Hes good and has turned out to sort of be like Marchand basically a gritty 3rd liner with the offense and skill of a 2nd liner.
Looks to be a fit for our system. Hasn't looked out of place at all basically replacing Peverley.
As an honest assessment:
He is grittier than advertised, decent speed too. He looks like he has a lack of finishing (I would chalk it up to bad luck, but the Dallas scouts said the same thing, so...) his super weak goal on Thomas tonight doesn't change my mind on that. If it comes down to Smith or Caron, Smith has him by a fair margin. I would like to see:
Lucic-Krejci-Iggy
Soderberg-Bergeron-Eriksson
Marchand--Kelly--Smith
Merlot
As that 3rd line would be fast, gritty and good. Marchand and Smith on the 3rd line would cause fits for the opposition and the 2nd could use Soderberg's size for all the board work they do.
He is exactly what this team needed.While he may be in over his head playing in the top 6, he seems like he is a good fit in the bottom 6. If he keeps up the intensity,it looks like it is between Soderberg and Caron for that last spot.The extra depth will come in handy in the playoffs.My assessment is different from most. (I see where the lack of finishing idea arises, but I would say he lacks strength. He is similar to Peverley but without quite as much speed or acceleration but a more well rouned game. (He has better anticipation)...A speed player that needs to work on strength and grit, but has some other nice attributes....He may develop...
I think it's too early to make a call on his finish. 28 goals as a 19 year old sophomore, 30 goals as a 20 year old junior (2nd in the nation, first in the CCHA conference by ten goals). I know that's college but those are pretty big numbers and he produced decently in the AHL, still could find his touch in the NHL.
I like him. He just needs to stop passing up shooting opportunities.
Kid`s played well, not saying any more about him or I`ll jinx everything
Still not sure he`s a top 6 guy, but he`s done nothing to force Julien to move him anywhere else in this short sample size