Iowa playing Rockford again tonight. Simon Johansson just had a great play - 4 on 4...Simon was following Anders Bjork during man on coverage...eventually caused the turnover, went down and finished it by himself to tie it up.
One random note - I know AHL teams always have roster turnover but I don't recall Houston Aeros or Iowa teams of past using new lines almost every night. I think the ROR-Spacek D pairing is the only thing consistent. Might be another reason they struggle - different guys playing center or centers having different wings almost every game. Guess Mclean wants to be polar opposite of Evason.
I understand that but even when the lineup has been the same, meaning the same exact guys in the lineup for a couple weekends, almost every night the lines are different. I can't think of one weekend in which the lines were the same given what I said above. If guys are called up, injured, etc., it totally makes sense.They've dealt with forward injuries similar to the big club in addition to suffering from the big club plucking their guys, and the draft classes that should be contributing down there simply aren't. Hentges looks to be done, Swaney's played 7 games, Firstov went back to Russia, Marat still in Russia, Novak missed a year, Nesterenko didn't want to sign so he was dealt, Guskov/Pilar ended up never worth contracts. We were supposedly finalists for Meyers and Polin as NCAA free agents as well and missed out. 4 of the top-8 forwards in games played for Iowa are on minor league deals, that is not common around the league. One of them even left for Europe recently.
Decent chance there's only 5-6 forwards that play ~40 games this year in Iowa that play ~20+ for them next year.
I understand that but even when the lineup has been the same, meaning the same exact guys in the lineup for a couple weekends, almost every night the lines are different. I can't think of one weekend in which the lines were the same given what I said above. If guys are called up, injured, etc., it totally makes sense.
Ditching Army seems like it was not a great move in retrospect, though I will say the talent level on that roster and how picked over it was with injuries does make life extremely difficult on a first year coach. But hard to point out many improvements that have occurred under him this season.They need a better GM and a better coach in Iowa. And probably better everything actually.
Ditching Army seems like it was not a great move in retrospect, though I will say the talent level on that roster and how picked over it was with injuries does make life extremely difficult on a first year coach. But hard to point out many improvements that have occurred under him this season.
Beckman and Walker seemed like they stalled. At least the defensemen are...developing a little bit, I guess?
I think Walker hit his ceiling. Beckman seems like a very streaky player.