Wednesday Blunotes: Peoria Adds Experience + EJ Thoughts
Dave Eminiem of PJStar.com reports the the Rivermen have also signed veteran free agent Dave Scatchard. Between Scatchard and Graham Minsk the Rivermen add 1,410 professional games played. Both are listed at 6 foot 3 inches and 225 lbs.
A little size and experience injected in to a very young Rivermen team can’t hurt. I don’t foresee either breaking camp with the Blues though. Though they could certainly fill in when injuries hit the bottom 6. Both will help push players like Sobotka and D’Agostini at camp to earn their spot. Scarchard is this season’s Derek Armstrong.
Seen some interesting discussion regarding Erik Johnson since he signed. I can understand the pressure on the top selection in a draft. With recent picks like Crosby and Ovechkin making the jump to elite status so quickly, don’t assume that’s the norm.
Remember Chris Pronger when he first came over from Hartford? I do. He was nothing close to what he developed on to throughout his career.
Defensemen take time. They need to play in real game situations and grow from that experience.
Counting the 2009-10 season Johnson has 190 games played through college and professional leagues. Drew Doughty, the #2 pick in 2008, ended 09-10 with 353 games played between the Canadian Juniors and the NHL. Johnson has 53% of the games played that Doughty has. Two years younger and 163 more games played. One game shy of two full seasons.
The 08-09 season lost injury did hurt his development. Instead of having nearly 300 games under his belt he has less than 200.
Johnson wrapped up 09-10 with a solid performance at the Olympics and a decent stretch run with the Blues. In his 19 games after the break Johnson notched 4 goals and 10 points with a Plus-5 rating. Meaning in his 60 games prior to the Olympics he posted 6 goals and 29 points with a Minus-4 rating. A difference of .526 points/game vs. .483 points/game. I don’t like blindly quoting +/-, but that’s a stark contrast in numbers and worth noting.
EJ will be fine. All the tools needed are there. It’s just about Erik figuring out how to make all if them work the right way at the right time.
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I was glad to see Johnson take a few times last season to drop the mitts and, at the least, stick up for himself. I know he’s no pugilist by a long shot but I like to see guys that are willing to make a stand and show they won’t be pushed too far. I agree with your assessment on his development 100%. I’m excited by the Scatchard and Mink signings. That’s a move that was missing last year in Peoria and even though they did sign Armstrong, they traded away the captain Trent Whitfield… who is younger than Armstrong. That was one move I really thought was a bad one but Armstrong proved to be great for the team, although, I still think having Whitfield there and wearing the ‘C’ would have been the better option. Just my 2 cents.