The Utica Comets | 2020-2021 Thread

[F A N]

Lind or Gadjovich - if you had to choose one over the other, who would you choose? Both from the Comets' perspective and from the Canucks perspective.

 

[Fatass]

Lind or Gadjovich - if you had to choose one over the other, who would you choose? Both from the Comets' perspective and from the Canucks perspective.

Right now, it’s Lind. Got to choose the guy who has NHL legs. I just don’t see where Gads would play on an NHL team’s lineup?

 

[wonton15]

Woo - Rathbone looks so promising.

 

[canuckking1]

What quality of level do you guys think the AHL is this year? With a lot of guys going to Europe or on an NHL taxi squad.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

Some players are not coming back this season

 

[Fatass]

What quality of level do you guys think the AHL is this year? With a lot of guys going to Europe or on an NHL taxi squad.

Aren’t there some really skilled, recently drafted, CHL guys in the A right now, who are playing under special permission?
It’s still a very good league, but might be a bit younger than usual.
The Comets have really dominated in their last few games. Shots are like 3-1. Bone and Lockwood look NHL ready.

 

[Blue and Green]

Lind or Gadjovich - if you had to choose one over the other, who would you choose? Both from the Comets' perspective and from the Canucks perspective.

Lind, definitely. Gadjovich is much stronger and is skilled at scoring goals near the net. Lind is better in virtually every other aspect; the difference in playmaking ability is huge. Neither of them skates well enough but Lind's skating is a level above Gadjovich's skating.

 

[Bad Goalie]

Comets just outworked and outplayed Crunch in this one. Shouldn't have been close if the Crunch had little more scoring ability. Team tends to pass up shots and attempts. Seemingly lack much confidence in their finishing abilities.

Liked

Woo - had just an excellent game. His positioning, puck movement and play around his net was again very good. Shows very good gap control and good one on one defense. Nice hands on his goal and showed an ability to move in from blue line to take advantage of chances. Thing I like best, however, was when he lost puck a couple of times he simply went to a higher gear and quickly dumped the man off puck and got it back . As I said earlier it is hard to gauge players b/c of uncertainty of the level of play in this League at this point. However, Woo is looking like a good prospect.

Rathbone - very good on the point on the PP. His shot consistently creates problems around the net and he can dish off a good set up passes. Thought 2nd PP unit with him was better than the first. Maybe should move Anas to the 2nd group. Worked well with Woo and they were out late in the game to protect the lead. Rathbone made a good block in the late going that lead to a clearance. Throughout most of the game Rathbone and Woo moved the puck very quickly out of their zone and provided Crunch with very little o-zone time. They were very efficient at that.

Focht - like this player. Good two way game where he made some very good back checking efforts. Thought he showed good speed coming out of his end and was good getting the puck through the neutral zone. Worked well with Rathbone on the PP and got off a couple of dangerous chances. However, needs to work on shot. Not bad but it needs to become absolute weapon for him to move up. Lots of moxie in his game.

Others

Lockwood - though not that big, holds his ground well on hits. Packs a bit of punch as far hitting goes. Looks a little lost around the opposition net and needs to really improve game there.

Eliot - solid effort. Shows ability to move up in the neutral zone and break up plays.

Baertschi - shows some individual talent at times but overall ho hum and lacks upper level speed.

Gadjovich - not his best effort. Worked hard on the forecheck and helped there but was thrashing around some and not smooth at all. Looked like MacEwen can when he is getting tired and ends up just chasing. Might be fatigue showing here as players like Gadjovich just have to work harder to stay in the play b/c of skating issues.

Fitzpatrick - new goalie. Had very little to do. St Louis property

Cameron - new player. 25 year old out of college who showed a good turn of speed. Looks like he might help the team. Made me wonder how Michealis would look on the Comets

"Shouldn't have been close if the Crunch had little more scoring ability. Team tends to pass up shots and attempts. Seemingly lack much confidence in their finishing abilities."

I made a point of this a few days back. It's in this thread but I'm not going to search for it. I said the Comets fail to take advantage of their scoring opportunities by passing up clearly great scoring chances by forcing the puck to someone else for the shot and just give it away in the process. I stated it was as if they didn't believe they could score. I'm sure it came from the earlier games when they tried and failed. The team doesn't really have any so called snipers. I said their best scoring chances came in close in net front scrambles where the dirty goals are scored on tips, rebounds and just plain bashing the puck through defenders and the keeper. This team will not score many pretty goals.

Baertschi (10Pts/13GP) and Anas (12Pts/9GP)are the only guys here with a history of scoring goals and recording points at a PPG rate. As long a s Gadjovich (11G/13Pts/13GP to lead the Comets in both points and goals) can stay hitched to Anas he will become the newest Comet to enter that stratosphere. Even J.Stevens (4G) is benefitting from getting the puck to Anas.

Gadjovich is the most sterling example of how prospects prosper and grow with the help of AHL/NHL veteran players on an AHL team. Anas has helped create a scoring monster.

Nolan Stevens has been considered a disappointment by the Blues and San Antonio fan bases. They have counted on him to be a goal scorer. Instead he has mostly been a setup man. He has 8 assists and only 2 goals in his 10 points with the Comets in his 12 GP.

Jasek is in the exact same category. He benefits from playing with goal scorers. He gets them the puck and piles up his assists. He won't shoot unless he absolutely has to. Yet, he has 12 Pts comprised of 2G and 10A skating mainly with Baertschi and McKenzie and centering the #1 PP.

McKenzie ha been a big disappointment. 54Pts/71GP and 42Pts/61GP the last 2 seasons in AHL Chicago. St. Louis signed him to help the kids just like Anas. 2G/2A/4Ptsin 11GP is not up to snuff. His goal on Wednesday (last night) was his first since game 2 on Feb 6th and his assist last night was his second in the last 2 games. 3 of his 4 points in his last 2 games. Maybe he is getting himself together. That would be a big lift to the Comets scoring.

No one else up front is worth the mention based upon scoring. The 3rd line has basically been Nolan Stevens/Focht/Lockwood and they have 3 goals combined.

4th line has been a mixture of the rest Kaspick in the middle and McGing on the right with Arseneau, Jackson, and Cameron in and out on the left have 5 goals combined and 3 of them belong to Arseneau in 6 GP. That means the other 4 have managed 2.

The Comets have played 13 games and the 3 and 4 lines have contributed less than 1 goal/game.

The Defense isn't exactly sparkling either. Teves, Reinke, and Woo (1st as a pro last night) have 1 each and Rathbone has 2, 1 in March and 1 in April (so far). Eliot, Tucker, and Wesley 0. The last 3 guys shoot the puck as much as anyone and they miss the net way more than they hit it. Wesley is a foolish shooter. Puck on his stick he's shooting. Terrible idea for a guy who can't even hit the net.

Rathbone shoots a lot but when he does he almost always hits the net and often shoots it low so it can be tipped and creates a lot of rebounds. He's also hit the post a couple of times.

Woo has been picking his spots, but his shooting has also been accurate in that he hits the net.

Teves shoots a lot but also misses the net a lot. Repeat for Eliot.

For the amount of shots the D crew gets a lot more offense should be coming through them, but when they miss the net it is very often the breakout pass the opponent needs to get up ice.

Woo and Rathbone set the page for the rest of the D. They all followed the the Woo-Bone gap control. They all tried to clear the zone quickly to avoid all the havoc that occurs with the bad first pass or the lolly gagging before trying to move the puck under pressure. Rest on orca.

Focht had his best game of the season. Rest per orca.

Orca too kind to Will. Lockwood doesn't seem to have a clue about playing offense. In an early season interview he actually said he wasn't skilled offensively and makes up for it with his hard forecheck, playing the body, and back checking to protect in his own zone. "Tough to play against" was how he finished it up. He does all of that. That's not a lie, but he needs to develop a semblance of the other side of the game. It doesn't take long for the fan base to start up with the, "Yeah, his D is good, but an NHL player has to score some goals. You can pick up the hard to play against on waivers because they can't score either."

Eliot is handling himself well. The state of the league has been a match for his game. If he could kick that play up a notch so, as to be able to handle the bottom duo role vs the lesser talented lines in the normal AHL he might become a steady 5/6 guy in the AHL. Much more dependable than Teves. Has to clean up his short turnover passes and the long stretch pass to the opponent stepping in front of his intended receiver. He telegraphs the pass.Baetschi is too good for the league and instead of stepping up to prove it, he is just coasting along playing well enough to excel, but not hard enough to be a real team leader. He's collecting his money, playing a decent game, and setting an example of how to play forward in the pro game, but not enough to set an example to the kids of how to play a hard, fast, explosive game.

Cameron's effort has impressed me and I think also Cull. The kid is a hard forechecker and takes the body like Lockwood, but not as often. He disrupts the offense and has a had a couple good scoring chances resulting from his aggressive efforts.
As to Michaelis, I am on record having said he should have started out here in the first place. there was nothing about him that suggested he was ready to play at the NHL level. After a few games he has been shelved and many posters have already written him off.

Fitzpatrick has consistently been the #3 with 4 keepers having been on the roster and always 3 there. He didn't have a lot to do, but made a couple big stops. I thought he was attacking the puck instead of just easily playing the shot and turning the rebounds to the corners or holding on. Shaky on even stopping a covering a slow puck gliding in on him. Failed to cover it and turned it over. As orca says he's St. Louis property, but with the way Hofer has played Fitz has slid down the depth chart. Gillies and Hofer are St.Louis contributions to the Comets and they have been the best keepers here without a doubt to date.

Comets in Providence tomorrow. Team is 13-4-1-0 playing in a 3 team Division much like Utica has been doing. 2nd place Hartford is 10-6-1-0. and Bridgeport is 3-13-1-0.
Providence has been feeding off the Bridgeport Sound Tigers and winning it's share against the Hartford Wolf Pack.

Thus, can't sat just exactly how good the Bruins are. I would say as of the moment the Comets will have their hands full tomorrow. I'll be here and try to keep the thread informed of how they do. The Canucks game has rightfully been cancelled so I don't have to close up shop right away to get to the Vancouver game.

 

[Bad Goalie]

I have tried to point out how well Tampa stocks its farm and how many of the Crunch have made it to the Lightnng over the last few years. Tonight during the MSNBC game between Tampa and Florida, the broadcast crew took a bit of time to express the great job Tampa has done developing players in Syracuse. They praised the great working relationship the 2 teams have and the presence of Syracuse graduates is well represented throughout the Lightning lineup. They also highlighted the coaches that Tampa has placed in Syracuse. Top notch hockey people. Oh, well.