Player Discussion Alex Newhook

Lafleurs Guy

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Jul 20, 2007
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He’ll have to learn to kill penalties.

Bottom 6 PK’ers: Armia Dvo Evans Anderson.
Non-PK’er: Gally Heineman

Need to keep 4 in the former group. At least.
It’ll be an offensive third line. We have Beck, Evans and Suzuki who can kill.

Newhook actually might not be bad there either with his speed. He might be another Paul Byron in that respect.
 

Ozmodiar

Registered User
Oct 18, 2017
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It’ll be an offensive third line. We have Beck, Evans and Suzuki who can kill.

Newhook actually might not be bad there either with his speed. He might be another Paul Byron in that respect.
Beck, Evans … and you need 2 more. Suzuki can be the 5th.

I think Newhook can do it. He just hasn’t yet.

I keep hearing he can be Byron or Draper or Kelly … well, maybe, but these guys contributed on special teams.

They can have an offensive 3rd line, but not a uni-dimensional 3rd line.
 

JianYang

Registered User
Sep 29, 2017
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Beck, Evans … and you need 2 more. Suzuki can be the 5th.

I think Newhook can do it. He just hasn’t yet.

I keep hearing he can be Byron or Draper or Kelly … well, maybe, but these guys contributed on special teams.

They can have an offensive 3rd line, but not a uni-dimensional 3rd line.

I never really heard of those comparisons but I don't agree with them. Newhook is not as versatile. Like I said in the offseason, he's more like a guy who would round out your top 6 or add an offensive option to the 3rd line.

He's more of an expendable than core guy.
 
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Ozmodiar

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Oct 18, 2017
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I never really heard of those comparisons but I don't agree with them. Newhook is not as versatile. Like I said in the offseason, he's more like a guy who would round out your top 6 or add an offensive option to the 3rd line.

He's more of an expendable than core guy.
Agreed
 

Lafleurs Guy

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Jul 20, 2007
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I never really heard of those comparisons but I don't agree with them. Newhook is not as versatile. Like I said in the offseason, he's more like a guy who would round out your top 6 or add an offensive option to the 3rd line.

He's more of an expendable than core guy.
He’s a depth scorer who can be used up and down the lineup. He’s looked good on the first with Nick and CC for example. He’s a big snakebit but hes playing well.

But he can’t carry a line. That’s why Dach’s dropoff was so catastrophic for us. It ripples through the lineup. Dach sucking means guys like Newhook suck too.

Ideally, he’d be on an offensive third line.
 

Andy

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Jun 26, 2008
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I find he's been playing just fine and has been keeping up and even contributing to the 1st line.

For whatever reason it's not ending up on the scoresheet, which in sports is the thing that shapes perception of performance. Reminds me again of when Slaf was playing well but not putting up points.
 

GlassesJacketShirt

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Aug 4, 2010
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Think people are out to lunch for suggesting we dump Newhook, though he isn't someone you pencil in as a key player anywhere in the lineup. He's fine to have and can absolutely play some roles, he's just not someone you put in the lineup and think you can't do better either.

There are bigger issues with this team.
 

26Mats

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Jun 23, 2018
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Think people are out to lunch for suggesting we dump Newhook, though he isn't someone you pencil in as a key player anywhere in the lineup. He's fine to have and can absolutely play some roles, he's just not someone you put in the lineup and think you can't do better either.

There are bigger issues with this team.

I'm interested to see how much he can produce in a bottom six role. He shouldn't be in the top 6, imo.

He brings speed and has a good shot. But he's small, or at least very soft on pucks and on the wall. So will we need more size in the bottom six and better play along the wall than he can bring? Time will tell. We already have Caufield and Hutson that are undersized. Can't have too many undersized players.
 

GlassesJacketShirt

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I'm interested to see how much he can produce in a bottom six role. He shouldn't be in the top 6, imo.

He brings speed and has a good shot. But he's small, or at least very soft on pucks and on the wall. So will we need more size in the bottom six and better play along the wall than he can bring? Time will tell. We already have Caufield and Hutson that are undersized. Can't have too many undersized players.

Being a little small is not my issue with Newhook, though it obviously would be better for his skill set if he was.

His one-timer is pretty decent, and he definitely carries above average speed. I don't think either skill is x-factor good so I'm still not sold on him even being a great option the third line long term, even though it's fair to conclude the Habs aren't in a position for him to prove the skeptics correct yet.
 
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26Mats

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Jun 23, 2018
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Being a little small is not my issue with Newhook, though it obviously would be better for his skill set if he was.

His one-timer is pretty decent, and he definitely carries above average speed. I don't think either skill is x-factor good so I'm still not sold on him even being a great option the third line long term, even though it's fair to conclude the Habs aren't in a position for him to prove the skeptics correct yet.

The top six is looking good, with only Dach's spot in question:

Caufield, Suzuki, Slaf
Laine, Dach/Hage, Demidov

We have a lot of candidates for the remaining 6 bottom six spots:

Dach/Hage, Beck, Heineman,
Newhook, Kapanen, Roy,
Evans(?),
Tuch, Xhekaj, Davidson, Mesar, etc...

Given the top six isn't that big, that strikes me as a small bottom six, or at least they don't bring a heavy game. There will for sure be trades and changes made to the mix...
 
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GlassesJacketShirt

Registered User
Aug 4, 2010
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The top six is looking good, with only Dach's spot in question:

Caufield, Suzuki, Slaf
Laine, Dach/Hage, Demidov

We have a lot of candidates for the remaining 6 bottom six spots:

Dach/Hage, Beck, Heineman,
Newhook, Kapanen, Roy,
Evans(?),
Tuch, Xhekaj, Davidson, Mesar, etc...

Given the top six isn't that big, that strikes me as a small bottom six, or at least they don't bring a heavy game. There will for sure be trades and changes made to the mix...

Now that you mention it, our forward prospects are generally lacking high end speed too. We could use a little bit of both.
 

dackelljuneaubulis02

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Oct 13, 2012
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Now that you mention it, our forward prospects are generally lacking high end speed too. We could use a little bit of both.
I don’t know, arguably our 3 best forward prospects are quite fast. Beck is a speed demon. Hage can fly and Demidov seems to have worked on his speed where he was clocked as the fastest forward on his team. Not bad for an 18 year old in the 2nd best league in the world
 

The Great Weal

Phil's Pizza
Jan 15, 2015
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Think people are out to lunch for suggesting we dump Newhook, though he isn't someone you pencil in as a key player anywhere in the lineup. He's fine to have and can absolutely play some roles, he's just not someone you put in the lineup and think you can't do better either.

There are bigger issues with this team.
Not saying he's the biggest issue, but when a guy who's on the first line has 6 goals and 0 assists all season, that's a major issue. To me, he's part of the biggest issue with the team which is Slaf/Dach/Newhook having a combined 30 points despite all the offensive opportunities in the world. Suzuki alone has 30 points.

Big whoop, he skates fast, has a good shot, and sometimes works hard. You need production from top 6 players and it's almost impossible not to produce with Suzuki and Caufield. Not like he's physical or elite defensively to kind of make up for it.
 

le_sean

Registered User
Oct 21, 2006
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Calculated risk to take but this trade was not good. He’s not even a goal scorer and he has 0 assists. There’s snakebitten and then there’s just not thinking the game at a high enough level.

He’s a 3rd liner at best and once Demidov is here, we should see Newhook there. Maybe between Anderson and Gallagher, assuming we can’t get rid of either.
 

WeThreeKings

Demidov is a HAB
Sep 19, 2006
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Calculated risk to take but this trade was not good. He’s not even a goal scorer and he has 0 assists. There’s snakebitten and then there’s just not thinking the game at a high enough level.

He’s a 3rd liner at best and once Demidov is here, we should see Newhook there. Maybe between Anderson and Gallagher, assuming we can’t get rid of either.

I've always seen him ending up there when all is said and done. They basically just paid the price for cost certainty vs upside with the picks.

Its looking like an ok trade, but Newhook will need to find a way to become a PKer long term..
 
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le_sean

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Oct 21, 2006
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I've always seen him ending up there when all is said and done. They basically just paid the price for cost certainty vs upside with the picks.

Its looking like an ok trade, but Newhook will need to find a way to become a PKer long term..
Yes he needs to provide value elsewhere or he will be a guy bouncing around the league via waivers in the near future.
 
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teamfirst

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Oct 28, 2016
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I've always seen him ending up there when all is said and done. They basically just paid the price for cost certainty vs upside with the picks.

Its looking like an ok trade, but Newhook will need to find a way to become a PKer long term..

True, if he is able to become a good PKer yes it would be an ok trade but it doesn't look like MSL think he could do that.

And frankly i'd prefer to have bigger guy's (or guy's who play bigger) on the 3rd and 4th line
 

WeThreeKings

Demidov is a HAB
Sep 19, 2006
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Halifax
True, if he is able to become a good PKer yes it would be an ok trade but it doesn't look like MSL think he could do that.

And frankly i'd prefer to have bigger guy's (or guy's who play bigger) on the 3rd and 4th line

He has speed and he can play in and through contact. Not everyone has to be 6'3 in the bottom 6.
 

Naslundforever

43-67-110
Aug 21, 2015
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Not saying he's the biggest issue, but when a guy who's on the first line has 6 goals and 0 assists all season, that's a major issue. To me, he's part of the biggest issue with the team which is Slaf/Dach/Newhook having a combined 30 points despite all the offensive opportunities in the world. Suzuki alone has 30 points.

Big whoop, he skates fast, has a good shot, and sometimes works hard. You need production from top 6 players and it's almost impossible not to produce with Suzuki and Caufield. Not like he's physical or elite defensively to kind of make up for it.
He really gets to pucks first which gets many plays going and opens up D’s, plus he goes hard to the net and can shoot so he brings more than speed…Not a top 6 guy for me either but I feel these pro guys all need at least one trick they can exploit and he does.

Was doing his best Kostopoulos impression on all fours in the crease a few times recently so that’s noteworthy.

I agree about production, it’s what counts in the end.
 

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