Forward Marcus Carroll was signed to an ATO on Friday. He played last night with the Grizzlies against Idaho and picked up 2 SOG and ended the game with a +1. So far so good. It sounds like Carroll has been assigned to defense here in Utah, rather than forward. In the OHL, Carroll acquired 62 points (25g, 37a) in 67 games and 81 penalty minutes.
Also joining the Grizzlies tonight in Boise is Simon Ferguson, who was acquired earlier this season in a trade with the Florida Everblades. We wondered if we would see Ferguson later in the season when his PTO with Syracuse expired, and it looks like that is the case. You can check out Ferguson's AHL stats here.
Look at those crazy eyes. Watch out, Idaho.
Although it's nice to see Ferguson joining the line, we still feel concerned about the Grizzlies' 2nd and 3rd lines ability to gel with the constant change this season. But of course, Utah could already be making preparations for next season. As Denny said in his blog today, if players don't step up, they won't be back.
While we understand that is a necessity to make sure everyone is playing at their best, we'd also like to point out that players, who are quite talented, may not respond to a certain coaching technique or line. And we find it a bit premature to declare the boys on the team that haven't been as prominent here in Utah jobless next year. In fact, a number of Grizzlies who were traded this year have flourished on their new teams: Parker Van Buskirk had a spin in the AHL, Patrick Asselin is in the midst of a 5 game scoring streak and has picked up 15 points in 17 games, Shea Guthrie sits at 20 points in 25 games, and the list goes on.
We're big fans of Kevin Colley, and we think he has a lot to offer as a coach, but sometimes we are left to wonder if there's a disconnect between Colley's coaching and the team's understanding and execution. And while we completely agree with Denny's observation that: "It should not take a Kevin Colley timeout mid-game to stop bleeding and momentum" - we have to wonder if the boys have been unintentionally conditioned to respond as such.
We can't offer any suggestions on what to do about it, though. Just an opinion.
Luck tonight, Grizzlies!
4 comments:
Does that guy have a shaved eyebrow? Maybe it's stitches...
Ferguson? I'm not sure . . . I didn't really take that close of a look at it. :D
Yeah, he's like Vanilla Ice's brother or something.
Ouch! That's kind of a burn!
Although, if that is the case, they play his brother's theme song at the E Center almost every game . . . instead of UNDER PRESSURE. I get fooled by that every damn time. :P
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