Yes, I panicked yesterday with trying to get Q&A’s out to Vancouver writers. I emailed everyone who was a mothercanucker! So, I got two questionnaires back about Cody Hodgson. You saw the earlier version and now you get another one from the good folks over at our sister’s website for bloguin, The Benched Whale. It is the same questions I asked yesterday about Cody, but different answers. Also, I gave the Benched Whale some info on Kassian.
1) What type of player is Hodgson? He’s a talented center that had a few tough years with injuries to start his career. He’s got great hands and looks like he’ll become a great playmaker in a few years.
2) Why was be buried on the depth chart in Vancouver? Can he be a number one center? He was definitely buried in the depth chart of Vancouver. He played on the third line for the last couple of months but didn’t get the minutes that some thought he should have. But that’s what you get when you have Henrik Sedin and Ryan Kesler on the same team as you. Because of that not only was he playing less minutes that he might have played on a different team he was also not having 1st or 2nd line wingers to play with. If you looked at his future, was he never going to be able to surpass Sedin or Kesler to become the number one center so this move will be good for him as a player in the long run. He has the potential to be a number one center on a team that allows him the opportunity.
3) Lindy Ruff wants guys who play well in the defensive zone. Can Hodgson do that? He’s still young, so playing well will take time but he makes some solid decisions most of the time. I stress most of the time because he still makes mistakes. His minutes were rather sheltered in Vancouver but I don’t think his defensive zone coverage is going to be a huge issue that he’ll end up butting heads with Ruff against. AV in Vancouver stresses good defensive zone decisions as well so it won’t be a huge change for him.
4) What are hodgson’s strengths and weaknesses? I felt that his skating was not great coming into this season, but somehow I don’t notice as much. I also question if his size will be an issue for him but he’s managed to look strong on the puck when he plays. I think his great puck handling and the glimpses of his playmaking ability has seemed to made me overlook his skating. One great thing for Buffalo is that he is NHL ready.
5) How do you guys feel about the trade? Canucks fans are shocked to see Coho go. No one thought that Gillis would deal him and we’re all still trying to come to terms with Cody no longer being with the team. He’s a Calder candidate this season and to lose the scoring he brings when that was one of the issues Vancouver had in the SCF is tough to imagine a run without him. Also, I just finally started to pronounce his last name correctly (“Hod-son”according to him) and now I won’t even get to use it anymore on my little Liev Schreiber.
6)Is he more of a set-up man or a pure scorer? Set up guy for sure. Though he has scored goals and has a real nice quick slapshot that he brings out every so often, he was drafted for his play making ability.
7) Can you tell me anything interesting about Alexander Sulzer? He’s a ginger.
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