Are there any highlights of yesterday's Whale game other than the ones on AHL Live? Which only show 2 goals.
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I think what you might also be seeing is a lack of defensive awareness from the forwards as well. Yogan, Thomas, Kreider. Not exactly known for their defensive play. It's a very young team. With that, comes growing pains and learning a new system. As the entire team learns the system they will get better.
Loved the Haley signing over the off-season. Underrated and tough as nails. He is a Torts player 110%. He would go through multiple walls for his teammates.
Loved the Haley signing over the off-season. Underrated and tough as nails. He is a Torts player 110%. He would go through multiple walls for his teammates.
This is why I felt when he was signed that this would be an NHL move and not an AHL move like Segal and Collins.. Haley will be in the NHL as a replacement for Prust..
Saw the Niemi hit right in front of me, I was sitting a few feet away from it, and soon as I saw McDonald not slowing down I knew it was going to be bad.
The game otherwise showed that the biggest reason for the whale losing is their undisciplined play.
Jean is solid. Watching him play this year a few times, he looks like he could be a similar player to Anisimov (stat wise and composure wise) with more physicality. I'll take it.
Was at the game yesterday, glad Niemi is ok. That hit was AWFUL. Does he have a concussion? His head hit the boards at full speed.
Whale are bad on special teams. PP was awful and the PK was bad too. Hopefully McLIrath will help when he comes back.
Kreider looked good but he's not dominating. Miller looked solid. Tommy Grant board work impressed me, not saying he's going to be the next Tim Kerr but he could become a pretty good AHL power forward.
The D was pretty bad. Niemi was having a nice game before the awful hit. Pyett, Gilroy, Klassen, Collins and Partlett really don't impress me at all.
Talbot was solid, can't fault him on the breakaway goal.
Don't look now, but Thomas, Kolarik and Kreider are all tied for points with 7 in 12, 11 and 11 games respectively. Glad to see Kolarik slowly rounding into form. I am still pretty high on him.
Still hoping to see more from Yogan and Hrivik but I think they may need at least a full year in the AHL anyways.
Also, I know many are bashing the defense but Gilroy and Pyett have 7 points in 12 games. I know defensively they may be lacking, but that is pretty good offensive output considering their PP isn't that great.
even though kreider only has 1 goal he does have 26 shots. if hes getting that many shots he will start scoring more.
Yeah, and he got 7 pts in 11 games which projects to 52 pts for the season. I think a reasonable expectations for him in the AHL this season would have been 50-60 pts, or a little little more than that if he would have gotten regular time on a top PP unit and first line.
A player who needs three years to come close to a PPG in College don't score a PPG in the AHL. Its a tougher league. No matter what, a player who scores a PPG in the AHL is a player who plays the style of a real point getter too, who runs a PP and so forth. Kreider is also not even remotely that player. He has very little creativity with the puck, and is also not that good at protecting the puck down low or around the net.
But, normally a player who do not dominate in the AHL don't like score 50-60 pts in the NHL. But Kreider could definitely be the, not so uncommon, exception to that rule. IE a type who does certain things really well and hence will be able to keep doing the same thing in the NHL as he has done in the AHL. Like no D in the world wants to find themselves shoulder to shoulder in a footrace with Kreider. No D in the AHL and no D in the NHL. Kreiders shot is decent, I wouldn't read much into his shooting percentage in the AHL after 11 games, he will start to score there and he will keep burying shots in the NHL too.
Also, its important to remember the huge diffrence between the NHL and the AHL. The AHL is a unorganized chaos and the NHL atleast is a organized chaos, or just organized. Its very diffrent leagues. I've seen plenty of Europeans for example be able to play one style in the AHL, but a diffrent style -- more natrual to them -- in the NHL. The biggest relevant diffrence here is probably that in the NHL you can basically exclude certain "risks". Its hard to put an exact finger on, but something like this almost. In the NHL you trust your D's to be able to do certain things. So you do not cover for a D in the case he would fail to execute that play. Instead you use the players you have on the ice to achieve other things. If Nik Lidström got a puck on his stick in his own end, 5 players on Detroit is thinking offense and are 100% convinced they still will be attacking 5 seconds later. If Jyri Niemi got the puck in his own end, 10 skaters on the ice is thinking both offense and defense at the same time. Like you can clearly see it after just watching 5 minutes of hockey in the AHL. One team lifts the puck out of their own end, Jyri Niemi scrambles back to fetch the puck. 4 other players on his team is backchecking and 5 players on the other team is forchecking. When he gets the puck, the backchecking players will keep backchecking untill the puck is at the other side of the rink (simply, they don't stop worrying defensively just becase they have the puck), in a sense, and the team forechecking will do a bit of both (in the NHL, if Lidström fetch a puck, many teams just sits back, so it differs in this sense too). In the AHL, a Rico Fata who can be ahead of everyone everywhere on the ice can have a field day. In the NHL you can think much more. In the NHL, you also actually get more room if a misstake is made for example, beacuse nobody is "counting" on it. I am sure to a extent that a player like Kreider gets more avg chances in the AHL, while in the NHL, he will get fewer chances but the ones he get will be much better.
But what's the deal here? 1 goal in 11 games is way, way less than I'd have hoped for him. I haven't seen any of the Whales games.
As we saw last year, when given the puck in scoring area he can score goals. In order to do that players have to be able to get him the puck when he is open in those areas. There are not many players like that on the Whale right now. Not saying it won't happen, as they have quite a few pretty talented forwards who are very young, but it hasn't happened with any consistency.
The same thing happened to him in the WJC's his 2nd year. He was open quite a bit but he had to work VERY HARD to pretty much do everything on his own. He is not that type of player.
Kreider is a bust! I am worried! Trade him for grinders! AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!111111
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It's nice seeing Thomas getting going, though. Any success at the pro level is a good sign from him. I never gave up on the kid and I think he really has some nice potential at the next level.
Yeah, and he got 7 pts in 11 games which projects to 52 pts for the season. I think a reasonable expectations for him in the AHL this season would have been 50-60 pts, or a little little more than that if he would have gotten regular time on a top PP unit and first line.
A player who needs three years to come close to a PPG in College don't score a PPG in the AHL. Its a tougher league. No matter what, a player who scores a PPG in the AHL is a player who plays the style of a real point getter too, who runs a PP and so forth. Kreider is also not even remotely that player. He has very little creativity with the puck, and is also not that good at protecting the puck down low or around the net.
But, normally a player who do not dominate in the AHL don't like score 50-60 pts in the NHL. But Kreider could definitely be the, not so uncommon, exception to that rule. IE a type who does certain things really well and hence will be able to keep doing the same thing in the NHL as he has done in the AHL. Like no D in the world wants to find themselves shoulder to shoulder in a footrace with Kreider. No D in the AHL and no D in the NHL. Kreiders shot is decent, I wouldn't read much into his shooting percentage in the AHL after 11 games, he will start to score there and he will keep burying shots in the NHL too.
Also, its important to remember the huge diffrence between the NHL and the AHL. The AHL is a unorganized chaos and the NHL atleast is a organized chaos, or just organized. Its very diffrent leagues. I've seen plenty of Europeans for example be able to play one style in the AHL, but a diffrent style -- more natrual to them -- in the NHL. The biggest relevant diffrence here is probably that in the NHL you can basically exclude certain "risks". Its hard to put an exact finger on, but something like this almost. In the NHL you trust your D's to be able to do certain things. So you do not cover for a D in the case he would fail to execute that play. Instead you use the players you have on the ice to achieve other things. If Nik Lidström got a puck on his stick in his own end, 5 players on Detroit is thinking offense and are 100% convinced they still will be attacking 5 seconds later. If Jyri Niemi got the puck in his own end, 10 skaters on the ice is thinking both offense and defense at the same time. Like you can clearly see it after just watching 5 minutes of hockey in the AHL. One team lifts the puck out of their own end, Jyri Niemi scrambles back to fetch the puck. 4 other players on his team is backchecking and 5 players on the other team is forchecking. When he gets the puck, the backchecking players will keep backchecking untill the puck is at the other side of the rink (simply, they don't stop worrying defensively just becase they have the puck), in a sense, and the team forechecking will do a bit of both (in the NHL, if Lidström fetch a puck, many teams just sits back, so it differs in this sense too). In the AHL, a Rico Fata who can be ahead of everyone everywhere on the ice can have a field day. In the NHL you can think much more. In the NHL, you also actually get more room if a misstake is made for example, beacuse nobody is "counting" on it. I am sure to a extent that a player like Kreider gets more avg chances in the AHL, while in the NHL, he will get fewer chances but the ones he get will be much better.
Thanks for this post. It was really informative and interesting.
Kreider is a bust! I am worried! Trade him for grinders! AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!111111
Not sure if this was directed at me, but that wasn't what I meant.
I haven't seen any of his games and just wanted an update on his progress
and maybe an explanation why he isn't potting more goals.
Is it because he looks out of place or it looks like he isn't trying, etc.
Not sure if this was directed at me, but that wasn't what I meant.
I haven't seen any of his games and just wanted an update on his progress
and maybe an explanation why he isn't potting more goals.
Is it because he looks out of place or it looks like he isn't trying, etc.
He looks good.
While every player thrives to some degree with good linemates, Kreider needs skill (which is why Callahan won't complement him very well IMO).
Kris Newbury is a good AHL player, a very good one at that, but he's a north-south guy that isn't particularly good at carrying the puck or dishing it off (that's not to say he can't pass, he's just not what I would call a playmaker). Unfortunately there isn't a ton of skill on the Whale; guys like Segal do well but they don't complement Kreider's skills. Thomas and Miller do, but they're rookies as well trying to find their way. MZA or JAM would have fit nicely on a line with Kreider, but they're gone.
In the games I've watched he looks similar to the way he did in college; good, but he's playing with the exact same type of linemates so it's hard to produce for him. He's not a dynamic offensive player, but if he plays with a guy who can find him with the puck he's lethal.
I could even see Kreider meshing with Christensen if he were still a Ranger.
