My take on the game...
Saad just continues to impress. Give him one more year of Juniors and he could honestly be on the fast track for the NHL. The great thing about Saad is that he already has an NHL body for an 18 year old, where most guys have to grow into theirs. He is 6'1" - 201 lbs and plays LW...does it get any better?
Frolik looked great out there. He was playing with confidence, something he seemed to lack when he originally came over from Florida. He was creative and seemed to have an extra step on everyone else.
Bickell also looked good out there. He used his big body finally. While he wasn't throwing his weight around, he was using it for one on one battles in the corner and to get position on guys.
Pirri looked great out there. I was really impressed with him. He seemed to always be around the puck and was making some great passes. Harder said than done...but if he could add another half step and put on another 10 - 30 lbs (I mean common, he is 6' but at 160...we would be saying a guy at 5'10 would need to put on 10 lbs at that weight.) than look out because he could be a solid center in the NHL.
Leddy looked a whole lot better tonight than he did the other night. He still was forcing some passes but I liked his game overall. I think Lepisto also looked pretty good out there and the revolving door that will probably be our #6/7 of O'Donnell/Lepisto is making me feel real good about our D right now.
Salak/Emery. Emery obviously gave up 4 goals but I don't blame him at all for the first 2. A deflection off the post and a deflection off a player, it happens. The third one he let in was just lazy control of the rebound. The 4th goal I can't really say much about because it was worthless, but he didn't seem to even challenge Staal. Salak wasn't challenged as much as Emery but he did look good when he would come out to the top of the crease to challenge the shots.
Lalonde showed a lot of raw talent. He sort of reminded me of Versteeg in many ways. Both have raw talent (some great talent) but Lalonde really has to learn how and when to use that talent. Especially when playing Defense, when you are the last line of defense, you cannot make those errors that are going to cost a goal. Another year in the AHL will do him some good.
Those are the guys who stood out to me, but to be honest I didn't really pay attention to many other guys. I know what Carcillo and O'Donnell bring to the table, they are veterans of the game. I know a guy like Shaw, Bollig, McLean, Froese, etc etc will play in the AHL or be returned to their Juniors team.
