Half-Assed GDT: Game #18 Blues host Golden Knights 7pm CT

[ezcreepin]

I just read the VGK GDT from the Blues game. It took about 30 seconds.

Well they DO love their hockey so lmao

 

[blueper]

Mikkola's problem was never his actual play. He's always been a tough dude who will penalty kill, block shots, and kill people into the boards. His worst attribute, and arguably one of the most important in today's game is that he can't handle the puck without making a mistake. Whether it's passing it up the boards and missing the player completely, passing a puck on edge that gets picked off, or trying to rim the puck around the boards that goes to the feet of the opposition, he constantly has problems with those. Until he really slows down to evaluate the play before making a pass or takes the puck out of the zone like Parayko, he's going to have trouble for the rest of his career in this regard. It's either that, or he works with Oates to learn how to pass and blows us away with his breakout skills.

You are exactly right about Mikkola. Fans love to see the big body, the skating ability, the willingness to get involved physically, but you are dead on about his weaknesses. Unfortunately, those are weaknesses that can kill your ability to stay in the lineup ... because they lead to too much time spent in the defensive zone and ultimately goals against.

 

[Ranksu]

I hope Mikkola becomes Boychuk 2.0 late boomer.

 

[stlbluz]

Will we see Mikkola again the next time the Blues play whenever that is.

 

[Meatball]

In terms of raw talent:

2021-22 > 2018-19

 

[Reality Czech]

In terms of raw talent:

2021-22 > 2018-19

Raw talent? I would probably agree.

But 2019 had more cooked talent IMO

 

[BadgersandBlues]

Mikkola's problem was never his actual play. He's always been a tough dude who will penalty kill, block shots, and kill people into the boards. His worst attribute, and arguably one of the most important in today's game is that he can't handle the puck without making a mistake. Whether it's passing it up the boards and missing the player completely, passing a puck on edge that gets picked off, or trying to rim the puck around the boards that goes to the feet of the opposition, he constantly has problems with those. Until he really slows down to evaluate the play before making a pass or takes the puck out of the zone like Parayko, he's going to have trouble for the rest of his career in this regard. It's either that, or he works with Oates to learn how to pass and blows us away with his breakout skills.

Yep. I just watched the game today (I don't get NHL Network)

I would love, LOVE for Mikkola to become a force on D for the Blues. Unfortunately, he's got mush for brains with the puck. A microcosm of this - late in the second period, he had the puck on his stick and was exiting the zone. It was after a fairly long shift in the defensive end. He had a forward in front of him who was covered by the only d-man on that side of the ice. Mikkola basically crossed the blue line uncontested, stopped skating, realized the guy in front of him was covered, and instead of continuing to skate the puck up to the redline, just bashed it off the boards. Icing, faceoff in the D-zone with super tired players, late in the period. We almost gave up a goal before the period ended, all b/c he made a terrible play with the puck.

This type of thing happens consistently with Mikkola. I love that he scored a goal, it was a beautiful shot. However, I'm much more interested in him becoming a steady, trustworthy defender that can handle breaking the puck out of the zone. So far he's shown zero ability to do so. Walman has the problem of trying to do too much too often, Mikkola has the problem of not being able to make the simple play.

 

[ezcreepin]

Yep. I just watched the game today (I don't get NHL Network)

I would love, LOVE for Mikkola to become a force on D for the Blues. Unfortunately, he's got mush for brains with the puck. A microcosm of this - late in the second period, he had the puck on his stick and was exiting the zone. It was after a fairly long shift in the defensive end. He had a forward in front of him who was covered by the only d-man on that side of the ice. Mikkola basically crossed the blue line uncontested, stopped skating, realized the guy in front of him was covered, and instead of continuing to skate the puck up to the redline, just bashed it off the boards. Icing, faceoff in the D-zone with super tired players, late in the period. We almost gave up a goal before the period ended, all b/c he made a terrible play with the puck.

This type of thing happens consistently with Mikkola. I love that he scored a goal, it was a beautiful shot. However, I'm much more interested in him becoming a steady, trustworthy defender that can handle breaking the puck out of the zone. So far he's shown zero ability to do so. Walman has the problem of trying to do too much too often, Mikkola has the problem of not being able to make the simple play.

And it's not like he has to have high hockey IQ to make these plays. I think rust is a lot to do with being comfortable making the "right" plays, but he needs to know what the best move is. Whether that's him taking the puck up and dumping it deep to get a line change, chipping it out of the zone, whatever it may be. I believe he can learn to run off this instinct, but the longer he continues to makes randomly/bad plays, the less likely he will have a career. Which I think is a shame because he's such a valuable guy when he doesn't have the puck on his stick.

 

[blueper]

Talking about guys who just need to make the sensible (smart) play and keep it simple to be super effective ... Mikkola and Kostin.
They have such amazing tools that if they could each learn to simplify their games but still THINK when they have the puck on their sticks, they would be way above average NHLers. Kostin ... manage each blue line and when in doubt in the offensive zone, just take it to the goal. You're hard to stop!
Here's to hoping they each figure it out.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

Talking about guys who just need to make the sensible (smart) play and keep it simple to be super effective ... Mikkola and Kostin.
They have such amazing tools that if they could each learn to simplify their games but still THINK when they have the puck on their sticks, they would be way above average NHLers. Kostin ... manage each blue line and when in doubt in the offensive zone, just take it to the goal. You're hard to stop!
Here's to hoping they each figure it out.

Kostin is a paint by numbers hockey player. He has to be told what to do and when to do it and appears to have a short leash.

I started watching the game late in the 2nd and one of the first things I saw was Mikkola's play that @BadgersandBlues mentioned. All he had to do was skate a few more feet, but he decided to play it along the boards that resulted in an icing call.