I was at the game last night, so here are my thoughts.
I am not going to comment on the Toews, Seabrook, Brunette, Keith, etc because they are veterans that we know are going to be on the team and are just shaking off some rust. No vets played real poorly, so no need to go through each one.
Saad...wow. He played great last night. A very nice pass to Stalberg for a back door goal and he buries the game winner. He looks like a grown man out there. I had absolutely no thoughts of him making the team this year, but with the way he is playing I am sure there are some internal talks going on about maybe having him do a 9 game NHL tryout before possibly sending him back to his junior team. I think it is still a long shot, but him playing in 3 games in a row (only player to do so) and playing the way he has is very promising. Especially because he is playing like a top 6 LW.
Stalberg played very well last night. He was using his speed to create and was constantly feeding the defense the puck so they could put some rubber on net. He had one mental lapse in the defensive zone in the 3rd period where he lost a board battle and the Caps had a nice chance, but other than that he played solid on his point and backchecked regularly. The first goal was a great pass by Saad, but the second goal Stalberg had was awesome. A very nice wrap around where he utilized his speed.
Smith, Kruger, and Olesz - these are three guys (along with Stalberg) who are trying to make the team and solidify a spot on the team. None of these guys overly impressed me last night. In order from best to worse though would be 1. Smith 2. Kruger 3. Olesz. Olesz impressed me in his first game but last night he didn't do much at all.
Olsen looked great last night which was very surprising for a young Dman. He has great size and he threw a couple of great hits. I believe he had the "hit of the night" that they show on the jumbotron.
Hayes showed some decent speed and size. I think he could develop into a nice player, needs some more snarl for his size though. I thought Segal played well for a 4th liner, he had some nice hits and even had a goal that got disallowed in the first (no war room in TO yet so they didn't even go to a replay).
Stalberg and Saad really stood out to me, and even though there is no need to rush any prospect at the current time, Saad really has me thinking...