ALEXIVICH CHULKATURI
Registered User
Just got back from Charlotte. Billy Graham library life altering, Bridgeport performance not so much.
Bridgeport Islanders Discussion 2023-24: Youngblood
- Thread starter PK Cronin
- Start date
-
Work is still on-going to rebuild the site styling and features. Please report any issues you may experience so we can look into it. Click Here for Updates
- Status
Abradolf Lincler
Emancipating your inferior genes
Going to the game tonight, first time ever watching Bridgeport. Hopefully better than last night’s performance
Glory Days
Registered User
Was at the game last night in Charlotte. First time seeing Bridgeport in person. A few observations:
Ish- skating was better than expected. Not great north south speed but edge work and his skating in tight spaces were very good. Stylistically reminded me of Visnovsky. Not concerned with Ish lack of height but he needs to put on 15 pounds of muscle. If he can’t I doubt he plays in the NHL.
Dufour- was behind the play all night. Last player back on D and behind his line mates on the rush. Obviously has the good shot and NHL size. But his skating needs significant improvement to make it at the next level.
Cholowski- for a player with supposed offensive skills he didn’t handle the puck well. He was a turnover waiting to happen every time he handled the puck.
Hutton- nothing stood out to make me say NHL defenseman. He wasn’t bad but I didn’t see any NHL skills either.
Bolduc/Salo- I had the same reaction to both. Both have good size and skate well. Neither did much offensively but both made good decisions defensively and were good at moving the puck out of their zone. I think both were held back offensively by having to cover for their defense partner. Bolduc played with Cholowski. I expected Bolduc to show NHL potential and he did. I was surprised by Salo. I would not give up on him just yet.
Durandeau- occasional flashes of speed but nothing like I saw with the big club. He was barely noticeable most of the night.
Ish- skating was better than expected. Not great north south speed but edge work and his skating in tight spaces were very good. Stylistically reminded me of Visnovsky. Not concerned with Ish lack of height but he needs to put on 15 pounds of muscle. If he can’t I doubt he plays in the NHL.
Dufour- was behind the play all night. Last player back on D and behind his line mates on the rush. Obviously has the good shot and NHL size. But his skating needs significant improvement to make it at the next level.
Cholowski- for a player with supposed offensive skills he didn’t handle the puck well. He was a turnover waiting to happen every time he handled the puck.
Hutton- nothing stood out to make me say NHL defenseman. He wasn’t bad but I didn’t see any NHL skills either.
Bolduc/Salo- I had the same reaction to both. Both have good size and skate well. Neither did much offensively but both made good decisions defensively and were good at moving the puck out of their zone. I think both were held back offensively by having to cover for their defense partner. Bolduc played with Cholowski. I expected Bolduc to show NHL potential and he did. I was surprised by Salo. I would not give up on him just yet.
Durandeau- occasional flashes of speed but nothing like I saw with the big club. He was barely noticeable most of the night.
As someone who watches all the games I agree mostly with what your saying here, Bolduc and Salo are potential NHL bottom six D, Iskhakov I think could be a zuccarello light maybe with some points on PP especially and Dufour needs to get faster for sure but from what I’ve read about him the skating is already better than it was when he was drafted. I personally like Durandeau and could see him as fourth liner in NHL, he works hard enough to achieve that I think. There is influx of talent coming next year up front, Maggio, Kuefler, maybe Jeffries, maybe Liukas so they will get better next year.
Hopefully.
Of these four, we have to be a tad realistic in that only Liukas (coming from Finnish Liiga) should be felt to be "ready" for the AHL, or a full-time role there. And some lulls here and there can be expected for him along the way, what with the cultural transition and stuff.
If we're real lucky, Maggio makes the same kind of transition that Dufour has been making this year. I kinda think he can, from what I've been viewing. Kuefler, who I see coming in solely on a 2-way AHL contract á la Bibeau and Coskey will likely be in the same boat as guys like Newkirk, Jenkins, and Adams have been in in recent years. But he seems to be a "Matt Martin" style draft pick and he's currently clipping at over a PPG in the Dub, but as a 21-year-old.
I really dunno what to think of Jefferies. I've seen Merrimack 4 times this year and he didn't really have the puck much. That jumped out at me the most. When he did, he was on the perimeter. Obviously, he's been contributing heavily, but I can't give a read on how ready he is for pro hockey.
One thing is for certain as far as I'm concerned: they selected him ahead of a good handful of guys who were still on the board at that point that were coming from the USNTDP and otherwise had been noteable as likely top 3 round picks.
For me, I thought Farrell and Berard would be spot-on Lamoriello picks at the time. I felt they fell into that "Parise" mould. Both were available at that point, as was the quickly dropping Chromiak, who I still think is a fine prospect. I was already flabbergasted that they grabbed Ljungkrantz in the 3rd round, but then taking a high school kid from New England who was ranked between 215-250 in the publications I was reading... Well, I was really wondering what was going on there.
Those kids we didn't take have all progressed very nicely, but Jefferies obviously has too, so hopefully he'll turn out to be a pleasant surprise.
It's really hard to tell, but it's like that with some players. He's not a puck hog, and he can fly. That's not the typical combo. If a player like that has good hockey sense, they could find the pro game better for them.
I think for Jefferies also is he stepped into a hockey east program that has struggled and is their leading scorer in a good conference. He’s done everything right since being drafted, I’m curious though if isles sign him now.
Maggio missed the Covid year so I think he fell through cracks a bit, I’ve read he probably was third round pick talent level by most scouts. He leads OHL in scoring which no matter how you view that is positive. He’s also the captain which is another positive I think. Im really interested in Liukas, he looks like a North American pro player. I watched him that one world Junior game which albeit isn’t great scouting report but he stood out in that he just hit everyone, if he had 25 hits in game I would believe it and he killed penalties and nearly had a short handed goal in game. He’s got physical bottom six winger written all over him I think.
ALEXIVICH CHULKATURI
Registered User
Had a 4-3 lead going into the 3rd and blew it. Have a real bad feeling about both Islanders squads. Hope I’m wrong.
As a slight reminder, both players were 2018 draft picks of the NYI and chose to go a 5th year of college this past season.
Pivonka's 10 goals this season were more than he had in the four years prior - combined. His 8 assists were, well, also a career high.
Krygier had just 20 total points over his 5-season college career, but suited up for 158 games over that span, having been a top 6 Dman every step of the way. In fact, the pandemic held his team to just 26 games in 20-21 while he got into "just" 28 this season. He had suited up for 33 or more in his 3 other seasons. Not sure who leads the NCAA in career games played, but this has got to be up there, even if with an asterisk.
Should be interesting to see/hear how they look practicing with the team.
leeroggy
Registered User
- Jan 3, 2010
- 10,104
- 6,383
Thanks Chapin! I was hoping we'd sign Krygier. I see a potential 3rd pair defender and PK'er out of him. Always felt he was a sleeper that no one was talking about due to his defense-first approach.
And being the son of an NHLer, I'm confident he has a pretty good IQ.
IslesNorway
Registered User
I think Krygier might be a sneaky good pick. Maybe not an NHLer but he could do a job in Bridgeport.
Seems like Bridgeport guy maybe even ECHL, tough kid but heard skating is awful.
SI90
Registered User
Both underperformed from their expectations relative to their potential. Pivonka I thought could be a really strong bottom 6 2way center. Notre Dame played him in all the tough defensive situations.
Krygier was actually considered for the US world junior teams when he was eligible for the U20. Ironically his twin brother was just traded.
Both developmental guys for sure. I have very low expectations so it would be nice if one or both work their way to being pro players in the NHL.
It'd be more than nice.
I'm with you - they underperformed in light of their expectations. I thought we had a huge 2018 draft and at the time, the publications were singing our praises after the draft as well. Seemed like everyone thought we got the surefire BPAs with Wahlstrom and Dobson, then added nicely with Wilde and Skarek, topping things off with what seemed like very promising later round picks in Jenkins, Pivonka, and Krygier. Naturally, there was Pronman and a few others who thought very highly of Iskhakov too.
I couldn't have imagined that Pivonka would go on to have as offensively unenthusiastic a career in college as he did. Thought that 4-7-11 freshman year line would be something like 12-23-35 by his senior year.
Will be interesting to see what comes of them the next few weeks and if they're added to the fold via AHL contracts. Adams was the last college player of ours to get an ELC and he basically scored more in his senior year than Pivonka and Krygier their whole college careers combined.
But if either turns into a very solid defensive option down the line, that'd be a big win.
danteipp
Registered User
- Aug 3, 2005
- 6,754
- 3,750
Yes, that is what I saw mentioned on Twitter. I am happy for him and that he is having a very nice season... with the Bridgeport Isles and not the NY team, lol. Because if we have to use Andreoff in an extended run, I assume that the injuries have become insurmountable.
Iskhakov has overall had great year, he’s stayed healthy and as year has gone on gotten better and better. He’s tiny, I’d be willing to bet he’s closer to 5’6 or 5’7 but he’s slick and his straight line skating is nowhere as bad as people made it out to be. He also plays with high motor, good forechecker which wasn’t expected. He’s not a sure fire NHLer because of size but he will be in mix next year depending on what happens with Parise and Engvall. If both those guys are back his path to nhl is blocked here.It'd be more than nice.
I'm with you - they underperformed in light of their expectations. I thought we had a huge 2018 draft and at the time, the publications were singing our praises after the draft as well. Seemed like everyone thought we got the surefire BPAs with Wahlstrom and Dobson, then added nicely with Wilde and Skarek, topping things off with what seemed like very promising later round picks in Jenkins, Pivonka, and Krygier. Naturally, there was Pronman and a few others who thought very highly of Iskhakov too.
I couldn't have imagined that Pivonka would go on to have as offensively unenthusiastic a career in college as he did. Thought that 4-7-11 freshman year line would be something like 12-23-35 by his senior year.
Will be interesting to see what comes of them the next few weeks and if they're added to the fold via AHL contracts. Adams was the last college player of ours to get an ELC and he basically scored more in his senior year than Pivonka and Krygier their whole college careers combined.
But if either turns into a very solid defensive option down the line, that'd be a big win.
Osakahaus
Chillin' on Fuji
- May 28, 2021
- 8,506
- 4,186
Ishakov will get looks either way in camp. I think he'll convert to wing at this rate.
He’s played wing all year, I can’t remember him playing center at all this year.
Osakahaus
Chillin' on Fuji
- May 28, 2021
- 8,506
- 4,186
Oh thats interesting. I haven't watched Bridgeport but whos been his center? Andreoff?
- Status
Ad
Upcoming events
-
NFC Semifinal Los Angeles Rams @ Philadelphia EaglesWagers: 14Staked: $12,334.00Event closes- Updated:
-
-
-
Australian Open - Women Veronika Kudermetova vs Elina SvitolinaWagers: 2Staked: $225.00Event closes- Updated:
-