F Ryan Leonard - Boston College, NCAA (2023, 8th, WSH)

[itsjustsurvival]

Well, I invited that. But why?

Again, I'm using MacKinnon as someone who Leonard should strive to model his game after, not as someone who Leonard is or even will be.

I understood your point and I don't think you are crazy. You see a lot of potential comparable players thrown out. That's not what you are saying. Tons of players look to certain guys to model their games after. Similar stature and both play with a high level of intensity (different types of intensity, sure). He could do a lot worse than picking up a few things from examine MacKinnon's game.

Yeah he may never be MacKinnon or even a diet coke version of MacKinnon, but there are elements Leonard could incorporate to make him a better version of whatever type of player he ends up being.

 

[Cush]

 

[GoCaps2004]

Insane goal for the hat trick. Will post when it hits twitter.

 

[wickedwitch]

Before goals 2 and 3, I was going to post about how good Leonard has been this game. Almost every aspect aspect of his game -- the speed, physicallity, and playmaking -- looked top notch.

But man, that 3rd goal.

Insane goal for the hat trick. Will post when it hits twitter.

And for the record, none of the goals were empty netters.

 

[Wieters]

Leonard heard us talking about his empty netters and made sure there was nothing cheap about the hat trick tonight. Three bangers.

Just a goal below averaging a goal per game (.96) and leading the country by a good margin (Howard is at .75).

 

[GoCaps2004]

 

[Lou Sassole]

Nice, beautiful goal. He reminds me of Roenick.

 

[CaviarAndRinkFries]

 

[Lou Sassole]

1g 2a tonight. This was a nice pass.

 

[Boxscore]

What a player this kid is. Filthy mitts, character, charisma. The Caps are going to be okay post-Ovie with him and Hutson, et al.

 

[CaviarAndRinkFries]

 

[BKarchitect]

Pretty remarkable that the Caps engineered this NHL revival and their actual recently drafted prospect core has yet to even arrive.

Leonard, Cristall, Parascak, Miro, Lapierre, Protas v2.0, other Hutson, Iorio.

Of course not all will be bang on successes but suddenly they are both a very good NHL team with most core pieces outside Ovie and JC either in their prime or not yet there PLUS a really fantastic farm system and an AHL team in Hershey that is a model for support and development.

Two years ago I would have said the much more likely scenario in 2025 would be bad, old team with mediocre prospect group.

 

[sigx15]

He's been on an absolute tear. I was a bit concerned with him playing with Gasseau and Jellvik because I can't stand Gasseau's game as a top 2 line guy but Leonard has been awesome and frankly made Gasseau better which is such a good sign. He's still a bit of a meat head, he's going to take dumb emotional penalties but he's going to play all out all the time. He's so good at creating off nothing plays by causing havoc and creating turnovers

If there's one gripe about his offensive game, I've never seen a guy get more breakaways but his conversion on them is probably only like 10%. He gets at least 1 breakaway a game and it's not from cherry picking, he just sees the play develop and gets a crazy jump to blow by defenders or get behind them

 

[Sasha Orlov]

Pretty remarkable that the Caps engineered this NHL revival and their actual recently drafted prospect core has yet to even arrive.

Leonard, Cristall, Parascak, Miro, Lapierre, Protas v2.0, other Hutson, Iorio.

Of course not all will be bang on successes but suddenly they are both a very good NHL team with most core pieces outside Ovie and JC either in their prime or not yet there PLUS a really fantastic farm system and an AHL team in Hershey that is a model for support and development.

Two years ago I would have said the much more likely scenario in 2025 would be bad, old team with mediocre prospect group.

It’s quite remarkable that they’ve essentially managed to rebuild on the fly without giving up any key pieces. Great management.

 

[Kuz]

He's been on an absolute tear. I was a bit concerned with him playing with Gasseau and Jellvik because I can't stand Gasseau's game as a top 2 line guy but Leonard has been awesome and frankly made Gasseau better which is such a good sign. He's still a bit of a meat head, he's going to take dumb emotional penalties but he's going to play all out all the time. He's so good at creating off nothing plays by causing havoc and creating turnovers

If there's one gripe about his offensive game, I've never seen a guy get more breakaways but his conversion on them is probably only like 10%. He gets at least 1 breakaway a game and it's not from cherry picking, he just sees the play develop and gets a crazy jump to blow by defenders or get behind them

He have actually improved away from Perreault and Hagens. Probably suited him more being the guy and need to take responsibility and be the guy all the time and not just be part of a super line.

Im not that worried about his penalties. He is young and its normal to be more emotional during that period. Im more afraid of good players showing no emotion and not looking like they really care than a guy that lives for winning.