Fan of this. I'd much rather Stralman than Bell. Scratch one of Eminger and Woywitka. Stralman is much better than some give him credit for. I'm surprised he's out of a job as well. I think being on Columbus has really dropped his stock as well. Go for it, he can help with our PP troubles as well.
__________________
Jaime Lannister has better hands than Brian Boyle.
Devils fans wanted him signed form what I remember. I would easily take him over Woywitka and Bell. Just outright release Woywitka if possible.
__________________
"Of course giving Sather cap space is like giving teenagers whiskey and car keys." - SBOB "Watching Sather build a team is like watching a blind man with no fingers trying to put together an elaborate puzzle." - Shadowtron
Sestito still on the make a wish tour. - rholt168
AGrossRecord Andrew Gross
Record teammate Tom Gulitti @TGfireandice reports #NYR have made a contract offer to UFA D Anton Stralman, who was in Devils camp on tryout.
Hopefully this is completely unrelated to Staal. However, I'm definitely not taking it as a good sign.
As physical as a pillow. Above average first pass and puck mover, above average skater and vision. Poor shot and poor position play. Good offensive upside but I don't see how he would fit in with Torts style of play. Poor kid would be run out of town and permanently in Torts doghouse within 2 weeks.
I would definitely not mind taking a shot on this kid.
First of all, we are talking about a kid in the "Matt Gilroy-mold", if you get what I mean. We are not getting someone who really is established but has flaws, nor a finnished product. Which mostly is negative, you certainly got some potential, but he is still going to have to feel his way some.
Second of all, while having flaws he is in some sense fundamentally a very good hockeyplayer. He has played for very weak teams his entire career, and still seems to suffer from that in terms of confidence. Especially defensively. He also a non-physical player like Gilroy.
But his speed is really good, he moves well both offensively and defensively, he is not like lost defensively. I've heard comments about him like being clueless or very soft -- I don't think thats true actually. He looses too many "solid battles" defensively though for sure.
But his right handed shot is very good. He moves the puck up ice well, and can skate it up ice better than say Erixon. He is a decent PPQB, probably a notch above Erixon there as well (natrually Erixon is still very young, and can improve more than Strålman).
Odds are, probably, that if we get him, he won't amount into much. Maybe bring temporary help. In a sense he is like Zucc, it don't make much sense to play him as a 5-7th D. With his style, he needs ice time to be successful (its nothing wrong with playing with small marginals, all D's does it, but you cannot be expected to do it if you sit on the bench for 10 minutes). NJD obviously took that into consideration, Adam Larsson stepeed up for them and then it didn't make much sense for them to carry Strålman if he wasn't going to get PP time etc. He probably is not good enough to warrent that ice time for us either, hence, he probably wouldn't stick here when people get healty and we are up and running.
At the same time, he got quality's that we need for sure (puckmoving ability etc). He has alot of talent, and is a special kid who has proven that he can be a very good hockey player at many levels (WJCH's, WCH's, SEL). He could be a steal if he finds his groove here in NY.
