1st Cleveland game and together with their other wing produced every point in a 3-2 win.
They both played vs Providence in the 2-1 loss and Johnsson assisted on that goal.
It took until game 5 before someone other than Pinho or one of the Clarke/Thompson/Johnsson line scored a single goal.
Go on to game 6. Johnsson is back to NJ. Thompson scores the lone goal on a very late PP.
The defense and goaltending must be commended for the games they have played. Every single game has been good enough to win from their end. 10 goals in 5 games and never more than 2 in a game when the keepers were on the ice or 9 goals.
Goal top shelf numbers
Schmid - 1.68/.928
Daws - 1.94/.934
The main pairs have been:
Wotherspoon/Nemec
Vukojevic/Walsh
Groleau-Blujus/Russo
They have mostly been stellar.
Okhotiuk was injured in game 1 and has not played since.
Putting the puck in the net is another story.
Besides Pinho, Johnsson, Thompson, and Clarke, and with Johnsson not here any more, the rest of the players up front have been terrible at finishing.
Dugan was the other "major offseason acquisition" to offset the losses of AJ Greer, Chase DeLeo, and Frederik Gauthier. Basically as simply as I can put it, he ain't been anywhere near it so far.
The losses of Holtz and Zetterlund were hopefully to be offset by the upsurge in the development of Thompson, Clarke, and Foote.
Thompson is slowly revealing what we here suspected. He is not a top line AHL center. He belongs on the wing and he is being done a disservice. The problem is there are no centers here to even put him with.
Clarke has shown what he has always revealed. Put him with playmakers and he will put up points.
Foote has misfired, whiffed, fallen, missed the net, etc. game after game. He looks as far from an NHL power forward as one could be.
Halonen, signed to a 2-yr contract, can't hit the net from anywhere. He had the same problem in the 12 games he played here at the end of last season. Puck handling isn't in his tool bag either.
Talvitie hasn't shown any improvement and in fact seems to have regressed. Maybe it's due to the fact that the 4th line wings he's been dealt this season don't compare to those he had last season and they are playing on the 3rd line. He's already been a healthy scratch on a center starved team.
From a scoring standpoint, Geertsen is as worthless as teats on a boar hog. He is lucky to actually touch the puck more tah once on any given shift. He's not scaring anyone either.
Gambardella has been out of the lineup since game 2 with some kind of medical problem, not an injury, and not Covid, but a medical problem. We'll have to see where this goes. They could use him.
That's it for NJ contracts.
Senyshyn has shown why he's a bust at 25. 1st RD pick? How? Why? When it comes to handling the puck in scoring range he just can't get anything done. Most of the time a shot never happens for a plethora of reasons. No lack of effort. Works hard every shift. Can't get anything to happen. Had a breakaway on Friday night and fluffed his shot from the doorstep. It's like that all over the ice for him.
Hutchison is being counted upon to center a line. His wings are Dugan and Geertsen. It hasn't worked for him anywhere previously. I don't hold out a whole lot of hope for him now either.
Laberge is what he is, a hard working, hard hitting grinder. Hard pressed to get 10 goals out of him if he plays every single game. As of Friday night he was creeping into 3rd and sometimes 2nd line situations. That's another indication of how lackluster the efforts of so many of these guys are becoming to the coaching staff so early in the season.
However, he got hurt Friday and was out of the lineup tonight. Coupled with Johnsson's recall, Gambardella's medical issue, and whatever seems to be the problem with Nolan Stevens, who we hasn't seen since game 2, the Comets dressed the only 11 forwards in the house and ran with 7 D-men, all of whom played considerable amounts.
If this is the center situation for 2022-23, it's going to be a long season. It will be an excellent goaltending tandem coupled with a solid d-corps trying desperately to hold down the score with hopes that this forward group can somehow cobble together 2 or 3 goals a game for a chance to amass some points. They will give you a hardworing effort every game, but without the necessary puck skills, scoring will be at a premium.
- Apr 20, 2005
- 2,797
- 1,798
UticaHockey
Registered User
Yup! Big computer monitor was a good watch, but nothing beats up close and personal.
Really reveals the troubles Foote is going through. Looks like a struggling rookie.
Dugan has an empty net goal and a couple PP points, but his even strength play leaves much to be desired.
The frustration on the faces of Foote and Senyshyn is priceless.
Can't see that on Utica's WKTV or AHL TV.
Mgd31
Registered User
Jersey Fan 12
Positive Vibes
- Nov 20, 2006
- 7,203
- 3,129
Slow starts for Foote, Senyshyn, Talvitie and Halonen.
Any reason to believe they are lagging in terms of progress?
Any reason to believe they are lagging in terms of progress?
Talvitie put up 24 points in 68 games last season on a much better team than this year's. Currently O points in 5 GP with a healthy scratch. Hasn't looked better than a depth player at this moment.
Senyshyn's career is leaving him behind. He had good AHL numbers in his past. After Boston dealt him to Ottawa last season he went pointless in 2 games with Ottawa and then 3 assists with AHL Belleville in 16 GP. He has become an AHL contracted player. NJ had him in camp and didn't see him worthy of a contract even equal to that of Dugan, a 2yr pro getting $125K and has a NJ contract. Seems close to finally have arrived at an annual AHL contracted career before hoping he can catch on in Europe. Sad for a 1st round draft pick not so long ago.
Halonen played 12 games to end last season in Utica (3 points) and then 2 pointless playoff games while being scratched for the other 3. He's played 6 more pointless games this season. That's 3 points in 20 games. Don't get where everyone thinks he is something special. Maybe he's got another gear, but he better put the clutch down and shift into it.
That leaves us with Foote. Nolan had a good season last year with 32 points in 55 GP. He had 3 more in 5 playoff games. He also put up 4 in 7 games with NJ. He's only 21, but the Devils seem to be locking down spots and will bring in a couple more established pros through trade or UFA to fill out the roster. He has to get his shit together and do it now. He has to have a great year here if he hopes to have a chance to crack that lineup. I get the impression he is pushing too hard, but his IQ won't let him succeed on his own. The lack of quality centers here is a major handicap for him. The fact is it's a major handicap for this entire team.
3 of these 4 need those centers and the 4th isn't one of them.
I have nothing but hope for every single Comet to produce and work together to prosper as a team. It has only been 6 games, but there are many signs that don't point towards prosperity for many of these players as individuals and without them the team won't fare well either.
Jersey Fan 12
Positive Vibes
- Nov 20, 2006
- 7,203
- 3,129
Devils731
Registered User
- Jun 23, 2008
- 13,069
- 18,783
OmNomNom
Taco is Love, Taco is Life
- May 8, 2010
- 21,962
- 38,952
@UticaHockey @Bad Goalie
If I remember correctly, you two are heavy viewers of Comets’ games. I was wondering, if you have time of course, if you could give any insights on Nemec’s play so far? 2 points through 7, how is he looking out there overall? Adjusting? Good signs?
If I remember correctly, you two are heavy viewers of Comets’ games. I was wondering, if you have time of course, if you could give any insights on Nemec’s play so far? 2 points through 7, how is he looking out there overall? Adjusting? Good signs?
Billdo
Registered User
UticaHockey
Registered User
BG has a better eye for breaking down a prospect's strengths and weaknesses so I look forward to his response.
Nemec is getting a lot of ice time. He is paired with a steady LHD in Tyler Wotherspoon at even strength. He quarterbacks the 2nd PK unit which features two defensemen but Robbie Russo takes the position of a one time shot option from the left circle while Nemec is at the blue line. He is also getting time on the PK.
Nothing really jumps out at me watching him play but nothing really jumps out at me in a negative way either which is a complement for an 18 year old rookie playing in his first professional North American league. If I didn't know before hand he was an 18 year old kid, I would not have guessed it base on his play.
Last night he made some nice subtle plays with his stick and skates in the defensive zone but I really didn't see him drive the offense either which is what people are expecting to see from such a high draft choice. He needs time. A very young kid a long way from home playing against much older players.
- May 8, 2010
- 21,962
- 38,952
Thanks a lot! Nemec is a pretty lowkey and poised D-man from all accounts. Your comments are indeed in line with what I thought, he’ll most likely need time to drive offense to his level, but it’s a good sign that you’re saying he’s making good subtle plays out there and not making defensive mistakes. Par for the course.
I’ll post your comment in the Nemec thread, I’m sure many people would like to read it! Thanks a lot again!
glenwo2
JESPER BRATWURST
Unless he wanted to go back to Europe. Maybe he can make a bit more at home?
glenwo2
JESPER BRATWURST
Hope that was the case.
But I just feel he would've been better off staying here to get acclimated to the North-American style of game than going back to Sweden.
Not sure where he goes from here.
nugg
NJ Hammerhead Bats!
Here's his entry at Hockey DB.
Filip Bratt Hockey Stats and Profile at hockeydb.com
Statistics of Filip Bratt, a hockey player from Stockholm, Sweden born May 19 2002 who was active from 2018 to 2024.
www.hockeydb.com
FooteBahl
Took a big shitz for Nemec
Haven’t followed much, but with Blackwood going down, how are the keepers looking up there in the event he’s out and Bernier isn’t ready?
- May 1, 2011
- 133,710
- 63,587
.934% in 3 games for Daws and .918% in 4 games for Schmid.
I'm not as high on Daws at the NHL level as I think I would have been, if not for the fact that we kept him up in the NHL to play 25 games in his first year as a pro, but I'm sort of warming to the idea that he might be our other goalie next year and that if he could put up .900%-.905% then it's a MUCH safer and much CHEAPER option than paying the bad goalie/damaged goods injury case $3 million.
Friday 11/4/2022
Game #8
Utica Comets @ Rochester Americans 7PM
Utica Comets 2-3-0-1
Rochester Amerks 5-3-0-0
Forwards:
Foote/Thompson/Pinho
Dugan/Schmelzer/Senyshyn
Laberge/Talvitie/Halonen
Geertsen/Stevens/Clarke
D-pairs:
Wotherspoon/Nemec
Vukojevic/Walsh
Groleau/Russo
Goal: Daws
2 minutes in and the Comets have 4 shots, but none were of a dangerous variety.
Nico stops a long one and holds on.
This site is going to keep continuing my posts so there won't be many separate posts.
Game #8
Utica Comets @ Rochester Americans 7PM
Utica Comets 2-3-0-1
Rochester Amerks 5-3-0-0
Forwards:
Foote/Thompson/Pinho
Dugan/Schmelzer/Senyshyn
Laberge/Talvitie/Halonen
Geertsen/Stevens/Clarke
D-pairs:
Wotherspoon/Nemec
Vukojevic/Walsh
Groleau/Russo
Goal: Daws
2 minutes in and the Comets have 4 shots, but none were of a dangerous variety.
Nico stops a long one and holds on.
This site is going to keep continuing my posts so there won't be many separate posts.
2 more shots.
Walsh from the top of the right circle and Groelau shot the rebound from above the left circle . Easy stops for PL.
Walsh from the top of the right circle and Groelau shot the rebound from above the left circle . Easy stops for PL.
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