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Utica Comets Thread 2021-22


Chimaira_Devil_#9

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19 minutes ago, Nicomo said:

Seriously? Fitz’s kid is like 25 and has barely sniffed the NHL. 

Okhotiuk is 21 and has top 4 d potential. He’s pretty easily our best defensive prospect that’s not named Luke Hughes. 

Casey Fitzgerald is probably not even in the Sabres top 10 prospects. 

Well i just don't know anything about Casey, at all. I didn't know his age, potential, etc etc precisely why i asked the question

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20 hours ago, SterioDesign said:

Well i just don't know anything about Casey, at all. I didn't know his age, potential, etc etc precisely why i asked the question

I did rank Okhotyuk as our top 5 prospect before previous season. When it wasn’t mainstreamly. He is our best defensive defenseman prospect, miles ahead. His skill combo is absolutely great, and he could cost us not so much, because his offensive potential is questionable. But you know what - defensemen could make impact once or twice in the game, but they could help minute after minute, if they could win most of puck battles, have speed and strong gap control etc. it’s a non stop work. I truly believe this kid will help devils in the hardest minutes when devils will have this type of minutes. 
Fitz jr is just a guy. 

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2 hours ago, MB3 said:

how can it be “not mainstreamly” when he is one of three (?) Devils first round picks to not yet see the roster?

I think you’re confusing Okhotiuk for Mukhamadullin. Guadana was talking about the former (who was a 2nd round pick). 

Edited by Nicomo
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Disappointing end to the season. Holtz needs to get some rest this summer and come back ready. His performance really slumped towards the the end of the season. 1 goal and 2 assists in 5 games is not the level he needs to be operating at in the AHL. Hoping it's because he has played a lot of hockey and it was late season fatigue. 

I suppose at the end of the day it was nice to have some meaningful hockey at the end of an AHL season. The River Rats were the last team to even get to an elimination game back in 1997. 

Will be interesting to see what the roster looks like next season. I would imagine some players will step up and make the jump. Also players like Greer are UFA so there could be quite a lot of turnover. 

Edited by Chimaira_Devil_#9
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14 minutes ago, Chimaira_Devil_#9 said:

Disappointing end to the season. Holtz needs to get some rest this summer and come back ready. His performance really slumped towards the thebd of the season. 1 goal and 2 assists in 5 games is not the level he needs to be operating at in the AHL. Hoping it's because he has played a lot of hockey and it was late season fatigue. 

I suppose at the end of the day it was nice to have some meaningful hockey at the end of an AHL season. The River Rats were the last team to even get to an elimination game back in 1997. 

Will be interesting to see what the roster looks like next season. I would imagine some players will step up and make the jump. Also players like Greer are UFA so there could be quite a lot of turnover. 

It's not like the Comets got slammed either...two OT losses, third loss was basically a one-goal loss + empty netter.  And of course we know the team had to deal with the big club grabbing players as needed...of course, that's what the AHL club is for, and that's how it goes.  Curious to see if Dineen and/or Brylin nab an assistant gig off this season.

Starting to have my doubts about Holtz again...wouldn't surprise me that much if we have to add another year to his development trajectory...as in, maybe he's not able to fully stick until 2023-24 (he'll be 21 years old then, will turn 22 during), and spends a good chunk of 2022-23 in Utica again.  I know it was only 9 games for him up here, but there wasn't much on display that screamed "Future Star".  The lack of speed and meh skating is concerning.  

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2 hours ago, Chimaira_Devil_#9 said:

Disappointing end to the season. Holtz needs to get some rest this summer and come back ready. His performance really slumped towards the thebd of the season. 1 goal and 2 assists in 5 games is not the level he needs to be operating at in the AHL. Hoping it's because he has played a lot of hockey and it was late season fatigue. 

I suppose at the end of the day it was nice to have some meaningful hockey at the end of an AHL season. The River Rats were the last team to even get to an elimination game back in 1997. 

Will be interesting to see what the roster looks like next season. I would imagine some players will step up and make the jump. Also players like Greer are UFA so there could be quite a lot of turnover. 

Holtz and Foote just disappeared towards the end of the season.  Daws and Schmid have been very so-so since they returned as well.

Overall the Comets successful season I think is partly a charade.  They had a really blazing hot start and great first have of the season.  The second half of the season was very meh and I believe they were barely a .500 team in that span.

The good part is that it looks like Zetterlund is finally ready to make the jump to getting a NHL roster spot and Okhotyiuk looks solid (I would put him above Bahl at this point).

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2 hours ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

It's not like the Comets got slammed either...two OT losses, third loss was basically a one-goal loss + empty netter.  And of course we know the team had to deal with the big club grabbing players as needed...of course, that's what the AHL club is for, and that's how it goes.  Curious to see if Dineen and/or Brylin nab an assistant gig off this season.

Starting to have my doubts about Holtz again...wouldn't surprise me that much if we have to add another year to his development trajectory...as in, maybe he's not able to fully stick until 2023-24 (he'll be 21 years old then, will turn 22 during), and spends a good chunk of 2022-23 in Utica again.  I know it was only 9 games for him up here, but there wasn't much on display that screamed "Future Star".  The lack of speed and meh skating is concerning.  

Holtz went from looking like he would compete for a NJ Devils opening night roster back in November to looking like another year in Utica is likely in the cards for him.

His shot is still really nice but his hockey IQ looks average and his skating is still pretty bad.  I know it is early, but I am already mentally preparing myself to pencil him in as the worst of the 3 Devils 2020 first round picks.

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26 minutes ago, DevsMan84 said:

Holtz and Foote just disappeared towards the end of the season.  Daws and Schmid have been very so-so since they returned as well.

Overall the Comets successful season I think is partly a charade.  They had a really blazing hot start and great first have of the season.  The second half of the season was very meh and I believe they were barely a .500 team in that span.

The good part is that it looks like Zetterlund is finally ready to make the jump to getting a NHL roster spot and Okhotyiuk looks solid (I would put him above Bahl at this point).

One thing about the Utica team is that they have their fair share of AAAA-types (we've known that from the beginning of the season)...it's not like they were ever chock-full of future stars, no matter how hot that they were coming out of the gates...but at the same time, as we also know, the AHL is not where those guys tend to spend much (if any at all) time anyway.  The AHL is more of a place to develop potential second-liners who need seasoning, and mostly third and fourth-liners (or often lower-pair defensemen).  Does anyone envision Luke Hughes playing more than a handful of games with the Comets, at most?  Mercer skipped the AHL entirely.  

The Comets probably could've had a better and more consistent overall season if the team was kept intact, but as was previously mentioned, the parent club will always take priority (and they should), so if Daws gets a callup, then sorry Utica, you're stuck with a guy like Mitens to take his place.  And yeah, the very good news is that it looks like the Devils might be able to graduate some players from there very soon.  If Holtz, Zetterlund, and Okhotyuk all manage to come up and stick and do a solid job in their roles, none of us will care much about the 2021-22 Comets season ending on a bit of a thud.  Or the fact that many of their players won't have much of a future with the Devils.    

Edited by Colorado Rockies 1976
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3 hours ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

It's not like the Comets got slammed either...two OT losses, third loss was basically a one-goal loss + empty netter.  And of course we know the team had to deal with the big club grabbing players as needed...of course, that's what the AHL club is for, and that's how it goes.  Curious to see if Dineen and/or Brylin nab an assistant gig off this season.

Starting to have my doubts about Holtz again...wouldn't surprise me that much if we have to add another year to his development trajectory...as in, maybe he's not able to fully stick until 2023-24 (he'll be 21 years old then, will turn 22 during), and spends a good chunk of 2022-23 in Utica again.  I know it was only 9 games for him up here, but there wasn't much on display that screamed "Future Star".  The lack of speed and meh skating is concerning.  

Yeah it was a competitive series , and Rochester have some great players Krebs, Peterka and Raustolinen should all be vying for a spot in the NHL next year without question. 

I think the nature of the defeat last night was very Devilesque. Blowing a lead in the third period, so its a familiar feeling. I think Brylin will land wherever most of our Russians are located. If Shak and Nikita ate both still in Utica then that's where he will be. 

 Holtz needs to come into camp with some improvements to his skating. I can't imagine the development team are not already drawing him up a programme for the summer. 

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36 minutes ago, Chimaira_Devil_#9 said:

Yeah it was a competitive series , and Rochester have some great players Krebs, Peterka and Raustolinen should all be vying for a spot in the NHL next year without question. 

I think the nature of the defeat last night was very Devilesque. Blowing a lead in the third period, so its a familiar feeling. I think Brylin will land wherever most of our Russians are located. If Shak and Nikita ate both still in Utica then that's where he will be. 

 Holtz needs to come into camp with some improvements to his skating. I can't imagine the development team are not already drawing him up a programme for the summer. 

My one concern with that is skating seems to be a skill that players either have or don't have.  I can't think of any player off the top of my head who went from a terrible skater to even a decent one over the course of their career.

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7 minutes ago, DevsMan84 said:

My one concern with that is skating seems to be a skill that players either have or don't have.  I can't think of any player off the top of my head who went from a terrible skater to even a decent one over the course of their career.

I can: Jesper Boqvist.

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Now isn’t the time to worry about Holtz IMO. Sure he went cold toward the end of the season and into the playoffs, but he still finished at essentially a 1 p/g pace. That’s in his first full professional season in North America, after scoring at under a 0.5 p/g pace in the SHL (and even lighter production in the AHL during the games he had that season). That’s some great progress for him, and definitely something to be encouraged by. I would say it far outweighs a cold streak (common for many goal scorers) to finish the season. I think there’s a very good chance he makes the Devils to start next season. 

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1 hour ago, DevsMan84 said:

My one concern with that is skating seems to be a skill that players either have or don't have.  I can't think of any player off the top of my head who went from a terrible skater to even a decent one over the course of their career.

Bobby Nystrom

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3 hours ago, DevsMan84 said:

My one concern with that is skating seems to be a skill that players either have or don't have.  I can't think of any player off the top of my head who went from a terrible skater to even a decent one over the course of their career.

I don't think players ever go from being below average skaters to top end, but players can work on their mechanics to get to the point where a bad skater can become NHL average. 

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1 hour ago, Chimaira_Devil_#9 said:

I don't think players ever go from being below average skaters to top end, but players can work on their mechanics to get to the point where a bad skater can become NHL average. 

Not to mention working with professional trainers and developing lower body strength. Holtz’ skating will be fine. There are plenty of all stars in the NHL that aren’t top end speed skaters (Tarasenko, Kopitar, Suzuki, Forsberg, etc…)

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Devils should not worry about Holtz trajectory. His season for his age was great. Season before he had hot start and after covid he slamps, when he was invited in Binghamton, he was not looking AHL ready. Next year even with questionable centers Ike DeLeo, who should play on the wing, and Schnarr, who is not creative guy at all, Holtz produce pretty enough. He needs to work on his skating and physique, but it’s ok for a guy of his age. Sometimes they need more time. And a Guy like him should spend more time with better players, when he was called up. Fourth line? Zacha? He needs partners who will make a part of his dirty work, because Holtz is Holtz and he is young and unexpirienced. Anyway he has his own knocks. And I would not call him “untouchable”. Especially when we have Bratt and Mercer on the right side of top-6. 

I was a Quinn guy(Sanderson/Raymond guy, but universe knows everything and we did have no shot at them), and, like Holt, Quinn spent very good season and even better, but he wasn’t good in play off. It’s not the time to burn hair on our head. 

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