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I wonder if the Caps have any interest in AK to take Semin's spot on the second line. If they are interested, you'd have to think they'd be an ideal situation for Kostitsyn as possibly the most Russian-friendly organization in the league, with plenty of cap room, and offensive-minded coach, and a spot on Ribeiro's wing waiting for him. I'd love to get him on a 2 year, 7-8M contract. Hell of a lot better than heading into the season with Perrault or Wolski as our 2LW.
I wonder if the Caps have any interest in AK to take Semin's spot on the second line. If they are interested, you'd have to think they'd be an ideal situation for Kostitsyn as possibly the most Russian-friendly organization in the league, with plenty of cap room, and offensive-minded coach, and a spot on Ribeiro's wing waiting for him. I'd love to get him on a 2 year, 7-8M contract. Hell of a lot better than heading into the season with Perrault or Wolski as our 2LW.
Is there some reason he wouldn't be playing with Ovy and Backstrom as a RW?
Is there some reason he wouldn't be playing with Ovy and Backstrom as a RW?
1) He'd be the Caps' 2nd best scoring threat on the wings (as sad as that is to say) so it makes sense to seperate him and Ovie to create more balanced lines.
2) GMGM has said he likes the chemistry between Backstrom and Johansson, so the top line is probably MJ-Backstrom-Ovie.
Habs fans, how is AK's speed / quickness and anticipation on the forecheck?
If you want someone to replace Heatley on the former Heatley/Thornton/Marleau line he is capable of doing a decent job at that, sometimes he'll show up and other times you won't notice him at all.
For what you're looking for he's not your guy.
For a guy his size he had decent speed, his quickness is good enough and he's solid on his skates but why do you want to complicate the game for him. "Go to the net" or "shoot the puck" is enough English for him.
Habs fans, how is AK's speed / quickness and anticipation on the forecheck?
Generally in game situations, his acceleration seems to me to be rather average, he takes a couple of strides to really get moving but then once he has some momentum, he goes through the gears better and has decent speed. If he's really pissed off over something then his acceleration looks a bit better but in the normal flow of things, I wouldn't rate his acceleration very high (nor is it especially bad). As for his top speed, it's nothing that puts him in with the fastest in the league, but his speed is a little underrated by some fans IMO. He can close up some decent sized gaps between himself and the player he is chasing, be it on the forecheck or when chasing down an icing, he can put himself in contention on a play he looks to be too far away from at first. And once he gets up to speed, with his size he can really hammer into guys.
As for his anticipation on the forecheck, bit difficult to accurately gauge as the Habs have tended to play a rather passive system most of the time where it seemed to me that any player on a line could be the F1, F2 or F3. Sometimes we'd send one guy in deep but more likely they'd just cover the front of the net and then try and force the play to one side of the ice if the D already have the puck under control behind the net. When he does press, he showed on a few occasions that he can use his stick well to steal pucks inside the defensive zone or use his body to pressure opponents. Not to the point of being absolutely brilliant at it, but he could do it well enough.
AK tended to have different roles with the Habs depending on what line he was on. With Pleks and Cammy, he and Pleks seemed more responsible for the board work because there was little point in asking Cammy to do that. But with Eller and Moen, while he would sometimes do the board work, he was the guy we wanted to get the puck to on that line so his play with them was a little more about getting open or to the net. AK also commented that having stable linemates he could learn to play with and knowing what his role was helped him play better (so naturally, we bounced him all over the place).
If he is given some stability then whatever his role is (physical presence, trigger man, playmaker, net presence), I'd expect him to show he can adapt to it and play it fairly well even when matched against the other teams best players (which he had to do a lot with Pleks). He can also work well with a range of centers with different skillsets. The exception to that being Gomez, who he struggled a lot with. But he has shown chemistry with Plek and Eller and showed promise in the little time he got with Saku, Lang and Desharnais. He is a fairly adaptable player all in all. Just not with Gomez
Over the span of 82 games, 40% comes out to 32.8 games Since games are discrete integers, that number is rounded up to 33. 33 games out 82 in which the good Kostitsyn shows up. I thought I was being harsh.
Generally in game situations, his acceleration seems to me to be rather average, he takes a couple of strides to really get moving but then once he has some momentum, he goes through the gears better and has decent speed. If he's really pissed off over something then his acceleration looks a bit better but in the normal flow of things, I wouldn't rate his acceleration very high (nor is it especially bad). As for his top speed, it's nothing that puts him in with the fastest in the league, but his speed is a little underrated by some fans IMO. He can close up some decent sized gaps between himself and the player he is chasing, be it on the forecheck or when chasing down an icing, he can put himself in contention on a play he looks to be too far away from at first. And once he gets up to speed, with his size he can really hammer into guys.
I even put Kostitsyn with the likes of Subban as far as top speed goes...
Generally in game situations, his acceleration seems to me to be rather average, he takes a couple of strides to really get moving but then once he has some momentum, he goes through the gears better and has decent speed. If he's really pissed off over something then his acceleration looks a bit better but in the normal flow of things, I wouldn't rate his acceleration very high (nor is it especially bad). As for his top speed, it's nothing that puts him in with the fastest in the league, but his speed is a little underrated by some fans IMO. He can close up some decent sized gaps between himself and the player he is chasing, be it on the forecheck or when chasing down an icing, he can put himself in contention on a play he looks to be too far away from at first. And once he gets up to speed, with his size he can really hammer into guys.
As for his anticipation on the forecheck, bit difficult to accurately gauge as the Habs have tended to play a rather passive system most of the time where it seemed to me that any player on a line could be the F1, F2 or F3. Sometimes we'd send one guy in deep but more likely they'd just cover the front of the net and then try and force the play to one side of the ice if the D already have the puck under control behind the net. When he does press, he showed on a few occasions that he can use his stick well to steal pucks inside the defensive zone or use his body to pressure opponents. Not to the point of being absolutely brilliant at it, but he could do it well enough.
AK tended to have different roles with the Habs depending on what line he was on. With Pleks and Cammy, he and Pleks seemed more responsible for the board work because there was little point in asking Cammy to do that. But with Eller and Moen, while he would sometimes do the board work, he was the guy we wanted to get the puck to on that line so his play with them was a little more about getting open or to the net. AK also commented that having stable linemates he could learn to play with and knowing what his role was helped him play better (so naturally, we bounced him all over the place).
If he is given some stability then whatever his role is (physical presence, trigger man, playmaker, net presence), I'd expect him to show he can adapt to it and play it fairly well even when matched against the other teams best players (which he had to do a lot with Pleks). He can also work well with a range of centers with different skillsets. The exception to that being Gomez, who he struggled a lot with. But he has shown chemistry with Plek and Eller and showed promise in the little time he got with Saku, Lang and Desharnais. He is a fairly adaptable player all in all. Just not with Gomez
Thanks for the detailed insight. I think AK would be a solid addition to the Sharks as the 7th forward. Slot him next to Marleau/Thornton as the F1 or along with Pavelski on the 3rd line along with Wingels (assuming Pavs goes back to the 3rd line).
In any case, it's probably a pipe dream since DW doesn't seem fond of Russians unfortunately.
Habs fans, how is AK's speed / quickness and anticipation on the forecheck?
No top end gear
Below average anticipation
Disinterested for long stretches of time
Has a deadly release, but doesnt have the hockey IQ to find the openings or use his line mates to get clean looks.
Habs fans, how is AK's speed / quickness and anticipation on the forecheck?
he has average mobility for a top 6 forward but he is not a speedster. he won t overwhelm you. his quickness is above average. what you have to remember is he has better skills than his stats suggest, he is just uninterested at times.
Kostitsyn was one of the most consistent Habs, season to season. Game to game though is a whole different story.
I would gladly welcome him back to Montreal. As one poster said above, he should never have left. Unfortunately, we won't have the money for him without some movement to either Gomez or Kaberle.
We all like some players or dislike others. But what's beyond me is why would someone attend every thread that opens for the player they don't like and keep saying their negative opinion
So thread #1 you say your opinion once. That's ok, you don't like the player. Second time , we got you point. Third time, it is kinda annoying.
Thread # 2 - same story. Then you start thinking "This guy is obviously got nothing better to do"
Thread # 3. You just want this person to stop dictating everyone else his BS-ed opinion based on RDS morons
Thread # 4. I'm confident this people need help.
I'm wondering if this nabs fans realize that AK-46 so far is their BEST 1-st rounder developed within organization in last 15 or maybe even more years. Next close to him would be Higgins. MaxPac could become more impact player, but we need 2-3 more years to wait to judge. McDonagh is an awesome player but he got lucky he went to NYR, otherwise god knows what could happened. Otherwise Ward, Hainsey, Marcel Hossa, Perezhogin, Chipchura, Dave Fisher, Komisarek, Chouinard is a long list of MTL 1-st rounders. I don't really believe all of this guys are not talented or failure. I would suggest that there is a problem in developing prospect within the organization. So maybe, just maybe the biggest Andrei's problem is that he was picked by WRONG team
Sure, we got our share of... developmental problems. But how can we get around to fixing that?
First of all keep RDS out of the team
Second of all stop blaming the players and try to make them playing the role they were drafted to do
Third of all try to sign coaches that will fit or adapt to the players within organization.
Forth of all stop double standards and be patient
We all like some players or dislike others. But what's beyond me is why would someone attend every thread that opens for the player they don't like and keep saying their negative opinion
So thread #1 you say your opinion once. That's ok, you don't like the player. Second time , we got you point. Third time, it is kinda annoying.
Thread # 2 - same story. Then you start thinking "This guy is obviously got nothing better to do"
Thread # 3. You just want this person to stop dictating everyone else his BS-ed opinion based on RDS morons
Thread # 4. I'm confident this people need help.
I'm wondering if this nabs fans realize that AK-46 so far is their BEST 1-st rounder developed within organization in last 15 or maybe even more years. Next close to him would be Higgins. MaxPac could become more impact player, but we need 2-3 more years to wait to judge. McDonagh is an awesome player but he got lucky he went to NYR, otherwise god knows what could happened. Otherwise Ward, Hainsey, Marcel Hossa, Perezhogin, Chipchura, Dave Fisher, Komisarek, Chouinard is a long list of MTL 1-st rounders. I don't really believe all of this guys are not talented or failure. I would suggest that there is a problem in developing prospect within the organization. So maybe, just maybe the biggest Andrei's problem is that he was picked by WRONG team
So it's annoying when someone comes into a thread to put a player they dislike down, but it's cool when you come into this thread to put a team down?
So it's annoying when someone comes into a thread to put a player they dislike down, but it's cool when you come into this thread to put a team down?
1) I don't really see where I put the team down to begin with. I lay out the facts and well, if that's what makes you feel I put the team down I can't help it. Please remember I was only stating the facts. Your management is actually responsible for letting the fans down and as a result putting the team down.
2) You obviously have selective reading skills. My post was an answer to some users who make sure to show up in EVERY THREAD (I'll highlight it for you) and repeat the same thing over and over again. Dictating to other users their BS-ed opinion. I don't go to every habs topic and say what I said over and over again, do I?
See the difference?
