Prospect Info: Hartford Wolf Pack/Bloomington Bison Thread: Part XV

[gravey9]

Ty f'n Ronning. That is all.

 

[Ranger Ric]

Ty Ronning. Wow!

 

[nyr2k2]

Thompson receives the pass at the left wall on the blue line, holds, drops it to Ronning who was entering the zone with speed. Ronning blows in past the defender on his backhand and then cuts hard go the net makes a move and slips it in.

 

[nyr2k2]

Tommy Cross with an open slapper from the top of the left circle beats Huska. Huska probably would like to have that one. Not terrible but it was an unobstructed shot from the top of the circle.

 

[gravey9]

Ronning with a steal at his own blue line and gets a partial breakaway, but was slashed enough to where he got in too deep. But again... wow

 

[gravey9]

Ok PP Pack. Ronning better be given the puck at every chance. It's Ronning Hat Trick watch now.

 

[Tob]

Really seems like he's been more focused on hockey in the last calendar year. A lot less happenings on his social media account.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

Tommy Cross with an open slapper from the top of the left circle beats Huska. Huska probably would like to have that one. Not terrible but it was an unobstructed shot from the top of the circle.

Cross is a Panthers draftee assigned to Providence due to the pandemic and the opt out of the Panthers AHL Affiliate.

 

[nyr2k2]

Reunanen slides one across the blue line to IDK who who takes a big slapper, save is made but Gettinger is in front where he should live on the PP and he bangs in the rebound. 6-1.

EDIT: I think Greco took the shot and Barron tipped it before Gettinger got the rebound.

 

[gravey9]

6-1. Pack score again on PP. Gettinger with rebound off of a Greco/Barron shot/tip play Barron gets his second assist.

 

[Mugless]

 

[Mugless]

 

[nyr2k2]

Pack win again. Good game across the board.

 

[bmoak]

Surprised the Bruins called up a bunch of guys but not Studnicka.

 

[NYR Viper]

I wonder how much longer it will take for a few of these guys to get looks. Ronning. Gettinger.

 

[Ranger Ric]

Five in a row. This time over a team better than Bridgeport. Pack now 10 points behind Providence with 3 games in hand with six of those against Bridgeport. Pack didn't give up many shots and when they did Huska made the save except for the one nyr2k2 pointed out from Tommy Cross. Ronning has been terrific all year. I would like to see him have Khodorenko as his center. Richards just doesn't have a great deal of offensive skill. More of a heart and soul guy. Also would like to see Cuylle up with Sanchez and Reuschhoff rather than Geertsen who adds nothing to that line.

 

[jay from jersey]

Five in a row. This time over a team better than Bridgeport. Pack now 10 points behind Providence with 3 games in hand with six of those against Bridgeport. Pack didn't give up many shots and when they did Huska made the save except for the one nyr2k2 pointed out from Tommy Cross. Ronning has been terrific all year. I would like to see him have Khodorenko as his center. Richards just doesn't have a great deal of offensive skill. More of a heart and soul guy. Also would like to see Cuylle up with Sanchez and Reuschhoff rather than Geertsen who adds nothing to that line.

Thanks ric your write ups have been invaluable to those of us that are unable to watch certain prospects. Everyone in this thread really great job. Do you guys think Barron is more of a third or 4th line guy in the future?

 

[E-Train]

I wonder how much longer it will take for a few of these guys to get looks. Ronning. Gettinger.

I don’t see it happening if Goat can’t even get in the lineup.

 

[Ranger Ric]

Thanks for your kind comments. I enjoy this community and happy to do the write ups. This is a one year thing with me. Only 24 games, not very expensive, and most of the games are early afternoon during the week which is perfect for me being retired. I go to one game a year in Hershey with my son (the Capitals fan) and will watch an occasional game on AHL TV. But a 76 game season is not happening.

Regarding Barron, I'm reluctant to draw conclusions after 15 games which is not even 1/4 of a normal AHL season. I saw Barron play a lot at Cornell. I saw a big guy who is hockey smart, has a terrific shot, can stick handle and uses his body. He dominated at that level. I think Gravey9, nyr2k2 and I would all agree that while Barron has played fine in Hartford and has had some good moments he isn't dominating yet at the level at which I think he is capable. And his skating is an issue. Once he gets going he can move but hs is not quick and I worry about the lack of quickness at the NHL level. I think he can be a middle six forward but he is not playing anywhere near that level yet and looks more like a 3rd-4th line guy.

It is much better to have too many good players rather than too few but it's hard to see where Barron plays with the Rangers. He is not going to beat out Kreider, Panarin, Lafraniere, Buchnevich, Kakko and Kravtsov at wing. So unless he can play center and barring injuries he looks like a fourth liner.

Thanks ric your write ups have been invaluable to those of us that are unable to watch certain prospects. Everyone in this thread really great job. Do you guys think Barron is more of a third or 4th line guy in the future?

 

[gravey9]

Thanks for your kind comments. I enjoy this community and happy to do the write ups. This is a one year thing with me. Only 24 games, not very expensive, and most of the games are early afternoon during the week which is perfect for me being retired. I go to one game a year in Hershey with my son (the Capitals fan) and will watch an occasional game on AHL TV. But a 76 game season is not happening.

Regarding Barron, I'm reluctant to draw conclusions after 15 games which is not even 1/4 of a normal AHL season. I saw Barron play a lot at Cornell. I saw a big guy who is hockey smart, has a terrific shot, can stick handle and uses his body. He dominated at that level. I think Gravey9, nyr2k2 and I would all agree that while Barron has played fine in Hartford and has had some good moments he isn't dominating yet at the level at which I think he is capable. And his skating is an issue. Once he gets going he can move but hs is not quick and I worry about the lack of quickness at the NHL level. I think he can be a middle six forward but he is not playing anywhere near that level yet and looks more like a 3rd-4th line guy.

It is much better to have too many good players rather than too few but it's hard to see where Barron plays with the Rangers. He is not going to beat out Kreider, Panarin, Lafraniere, Buchnevich, Kakko and Kravtsov at wing. So unless he can play center and barring injuries he looks like a fourth liner.

Agreed. I feel like if Barron came up with the Rangers right now he'd look a bit like Kakko last year. Like he's got size and skill, but his first few steps may make it hard to translate to a bottom 6 role. In addition, he doesn't quite attack and pressure all the time. Which feels like the basic thing you have to do as a bottom 6 player. Like when Chytil played that way in the AHL you could tell with his speed, size, hands he wasn't going to be in the AHL for long.

But when a guy isn't as fast and doesn't play an attacking style all the time it makes it really hard to judge how he'll translate from the AHL to the NHL. I honestly don't know. The points are there. There's a lot to like. But will he translate right now? My gut says he is still not playing fast enough to be a consistently effective 4th liner. But then again, I'm comparing him to Chytil which is not fair. He's a different player. He's like Brian Boyle with better hands, possibly better vision but before Barb Underhill. The player I'd most like to see Barron turn into is Tyler Toffoli.

 

[cwede]

Cross is a Panthers draftee assigned to Providence due to the pandemic and the opt out of the Panthers AHL Affiliate.

This is not quite accurate.
Not drafted by Fla, not a prospect.
He's a AAA(A) vet minor league dMan
Cross is 31, drafted by Bruins in'07, 4 years at BC, long-time Prov Bruin('12>'18) who has bounced around last few years, Most recently signed by Fla in '19.

Panthers waived him a few weeks, back so they could send him down, and loaned him to Providence, as described above

Tommy Cross Hockey Stats and Profile at hockeydb.com

 

[nyr2k2]

Yes, I would caution people to pump the brakes a bit on Barron, Ronning, Reunanen, etc. Barron has looked good but I think his numbers are a bit inflated and he's not dominant on a shift-by-shift basis. This is a bit of a weird year in the AHL with a lot more young guys than normal, and then random games like today where a team loses several important players to a call-up all at once. It's hard to read too much into this season. Barron is having a really nice rookie season and it's encouraging sign for the future. I see talk on other threads of how he needs to be up in the NHL right now--he doesn't. He's fine, he's at an appropriate level and he's still learning how to play the professional game. He's not a guy who is too good for the level he's at.

The same can absolutely be said for Reunanen. He's a good bet to make some plays every single game, and you can tell he's more experienced than a lot of the guys he's playing with and against. But he makes his fair share of mistakes that are "d'oh!" moments for the AHL level. I don't think he's ready for prime time in the NHL. He looks like a third pair, 2nd PP guy, which is good--but I don't think it's something we will have much use for. I feel like he's either moved and makes it elsewhere or goes back. Not because he's not good enough to play in the NHL, but he's not so good as to force his way into a loaded defensive lineup/prospect pool like we have. Someone like Lindgren, I said he would--and he did; some guys bring unique things that make them stick. I don't know that Reunanen is unique or good enough at what he does to stick. Anyway, that's just my opinion on his future. His present, he's pretty good. Again, not great, but pretty good.

Ronning is exciting because his overall game has just improved by leaps and bounds. He's a totally different, much more confident player. At the same time, he's still small, and while he's generally strong on the puck as he's good at protecting it, he still gets knocked around. He's generating a ton of offense both for himself and others, but he's basically a goal per game while averaging less than 2.5 shots per game--shooting well over 33%. I'm not sure what his role would be in the NHL--maybe someone like Colin Blackwell, but even then I still think he needs to get stronger and get more pucks to the cage. It will be tough for him because it's unlikely he'd be called up and immediately see good TOI or PP time, and so he'd need to find out how to be effective in limited minutes in a limited role.

I remember Artem Anisimov in his second year in the AHL. He was 20, I think. He played the whole year and was basically 40-40. He was the best-looking homegrown forward we've had in Hartford for a long time. That season he was great. Game-in, game-out, he was one of the best guys out there. And he played a full AHL schedule and when he came into the NHL the following year, he was a good rookie but was still like a third line player. I think he was substantially ahead of a Barron or Reunanen (I know, different positions). Numbers can be a bit deceiving. Tim Gettinger is a big bag of mediocre and he has a couple good games in a row and now his numbers would tell you we've got a 6'6" point per game player in the AHL, great right? But that's misleading. I would just preach patience and encourage people to temper their expectations for what these guys are capable of doing at this moment.

 

[Fitzy]

I mean I never had super high expectations for either Barron or Reunanen, but they don’t need to be amazing, they just have to be better than Di Giuseppe/ Libor Hajek to play in the NHL next season.

If Tarmo gets surpassed by Robertson or Jones down the line that’s all well and good but it’d just really surprise me if he can’t be competitive with Bitteto and Hajek in the next training camp

 

[nyr2k2]

I mean I never had super high expectations for either Barron or Reunanen, but they don’t need to be amazing, they just have to be better than Di Giuseppe/ Libor Hajek to play in the NHL next season.

If Tarmo gets surpassed by Robertson or Jones down the line that’s all well and good but it’d just really surprise me if he can’t be competitive with Bitteto and Hajek in the next training camp

Yeah I mean I think he's probably capable of playing better than Bitteto or Hajek, neither of whom are particularly good. I just think, if we make the assumption that going into next year they have Trouba, Fox, Lindgren, Miller and then Lundkvist making the team, they probably bring in another Jack Johnson-type or even keep Smith.

In that circumstance he'd be competing with other young guys but also veterans, and then even if he makes it what he'd probably be asked to do--play solid defense on the third pair and kill penalties--is not what he excels at. I think in a vacuum he'd be a better option than some of the guys we've mentioned, but if you talk about his role, I'm not sure what he does is a good fit for what we'd want our #6 to do.

 

[Fitzy]

Yeah I mean I think he's probably capable of playing better than Bitteto or Hajek, neither of whom are particularly good. I just think, if we make the assumption that going into next year they have Trouba, Fox, Lindgren, Miller and then Lundkvist making the team, they probably bring in another Jack Johnson-type or even keep Smith.

In that circumstance he'd be competing with other young guys but also veterans, and then even if he makes it what he'd probably be asked to do--play solid defense on the third pair and kill penalties--is not what he excels at. I think in a vacuum he'd be a better option than some of the guys we've mentioned, but if you talk about his role, I'm not sure what he does is a good fit for what we'd want our #6 to do.

I think you’re right. They’ll probably want a #6 guy who can kill penalties, to help spread the minutes out a bit.