Bryan Lerg (7gp. 2-8-10 +4 in Stockton this year and 3gp. 1-0-1 +1 in Springfield) got the callup (AGAIN), while Colin McDonald (14gp. 2-2-4 in Springfield) gets sent down to work on his confidence. Hopefully Lerg will get a real opportunity to grab a roster spot this time around. Good call IMO, but there are some other things that need to be addressed as well.
#1-Why is Robbie Bina (7gp. 1-2-3 -3 in Stockton and 3gp. 0-1-1 +1 with the Falcons) in the lineup over Cody Wild (7gp. 1-2-3 +4 with the Falcons)? How do you scratch a guy like that who also has 3 PP points when you have a struggling PP and offense?
#2-Why in the world is Mathieu Roy on the PP? 0 points in 5 games, yet he's playing beside Sebastien Bisaillon on the Schremp-Potulny-____ PP unit? Mathieu Roy is an offensive play killer at the AHL level. Play him in a strictly defensive role, if he ever makes it back to the NHL, it won't be for his PP production.
#3-Why don't we loan Mathieu Roy to another team? Jake Taylor didn't need to play on the PP prior to his recent injury, so why does Roy? Chorney, Wild, Bisaillon, and Peckham are all better on the PP than Roy and they are all younger. Peckham and Young need prime defensive and PK minutes (for the most part they've gotten them). And Bisaillon's defensive game has come a long way (as evidenced by his +5 rating). Cody Wild is also underrated defensively and should be used in such roles and Taylor Chorney has gotten his share of PK minutes already.
#4-When Jean-Francois Jacques returns, the team will effectively have too many veteran banging wingers. Derek Bekar (9gp. 3-0-3 -1 4pim.), Guillaume Lefebvre (13gp. 0-2-2 +4 40pim.), and Hans Benson (7gp. 0-0-0 -1 25pim.) along with Jacques will be taking valuable icetime from Ryan O'Marra (9gp. 0-2-2 -1 6pim.) and Geoff Paukovich (4gp. 1-0-1 Ev 10pim.).
Paukovich is a guy that needs more icetime, he is a center that likes to hit and he's still young enough that he could turn out to be a player.
3 comments:
Nice article Bryan! Greatly appreciate the insight into the Falcons.
Typo in the title (scoring). Sorry to have to point it out.
I don't see it as much a lack of skill, but rather a lack of veteran experience in those roles. What exactly has Carl Corrazini done for us this year? Ryan Potulny's doing his part, but he needs more support.
Look at the teams that win at the AHL level and you'll find that they are filled with useful veterans. The Chicago Wolves and Manitoba Moose for example. Now I know a great deal of the Moose due to geography, but they've always been free to run the team their way. It's not just about developing prospects, but developing them in a situation they're comfortable with and can succeed in. Manitoba keeps six veterans on the roster (the maximum of five) and they're a diverse bunch.
- Captain Mike Keane (he of the 3 Stanley Cups)
- Mark Cullen
- Jason Krog
- Michel Ouellet
- Daryll Bootland
- Nolan Baumgartner
You've got defensive guys who can mentor Vancouver's next 3/4 liners, offensive juggernauts to bring along the next group of scorers and veteran defensemen to lessen the impact on the young blueliners and, above all, keep the puck away from Schneider. Because they run with veterans in their roster, the prospects Vancouver is keeping their eyes on are put in a position to succeed. budding snipers Jason Jaffray and Mason Raymond got their start alongside Jason Krog (and before him, Brad Moran). The development of Jannik Hansen and Ryan Kesler would not have been as effective if Mike Keane wasn't around. And we cannot forget that it was the departed Drew MacIntyre last year who pushed Cory Schneider's development.
What does this mean to the Falcons? Well, if we want to be successful as an AHL team this team needs to emulate those who consistently win. We have a couple (Corazzini, Roy, Taylor) but not enough in key areas. This team could benefit from another top-6 veteran and a veteran AHL grinder to teach the kids the way. They could also benefit from maybe one less veteran defenseman though, as Bryan Young is almost at that level now.
Sorry for the rant, but this is one area I really feel strongly about in developing a successful farm team.
Word verification: gentle. Ha.
No prob Psyche, I caught it before I read your post, but it was up there for awhile ;)
Dorito-Guys like Mathieu Roy and Jake Taylor don't win you games if they are in key roles. If they are in supporting roles they'll be fine. However IMO Mathieu Roy is more of a problem than a luxury to have on the team.
Corazzini has been solid defensively but rather limited offensively. Potulny has put up points, but Schremp was driving that bus as anyone can see from the hilites from most of his goals.
The Falcons have some veterans, but the young guys need to be doing more. Schremp, Brule, Potulny, Trukhno, etc. Those are the guys driving the bus for the team along with other young vets like Peckham and Dubnyk.
The bottom line is having the vets play key roles while the younger guys with NHL futures pull the weight.
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