Game Day - Ottawa @ Toronto 7PM, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011

wprager wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Basically, yeah. His skill set with the puck is elite, but the shot isn't as far as I've seen. If it is, he certainly hasn't shown it yet.

Put him on the third line left-wing with Zibanejad and Butler/Regin. He's not ready for top line and even 2nd line is iffy, especially if they keep playing him on the right side. I know he's a right shot, but for some reason he prefers playing left. Maybe his puck skill is high enough that he doesn't mind receiving the pass on the backhand, and with his speed he can blow by most defensemen, which means he comes in front of the goalie on his forehand.

Maybe I'm just over-thinking it.

I think that's gonna eventually happen. Zibanejad at C, Filatov on the LW and Neil on the wing. Start trying to get Filatov a little bit extra room, he's got a good passer in Z-Bad with him and Neil attracts a lot of attention when he's playing well.

Greening in the top 6 for a while. Love his game.

People always want to talk about guys like Greening, Butler, Condra, even Da Costa... but these guys are all older than Filatov by a large amount. 3 or 4 more years of high level development. Filatov may take 2 or 3 years before he becomes anything more than a project.

I like Greening, too, but does he have top-six puck handling/passing skills? He's got size, speed and a hard shot, but how's his accuracy? Stats show me 0.100 shot percentage. That's Neil territory. Spezza is 0.144 by comparison.

Small sample size, I know, but I didn't think his upside was anything higher than checking-line winger.

wprager wrote:I like Greening, too, but does he have top-six puck handling/passing skills? He's got size, speed and a hard shot, but how's his accuracy? Stats show me 0.100 shot percentage. That's Neil territory. Spezza is 0.144 by comparison.

Small sample size, I know, but I didn't think his upside was anything higher than checking-line winger.

Perhaps, or perhaps he'll be the next wave of powerforward who scores their goals on the doorstep slamming in Spezza's rebounds.

NEELY wrote:People always want to talk about guys like Greening, Butler, Condra, even Da Costa... but these guys are all older than Filatov by a large amount. 3 or 4 more years of high level development. Filatov may take 2 or 3 years before he becomes anything more than a project.

I guess...he's supposed to be at a higher level than all of them though, so one would assume he would need less time to explode onto the scene. I've thought he's been pretty decent to be honest. Can't argue with Mac playing the Big 3 at certain times and that really buries Filatov because Mac has a real thing for Greening as a player - which I agree with, so that puts Filatov down with Z-Bad and Neil - two guys who don't see a ton of icetime yet. He'll score - he's already been a part of a goal, he'll continue and score soon I would guess.

SpezDispenser wrote:

NEELY wrote:People always want to talk about guys like Greening, Butler, Condra, even Da Costa... but these guys are all older than Filatov by a large amount. 3 or 4 more years of high level development. Filatov may take 2 or 3 years before he becomes anything more than a project.

I guess...he's supposed to be at a higher level than all of them though, so one would assume he would need less time to explode onto the scene. I've thought he's been pretty decent to be honest. Can't argue with Mac playing the Big 3 at certain times and that really buries Filatov because Mac has a real thing for Greening as a player - which I agree with, so that puts Filatov down with Z-Bad and Neil - two guys who don't see a ton of icetime yet. He'll score - he's already been a part of a goal, he'll continue and score soon I would guess.

How old was Datsyuk when he came to Detroit? Zetterberg? How old was Camallari before he started to score? How about a guy like Weiss or Horton? Hell, how old was Alfi? The Sedins took almost a decade to get to where they are. Not everyone is a Stamkos.

The guy might have a higher skill level than the rest but he is less NHL ready than a lot of player. Not only that, they have to un-do things that may have happened in Columbus. IMO, Filatov is less ready than Zibanejad but people talk about sending him back because of his age.

If people expect Filatov to produce at a pace of anything more than perhaps a Foligno right now they are going to be pretty upset. He's still a project and he like everyone else is learning the system the team wants to play as well. He is probably the guy that people are going to have to be the most patient with just because of how young he is (21 years old) and how much work Ottawa needs to do as a team. He may be like 23, 24 before he starts to really hit his stride and thats 2-4 years away.

Again, not everyone is a Stamkos, not everyone is a Skinner, hell, he's not even a Zibanejad. He may be more of a Sharp than anything else if he ends up a 20-25 goal guy in Ottawa.

wprager wrote:
Remember last year, when Anderson had all this confidence oozing out of him, directing traffic, yelling at the D where to go and what to do, playing at the top of his crease. Where *is* that guy?

This will be a test of MacLean's "communication skills" if he can figure out what's going on with Anderson (and the team) and work toward fixing it.

He was far more confident in the last preseason game against Boston as well.

Anderson will be fine, he hasn't played badly and fact of the matter is the goals are not his fault.

He is doing what he can right now but he does have to make some special saves going forward... the last 2 games were tough for small stretches and it will get sorted out. Takes a while for a bunch of different players who have had very little time together as a team to come together.

Ottawa, Anderson, Filatov, and the rest will be fine. Give it time.

I'm not saying he has not made nice saves. What I'm saying is he's playing deep in his crease, which typically means a lack of confidence. Some of the goals that were scored on him would have gone high or wide if he's out another 2-3 feet to the top of the crease.

wprager wrote:I'm not saying he has not made nice saves. What I'm saying is he's playing deep in his crease, which typically means a lack of confidence. Some of the goals that were scored on him would have gone high or wide if he's out another 2-3 feet to the top of the crease.

Maybe, maybe not. Can't really tell you what the goalie is thinking at times. He does need to have more confidence in his defense but right now he has no reason to be. He has to get comfortable in the system too and right now, they are just learning it.

NEELY wrote:
If people expect Filatov to produce at a pace of anything more than perhaps a Foligno right now they are going to be pretty upset. He's still a project and he like everyone else is learning the system the team wants to play as well. He is probably the guy that people are going to have to be the most patient with just because of how young he is (21 years old) and how much work Ottawa needs to do as a team. He may be like 23, 24 before he starts to really hit his stride and thats 2-4 years away.

Again, not everyone is a Stamkos, not everyone is a Skinner, hell, he's not even a Zibanejad. He may be more of a Sharp than anything else if he ends up a 20-25 goal guy in Ottawa.

You think they'll resign him ? Next year we've got Silfverberg and Hoffman who will be pushing for a spot. They were saying Silfverberg was ready this year so it's unlikely he doesn't make it. They'd have to move a forward (or Alfie retires).

He'll have to show promise this year, I really doubt he'd want to play for Bingo either.

Hoags wrote:

NEELY wrote:
If people expect Filatov to produce at a pace of anything more than perhaps a Foligno right now they are going to be pretty upset. He's still a project and he like everyone else is learning the system the team wants to play as well. He is probably the guy that people are going to have to be the most patient with just because of how young he is (21 years old) and how much work Ottawa needs to do as a team. He may be like 23, 24 before he starts to really hit his stride and thats 2-4 years away.

Again, not everyone is a Stamkos, not everyone is a Skinner, hell, he's not even a Zibanejad. He may be more of a Sharp than anything else if he ends up a 20-25 goal guy in Ottawa.

You think they'll resign him ? Next year we've got Silfverberg and Hoffman who will be pushing for a spot. They were saying Silfverberg was ready this year so it's unlikely he doesn't make it. They'd have to move a forward (or Alfie retires).

He'll have to show promise this year, I really doubt he'd want to play for Bingo either.

Depends on how it goes, can't really have an offensive guy not scoring, so if he doesn't then perhaps not, otherwise, I would imagine they will.

Why wouldn't they resign him? He's 21, not 30. Would they not resign Wiercoich because of Borowiecki, Rundblad, Cowen, Karlsson, Gryba, Blood, Wideman?

He's an asset capable (or so it seems) to be a very productive pro player. Like the rebuild, it is more than a one year trial and error with both the team and Filatov. Unless they make some character judgement on the kid (which is possible) then he is absolutely a guy they need to try and build up.

FYI, Petersson will be pushing too. You can pretty much bet that Konopka, Winchester, and if things don't go well I bet one of Neil, Foligno, or Regin is traded. Alfi may be done after this year as well... just for the sake of argument, we'll say all of that happens with one of Neil, Foligno, or Regin getting traded.

Filatov/Spezza/Michalek
Buter/Da Costa/Silfverberg
Greening/Zibanejad/Foligno
Neil/Smith/Condra
Hoffman/Petersson

It's a process and injuries happen as well as trades. Guys like Stone, Neosen, Peumpel, and some others will be pushing too.

Have to agree, until he's a UFA, Ottawa won't likely walk away from Filatov.

Talking about that, I want Butler back in the lineup please.

NEELY wrote:Why wouldn't they resign him? He's 21, not 30. Would they not resign Wiercoich because of Borowiecki, Rundblad, Cowen, Karlsson, Gryba, Blood, Wideman?

He's an asset capable (or so it seems) to be a very productive pro player. Like the rebuild, it is more than a one year trial and error with both the team and Filatov. Unless they make some character judgement on the kid (which is possible) then he is absolutely a guy they need to try and build up.

FYI, Petersson will be pushing too. You can pretty much bet that Konopka, Winchester, and if things don't go well I bet one of Neil, Foligno, or Regin is traded. Alfi may be done after this year as well... just for the sake of argument, we'll say all of that happens with one of Neil, Foligno, or Regin getting traded.

Filatov/Spezza/Michalek
Buter/Da Costa/Silfverberg
Greening/Zibanejad/Foligno
Neil/Smith/Condra
Hoffman/Petersson

It's a process and injuries happen as well as trades. Guys like Stone, Neosen, Peumpel, and some others will be pushing too.

Have a hard time believing Neil would be traded... but he probably would bring the biggest return. I think Foligno & Regin will go first.

Went to 67's game today -- saw Noeson. He got an assist on their goal.. was pretty good but not outstanding. Mika Z was at the game as well. Heard that from one of the 67's reps.

Who really stood out to me and he's not draft eligible until 2013 was Sean Monahan. In his first 6 games he got 14 pts... plays with Prince... his numbers will probably go up when Prince is back. Pretty good for such a young guy.

Da Costa's goal at 5:12 is the most awesome goal so far in the season, so much potential here:

The goal was OK, the passing was fantastic. The back-of-the-goal view really shows how much Reimer was scrambling. Almost felt sorry for him. Almost.