The Caps have assigned 19 players to Hershey (Dean Arsene, Scott Barney, Jay Beagle, Sean Collins, Andrew Gordon, Marty Guerin, Jamie Hunt, Andrew Joudrey, Quintin Laing, Sami Lepisto, Tommy Maxwell, Chris McAllister, Grant McNeill, Patrick McNeill, Jason Morgan, Travis Morin, Steve Pinizzotto, Grant Potulny, Steve Werner) and released Dan Kronick. The moves leave 20 forwards (including Eric Fehr), 12 defenseman and five goalies in camp.Notably still in D.C. trying to make the team, then, are Chris Bourque, Tomas Fleischmann, Jakub Klepis, Joe Motzko, Dave Steckel, Kyle Wilson, Josef Boumedienne, Sasha Pokulok, Jame Pollock, Tyler Sloan and all three non-NHL goalies (Michal Neuvirth, Hershey starter Freddy Cassivi and the injured Daren Machesney).
Oh, and Nicklas Backstrom.
5 comments:
Here's a question:
It seemed that Jurcina and Morrisonn played very well together last season after Jurcina's arrival, but few out there seem to think they will be together this year....any reasons why?
They seemed very solid to me and built some chemistry.
No doubt they had chemisty, but they're both solid defense-first defensemen. It's probably easier to see why you split them by looking at what happens if you don't, and by that I mean you have some combination of Poti, Pothier, Eminger, Green, Schultz, Erskine and Boumedienne forming your bottom two pairings.
Of those players, only Erskine and Schultz are really "defense first" guys, and it may be that neither is an every night NHL defenseman right now (Erskine most certainly is not). The result, then, would be pairings that either are too offensive-minded or too green (no pun intended).
By splitting Mo and Juice, you get the chance to pair each with a puck-mover, which will help in puck possession while at the same time giving those puck-movers a little more of a safety net coverage-wise to take some chances.
Put another way, if you keep Jurcina and Morrisonn together, your other two pairings have some glaring weaknesses (if they don't anyway).
I'd expect to see them out together in key situations late, but for the most part I think that splitting them up is the way to go.
I thought I was seeing a lot of buzz about Kronick? Is he just too young (don't know his age)
Kronick was an undrafted, non-roster invitee to development camp this summer. He did well enough there to be rewarded with an invite to rookie camp, but his would have been the longest of longshots to make the team.
He's 23.
Also, the Caps have an x-number of contracts they can hand out each year, so that would make them hestitate on taking a chance on a longshot unless he really impresses (and Wilson's the one who's gotten the praise from Hanlon at training camp).
On Mo and Jurcina...it was my impression last year that Morrisson actually played better with Pothier in the first part of the season, and vice versa. When that pairing was broken up after sickness and injuries, both players saw a drop in their level of individual performance. Although Mo played well with Jurcina, I think he was steadier and more consistant with Pothier.
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