Drury
- Thread starter puckie
- Start date
Navin R Slavin
Fifth line center
bleedgreen
Registered User
I don’t think development is big on Rod’s agenda. He wants to win. Tonight. Development is for the rest of the management to worry about. I think the thought is that Drury is a bottom six guy so he’s playing in the NHL doing his likely career job. If he grows confidence and starts scoring down the road then so be it, but he’s a pretty good fourth line guy right now so it makes sense to play him in those limited minutes.
If you view him as a middle six guy then yes, maybe more AHL time to keep developing that side makes sense, but everything tends to defer to my first couple of sentences. Rod thinks the lineup is at its best with Drury playing that role, so there he is. He’s never shown the kind of skating or skill to suggest he can be more than a checking line C, so I don’t think they’re stunting any development. He had a slow start, wouldn’t surprised me to see more pop from him as the year goes.
If you view him as a middle six guy then yes, maybe more AHL time to keep developing that side makes sense, but everything tends to defer to my first couple of sentences. Rod thinks the lineup is at its best with Drury playing that role, so there he is. He’s never shown the kind of skating or skill to suggest he can be more than a checking line C, so I don’t think they’re stunting any development. He had a slow start, wouldn’t surprised me to see more pop from him as the year goes.
Still early in his career to finalize the projected future.
I will say his skating is much better than I had thought going into the year. Also, he has shown flashes of superior play (he had some dominant shifts in the 3rd a few games ago) that if he can showcase more often could make him a valuable player.
Anton Dubinchuk
aho
We’ve stuck him largely with two guys that have famously been disappointing this year (Stepan, Stastny). Even with Noesen it’s not like he’s playing with a high flying offensive line. His pass to Stepan in the Seattle game was a nice little sign of some offensive ability. He’ll probably be a middle 6 guy that can play with skilled wingers, but right now the roster isn’t set up for him to do that.
Boom Boom Apathy
I am the Professor. Deal with it!
- Sep 6, 2006
- 49,330
- 102,073
That's not a true statement.
Our top 9 forwards average between 14:45 and 20 min TOI/GP and the 4th line averages 10-11. Other top team's top 9:
TB: 12:30 - 21:03
BOS: 12:43 - 19:05
TOR: 12:37 - 21:23
VGN: 12:26 - 19:46
NJD: 13:43 -19:53
DAL: 13:14 - 18:18
PIT: 12:35 - 19:55
If anything the Canes distribute TOI more evenly among their top 9 than other top teams. They probably play their 4th line a minute less than those teams, but that's because until Noesen got put back there, the 4th line stunk.
Navin R Slavin
Fifth line center
Uh oh, he made the Statistician angry. You won't like the Statistician when he's angry...
The Faulker 27
Registered User
Vagrant
The Czech Condor
he'll end up being good wherever he plays, but it doesn't seem like it will be here. if we make a substantial move around the deadline, I hope he's in the deal before we tank his value by doing nothing more than playing him in the AHL too long and have him stagnate there after proving everything he needed to prove last year. at least get some value for him.
if you're in the AHL at 23, which he turns next month, that's usually about 5 years removed from draft day. it's basically the line of where prospect ends and veteran AHL scoring depth begins. he's done nothing wrong.
if you're in the AHL at 23, which he turns next month, that's usually about 5 years removed from draft day. it's basically the line of where prospect ends and veteran AHL scoring depth begins. he's done nothing wrong.
Deon Thompson
Registered User
- Feb 27, 2022
- 144
- 386
I reckon his ceiling is "quality bottom 6er" so it seems like he's right where he should be.
I don't entirely disagree with you, but I also don't know about "he's done nothing wrong." He killed a man.
No but in all seriousness I don't think Drury has shown as much this year as we would have wanted. He does look better in recent games. I'd say he's looked better than Stastny, but worse than Kotkaniemi, for example. Seth Jarvis came in last year and looked great pretty much every game. I don't see that for Drury. I don't see a top 9 spot for him because I don't think he's played like a top 9 forward. I, as always, could be wrong.
the halleJOKEL
strong as brickwall
mostly agree with this, though feel like development for these specific last 5 years is tough to compare to "normal"
Vagrant
The Czech Condor
For sure, Kotkaniemi has looked better the past 5 games or so than he has since he joined the team in my opinion. I was just hoping that Drury could get realistic usage like perhaps Foegele or Geekie rather than Poturalski or Leivo. let him dictate his icetime especially in a situation where you're playing Stastny more than you should have to hoping he wakes up and some of our other more underachieving guys. For me, I need to see flashes. I have seen Drury dissect a few offensive zone break ins where his creativity created a scoring chance out of nowhere. those flashes don't seem to correlate to more TOI here, so whatever it is about him that RBA dislikes more than he likes, it needs to be communicated higher up because his resume dictates substantially more investment than he's getting here.
Navin R Slavin
Fifth line center
Gauthier? Seems a bad trade to me….
Boom Boom Apathy
I am the Professor. Deal with it!
- Sep 6, 2006
- 49,330
- 102,073
What? He was 1st star last night for the Rangers.
