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

[gravey9]

I'm probably off base but does Jones remind anyone else a bit of DeAngelo with how he handles and moves with the puck?

DeAngelo is a more explosive skater. And I think has a better shot.

I would say Jones is closer to Fox. DeAngelo relies on a superior raw talent. He's got speed, powerful shot, above average passer and relies on being pretty strong for a smaller guy.

Whereas with Jones, he's not fastest or strongest player, he's shot is ok. But he's just very smart and somewhat deceptive out there. He uses his intelligence to succeed in all zones. Uses body position and anticipation and a good stick to be effective in his own zone in a way that is nearly identical to Fox. But I would say Jones isn't quite as gifted offensively as Fox in regards to his deceptiveness. But it may turn out that that he's really not that far off. The last few games I saw, you could see Jones coming on and playing with the kind of confidence where he thinks he can take over a game if he needs to. And that's pretty special, even in the A. Have high hopes for Zac. For someone that's always thought highly of him, i've been surprised by his most recent stretch. He's taken it to another level. I hope he keeps it up. If so, I can't imagine how he stays down in the A the whole season. Even with the glut at the NHL level.

 

[duhmetreE]

We really need to call him up.... we need puck movers.

Dont know where we'd put him

Ideally

KAM Fox
Jones Trouba
Lindgren Lundkvist

but I know this wont happen

 

[LoveGoons]

Good god please no!! Foxs needs some mor muscle with him and KAM isn’t that!!

 

[Fitzy]

Good god please no!! Foxs needs some mor muscle with him and KAM isn’t that!!

Not to get literal but Miller may have the second most muscle mass on the roster

 

[cwede]

Wall, w Jax, lost to Maine today, gave 1 in each of 1st, 2nd then a ENG sealed a 3-1 game
Gamesheet: Maine at Jacksonville - Nov 16, 2021
Elmer, Taylor, Sanchez played but not Berzolla

 

[Shesterkybomb]

Barrons speed is fine, he's a big dude so he moves with a longer stride but he looks slow kinda like Hayes did.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

I'm probably off base but does Jones remind anyone else a bit of DeAngelo with how he handles and moves with the puck?

Its neal pionk who is the comparable with a little less physical play.

 

[RGY]

 

[duhmetreE]

The second wave is almost here.

 

[nyr2k2]

Milliner is right in his take there, but IMO that dude is a total knob. I actually unfollowed him on Twitter.

 

[Levitate]

Its neal pionk who is the comparable with a little less physical play.

I was just watching that highlight of the goal he scored and it seemed like something DeAngelo would do...walk the blueline, throw a fake, move inside the circles, fire off a wrister

I think it's more that he looks extremely "active" with the puck which DeAngelo did too, rather than Fox that looks relaxed and calculating, etc

 

[Levitate]

I like the idea of giving Pajuniemi a shot if there's any winger injuries, but we'll see how he progresses

 

[nyr2k2]

Pack fell behind 3-1 in the first and scored 3 in the second. Richards, Whelan, Fritz, and Barron with the goals so far.

 

[jay from jersey]

Pack fell behind 3-1 in the first and scored 3 in the second. Richards, Whelan, Fritz, and Barron with the goals so far.

Barron with another. Continues to score and play well. Good sign from this kid. He’s gonna be an important player for us.
Happy that Pajuniemi is doing well and getting more acclimated. If he can add some weight and continue working on his skating, he could be a real find for us.
The pack playing the same system is going to pay dividends for these kids down the line when they get called up and plugged in.
Hopefully it becomes like 2nd nature to them

 

[duhmetreE]

Barron with another. Continues to score and play well. Good sign from this kid. He’s gonna be an important player for us.
Happy that Pajuniemi is doing well and getting more acclimated. If he can add some weight and continue working on his skating, he could be a real find for us.
The pack playing the same system is going to pay dividends for these kids down the line when they get called up and plugged in.
Hopefully it becomes like 2nd nature to them

IMO Barron fits anywhere in our current NHL lineup.

Assuming the Panarin line is not touched.
He can play with Zibs and Kreider.
He can play with Chytil and Laf.
He can play with Rooney, Reaves and/or Hunt.

 

[NYR Viper]

IMO Barron fits anywhere in our current NHL lineup.

Assuming the Panarin line is not touched.
He can play with Zibs and Kreider.
He can play with Chytil and Laf.
He can play with Rooney, Reaves and/or Hunt.

Ive compared Barron to Goodrow and I think that’s a pretty good idea for what he settles in to as a player. Jack-knife, PKer, center/winger, physical. I think he tops out around 35-40 points but that’s a super useful player

 

[HockeyBasedNYC]

That goal was nasty

 

[gravey9]

Ive compared Barron to Goodrow and I think that’s a pretty good idea for what he settles in to as a player. Jack-knife, PKer, center/winger, physical. I think he tops out around 35-40 points but that’s a super useful player

That's an interesting comparison. I think Barron has more offense. Def a better shot. And he's a bull to run into along the walls. But yeah, they are similar in how well-rounded their games are. If Barron had a slightly quicker first step or two it would make a world of difference. I hope he continues to work on that as it could make a difference re: effectiveness at the next level. I'd say, even at the AHL level, he's not necessarily always first guy in, pressuring and causing turnovers. He often is. But if he had that one extra gear, he would just take over games at the AHL level and he'd be far too good for that league.

 

[gravey9]

Barron with another. Continues to score and play well. Good sign from this kid. He’s gonna be an important player for us.
Happy that Pajuniemi is doing well and getting more acclimated. If he can add some weight and continue working on his skating, he could be a real find for us.
The pack playing the same system is going to pay dividends for these kids down the line when they get called up and plugged in.
Hopefully it becomes like 2nd nature to them

Barron is def playing pretty well. But his goal yesterday was his easiest of the year. 5-3 set up from Jones with a ton of space and time to get off his shot. If anything the 5-3 looked fairly lackluster as they were a bit too stationary. More impressive is his 200ft game. As far as I can tell, his game is pretty complete. He will be in the NHL by end of this year or early next. Just want him to keep working on his first step and playing fast. I think the hardest thing for him in transitioning to the NHL is adjusting the speed of the game. Everything he does from skating to stickhandling to passing is going to be an adjustment for him that's going to take 15-20 games. I don't see him as a kid who will just be plug and play at the next level. I think he's going to need a serious transition period where we need to be okay with growing pains. My guess is, before he looks like himself at the NHL level, he's going to look like Brett Howden for a while. Just playing it very safe, getting pucks deep.

BTW -- How we are handling Barron is the exact opposite of Howden. We are giving Barron the development path that we should have given Howden.

 

[cwede]

...BTW -- How we are handling Barron is the exact opposite of Howden. We are giving Barron the development path that we should have given Howden.

re-stating what we all know is true, but just so damn true
Howden might be useful to coach GG in the McKegg role (at worst) if Quinn hadn't been stubborn

this is also how how they shoulda been able to make it work w Lias and Krav,

and maybe its beginning to be time to wonder if ~6 weeks w Pack could help Nils
(he hasn't been bad, but big minutes against men on NHL size rinks
and maybe he comes back more assertive and effective...

 

[JohnC]

BTW -- How we are handling Barron is the exact opposite of Howden. We are giving Barron the development path that we should have given Howden.

Easily the biggest black mark of the rebuild will be how we stunted the growth of a few different forwards by rushing them when there was no reason to. Lias, Howden, Chytil (to a lesser extent). All three of them did not have the pedigree to learn on the job.

 

[Levitate]

I will never understand why Howden was never sent down. It's like, they saw him play a few good games at the start of his rookie season and then insisted that he'd get back there somehow despite sucking after that because he "worked hard".

Years spent chasing a decent stretch of games

 

[JohnC]

I will never understand why Howden was never sent down. It's like, they saw him play a few good games at the start of his rookie season and then insisted that he'd get back there somehow despite sucking after that because he "worked hard".

Years spent chasing a decent stretch of games

I've said it before, but I think the team was just so unaccustomed to having promising, young forward prospects (especially all at once) that they just didn't know how to properly develop them.

 

[Gordon Bombay]

I've said it before, but I think the team was just so unaccustomed to having promising, young forward prospects (especially all at once) that they just didn't know how to properly develop them.

Don't mean to jump in, but I always got the feeling the team wanted to justify the McD trade by keeping Howden up. Or even justify "The Letter". Like here we have young guys in the lineup, we're rebuilding!

Or maybe they knew a few guys would be sacrificial until we built the depth that we have now where a Barron can play a full season in the AHL like Howden should have.

We did have the Callahan, Dubinsky, Anisimov, etc. crop come up just before this with Sather at the helm so we should have had a good base to develop guys installed already IMO.

Whatever the reason I think we can all agree that we haven't started off great with the first crop of rebuilding forwards.

 

[cwede]

... the team was just so unaccustomed to having promising, young forward prospects (especially all at once) that they just didn't know how to properly develop them.

I always got the feeling the team wanted to justify the McD trade by keeping Howden up. Or even justify "The Letter". ... I think we can all agree that we haven't started off great with the first crop of rebuilding forwards.

i think that @Gordon Bombay's first part, about appearances/justification, is just fan-think, that real NHL FO's don't think that way.
Especially regarding this team, where the loyal base stays loyal

I think Howden counter-productive handling was due to Quinn's stubbornness, and maybe pro inexperience

I blame Quinn a bit re Lias too,
if he gave Lias 1/2 the leeway and 2nd chances given Howden,
that may not have fallen apart. But Cuylle is a very happy ending

also if the story is true, of Bobrov overselling clear path to ice-time at NHL level, to Krav and Lias, then he deserved losing his job

but also both Lias and Krav stepped on their own (unmentionable)s
Plenty of successful, highly-regarded Russians and Swedes spent some time in AHL, earned their NHL opportunity on the ice, earned staying, and didn't look back.

But yes @JohnC the NYR player development guys, and NHL vets with undefinedNYR FO roles like Richards and Graves, and I even believe the guys in the room, contributed, if some only by not engaging, to the Lias and Krav melodramas.

But it is still very early career for Krav, for Laf and Kakk, for Barron and Paju,
for Berard and Cuylle, for Othmann and Henriksson,
and whoever emerges from the remaining dozen drafted but unsigned F's
(yeah i know, Rempe signed ...)