Comments on: The Lethal Mr. Brooks

By: Let’s all arbitrate and have a good time! « the red skate

Let’s all arbitrate and have a good time! « the red skate — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 01:47:29 +0000

By: exwhaler

exwhaler — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 22:19:03 +0000

Although the “another Pettinger” warning is justified, there are some differences that might seem to indicate Laich’s break-out is for real.
Pettinger had his 20-goal season the year after the lockout, when he was the best first offensive option on the roster after Ovechkin. He got the puck more, he was expected to be an offensive player, and he was playing is natural position (LW). The next season, Pettinger was shifted to RW to make room for Alexander Semin. The two seemed to have chemistry issues (namely, Semin wouldn’t pass him the puck), and then he missed some games with an injury. Pettinger wound up with 16 goals that year–four shy of his career best, in which he played 7 more games. He still managed to pot 3 SHG and get about the same number of points as the previous season. This year, the wheels came off–with the veteran acquisitions, Pettinger was moved to what was hoped to be a veteran checking line, which never produced and then derailed as soon as Clark got injured. Maybe the move to a checking line stunted his offense; maybe it was an attitude problem that both Hanlon and Gabby struggled with; maybe it was just dumb bad luck. Whatever it was, Petty seemed to struggle whenever the coaching staff would shift his position or his game.
That hasn’t happened with Laich. He’s shown he can play all three forward positions with no drop-off in play, and that he’s a balanced defensive player who’s not afraid to crash the net to generate his own offense. I don’t think he’ll ever become a consistant goal scorer, but he’ll get bursts like the one in recent weeks, where he takes advantage of teams attempting to lock down on Ovie.
Laich doesn’t remind of Pettinger. He reminds of Chris Clark. Heck, they even look alike:
http://cdn.nhl.com/photos/mugs/8469639.jpg
http://ted.aol.com/images/content/Chris%20Clark.jpg

By: Aneesa

Aneesa — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:31:54 +0000

I like Laich, too, but I agree with Zack. He has had a tremendous end-of-season run with a career-best 19 goals.
The 2007-2008 has been his best season with 19 goals and 30 assists but he hasn’t been consistent. If he can consistently increase his stats for at least another two years, I’ll buy his jersey. Right now, he’s just insatiable eye candy.
As for Petti, I hope he’s found a home with the Canucks.

By: amy

amy — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 14:17:16 +0000

He’s been playing quite well, as of late, and having a little eye candy on the ice doesn’t hurt either!

By: Zack

Zack — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 15:48:20 +0000

While Brooks is indeed having a strong year, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. A few years ago it looked like we had a perennial twenty goal scorer in Matt Pettinger – the rest is history.
I’m not trying to be pessimistic, but I want to see Brooks play this way for a couple years, not just 12 games.

By: Bethany

Bethany — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 03:32:54 +0000

He’s a ladies man, and I like him.

By: pgreene

pgreene — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 18:44:55 +0000

gmgm remains one of the shrewdest traders in the league.
go brooks go.

By: exwhaler

exwhaler — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 18:39:23 +0000

The other thing to remember was that those trades were a firesale; other teams knew that the Capitals were trying to unload salary, so they had McPhee over a barrel in terms of return. Especially with the CBA blowing up that summer, something that all the owners and GMs knew would happen. Three of the six prospects the Capitals got in those trades are on the NHL team–Laich, Morrisonn, and Fleichmann–not to mention the draft picks that got us Mike Green, Finley, and others.
It was a bang-up job considering the circumstances, one on which the Capitals established a new foundation (go look at the talent that has come just from the 2004 draft)

By: CapitalGuy

CapitalGuy — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:35:01 +0000

Pre OFB, the usual crew of Caps OB kids, cranks and clowns were IRATE that the Caps traded Bondra and for so “little.” After the deal definitively became a rental (Ottawa declined Bondra’s option year), the trade trashers’ ire was nevertheless undeterred. Some of that ire turned into premature, irrational labeling of Laich and Finley as “busts.” Uh huh. The Caps in Laich and Finley have two promising players with Laichly 2+ decades of fine hockey of ahead of them. While the WPost beat writer claims in his recent chat to be stumped on off days for things to write about [imagine an eye roll here], OFB shows why it excels in hockey acumen and initiative.

By: dmg

dmg — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 15:13:29 +0000

I was wondering what had happened to that pick, thank you!