Anyway I saw a whole bunch of arseholes in person that should have no business wearing the Devs logo, but, hey, it's preseason. That being said, I tried to focus my attention on a handful of potential players to make my postgame report as good as possible, so here goes.
1. Oduya-I start with him because he is the current lovefest player going on here, and to my observation, with pretty good cause. He played on the second pairing for the most of the night with Andy Greene as his partner. PK #2 with Pando and Sarge up front, great skater, didn't really need to pass too much to move the puck based upon the talent level on the ice, (some obvious NHL talent, some obvious AHL/ECHL talent) but his skating and puckhandling were excellent. He was one of the few that looked like an NHLer and not a player fighting for a spot.
2. Greene-If he doesn't make the team, it's solely because his salary is 850k, because he skates strongly, which Lou loves, and was always in the correct position on defense. Can't say much about his passing, as mentioned above, but he can skate like a mofo and really handles the puck with good skill and sense. If I were to go out on a limb I would equate his game to one like Ohlund, great skater, great puckhandler, OK offensively.
3. Zajac-Makes the team as 2nd line center IMO. He played the entire game on the second line, extra foreward on the PP, and second PK team with Marsh/Parise. He needs some work, but, IMO, will be fine with some game experience with Jamie and Patty. Also, his recuperative ability on the PK is all that scouting reports said it was. The boy can skate, will be a terror on the backcheck.
I just mentioned the ones that I saw that were, IMO, NHL ready, any questions I'll answer if I can.
Minivari(sp.) is huge but looks like a Special Ed kid on the ice.
