I’d like to start off by mentioning that this isn’t going to be the usual format of our post-game articles under regular circumstances. Those will be much more in depth with more interactive content and all that good stuff. This post is just what I took away from tonight’s victory versus the St. Louis Blues.
Forwards-
#53 Josh Anderson: I was fairly ambivalent about Anderson. Didn’t see too many positives out of him nor were there any glaring negatives. Seems like a steady presence but overall wasn’t too eye-catching.
#42 Artem Anisimov: Anisimov was quiet but consistent. Didn’t seem like he was trying to make too much happen. Might’ve been told by Richards to tone it back a bit so he didn’t injure himself, also might’ve wanted to give other players a better chance to shine.
#40 Jared Boll: Boll was Boll. Good on the forecheck but still has next to no hockey smarts. Looked healthy at least.
#11 Matt Calvert: One of the best players on the ice tonight. Made things happen with and away from the puck. Also cheesed off a lot of Blues players and drew 2 penalties.
#24 Simon Hjalmarsson: Hjalmarsson was alright. Still don’t really know if he had a good game, but it certainly wasn’t bad. His positioning around the net was pretty good and he seemed eager around the boards.
#25 Jerry D’Amigo: D’Amigo was given fairly limited ice time and didn’t do much with what he had. He was good on the PK. I also realized that he has a unique skating style.
#56 Marko Dano: My favorite rookie on the ice tonight. Very smart player with great awareness. First time I’ve ever really seen him play. Smaller and more agile than I thought he was. Good at entering the offensive zone and knowing where his teammates are. Good positioning as well. Did many minor things that you’d come to expect from a solid NHL playmaker.
#38 Boone Jenner: Jenner was great. Covered the ice well and created solid offensive chances. Scored a goal and an assist with less than 13 minutes of ice time. Likely would’ve gotten 20 minutes had he not been taken out due to general soreness.
#67 Nick Moutrey: Moutrey was somewhat invisible but Richards seemed to like him, so who am I to judge? I find it interesting that he only had 13 minutes of ice time and then Richards applauded him after the game.
#52 Kerby Rychel: Rychel was fun but kind of disappeared at times. When you knew he was on the ice he was great. When you didn’t know he was on the ice, that meant that he at least wasn’t making costly mistakes.
#68 Markus Soberg: Didn’t make much of an impact on the ice but you can see the potential. Has no shot at making the team and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s gone in the first round of cuts. Simply needs to be developed more. Windsor will be good for him.
#41 Alexander Wennberg: Wennberg is smart but isn’t at the point where he’s too noticeable in overall play. Made really good plays here and there and was always where he needed to be, even on the PK. Seemed comfortable on the ice and should only get better as training camp progresses.
Defenders-
#64 Dillon Heatherington: I never really knew when Heatherington was on the ice (take that for what you will). His goal was ridiculous though and I can’t blame him for the own goal that deflected off of him.
#7 Jack Johnson: Johnson was Johnson. Still does things that are silly without thinking. Still is Jack Johnson.
#81 Brett Ponich: Ponich was pretty bad. On his first shift he had like 3 chances to clear the puck but couldn’t get it out. It didn’t get much better from there. Maybe it was nerves? Anyway, his counterpart (Sifers) had 19 minutes of ice time vs Ponich’s ~13.
#47 Dalton Prout: Prout looked pretty good today. Stupid penalties are worrying but overall he moved the puck more efficiently than I remember. Obviously it’s only preseason but he had some really crisp passes leaving the defensive zone and spread out the neutral zone fairly well. Also seemed somewhat faster than last year?
#58 David Savard: Savard was good because he didn’t mess up too much. I’m actually surprised I wasn’t more annoyed with him because he was out there for half the game. He did hold the puck a bit too long sometimes.
#48 Jaime Sifers: Ponich’s counterpart. I thought he actually looked pretty good. It took me until halfway through the third period to realize that he wasn’t Cody Goloubef, who wore #48 last year, which is actually pretty good for a training camp invite.
Goaltenders:
#35 Oscar Dansk: Dansk wasn’t very good but ended up settling in a bit. Forsberg will definitely be starter in Springfield if he keeps up his play and Dansk continues to be less-than-stellar.
#30 Curtis McElhinney: McElhinney was actually very impressive and seemed more comfortable than he usually was last year.
Overall Thoughts:
With both Richards and Kekalainen stressing the importance of playing fast, both with your legs and your head, there were glimpses of overall quicker play. Neutral zone breaks were about as clean as you’d expect from a split squad and passes out of the d-zone were also fairly good. Overall the defense needs to work on defending the zone entries and shot suppression once in the zone, but a lot of that can be attributed to missing their two best defenders in Wiz and Murray.
It’ll be interesting to see who makes the rest of the preseason lineups and how the full squad roster looks come Tuesday and who gets cut around Wednesday.
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