All taken with a grain of salt as it’s still insanely early but impressions:
Lucic: It may be my nostalgia but Lucic looked real solid tonight, engaged, making simple smart plays, good vet performance from Lucic.
Beecher: impressed me again this game, looked engaged, good on face offs, good PK and forechecking. Flying out there. It’s early but I’d say he deserves a shot based on his effort so far over most of the guys he is competing with.
McLaughlin- some solid faceoff skills, skating well, good pressure on forecheck, good energy guy, like what he brought over the PTO guys and Megna.
Toporowski: nothing too spectacular but I’ve notice him a lot, buzzing out there, had some energy to his game at least.
Kuntar: took a bit of time for him to settle in tonight but as the game has gone on, looking more comfortable, a few nice chances.
Lauko, tough with the penalties but he is at least coming with good energy and compete. To me he is an ideal 4th liner, hope he gets a longer look. Like his game over the PTO guys.
Boqvist: has made some good plays on PK and back checking/neutral zone, decent puck handling skills, not sure he is doing enough to separate him from the rest but he hasn’t been bad, kinda weak on pucks/nothing too physical.
Chiasson- eh fine vet, thought he was fine but I’d rather give those bottom 6 spots to younger guys in the system who have been with the team longer and have done more to get a shot (I’d rather see more Lauko-Steen-McLaughlin given a shot)
Steen has been real solid, nice to see him rewarded on that rebound goal, not afraid of going into grimy areas and battle hard. Not afraid to get physical and muck it up! I’m rooting for him and think he could eventually carve out a niche somewhere. Real strong solid frame given his smaller size and you can tell the difference when he goes in on forechecks or board battles compared to guys like Boqvist/Heinen. Hope he can continue to do more to make a case for himself. Like I said, I’d rather see guys like him and Lauko get longer looks over guys like Heinen, Boqvist, Chiasson, Megna types. I think Steen has a lot more he can show and hope he figures it out.
Megna- eh fine providence guy, not sure I really want to see him getting any more games in.
Merkulov-started the game quiet and by the 3rd I thought he got a lot better. Some real nice clean faceoff wins too! I’m a BIG fan from what I’ve seen of him in providence. He has been dominant in Providence in the handful of games I went to last year. I’m on the Merkulov train, amazing skill set, passing, crafty, good skating, awesome shot. I want him to take that next step and think Boston could use his skill set. Seems like a guy that needs good line mates to really excel and tap into that offensive creativity. He seemed to set things up but the line mates wouldn’t be in sync. Feel like he is gonna be one of those guys that needs more time in the AHL and then a random injury will happen, he will get called up, light it up and never go back down…I hope!
Heinen: the most polarizing player at camp….but no no I’ve always liked heinen, he had a few brief flashes of that crafty play but to be honest underwhelmed with his energy/performance given someone on a PTO trying to play for a contract. To me he has to do ALOT more to make the team, give me Lauko, Steen, Beecher, McLaughlin over this version of Heinen. See if he steps it up as camp goes cause otherwise I think we have better depth options in the system.
defense- rating just bad overall
Carlo and Grz lots of rust, not a good game by either, both seemed to really struggle moving pucks
Mast and Brunet just way in over their heads
Lohrei- not a good game man he is green, looks like he still needs a lot of time to figure some things out, lots of bad plays with the puck, turnovers, some bad pinches, some positioning issues. I’m sure he will figure it out, I see the skills there, good shot leading to the one goal, but needs some real time working on the thinking- what’s between the ears. Faster pace will be an adjustment, hope he adds a little more physicalness to that big frame. Skating looked good and bad, was getting beat a few times and looked a bit lumbering at times, and then finesse dancing other times. The skills are there!
Ian Mitchell: eh I just don’t like the player I guess haha I’ve only seen him 2 times so this has to be taken with a huge grain of salt but to me he looks like a standard trick or treat d-man. I thought he had an awful awful first half of the game, I heard “And Mitchell can’t get the puck out” way too many times in the 2 games I’ve watched, seems like it’s a common issue with him. He did have one insane awesome shift in the second and then I will admit he came alive in the third, good pinches, some solid D plays. I know he is a Monty guy but I really hope he doesn’t become a regular on the backend. The “treat” part of his game-(the shot, outlet passes, the right pinches) I don’t think will outweigh the “trick” -defensive liabilities, decision making. I say all this after seeing him play twice so really im jumping the gun hahah but eh, im sure Monty will give him lots of chances to see what he can do. Sometimes it’s nice to irrationally not like a guy…so I guess Ian Mitchell is my guy. He really did show the positives the second half of the game though, so credit there.
Goalies did just fine.
Anyway give me some combo of Beecher, Lauko, Steen, McLaughlin over Chiasson, Heinen, Megna, Boqvist. Hope the younger guys get longer looks this year in the bottom 6! They brought a lot more energy/engagement than those vets who are fighting for the same spots.