Pielsman
10-05-2003, 06:50 AM
I sure liked to see O'Donnell come in to defend Boynton against the late cheap shots to the head yesterday. Not that Nick cant stick up for himself; it just showed some fire on the part of OD.
The best part about it is that it didnt have to be McCarthy or Stock- O.D. can handle himself fine, and has looked (and sounded) pretty fiesty in the pre-season so far. And with newcomers McGillis, Moran, Jillson and possibly others on the blue line, OD shouldnt have to be the "go to" guy on defense like he was two years ago.
I dont advocate turning OD into a "goon", but if he dropped the gloves 4-5 times a year, and cleared the crease with more authority, he'd probably keep opposing forwards more "honest", imo. I'm hoping he keeps up the "fiesty" (or "owly" play as Dale Arnold calls it).
Ideally OD could play more like 20 minutes per game instead of 25.
-Piels
WhamBamCam8
10-05-2003, 07:02 AM
I sure liked to see O'Donnell come in to defend Boynton against the late cheap shots to the head yesterday. Not that Nick cant stick up for himself; it just showed some fire on the part of OD.
The best part about it is that it didnt have to be McCarthy or Stock- O.D. can handle himself fine, and has looked (and sounded) pretty fiesty in the pre-season so far. And with newcomers McGillis, Moran, Jillson and possibly others on the blue line, OD shouldnt have to be the "go to" guy on defense like he was two years ago.
I dont advocate turning OD into a "goon", but if he dropped the gloves 4-5 times a year, and cleared the crease with more authority, he'd probably keep opposing forwards more "honest", imo. I'm hoping he keeps up the "fiesty" (or "owly" play as Dale Arnold calls it).
Ideally OD could play more like 20 minutes per game instead of 25.
-Piels
Part of OD's allure when he played for the Kings/Wild was his toughness. Once he got traded to the Devils, it disappeared. I still haven't seen any of it in his two year stint, except for maybe a game or two. OD has the potential to play physical, but I'm not sure why he doesn't bring it much anymore.
95-96 LA 127pim
96-97 LA 144pim
97-98 LA 179pim
98-99 LA 186pim
99-00 LA 114pim
00-01 MIN 128pim
with us.
01-02 BOS 89pim
02-03 BOS 76pim
No BANG for our buck. The passive OD that we aquired has been a disappointment to me.
earthstar
10-05-2003, 07:26 AM
Part of OD's allure when he played for the Kings/Wild was his toughness. Once he got traded to the Devils, it disappeared. I still haven't seen any of it in his two year stint, except for maybe a game or two. OD has the potential to play physical, but I'm not sure why he doesn't bring it much anymore.
95-96 LA 127pim
96-97 LA 144pim
97-98 LA 179pim
98-99 LA 186pim
99-00 LA 114pim
00-01 MIN 128pim
with us.
01-02 BOS 89pim
02-03 BOS 76pim
No BANG for our buck. The passive OD that we aquired has been a disappointment to me.
I don't think it's fair to consider O'Donnell a disappointment. I think he's played an assigned role that he wasn't truly comfortable with these past two seasons. With the additions of McGillis and Jillson carrying some of the offensive load, the continued development of Boynton and Sullivan behind the bench I think the real O'Donnell will re-emerge. Hopefully he won't be asked to carry as much of the offensive load as he was two seasons ago.
WhamBamCam8
10-05-2003, 07:39 AM
I don't think it's fair to consider O'Donnell a disappointment. I think he's played an assigned role that he wasn't truly comfortable with these past two seasons. With the additions of McGillis and Jillson carrying some of the offensive load, the continued development of Boynton and Sullivan behind the bench I think the real O'Donnell will re-emerge. Hopefully he won't be asked to carry as much of the offensive load as he was two seasons ago.
No offense, but I don't see how anyone CAN'T be disappointed with him and what he's brought to this team thus far. He's a decent defenseman, no doubt, but he was signed to be a tough, aggressive force back there. He has changed his personalty play wise since he got here. I was expecting an animal in front of the net, someone that would through a tough check and soemone that wouldn't hesitate to take on the other teams toughguys......
I have to agree with Earthstar (and welcome to the boards by the way). I think that O'Donnell has done a good job considering he was asked to change his game under the coaching system.
I think thus far under Sully, which albeit has just been pre-season games, we have seen the real O'Donnell show up. He has been throwing his weight around a little more and I didn't see the game when he stuck up for Boynton, but I was at the game in Manchester when he went after Charpentier and crushed him into the boards sticking up for another team mate. And Stock & I think Grosek were on the ice at that time.
If this doesn't continue, and he's soft still, then I'd agree that we could be a little disappointed with his tenure as a Bruin. At least in that he wasn't what we expected.