Rookie Practice - September 10th

SpezDispenser wrote:Hoffman and Butler are the two most intriguing forwards out there. Hoffman could have 3 or 4 goals by now.

Hoffman was invisible for almost 2 full periods tonight. He scored a nice goal, granted, but he has been underwhelming overall. His lack of hustle on that empty netter in game 1 was particularly uninspiring.

rooneypoo wrote:

Hoffman was invisible for almost 2 full periods tonight. He scored a nice goal, granted, but he has been underwhelming overall. His lack of hustle on that empty netter in game 1 was particularly uninspiring.

I noticed Hoffman a lot in both games. This is a guy that the puck follows, he's a true sniper. He got stoned by the Pens guy in game one at least twice and tonight he had been stoned at least once before scoring. When the chips are down it's Hoffman and Butler who have provided the most amount of scoring threat.

Obviously this is all just my opinion, but I've liked them. Desperately need to see them in a main training camp preseason to see if they can play at that level as well.

SpezDispenser wrote:

rooneypoo wrote:

Hoffman was invisible for almost 2 full periods tonight. He scored a nice goal, granted, but he has been underwhelming overall. His lack of hustle on that empty netter in game 1 was particularly uninspiring.

I noticed Hoffman a lot in both games. This is a guy that the puck follows, he's a true sniper. He got stoned by the Pens guy in game one at least twice and tonight he had been stoned at least once before scoring. When the chips are down it's Hoffman and Butler who have provided the most amount of scoring threat.

Obviously this is all just my opinion, but I've liked them. Desperately need to see them in a main training camp preseason to see if they can play at that level as well.

He was also named the 1st star of the game.

So far Hoffman, Butler, Jeffrey, and McKegg have been standouts, although I don't put too much stock into this tourney at all.

rooneypoo wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Hoffman and Butler are the two most intriguing forwards out there. Hoffman could have 3 or 4 goals by now.

Hoffman was invisible for almost 2 full periods tonight. He scored a nice goal, granted, but he has been underwhelming overall. His lack of hustle on that empty netter in game 1 was particularly uninspiring.

I didn't watch the game, but the guy was 1st star of the game...

BTW, there's some (weak) highlights here:

http://www.sportsnet.ca/video/36673752001/40310151001/NHL-X-OTT-7-CHI-3/

marakh wrote:

rooneypoo wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Hoffman and Butler are the two most intriguing forwards out there. Hoffman could have 3 or 4 goals by now.

Hoffman was invisible for almost 2 full periods tonight. He scored a nice goal, granted, but he has been underwhelming overall. His lack of hustle on that empty netter in game 1 was particularly uninspiring.

I didn't watch the game, but the guy was 1st star of the game...

BTW, there's some (weak) highlights here:

http://www.sportsnet.ca/video/36673752001/40310151001/NHL-X-OTT-7-CHI-3/

That's challenged. Seriously, I think Hoffman was benched / off the ice for most of the second period. I was looking for him and couldn't find him for a 10 or 12-minute stretch in the second.

He had a solid third period, obviously, but he did not stand out before that. He didn't get paired with Butler until late in the 2nd, which is when he started to do something.

I'm sure the guy who gave out the stars saw the points and went from there. The best Sen on the ice yesterday was Foote -- he should have been the #1 star, for sure.

Speaking of things I'd noticed, I thought Cowen was supposed to wear #2. The guy wearing #2 hasn't been playing like a top-ten pick who would have been a top-five (if not top-three) if not for an injury. I expected him (and out defence, in general) to dominate and, so far, it has not.

wprager wrote:Speaking of things I'd noticed, I thought Cowen was supposed to wear #2. The guy wearing #2 hasn't been playing like a top-ten pick who would have been a top-five (if not top-three) if not for an injury. I expected him (and out defence, in general) to dominate and, so far, it has not.

I thought Cowen and Wiercioch were the two worst defencemen on the ice. They are both being outplayed heavily by Gryba and Schira. On a positive note, nice to see O'Brien playing somewhat well, and Butler has looked great. Butler seems miles ahead of Ottawa's next best player in terms of being NHL ready.

Cowen is unfortunately a tough decision to make. He either doesn't make the Sens resulting in him not developing in the WHL or he makes the Sens and doesn't develop because of ice time. As a GM this has to be a bit of a concern in terms of mortgaging one of your best prospect's future. I guess training camp will truly define his role with this team.

Anyways, it's just a tourney with a bunch of people playing together for the first time in their life... Apart from watching individual skillset I wouldn't put too much stock in it.
Karlsson was there last year, It's not like he made me jump out of my chair.

Kovalfie wrote:Cowen is unfortunately a tough decision to make. He either doesn't make the Sens resulting in him not developing in the WHL or he makes the Sens and doesn't develop because of ice time. As a GM this has to be a bit of a concern in terms of mortgaging one of your best prospect's future. I guess training camp will truly define his role with this team.

Cowen would certainly develop very well in the WHL. Shea Weber foudn his offensive game there until 20 years old.

Kovalfie wrote:

wprager wrote:Speaking of things I'd noticed, I thought Cowen was supposed to wear #2. The guy wearing #2 hasn't been playing like a top-ten pick who would have been a top-five (if not top-three) if not for an injury. I expected him (and out defence, in general) to dominate and, so far, it has not.

I thought Cowen and Wiercioch were the two worst defencemen on the ice. They are both being outplayed heavily by Gryba and Schira. On a positive note, nice to see O'Brien playing somewhat well, and Butler has looked great. Butler seems miles ahead of Ottawa's next best player in terms of being NHL ready.

You're making your judgement despite the fact that for almost every single guy on the team this is their first competitive games of hockey in x amount of months. Also, you have a team of guys who have mostly never played together before receiving minimal coaching. Then on top of that, you have young players playing a position that is traditionally the hardest to learn in the NHL - defensemen.

These rookie tournaments are nothing more than glorified pick up hockey games. You learn as much about these players' talent levels as you would playing them in a video game.

marakh wrote:

Kovalfie wrote:Cowen is unfortunately a tough decision to make. He either doesn't make the Sens resulting in him not developing in the WHL or he makes the Sens and doesn't develop because of ice time. As a GM this has to be a bit of a concern in terms of mortgaging one of your best prospect's future. I guess training camp will truly define his role with this team.

Cowen would certainly develop very well in the WHL. Shea Weber foudn his offensive game there until 20 years old.

I thought we were getting rid of Campoli so Cowen could come in and win the Calder and the Norris? What happened?

There are things that are positive about Cowen - and now things that seem to need some work, but we'll see in pre-season I guess.

SpezDispenser wrote:There are things that are positive about Cowen - and now things that seem to need some work, but we'll see in pre-season I guess.

I think you're reading far too much in to these games.

PKC wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:There are things that are positive about Cowen - and now things that seem to need some work, but we'll see in pre-season I guess.

I think you're reading far too much in to these games.

Agreed...people need to relax lol. Although we still should have picked Paajarvi.

Big Ev wrote:

PKC wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:There are things that are positive about Cowen - and now things that seem to need some work, but we'll see in pre-season I guess.

I think you're reading far too much in to these games.

Agreed...people need to relax lol. Although we still should have picked Paajarvi.

I'm pretty sure Cowen was expected to be NHL calibre this season coming out of the summer 3 - on - 3 camp or whatever it was so I'm not surprised that so much stock is being put into this tournament.

PKC wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:There are things that are positive about Cowen - and now things that seem to need some work, but we'll see in pre-season I guess.

I think you're reading far too much in to these games.

While the structure isn't there, you can still start to see things that aren't ready yet in certain players. Again, main training camp/pre-season will be more of an indicator.

PKC wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:There are things that are positive about Cowen - and now things that seem to need some work, but we'll see in pre-season I guess.

I think you're reading far too much in to these games.

Yes and no. There were instances where I felt Cowen lost one-on-one battles that he should have won, and I found he was out of position quite a bit. I realize that it's the rookies' first times playing together but it's the same for every team. I really don't think Cowen will be ready to play in the NHL this year.

However, I think Butler might be. I don't know how you'd fit him in. He's too good for a 4th line role. We still have yet to see Wick though, and I just don't see how we could fit both Smith and Butler on this team.