We played ok, I guess. We weren't dominant, but we weren't dominated either. That's parity for you. Some days we're going to win such games, sometimes we're going to lose. The difference some nights is going to be the goalie standing on his head, or Timmy doing something magical, or conversely a defensive breakdown, a dysfunctional special team, etc.
- Not impressed at all by the "new dads" (Brady and Giroux). As I said earlier in this thread, can't wait for the road trip so they can get away from the babies, get some proper sleep and get their game and intensity back. But I've been worried about Giroux since the second half of last year. I think Brady will be fine, unless he's still slightly hurt. Nothing worse IMO than players playing through injuries. We saw what that did to Timmy last year.
- More generally I'm not impressed by our top 6. Not enough game-breaking ability other than what we see from Timmy.
- Having said that, I'm not too worried about Perron. I think he's going to be the kind of player who's going to be invisible in some games, but when all is said and done he's going to contribute sufficiently on the scoresheet to be a net positive. Last night he was invisible, but in the first game for example he showed off his nice shot and some good vision.
- Our defense is fine and generally well organized when we don't have the puck. But when we do, I want to see more breakouts where they're skating the puck out of the zone. It's occasionally happening with Sanderson, but this used to be a Chabot Special and is not happening with him anymore (and we also lost Branny, but let's not open that can of worm here again!). Maybe it's a system thing, but it often leads to quick loss of control of the puck in the neutral or O zone, and we're just not spending enough time in the O zone.
- Still not sure who Amadio really is and what he's supposed to do. He's not physical, he doesn't have good hands, so maybe he's fast, maybe he has good IQ? I need to focus more on him, but so far I haven't been impressed.
- Conversely, and I say this reluctantly cause I don't like him in principle, but Cousins shows something every game. There's always a nice little defensive play, or a nice quick pass in the O zone, he's making good quick decisions. I haven't seen the nasty side of him yet though.
- I've liked what I've seen of Jensen so far. I haven't seen any specific limitations that would be the result of his age. He has the right instincts, and his body seems to be in sync with his instincts so far.
