Showing posts with label Ryan Stone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ryan Stone. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

(Edmonton Journal) Cult of Hockey Player Grades - Oilers vs Lightning (12/09/09)



Once again David Staples of the Edmonton Journal's Cult of Hockey has allowed me to do the player grades for this game. You can read it here at Oilers Jambalaya or you can read it HERE.



Now I hope you understand how hard it is to grade a game that's choppy.  It was cool that we were able to see the game, but it was so choppy at times I missed little sequences.  But here is what I saw.

The Cult of Hockey Grading System: 10-perfect game, 9 extraordinary, 8 great, 7 good, 6 above average, 5 average, 4 below average, 3 poor, 2 terrible, 1 deserves to be in minors.



 #27 Dustin Penner (7) - I didn't find too many faults in his game tonight.  He played pretty good and scored a typical Penner in front of the net goal. Heck, he even led the team in faceoffs.  He sure plays a complete game this year. I hope he gets more than a nod for Team Canada.

#89 Sam Gagner (6) - He played well but was still over matched in the Oilers end at times. He has been better in these last two games and he needs to find that "next level" if he's to do well as a #1 center.  He had 3 shots and his pass/shot gave him an assist on the Penner goal.  Overall, not a bad game.

#10 Shawn Horcoff (5) - He was near invisible.  He played 22:12 and although most of those minutes were decent minutes (1:46 of PP time and 2:36 in PK time) he needs to be more effective.  This was not the same Horcoff as we seen the last two games.

#13 Andrew Cogliano (5) - Cogliano had some good moments in this game.  Nothing that was over the top or anything.  He has this way of looking like he does a lot out there, while really all he is doing is skating fast.  He reminds me of Todd Marchant, only he can't win faceoffs.

#19 Patrick O'Sullivan (4) - He was not good at all.  He brought down the 2nd line with his sub par play.  Hedman scored that goal and that was O'Sullivan's guy and he didn't take him. He just seems lost out there right now.  He only had 3 shots and if he is going to earn his money he needs goals.  And how do you get goals? You shoot.

#67 Gilbert Brule (6) - He was pretty good.  He kept trying to make nice plays to Penner and instead maybe should have taken more shots himself.  But all in all I don't have much to complain about.  He's way better than I ever thought that he could be.  And this is just the beginning for him.

#18 Ethan Moreau (4) - The Captain didn't do much tonight.  I don't know about you guys, but he's not really contributing much.  It's almost like he's just taking up minutes when someone else could eat hose minutes.  Don't get me wrong, he's not terrible right now, but he also isn't a contributor.

#22 JF Jacques (6) - He was the best player on his line.  He had 5 hits and it seems like if he is doing that, then he's doing his job. 

#16 Ryan Potulny (5) - He was another one of those looked average type of players tonight.  He did what he could and it definitely wasn't fantastic.  He was just plain jane average.

#46 Zack Stortini (9) - The man had a Gordie Howe hat trick and still added another fight to his resume near the end of the game.  This was the best that I have ever seen him.  He had 3 hits and I didn't notice a single error (other than 0 for 6 on the faceoffs) on his part tonight.  So that's why I'm giving him a 9. All this and he only played 6:22.  Should this game earn him a 10?

#32 Ryan Stone (8) - The other bash brother was also good tonight.  His fight was a good one and it impressed me that he could chuck them like that.  He was hitting everyone (I don't know how the NHL doesn't count more hits) he could and even created some scoring chances.  He also played just over six minutes tonight, but he made the most of it.

#12 Robert Nilsson (7) - He was pretty good tonight and picked up another assist.  I maybe should have given him a 6 but he plays so well with Stone and Stortini and it's helping him shine.  I'm sure that he's thankful to get back into the lineup.  He seems to be trying to not make those little mental mistakes that have plagued him in the past.

#44 Sheldon Souray (7) - He was left alone on a wicked 2 on 1 for the Lightning's first goal.  Not totally his fault, but he made a decision to take the passer and that left St Louis all alone with JDD.  He and Gilbert were on for three Oiler goals and the on for the first Tampa goal.  Although he wasn't all out aggressive, he played pretty darn good.

#71 Lubomir Visnovsky (5) - All the defence were pretty average tonight including Visnovsky.  I've seen him be better.  He played 21:00 minutes and had 1 shot and 2 blocked shots.  Not really a night to remember.

#77 Tom Gilbert (6) - It was his error (pinch) that caused the 2 on 1 and essentially, the first goal of the game.  He did however score ten minutes later to even up the score.  So does that balence things out?  He actualy was decent tonight.  It appears to me that he's been getting better as this road trip goes on.

#24 Steve Staios (5) - Quite an average game.  Not much to say here.

#5 Ladislav Smid (5) - He had a fairly decent game.  He blew a spaz and knocked some guys down.  I kept waiting for him to score another goal tonight but it never happened.

#43 Jason Strudwick (5) - Also an average game.  Oddly enough, no goals were directly his fault.

#38 Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers (7) - His willingness to battle for 60 minutes helped the Oilers win this game.  He made some good saves all throughout the game.  But once again the Lightning went up high on him and scored.  How is that possible when the guy is that tall?  He's playing better than anyone expected.

#40 Devan Dubnyk (N/A) -  He did not play.

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