We had to close the old thread due to the incredible amount of replies/bogging down of the server. Continue the discussion here. A link the old thread can be found here:
We had to close the old thread due to the incredible amount of replies/bogging down of the server. Continue the discussion here. A link the old thread can be found here:
EroSennin wrote:
"What about Parent? What has he been up to? WJC?"
Ryan Parent has been injured for a good part of this season. Earlier on he had a groin injury and then a couple of games after his return from that, he injured his shoulder. He should be back on the ice within a week or so for the Guelph Storm.
Does anyone have information on Gefferion's injury? He did not play vs Minny tonight and they said during the broadcast he was scratched due to injury.
Does anyone have information on Gefferion's injury? He did not play vs Minny tonight and they said during the broadcast he was scratched due to injury.
That explains why we didn't see him at Karjala Cup playing for Team Russia (or is he injured?). I was expecting to see him...
As is the case with quite a few former CSKA players who left the team, Bykov and Kulyash don't get along too well. He also suffered his third concussion of the season recently, this one hospitalizing him for over a week. Thus, quite unfortuneately, Denis isn't likely to see any national team action this year. However, Bykov not inviting him to represent Russia certainly doesn't mean he isn't good enough; before all the concussions hit Kulyash showed that he had progressed from last season quite nicely.
As is the case with quite a few former CSKA players who left the team, Bykov and Kulyash don't get along too well. He also suffered his third concussion of the season recently, this one hospitalizing him for over a week. Thus, quite unfortuneately, Denis isn't likely to see any national team action this year. However, Bykov not inviting him to represent Russia certainly doesn't mean he isn't good enough; before all the concussions hit Kulyash showed that he had progressed from last season quite nicely.
slitty, obviously kulyash's offense is well-documented, but how is his defense? is he bad defensively? responsible? good? i just ask because while his offense intrigues me, i worry about one-dimensional offensive d-men fitting into our system.
slitty, obviously kulyash's offense is well-documented, but how is his defense? is he bad defensively? responsible? good? i just ask because while his offense intrigues me, i worry about one-dimensional offensive d-men fitting into our system.
An important distinction that should be made about Kulyash's offense is he isn't a Koltsov who just takes off ahead of the forwards, manouvering around opposing players right and left on route to goal. Yes, Kulyash is a good passer and can pull a Kovalchukesque move or two if need be, but that isn't his main distinction. Kulyash's offense primarily consists of perhaps the best slapshot in European hockey, and thus the ability to play the point on the powerplay or to simply wire it from the blueline at even strength. Given the nature of a typical offensive play made by Kulyash, he is rarely left out of position, and is thus, for the most part, reasonably responsible defenseively. In terms of his actual defensive play, its grown to be good by RSL standards and passable at the World Championships. What that precisely equates to at the NHL level is hard to say, but it certainly doesn't hurt that Kulyash is a physical guy.
He will need to work on his positional play, but some intensive coaching in the AHL should make him ready for bottom pairing + powerplay duty in the NHL within his first year in North America. In terms of giving you an idea of how good Kulyash is by comparing him to a player who recently tried his hand at the North American game, Khomitsky is probably the best candidate for such. Kulyash is substantially better than Khomitsky offensively due to his shot and a certain element of razzle dazzle that Khomitsky simply didn't have. Considering that Khomitsky was one of the AHL leaders offensively among defenders before he returned to Russia, I would say that Kulyash's offensive production should not be an issue were he to cross the pond. Khomitsky was, in fact, a little more sound defensively than Kulyash - but on the whole the two were comparable and had about the same level of physical presence. Khomitsky was reportedly fairly dominant defensively at the AHL level as well.
Kulyash may also need to increase the speed at which he lets his slapshot go as he generally has an absolutely huge wind-up with the blade of his stick often starting its arc above his head. Given this information, draw your own conclusions as to just what Kulyash can do for the Preds if he comes over for next season: they are most likely going to be significantly more accurate than my own. I for one am pulling for Kulyash to establish himself as an NHLer... he oozes with still untapped potential and as you can probably infer from my current avatar, he is one of my favourite players.
As is the case with quite a few former CSKA players who left the team, Bykov and Kulyash don't get along too well. He also suffered his third concussion of the season recently, this one hospitalizing him for over a week. Thus, quite unfortuneately, Denis isn't likely to see any national team action this year. However, Bykov not inviting him to represent Russia certainly doesn't mean he isn't good enough; before all the concussions hit Kulyash showed that he had progressed from last season quite nicely.
It annoys me a little that Russia has that kind of guy in charge of their national team. I love watching hockey and would obviously always love to see the best possible players out there. Especially players that are considered good (or better) NHL prospects.
just thought I would let you nashville fans know that ryan parent is again a lock to make the team canada defence along with letang, staal, russell, bourdon and then the 6th spot is open and cody franson currently has the edge on the 6th dman spot, he definetly stood out in the first inter-squad game
Not as much obvious offensive talent but a better team.
I think losing the older guys...Oshie, Schremp(despite his horrific misuse), and then guys like Ryan...is going to hurt. To expect Pat Kane and Kyle Okposo to get it done in their first year might be asking a lot, but hopefully I'm wrong.
I refuse to get my hopes up, though, because I had high expectations last year and was let down in a major year. I think it all starts and ends with who ends up in net for us, and I'm hoping it's Zatkoff....and then I hope he can get the job done.
Just in case people didn't know, there's a Laakso vs. Parent/Franson (FIN-CAN) practice/exhibition match tonight here in Helsinki. Should be exciting from that point of view (doesn't interest me that much outside certain prospects, because I'm pretty sure Canada is even more dominant than last year)...
Anyways, I'll report back after the game (it's already pretty late here, so the game should end in 4-5 hours from now) or tomorrow. Hope they all do well...
Last edited by Panopticon: 12-20-2006 at 02:08 PM.
REPORT: OK, not much of a report, I'm not that good at describing what I saw. First of all, I didn't see Franson on the ice at all. He may have gotten a few shifts here and there, but he definitely didn't play much.
Parent: What can I say? I saw him on the ice because I was looking for him, but I didn't notice him if you know what I mean. Good basic game, no mistakes, but nothing fancy either. If you ask me his game looked about the same as it did last time I saw him (last years WJC, meaning impressive defensive game), but I'm no expert.
Laakso: Scored Finland's first goal on the powerplay (against Parent and Staal no less... OK, it was a 5 on 3 PP ) and was selected as Team Finland's best player. Played with more confidence than what I've seen of him all year. He was doing everything and barely made mistakes. Zero bad mistakes. Nearly scored a second one at the final minutes through traffic, but the shot just missed the net. Price was clueless and it would've been a goal if it had hit the net. (OK, I kinda focused on Laakso, surprise surprise)
In the end, there was no question about the winner (Canada won 2-5), even though Canada got some lucky goals, but they also missed many really good chances (well, Rask made some really good saves, two of them were amazing even). The funny thing about the game was that Finland won the period where they sucked the most (Finland won the second period 1-0 even though they were outshot 8-13, the Finland outshot Canada 11-7 in the last period, but lost the period 1-3). The numbers could've easily been 1-2, hell Finland could've even won it, but they also could've also easily been down 0-5 after the first period if they didn't have Rask in the net.
EDIT: A Quote from another thread that explains why I didn't see Franson much later in the game. Apparently they benched him because:
Quote:
Originally Posted by ES
Franson made couple of bad passes early in the game but Finland couldn't take advantage of them.
And I remember it now, he practically gave the puck to the Finns on more than one occasion.
Last edited by Panopticon: 12-20-2006 at 03:21 PM.
REPORT: OK, not much of a report, I'm not that good at describing what I saw. First of all, I didn't see Franson on the ice at all. He may have gotten a few shifts here and there, but he definitely didn't play much.
EDIT: A Quote from another thread that explains why I didn't see Franson much later in the game. Apparently they benched him because:
And I remember it now, he practically gave the puck to the Finns on more then one occasion.
The commentators were just telling a story about Franson and how he used to use his sister for a goalie at their home rink...
Apparently as Cody grew up his sister quickly stopped wanting to play goalie due to his shot...well...Cody took an idea from "Mighty Ducks" and tied his sister "Colby" to the net.
He has broken his sister's nose nine times. Talk about "brotherly love".
oops ... make that Pyatt's goal ... but what a wrister by Franson
The great release by Franson made that goal happen. Cody got the puck at the middle of the blueline, walked it a couple of feet to find the shooting lane and took advantage of the opportunity with his quick release on net.
The puck ticked off of Pyatt, but that was totally set up by Franson.
Also, did you notice how he towered over his teammates during their goal celebration...man is he BIG.
US down 2-0 after the first period. No sustained attacks. Canada doing a great job at forcing the rush to the outside and that's where all the shots are coming from. Geoffrion with a good shot off the rush that Price had to make a save on the rebound bid. Parent with a holding minor that put Canada down two men, but otherwise playing good hockey as well paired with Staal against the US top line.
Franson creates another PP goal for Canada as they jump out to a 3-0 lead 2:00 into the second period.
Yes! As I'm writing, Erik Johnson shows his own blueline abilities and wrists one home to make it 3-1!
Franson though set up the second Canadian PPG similar to the first one. He walked the blueline to find his shooting lane and quickly wristed the puck on net creating not one, but two rebound opportunties before Toews ptu it past Zatkoff.
Good pressure by the US on the Canadian net after the Johnson goal...heading to the PP now. Let's see if we can captialize now...we know Canada has shown them how to operate a PP already today.
Carman off the rebound from Sweatt's shot puts the US within a goal at 3-2 with 13:00 remaining in the second period.
Sweatt made the play winding up behind the US net before speeding through the neutral zone and deking around a couple of defenders.
Boards are very lively at this rink and Sweatt's rebound came right off the boards out to Carman at the opposite post for the rebound goal.
Tidbit of info for you folks...Bill Sweatt won a gold medal this summer playing with his brother Lee Sweatt for the US at the 2006 IIHF Inline Hockey World Championships. The team was coached by former Predators forward Darren Turcotte.
) and was selected as Team Finland's best player. Played with more confidence than what I've seen of him all year. He was doing everything and barely made mistakes. Zero bad mistakes. Nearly scored a second one at the final minutes through traffic, but the shot just missed the net. Price was clueless and it would've been a goal if it had hit the net. (OK, I kinda focused on Laakso, surprise surprise)
