GDT: New York @ New Jersey

[Cowutopia]

On this second watch-through Vrana is very active away form the puck and does good things, but around the net the big defenders almost always have position on him, and he doesn't seem to really be creating space for himself that well in the crease area.

He's also not great through the neutral zone, and he had a couple giveaways attempting to come out of the defensive zone. But he's alright.

[Cowutopia]

Oh and your vision of a five minute a night 4th line is all well and good but how many quality minutes can Holik give? Sure, more than 5, but there's no way we can roll four.

[maxpower]

Oh and your vision of a five minute a night 4th line is all well and good but how many quality minutes can Holik give? Sure, more than 5, but there's no way we can roll four.

Depends how much he plays on the PP. We know there's no way he cracks our PK if Gio can't.

I would say 8-10 is fair, maybe more some nights, maybe less others, maybe a night off here and there when the schedule gets rough.

I also think Patty and Madden are capable of going over their normal minutes (lord knows Julien knew how to run them both into the ground) and could spell some shifts, and likely Rolston would be able to too, although I don't know if he adds anything to a fourth line.

[Cowutopia]

You don't put a 30 goal scorer on the fourth line. Rolston is not leaving the top two. Vrana...is a center isn't he. It would be AWESOME if he were good enough to center Rolston and Elias. I'd give him a shot, too. Gio would have NO place on the team then, but boy that would be an interesting preseason line.

I like Bergfors and Vrana more than all the other prospects...I'm just not quite sure where they fit. I think a lot of people are being too quick to cut Gio from the team, when he's a proven scorer. Really. But that top line needs a for-real center in the worst way.

I hate saying it but losing Gomez really, really hurt this team.

Edited September 25, 2008 by Cowutopia

[maxpower]

You don't put a 30 goal scorer on the fourth line. Rolston is not leaving the top two. Vrana...is a center isn't he. It would be AWESOME if he were good enough to center Rolston and Elias. I'd give him a shot, too. Gio would have NO place on the team then, but boy that would be an interesting preseason line.

I like Bergfors and Vrana more than all the other prospects...I'm just not quite sure where they fit. I think a lot of people are being too quick to cut Gio from the team, when he's a proven scorer. Really. But that top line needs a for-real center in the worst way.

Coaching, that's where this comes into play. 5 on 5, I think we're going to have problems with C, but on the PP, we shouldn't. Holik should open every PP, especially now that (I think) every PP opens in the offensive zone. So, in a half-court environment, I don't think we're going to have a problem at C. The problem with Holik being your #1 PP C (with shorter shifts for him) is that either Parise or Gionta can't be out there on the first unit. But, I think Holik winning faceoffs will help immeasureably, *IF* the other point is capable of moving the puck. If Elias has to be the puck mover, this hurts us, if he can set up shop and look for deflections/sniping opportunities, we could have something, where we have a dangerous shot at the point and a dangerous scorer roaming around in the slot, with big goofy Holik as a problem in front of the net.

I think we have a very flexible roster, which we did not at all have last season, and can manufacture solutions to some of our problems.

[DevilinLA]

In defense of Mike Mottau.

When are we all going to realize that Andy Greene is NOT going to develop into Scott Neidermayer - or anything close?

Someone said it well, Oduya progressed...Andy unfortunately didn't.

Have we forgotten his highlight reel?

I've spent the last few days watching the last 1/3 of last season and his hockey-sense was abysmal.

Now, its great that he's a faster skater, but until I see him making smarter hockey moves this pre-season, I'm going to assume that he's going be the guy making the play in front of Brodeur that lands the puck in the back of our net.

Everyone wants to bag on Mottau, sure he's not the fastest skater by far, sure he played for BC, but game per game he was our most consistent defender last season save Paul Martin. Will he develop further - unlikely - BUT - we are in a win now situation for Marty. Hence, I'll take the consistenly average play over "rolling the dice" on Greene or another AHL'er in his place. I know what to expect from Mike, and I'll take it for now.

Our coaching staff has to decide some balance of going with a corps that will maintain consitency for "win -now" vs. long-term development of our D for the club over the coming years. Hence, I think we can only afford to develop one rookie on D this season.

To those that see Mottau as the biggest problem in our D, take a closer look. I don't see the heir to the Stevens throne in any of these preseason games, so he's not taking up space. For the price he's a steal for a low number back-ender (and he WANTS TO PLAY HERE) if he can at all build on one full year of experience. Lou seemed to recognize that and thought he was worth keeping.

Lower his minutes and he will be a good soldier....

The bigger question in our corps is (and no I'm not trying to bag him) for how much longer is Colin White a top D man?

[Triumph]

Coaching, that's where this comes into play. 5 on 5, I think we're going to have problems with C, but on the PP, we shouldn't. Holik should open every PP, especially now that (I think) every PP opens in the offensive zone. So, in a half-court environment, I don't think we're going to have a problem at C. The problem with Holik being your #1 PP C (with shorter shifts for him) is that either Parise or Gionta can't be out there on the first unit. But, I think Holik winning faceoffs will help immeasureably, *IF* the other point is capable of moving the puck. If Elias has to be the puck mover, this hurts us, if he can set up shop and look for deflections/sniping opportunities, we could have something, where we have a dangerous shot at the point and a dangerous scorer roaming around in the slot, with big goofy Holik as a problem in front of the net.

I think we have a very flexible roster, which we did not at all have last season, and can manufacture solutions to some of our problems.

eh, what's the edge that holik has in faceoffs versus someone else? i don't think holik should go on the first PP just to win faceoffs and stand by the net.

and as for mottau, he's a solid guy to have in the press box, definitely better than most team's press box guy, but he CANNOT play 20-22 minutes a game, he's just not that good a player.

[95Crash]

Clarkson seemed to repeat all his problems of last year - foolishness in not getting the puck deep, selfishness with the puck, selfishness in taking an instigator penalty. I suspect he is not long for the 3rd line.

Yep. It's funny, when they first called Clarkson up toward the end of the season two years ago, it looked like he had a knack for scoring fluky goals. But I guess the whole thing was just a mirage because ever since then, all he seems to do is yap a lot and stumble around with and without the puck. I know it was just one preseason game, but last night looked like more of the same.

[Pepperkorn]

So

[Pepperkorn]

ROOKIES

I

[Pepperkorn]

and lastly

So anyhow

[maxpower]

eh, what's the edge that holik has in faceoffs versus someone else? i don't think holik should go on the first PP just to win faceoffs and stand by the net.

and as for mottau, he's a solid guy to have in the press box, definitely better than most team's press box guy, but he CANNOT play 20-22 minutes a game, he's just not that good a player.

Alright, with decent sample sizes (so I'm excluding Zubrus), of your realistic options here (Madden is never going to get on the first unit, and Rolston is the point, so we just ignore his god-awful 40.6% )

Zajac: 51.2%

Elias: 45.6%

Holik: 58.4%

There's no doubt in my mind I would be opening up as many PP's as possible with Holik at C, only because they all start in the offensive zone now.