I just observed an incredible stat about Chris Terry. He is 15 for 39 (40.5%) in the shootout in his career at the AHL level with 5 game winners. While scoring is considerably higher in the SO at the minor level, that is pretty incredible. I wonder if that kind of competency will make him more valuable to give a look on the lower lines.
Greg Hofmann, C/W – HC Davos (NLA)
Drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes
4th round, 103rd overall, 2011
Hofmann had a breakout season in Switzerland this year, posting 16 goals and 11 assists through 49 games with Davos. Like many Swiss teams, Davos was the beneficiary of the NHL lockout, with Joe Thornton and Rick Nash among those to play big minutes with the team early in the year. So the fact Hofmann was able to contribute as a regular member of the lineup as a 20-year-old is even more impressive.
Hofmann remains a long-term project for the Carolina Hurricanes. He possesses breakneck speed, but needs to keep getting stronger in order to succeed at the North American game.
As long as he doesn't have Frederik Andersen's agent he might.
Can we sign him to a low ELC (with a big enough signing bonus to keep him interested) and give him a tryout in Charlotte? If that doesn't work out he can still be 'loaned' back to his old team right? I can't think of an occasion where JR has done this though : /
* - Ellis was on contract to Charlotte to start the locking in the AHL.
updizzle. Levi continued to post ridiculous +/- stats this year, having a nice OHL playoffs so far in his typical limited offensive ways. Rask and Lowe both had huge seasons and are following that up with nice playoffs in the WHL so far. No clue as to why Mahalak fell off so hard but I wouldn't bet on him being signed anymore at this point given that he's not even the starter in Plymouth anymore as an overager.
He's been lighting it up for Calgary of the Dub this past year. About the only major flaw I've heard about his game is his skating, and even then it's not a huge flaw. He's good two-way, good physically, and solid in both scoring in playmaking roles.
The unfortunate part for him is that he'll probably end up having to switch over to wing in the NHL. We have the Staal bros down the middle and Riley Nash, and it's looking very likely that we'll draft Monahan at #5.
From what I heard, he looked disinterested in the dub half the games. He had the skillset to take over and dominate, but you didn't know which Victor Rask was going to show up.
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"You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life." - Albert Camus
Not as high on Rask as a lot here seem to be. His skating was just dreadful when I saw him play at the WJC. Not a fan at all of that aspect of his game. He's smart with the puck and is good on the boards for the level of competition he's against, but I don't know how much of that is going to translate higher than the AHL. He doesn't do anything exceptionally well and scoring at his rate in the CHL as an overage european isn't anything to write home about. There is a reason he was a top prospect for his draft year and then fell as his skating didn't improve with the rest of his game.
Not as high on Rask as a lot here seem to be. His skating was just dreadful when I saw him play at the WJC. Not a fan at all of that aspect of his game. He's smart with the puck and is good on the boards for the level of competition he's against, but I don't know how much of that is going to translate higher than the AHL. He doesn't do anything exceptionally well and scoring at his rate in the CHL as an overage european isn't anything to write home about. There is a reason he was a top prospect for his draft year and then fell as his skating didn't improve with the rest of his game.
He's just not an elite prospect in my estimation.
Ofcourse he isn't. If he was he'd already be playing for the Canes.
Ofcourse he isn't. If he was he'd already be playing for the Canes.
While I do understand the tongue in cheek nature of that post, there was a reason that he was sent back to Calgary for another season instead of sticking in Charlotte and if you look at the point scoring that wasn't the reason. I feel like they correctly identified the fact that he wasn't ready for the AHL based upon his skating deficiencies and that he needed more time to develop that portion of his game. He's a project in the biggest sense and his flaw is the single biggest reason that highly talented offensive players never make it in the NHL if they lack it and it's skating. It's not a death knell, but it's something that simply cannot remain a problem if he hopes to have an NHL career of consequence.
I agree with the skating, and how it likely will cap his ceiling a bit. I will say that I don't truly think he got demoted in that the reason for it was the skating. I'm sure they feel he needs to work on it, I just don't feel it was the number one reason. When rask showed up at camp it was mostly just so he could get experience. From day one they were saying he looked good and it wouldn't be automatic to send him to Calgary, because he was outplaying some guys. Remember what the ahl looked like at camp - stacked. Despite having too many options to start with, plenty of them with contracts for ahl or NHL and rask being the easy send down he worked his way into an intermittent spot. When I first watched I thought both he and welsh looked woeful in terms of skating and wasn't sure why they were saying the things they were. They both just weren't in sync with the other guys. A couple of weeks in, rask just started "getting it". Not only was he now in sync, he had figured out where to be and how to be effective. You didn't notice the skating hardly at all, because the postioning and play with the puck made it irrelevant. You will say back, "the NHL is a whole other animal with that speed" and you'd be right. I'm willing to withhold such statements as to me if he is a smart enough player to figure every level so far he may do it at the NHL level as well. I think he got sent down due to the numbers in the ahl during the lockout alongside with the likely thought of more time in junior could only help him out overall with his skating and general play. It was said initially anyway that he dominated in junior on his return, that the time as a pro had helped him. I think if we were short as we were later in the season in Charlotte that they would have greatly preferred he stay up.
In the ahl at his best that I saw, he is a potential high end complimentary player. He reminds me very much of a swedish Paul Stastny. Paul was never fast, wasn't even dominant in college. He never beat guys one on one or outsprinted anyone down the rink. He was always in the right place at the right time, and had the skill to make that right play consistently. He moved to the NHL and immediately was placed with the avs stars - and did exactly the same things. He just knew space and time, had soft hands with the passes, could finish the around the net chances. He plays to the level of his teamates, regardless of how high level they are. When they are diminished so is he to some extent. Rask seems like this, he isn't an end to end rusher but feels out the right space to buy time. He has very soft hands and passes with precision, finds people who are open and hits them with ease. He has an added dimension of being strong in taking the puck to the net from the half wall in when given space and has a pretty nice release on his snapshot.
To me that's why he can seemingly disappear from time to time. He likely needs linemates of skill, and is better in some offensive set ups than others. Elite? Hard to say before he has high level teamates and some time to adjust to the NHL speed. To me at his very best he may be a stastny/berglund type who have both had some highs and lows but are both legit top 6 players. He could easily not adjust to the pace and not make it at all. He was said to be a boom or bust pick, I think that's accurate. Looking forward to seeing him get a shot.
Last edited by bleedgreen: 05-10-2013 at 03:56 PM.
I agree with the skating, and how it likely will cap his ceiling a bit. I will say that I don't truly think he got demoted in that the reason for it was the skating. I'm sure they feel he needs to work on it, I just don't feel it was the number one reason. When rask showed up at camp it was mostly just so he could get experience. From day one they were saying he looked good and it wouldn't be automatic to send him to Calgary, because he was outplaying some guys. Remember what the ahl looked like at camp - stacked. Despite having too many options to start with, plenty of them with contracts for ahl or NHL and rask being the easy send down he worked his way into an intermittent spot. When I first watched I thought both he and welsh looked woeful in terms of skating and wasn't sure why they were saying the things they were. They both just weren't in sync with the other guys. A couple of weeks in, rask just started "getting it". Not only was he now in sync, he had figured out where to be and how to be effective. You didn't notice the skating hardly at all, because the postioning and play with the puck made it irrelevant. You will say back, "the NHL is a whole other animal with that speed" and you'd be right. I'm willing to withhold such statements as to me if he is a smart enough player to figure every level so far he may do it at the NHL level as well. I think he got sent down due to the numbers in the ahl during the lockout alongside with the likely thought of more time in junior could only help him out overall with his skating and general play. It was said initially anyway that he dominated in junior on his return, that the time as a pro had helped him. I think if we were short as we were later in the season in Charlotte that they would have greatly preferred he stay up.
In the ahl at his best that I saw, he is a potential high end complimentary player. He reminds me very much of a swedish Paul Stastny. Paul was never fast, wasn't even dominant in college. He never beat guys one on one or outsprinted anyone down the rink. He was always in the right place at the right time, and had the skill to make that right play consistently. He moved to the NHL and immediately was placed with the avs stars - and did exactly the same things. He just knew space and time, had soft hands with the passes, could finish the around the net chances. He plays to the level of his teamates, regardless of how high level they are. When they are diminished so is he to some extent. Rask seems like this, he isn't an end to end rusher but feels out the right space to buy time. He has very soft hands and passes with precision, finds people who are open and hits them with ease. He has an added dimension of being strong in taking the puck to the net from the half wall in when given space and has a pretty nice release on his snapshot.
To me that's why he can seemingly disappear from time to time. He likely needs linemates of skill, and is better in some offensive set ups than others. Elite? Hard to say before he has high level teamates and some time to adjust to the NHL speed. To me at his very best he may be a stastny/berglund type who have both had some highs and lows but are both legit top 6 players. He could easily not adjust to the pace and not make it at all. He was said to be a boom or bust pick, I think that's accurate. Looking forward to seeing him get a shot.
It's really up to skinner on wii compliments him well. He seems to be a better playmaker as a center than as a wing. As a wing he's a solo artist primarily, and its hard to say who would click with him. I think rask is more than talented enough to get skinner the puck. Chemistry? I don't speculate on that often. You never know who will work well together.
I see Rask as being a good third-liner who can move up to the second. Seems to me he ends up being something like Martin Gelinas* if he ends up on the wing, and that's fine if that's all he ever is. We could use a couple of players like that.
* - Talking about latter-career Gelinas, who was slowish but had a knack for finding the right spot on the ice.
