My wife's cousin and boyfriend have had season tickets to the Giants for a few years now and they were here for NEw Year's so naturally we talked alot of hockey and I asked about JD Watt and I was told that Watt's skating is suspect, that he is slow.
And I also asked if Watt was a real physical player and they named two other players that are real disturbers/sparkplugs for the Giants this year. Comment was that Watt thinks he's a scorer now.
Good signing.....physical and some offensive flair.
Well there isn't much offensive upside there with JD, but he is a competetor and I think he'll look good in the AHL next season and one day in Calgary.
JD's been in the doghouse among Giants fans for a bit now. Stupid penalty's, and hasn't been playing under the system that's made the team so successful over the past two seasons. His offensive production for the first quarter of the season seems to have made his head a little too big. He's decided he's now a pure goalscorer, but he doesn't have the hands or the speed to play that role. I'm not saying he doesn't have potential, but I wouldn't be overly excited just yet, and don't expect a lot of offensive production from him in the next level.
I've seen J.D. play several times in the last few years; I haven't seen him this year so I can't speak about his newfound mentality. I believe his upside is as a Brandon Prust/Paul Kruse type player. A 3rd or 4th line fighter/checker/agitator type. Not a bad signing by any means though...at best, he'll be an NHL role player. At worst, he's Omaha/Las Vegas fodder.
