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Player Discussion Neal Pionk

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Really, really like this kid. He is the best of the bunch that includes Gilmour, Sproul, O’Gara, and Pionk.

Easily.

He has the potential to be rounded into a 4-6 steady defenseman in this league
 
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LionsHeart said:
He had a really strong game tonight. That sequence against Letang was really impressive. Showed a lot of poise and good skating ability.

This idea that rookies aren't allowed to come up and struggle is ridiculous. This team is going to be rebuilding, get used to it. They're going to make their mistakes and have their struggles.
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THANK YOU!!
 
He's the best of all the recent call ups. Among the current D, only Skjei and Pionk are NHL'ers. The plug Staal will continue to get NHL games until his contract runs out. The rest are 6 D's at best. Shatty when he returns gives us another top 4 D, and Smith is an NHL'er of some kind.
 
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You can actually see Pionk is able to think quickly as things happen. That is not something a coach can just install into a player.
Whenever I got really disgusted with Holden, it was because he did the chicken with head cut off thing when it was crunch time, and no matter what people said it would be only a matter of time until that Holden appeared again. It's great to see a different kind of defenseman.
So far, quite good. Looks like a good addition to NYR.
 
3 assist tonight - he must do something right back to 0 in -+ stats, and he had my vote after 2 silly points this night. :)
 
Mac n Gs said:
Y'all are reading way too much into a small sample size when he's playing on the worst team in hockey at the moment. He's a 22 year old kid that went from college, 50 games of AHL experience, and now top-4 responsibilities. This is also the most hockey he's ever played in a year. If he starts being so poor next year, then we can complain.
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If he does start poor net year, I promise I'll come up with something better than Stionk.
 
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Keith Jones and Anson Carter had some nice things to say post game about Pionk. They talked about how they are impressed with him etc and that the future is bright on the blue line in NY.
 
Looks like he's definitely doing the right things - that 26 min. toi last night really stands out.

Was not as impressed with his move in the corner as others, I saw that as a really risky move as it was happening, but he pulled it off and shortly thereafter we score. Not bad.
 
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I am not just hyping Pionk because he is playing well now with zero competition and in a good role. This is what I wrote about him in November:
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/threa...7-18-part-viii.2210993/page-34#post-138085165
My take is that Neal Pionk is playing really good hockey for HFD. He rarely get into any trouble defensively, he moves the puck really well and is just very solid. [...]
Just saying, I’ve been wrong before and will be wrong again, but I think Pionk basically is ready and should be up sooner rather than later. It would really hurt if Pionk didn’t become a player because I wouldn’t only be wrong I would be very very wrong lol because I really like him. Pts no big issue for me because he is on the second PP unit behind Gilmour-Sproul on the first, and he create a fair amount of offense. My biggest concern is RD logjam. If Pionk got a shot — I think he would take it. Will he get a shot?
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Pionk looks maybe a little smaller than his 6'0 listing, he isn't overly crafty, he isn't super talented. But like I said back then -- when he wasn't scoring pts and wasn't getting a big role in the AHL -- if he didn't make it it would really hurt my evaluation confidence because he is one of the smarter Ds I've seen in this organization in a while.

I like to point this out because lately there have been a lot of talk about how AV is not liking kids, isn't using them. Trusting guys like Girardi over Clendenning and so forth. I never liked Clendenning, made some really good things but was also very lost at times. Pionk is getting over 25 minutes for a reason, he isn't playing "great" hockey most of the time, not saying that he is like a great top 3 already, there are ups and downs, but he is playing the right way. Enabling his unit to play the right way. He just gets it, what is hard he makes look simple. That is the key, no matter if you are a kid or a vet. If you are to do well down the line in this league and compete in the POs that is what you must get. Pionk is a player for sure.
 
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One general comment: This organization must start to get our Ds to fire the puck better. This has been a beef for me since Staal was a rookie for us back like what in 06' or whatever, well over a decade. Marc Staal is a 6´4 physically gifted human being. Why on earth does he not have a good shot from the blueline? Why on earth isn't he smooth with the puck there with the ability to release a fast a slapper? One time it? Completely unacceptable. Its purely a drilling thing, and it wouldn't even take much work to get it right. With the proper attention put on it, say a 3 weeks one summer and then maintenance regulary, Staal should easily be able to like function on even a PP point in a LHS shooting role. Of course not be able to compete with the better PPQBs, but just take a shift there if needed. Staal is downright lost on the offensive blueline. There is no excuse for that.

For a long time we had a blueline where like nobody could fire the puck, or very few.

Now TDA, Pionk and Gilmour are getting sooo many chances, they have 3 goals between them in like 67 games or something. All three have a good release, but they aren't scoring. Neither have confidence with their shots or any kind of world class shots. We just cannot let this go on, if someone have skating issues they are going to get to work on it a lot. We would see to it, or like let them hit the highway if they didn't work on it. The same thing should definitely apply to our Ds when it comes to shooting the puck. Its to important to not fix. 10k shots per summer minimum. Give them one of those hand held counters and ask them to not bother show up in september unless it reads 10,000. /Rant.
 
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I mean he's a rookie. Not just an NHL rookie but a professional rookie. He's blown way past his previous high for games in a season yet still looks well-conditioned. Does he make mistakes? Yeah, again, he's a rookie. He looks pretty poised to me, plays a good all-around game and has me very optimistic about his potential down the road. He's already clearly an NHL player and should only get better.

I can understand not being as bullish on him as I am, but comments saying he stinks or comparing him to fringe, journeymen defensemen, that just feels like trolling. And it also cannot be restated enough that even established NHL defenders like McDonagh look like a joke at times in this system. The kid will be fine.
 
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Ola said:
One general comment: This organization must start to get our Ds to fire the puck better. This has been a beef for me since Staal was a rookie for us back like what in 06' or whatever, well over a decade. Marc Staal is a 6´4 physically gifted human being. Why on earth does he not have a good shot from the blueline? Why on earth isn't he smooth with the puck there with the ability to release a fast a slapper? One time it? Completely unacceptable. Its purely a drilling thing, and it wouldn't even take much work to get it right. With the proper attention put on it, say a 3 weeks one summer and then maintenance regulary, Staal should easily be able to like function on even a PP point in a LHS shooting role. Of course not be able to compete with the better PPQBs, but just take a shift there if needed. Staal is downright lost on the offensive blueline. There is no excuse for that.

For a long time we had a blueline where like nobody could fire the puck, or very few.

Now TDA, Pionk and Gilmour are getting sooo many chances, they have 3 goals between them in like 67 games or something. All three have a good release, but they aren't scoring. Neither have confidence with their shots or any kind of world class shots. We just cannot let this go on, if someone have skating issues they are going to get to work on it a lot. We would see to it, or like let them hit the highway if they didn't work on it. The same thing should definitely apply to our Ds when it comes to shooting the puck. Its to important to not fix. 10k shots per summer minimum. Give them one of those hand held counters and ask them to not bother show up in september unless it reads 10,000. /Rant.
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All you need is an area of boards and about 50 pucks and someone to pass to you--you don't even need a net though a net would be helpful. Better though is plant yourself in front of the net about 50 feet out with one guy on either side of you passing it either from below the circles or moving up to the blueline and just one timer after one timer and work on getting some movement into it. I agree--Staal's been around forever and he still handles the puck in the offensive zone like a hand grenade. Karpovtsev was like that too. Great shot when he got it off--tons of velocity but so long for him to set that shot up. Being able to one time pucks vastly improves a player's ability to score goals.

Most players have weaknesses and those are things that they should put time into and work on.
 
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