Quoting: gaz
What do CBJ fans think about Vincent's deployment of their younger players (ie. Johnson being scratched to open the year, Jiricek being scratched quite a bit lately, and Fantilli playing on the 4th line) & do you think Jarmo keeps his job past this season?
Kent Johnson was ass. They handled it well. His season turned around with his time in Cleveland and even he will admit that.
Jiricek has a ton of signs of both front office and coaching staff manipulation. Jarmo ****ed the right side of our D and it leaves it up for the coach to balance playing time with a roster of 5 RHD and only one that can go to the AHL. Jarmo can’t offload any of them in trades bc they’re worthless and he won’t just waive Andrew Peeke for some reason. So to put it all on Pascal is ridiculous.
Fantilli has had a ton of really **** games. He had literally one period on a fourth line. It’s a non story. He’s back on the wing now because his instincts right now are not good. He’s been puck watching and unable to drive offense no matter who his line mates are. Putting him on the wing with some veterans on the line was an effort to help the game be simpler for him. He’s insanely talented and it’s so obvious from the game but it hasn’t made the team better. He’s buried in Corsi, xG, and anything else you want to measure for a month straight and that’s with a bunch of different line combos. I’ve got clips on my twitter of him skating just absolutely brain dead college kid routes that turn rush opportunities into 0 shot attempts. He’s so good but he’s in his adjustment period. Last year he just skated through and past everyone on his way to a Hobey. He’s finding out the NHL is harder.
In terms of the other young players: Cole Sillinger is having a career Renaissance, Yegor Chinakhov is looking like he’s going to be an elite goal scorer someday, Kirill Marchenko has turned into a complete 200 foot player, Dmitri Voronkov has quickly become a legit NHL center and might be a 30-30-60 guy, and Jiricek was showing a ton of growth this year.
Pascal Vincent might not run a cohesive or good NHL team but the growth in individual players is undeniable. I’d like another year of him before bringing in a better strategist and game manager at HC.
Jarmo hopefully done this summer.