Josh Bailey has become an unbelievable player almost overnight. The mitigating arguments: yes, this is one game; yes, the opponents are a little below par; yes, he's only 21; yes, he has not peaked. Fine. We've been watching his upward trajectory since he was an overmatched, fresh-faced teenager skating around on the third line for a last-place team. He made progress during that lost season, but it was subtle and slow. The next season saw him have a bit of a coming-out party in the middle of the year, stringing together multi-point games for awhile to give us a glimpse of what was to come. By the end of the year, he was noticeably affecting games, but sometimes missing the scoresheet.
These first two games of this season were entirely different, though. It's not just that Bailey has four points so far. If anything, his all-zone contributions and play without the puck have been even better than some of the spectacular plays he's made to score those points. He's forechecking and backchecking with great tenacity, he's throwing hits and winning battles in the corners, and his stick work is better than ever. Top all that off with a great sense of what to do in front of the net, and you've got yourself a pretty good NHL player.
For the record, this is all coming at the center position, where I didn't expect to see him again until two years from now. His faceoffs are still below average, but with the work this guy is putting in, I'm sure that'll eventually change. In the meantime, he's carried the team to three points almost by himself.
Is Blake Comeau really going to spell Kyle Okposo until December? Other than a few minor miscues, Comeau did everything Okposo normally does today. His forechecking is really on point, plus he's making some great defensive plays. It seems like things have officially clicked for him; he knows exactly how to translate his skill set to high-level production.
Comeau is a great example of the type of patience we need to show when young guys clearly have something to offer but aren't quite putting it together. For every Sean Bergenheim, who can't get it together mentally in time to salvage his career, there will be a Blake Comeau. At one time, I was laughed at for calling Comeau a referendum on Todd Bertuzzi. Though Comeau will probably never see 70 points in a season, it's looking more and more like Comeau can mature into a top six all-around power forward. Keep your eyes on this kid, because as I mentioned before, he's the most important forward until Okposo returns.
Andy MacDonald is officially the #1 defenseman until Mark Streit returns. This guy just continues to be steady-as-she-goes in his own end, nullifying oncoming attackers in all sorts of situations. This is my official campaign to get this guy more minutes, considering I'm most comfortable when MacDonald and (begrudgingly) Mike Mottau are on the ice (more on him later). He's showing great stick work and body positioning, and he seems to have no problem taking on the opponent's best players.
My hate for Mike Mottau wanes by the day. A couple minor goofs from him, but other than that, he was sensational. As a last-minute pickup, he's been a godsend so far. Not only is he tough as nails, but he looks right at home in this system in all three zones. He's been sneaky-good on the power play, and he picked up two assists this afternoon.
We're seeing a new and improved Radek Martinek. My pre-season observations told me that Radek was putting a different emphasis on being physical and being offensively-minded this year. So far, he's shown exactly that. He's put a couple good-looking wrist shots on goal, and he was even trying his best to bring the nasty today. When he was faced with a physical challenge, he'd normally back down; these past two games, he's snarled back at the antagonist and answered in kind. Very pleasant to see that this guy's finally playing with a chip on his shoulder. He doesn't look nearly as scared or tentative anymore.
There were, of course, big negatives from this game.
The sloppiness must cease! The own-zone turnovers were horrific, and the neutral-zone turnovers were equally cringe-worthy. There are a lot of new players trying to learn the system, which probably accounts for some of this stuff, but a large portion of these gaffes have come unforced. James Wisniewski and P.A. Parenteau were the big culprits tonight. I'm giving them a couple more games to get it together, but the two of them have now put together two consecutive really bad games in the defensive and neutral zones. A lot of their screw-ups were just inexcusable.
On a team level, a second bench minor in as many games proved extremely costly. Those types of mental mistakes can't continue happening. Last year, the Isles were among the most disciplined teams in the NHL. That needs to continue if they want to stay afloat until Okposo comes back into the fold.
Ricky D must continue adjusting. He gave up two very soft goals today. I understand he's getting back in the groove when it comes to fighting through screens and moving laterally, but as I mentioned two days ago, he can't be weighing down the team while working out the kinks. He made some great, great saves, but the day when he's fully re-adjusted to the NHL game and playing close to how he used to can't come soon enough.
I think El Niño can hold his own, but he needs to show more if he's gonna stay. Niederreiter's been treading water so far and having some nice moments here and there, but we knew he'd be able to grind at this level already. The question is whether he can do something more. Otherwise, the Isles have a guy (Joensuu) who can do all these things in his place while Nino logs key development time in Portland and at the WJC.
In other news, I'm gonna try to get to some college games this week. I have Minnesota and North Dakota on DVR. Comcast sucks, so I missed UNH and Blake Kessel. On a final note, I'm sticking to what I said about Stepan: good player, but he's up too early. I think he'll definitely be a long-term second-line center, but expect the rest of the year for him to continue sort of like Bailey's first season on the Isles.
No comments:
Post a Comment