What do you think of Grachev's play...

[Ailurophile]

Originally Posted by satrabyk

Why was Kennedy sent down to begin with, if that is the case?

Sather claims waiving him and White was to clear up cap space, and he technically wasn't sent down until Drury came back, thinking they wouldn't need him. Then of course Gabby and Dru got hurt, and recalling him wasn't an option by then.

[Fitzy]

Originally Posted by DrurysWeekend

Sather claims waiving him and White was to clear up cap space, and he technically wasn't sent down until Drury came back, thinking they wouldn't need him. Then of course Gabby and Dru got hurt, and recalling him wasn't an option by then.

Which is regrettable, considering Kennedy is much more of a "torts" player than is White.

White has more of a history of offense but we needed a bottom 6 energy guy not an injury plagued old has been offensive guy, who had only a couple of good seasons and is tiny to boot.

Plus it would have opened up cap room for the deadline.

[The Mouth]

He got gassed fairly early during the Toronto game but its justifiable playing back to back nights in two NHL games.

He ended his shifts a bit sooner than he should have.

Overall though he looks motivated.

I agree with the poster who says sending him down to Gernander would not be prudent.

Plus he has a lot of Russian players here that can he learn from and and help him adapt.

[Kind of Blue]

Originally Posted by nyranger61494

Whether he is a 4th line player or not is not the point. Prust has received more minutes than 4th line minutes in the last few games and has done nothing to deserve relinquishing those minutes. I can think of a few other forwards who should have minutes shaved for Grachev.

Such as?

I was fine with Boogaard-Boyle-Prust, and wouldn't mind going back even with Boyle and Prust doing well with increased minutes (by the way, there's not rule that says the 4th line has to play 5 minutes a game -- they don't necessarily have to have their minutes shaved significantly). And with Avery-Stepan-Fedotenko. And with the Anisimov line, of course. If we're going to give Grachev more significant opportunities to really see what he can do, slotting him in with EC and Frolov seems like it would work.

And like I said, if he's not up to it, it's an easy fix.

[Fitzy]

You make Grachev-Boyle-Prust a line it becomes 10x more rollable than with Boogaard at LW.

And i'm not going to sit here and say thats wats going to happen, or what would be best for Grachev's development, but playing that line and then Boogaard against Philly or other dirty teams IMO is best for this team.

[Kind of Blue]

Originally Posted by Fitzy Duke of NY

You make Grachev-Boyle-Prust a line it becomes 10x more rollable than with Boogaard at LW.

And i'm not going to sit here and say thats wats going to happen, or what would be best for Grachev's development, but playing that line and then Boogaard against Philly or other dirty teams IMO is best for this team.

I'd be totally fine with that. In fact, it's better than my suggestion (actually, your suggestion -- I think this started when I agreed with one of your posts).

I'm not really a proponent of using Boogaard regularly, it just seems to be something I've accepted.

But yes, you're absolutely right.

[BrooklynRangersFan]

Anyone else think he's starting to look progressively more comfortable?

He obviously hasn't scored since he's been up, but he's been noticeable - in a good way - in every game. Which is a major improvement over what I saw in preseason and in the little bit of HFD I've watched this year. I see the kid starting to look more and more like the player I remember from Brampton.

I'm kind of annoyed that a spat broke out in the GDT about whether or not he should stay when Drury returned (I mean, I'm Evgeny's biggest fan, but come on - NO rookie is going to force the captain into the press box), because it distracts from the fact that he played well. I would like to see him continue to get time over White and EC as the injured players trickle back into the lineup, but I have no problem if he sits when the full compliment is back and healthy. (Although maybe he's outplaying Fedotenko at that point...?) In the meantime, he's getting valuable experience and appears to be benefiting from it.