Again, you can pull up Carbery quotes from his first few games where he said Leonard was one of our best players, which fits the eye test of what most Caps fans saw. The team in general was playing like dogshit, fumbling pucks, not good on the details, defending like a beer league squad. He set Protas up for a golden opportunity in front of the net and he f***ed it up completely. That wasn't happening for 90% of the season. Short of a Demidov level talent, any prospect would've struggled the way the team was playing.
F Ryan Leonard - Boston College, NCAA (2023, 8th, WSH)
- Thread starter 95snipes
- Start date
A1LeafNation
Obsession beats talent everytime!!
- Oct 17, 2010
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I haven't watched all the caps games recently but I've watched alot.
I still think he will get where we all expect him to be. It just looks like it will take him a bit longer.
TLEH
Pronounced T-Lay
The counting stats haven't been there but I've watched him a few times and the points are coming. He looks great.
Juxtaposer
Outro: Divina Comedia
Sure, but Leonard was far more ready physically than Smith. Smith's issue was that he was slow, weak, and lacked stamina. Leonard doesn't have any of those problems, so people were expecting a smooth transition.
Definitely don't worry long-term, like you said it takes time to adjust. I just don't think he'll be the impact player for the Caps in this year's playoffs the way a lot of people thought he would be.
Just watching him play his talent level is the highest we’ve seen from a young Cap in a long time, and he’s often been one of the more dynamic players on the ice for us. Would be nice to see him on the scoresheet more for sure, but I’m not worried, he’s been playing well and it’s good experience for him. I think a full NHL training offseason is going to be great for him, I expect a really nice season next year
Craig Button has him #2 on the Craig Button's Top 50 NHL-affiliated prospects list.
Montreal Canadiens' Ivan Demidov rated No. 1 on Craig Button’s Top 50 NHL-affiliated prospects list | TSN
Montreal Canadiens blue-chipper Ivan Demidov, in the middle of a record-setting season in the KHL, is the No. 1 player on Craig Button’s top 50 NHL-affiliated prospects list.
www.tsn.ca
That's pretty huge expectations if you ask me.
He's suppose to be NHL ready and have an impact right out of college, which is clearly not the case here.
If he can't dominate with his physicality in the NHL, which his game revolves around pretty much apparently in college hockey, then he'll have a pretty diffcult time adapting his game to the pros. What's his other strenghts ?! Sorry, I've never seen him play before, so I'm not very familiar with this player. Looks like he was bullying the future engineers and accountants in the NCAA with his size, but not sure if his game will translate that well to the NHL level playing against grown men.
I don't know, him being #2 on that list, just gave me the impression that he was a phenom or something... Probably Craig Button's fault... he might be a bit overrated then.
If Leonard looks like that as the #2, the gap seems huge compared to Ivan Demidov who's #1.
Demidov is looking like a legit franchise player after 2 NHL games, while Leonard looks like a generic complementary player. If that's the level of the #2 on Button's list, I can't imagine how far the other players on that list are from Demidov's level wow.
JadedRandom
Registered User
Demidov is looking like a legit franchise player after 2 NHL games, while Leonard looks like a generic complementary player. If that's the level of the #2 on Button's list, I can't imagine how far the other players on that list are from Demidov's level wow.
Demidov does look very good for Montreal, but the "franchise player" talk is WAY premature at this point.
Let the kid play these playoffs plus an entire season before putting any tags on him is my opinion.
And the same is true with Leonard.
He's looked very good in the Caps games I watched, much better than the "generic complementary player" you describe. And I genuinely feel that sky is still the limit for Leonard based on his attributes and skillset, if not his statline of late with Washington.
43sfriends
Registered User
- Dec 2, 2018
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Ok that's all your post needed to say actually.
TLEH
Pronounced T-Lay
Should be the first and last sentence of your post. Why would you be in here offering all these opinions and you haven't even seen the kid play one time... Which is also crazy because he's been all over the WJC for the past two seasons, at the VERY least.
I meant that I never seen him play in college hockey, so are 90% of members here probably. I watched a few Washington games to see what he was all about and if the hype was justified and nothing really pops my eyes in the 3 Capitals games I watched. I don't understand your arrogance here.
Never seen him in college hockey, I thought that was clear in my post. I did watch him with Washington 3 games.
The Gr8 Dane
L'harceleur
The arrogance is that you are making bad posts and the posters just want to refute your objectively bad analysis
TLEH
Pronounced T-Lay
Well thats great. People in here have seen him for years, dozens of times, and are all excited. But you watched 3 games !
Well that's why I'm questionning his position as #2 on Craig Buttons list. Is it because Craig Button is a bad analyst or is it because Demidov is that much better than everyone else below him on the list ?
That's why I'm questionning if I missed something and ask if someone could clarify that. In the 3 games that I watched him, he was bad, when everyone said that he was NHL ready and could have an impact right away. When you have those kind of hype around you, people will expect results. Right now, there's no results and that's a fact like it or not.
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And you are part of the Slafkovsky hater crew with ReHabs if I'm not mistaken right ? That's all I needed to know thank you.
The Gr8 Dane
L'harceleur
Demidov very quickly making his way onto my shit list through no fault of his own because people keep bringing him into conversations he has no reason being in ...
Another bad game vs the Penguins tonight...
Pretty dissapointing debut in the NHL so far to say the least... The effort is there, but it doesn't results in anything.
Might be a healthy scratch to begin the Playoffs vs the Habs.
A few games in the pressbox might help him have a different view on the game.
Pretty dissapointing debut in the NHL so far to say the least... The effort is there, but it doesn't results in anything.
Might be a healthy scratch to begin the Playoffs vs the Habs.
A few games in the pressbox might help him have a different view on the game.
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43sfriends
Registered User
- Dec 2, 2018
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Jesus, you again?
There's a thing called going through the motions where meaningless games are not really contested. I guess you wouldn't be aware of this if your team was still struggling to barely claw itself into the playoffs at game 82.
Boss Man Hughes
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- Mar 15, 2022
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I did not want him. He did not show up in important games with Boston College. Hagens seemed to be there more often to get key points. Fowler kept them in a lot of games where they did nothing until the 3rd period.
Boss Man Hughes
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The Threadjacking King is Dead (Michkov), Long Live The Threadjacking King (Demidov).
Watching this thread with distant interest. the Smith-Perreault-Leonard-Hagens plot line will be a fascinating one to keep following as the next few years roll on. I always got the sense that Leonard's game might struggle to translate immediately because he just can't rely on strength and power as much against bigger and faster players/men, and even in his college / US games he sometimes played bigger than he could actually sustain e.g. crashing out all over the ice... but he has proven me and others wrong in the past so it'll be fun to see where he ends up. Sidenote, Perreault I really don't know what to think. He'll either establish himself well despite his size/skating and everyone will say "obviously" or he'll struggle and everyone will say "obviously."
Where is this narrative that Leonard dominated in college because of his strength and size coming from?
Same with the one that he doesn't show up in big games ...
Same with the one that he doesn't show up in big games ...
wickedwitch
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- Mar 21, 2010
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