Thoughts on Peter Holland and Luca Sbisa

Hey all just wanted to post some info on Peter Holland and Luca Sbisa who are both making news

Peter Holland had just a dreadful start due to a combination of injuries and lack of chemistry with linemates.

Prior to the new year he had 8 goals and 18 assists for 26 points and a -17 through 27 games

Since then he has 17 goals, 22 assists for 39 points in 23 games and is a +5 in that time period

I emailed Tony Saxon of the Guelph Mercury news a few weeks ago and here's what he had to say:
Good to hear from you.

Peter had an awful start, as did the rest of the team. Lot of injuries to team, lot of line juggling. Now the lines are set and Peter and Michael Latta have really become a powerful duo.

Peter has an excellent shot, he just wasn’t using it often enough. He is a superb skater and very intelligent. While big, he is not overly physical, which is one of the knocks on his game. He turns away from finishing his check too much.

Skill-wise I see Patrick Marleau. Not nearly physical or involved enough physically to be compared to Jeff Carter.

I think Peter plays a cerebral game. Not everyone can look like they’re going hells bells out all the time. I think people misunderstand that as lazy, but I don’t think Peter is lazy, he just has a different style.


as noted previously on this blog people had previously tagged him as lazy but I feel that if you don't watch a player on a regular basis it's easy to think that of certain guys. Scott Niedermayer is a prime example, if you didn't know who he was, watched and watched a few games you could take his effortless style and get the impression he's not playing hard.

He does, he's just a very smart player, and I see the same qualities in Holland, on www.guelphstorm.com they show hi lites of every goal and what you can discern is Hollands anticipation especially defensively. He doesn't waste movement, everything he does you could say is calculated or has a purpose. His hands are sick, I see some Getzlaf in this guy in terms of having a dynamite shot, but is a pass first type that's that sees the ice very well. The main differences are he's not a power forward like Getzlaf and skates better, the Marleau comparison was very adept by Saxon, though I think being a Jeff Carter type is not out of the question if he continues to shoot the puck more.

The Ducks did their homework, I think Holland is putting to bed alot of the concerns that were out there and due to his size(6'3, almost 200 lbs) he is not that far away from stepping in. I don't think it'll be next year but if he has an excellent training camp he'll make the ducks give him a look. Most likely he spends another year in Jr, dominates from start to finish and hopefully earns a shot on the Canadian world Jr team.

Luca Sbisa, opened alot of eyes in training camp. He shows flashes of immense talent but correctly, the Ducks sent him to the WHL so he could play 30 minutes a game, kill penalties, qb a PP and so on. If the Olympics are any indication this kid will be ready to assume a major role next season with the Ducks, who are facing the possibility of Scott Niedermayer retiring, and James Wisniewski, likely to be traded within the next 5 months.

His skating is elite, no question but his defensive IQ has really improved leaps and bounds, his positioning and usage of his stick are two things that I noticed improvement on, against the Americans and Team Canada he was playing against elite NHL'ers almost every shift, and not only held his own, but at 19 years old really stood out.

The toughness he showed playing through a broken finger tells me this kid has the mentality to become great, no one would blame him for hitting the showers early but he wanted to help his team WIN. This is what we as Duck fans want...WINNERS, players who don't take shortcuts and who have that compete level to be great.

It is very telling, when a player like Nikita Filatov, who has immense talent, quits on the jackets because he didn't get the ice time he thinks he deserves, did not want to go to the AHL because he thinks he's above it......he went to Russia. He didn't suck it up.

Luca Sbisa, in a similar situation did not complain, he did not sulk, he did not rip Randy Carlyle, he had a good attitude and did what was asked. All these things point to Sbisa being a future no.1 defensemen

Ducks WJC prospect update

hey all i've been waiting for more activity before giving any updates and what better time during the world juniors?

The tournament started this past weekend and several ducks prospects are already making marks in a positive way.

first let me list the players that made their respective teams
Brandon McMillan-CAN
Jake Gardiner-USA
Kyle Palmieri-USA
Igor Bobkov-Russia
Radoslav Illo-Slovakia
Sami Vatanen-Finland
Luca Sbisa-Switzerland

Sbisa played his first game of the tournament against team USA, and he is clearly the best player, he logged huge minutes and made a few attempts at C2C goals as he doesn't have many talented forwards to work with, he has good ideas with playmaking but not the caliber of mates that know what to do in those situations. Don't expect big point numbers but when you watch him you can see at this point he's a level above most other players

Brandon McMillan has had a surprisingly good season and played himself on to Canadas top six, this was a player who went from off the radar to a prominent position. He does a bit of everything, he's a great skater, his hockey sense is well above average,, responsible defensively and is now starting to display an offensive upside nobody knew he had. He reminds you of former Duck Chris Kunitz, with a mix of speed, grit, heart and skill. he had a goal and an assist against Latvia, expect this tournament to springboard his career.

Sami Vatanen, during the summer I was raving about this kid, he has to overcome the size obstacle, but from a pure talent standpoint he is one of the best young defensemen out there. Don't believe me? watch this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzQdajbP4CQ&feature=player_embedded

also he tested as one of the best conditioned athletes at the draft combine, hes wirey strong and has amazing endurance, I expect Vatanen to possibly be one of the stars of the tournament.

Jake Gardiner, has been slotted in a defensive role, no PP time and basically covering for his young d partners he has done a good job of using his skating and size to protect his side of the ice in the long term this could be great for him, he has struggled through a reported shoulder injury most of the year. His combo of size and speed is very interesting especially as he rounds out his defensive game.

Kyle Palmieri, he is a pure agitator, but with talent, hes physical, fast and good at 1 on 1 battles how much skill does he have? time will tell but he is playing on team USA's top 6 and has 2 assists so far in two games.

Radoslav Illo, Illo like Vatanen could be one of the big surprises of the tourney. being healthy this year and having a really good year in the USHL has led to huge leaps in his development, he has 1 goal and 3 assists in two games so far. He has some grit to go along with an outstanding shot, his slapshot is hard and heavy and is also known to have quite a snap/wrist shot as well. He could emerge from this tourney as a blue chipper.

Igor Bobkov, Russia has played one game, it wasn't of consequence, hard to tell anything at this point

No. 1 Luca Sbisa

1. Luca Sbisa- Sbisa was selected 19th in the 2008 draft. Sbisa is a very good all around player. He does a bit of everything, he can skate, pass, shoot, hit, fight and defend. He’s a player that really broke out in the 2008 WHL playoffs. He’s also blessed with good size at 6’2 190, so obviously he has room to grow into his frame and become a solid 200+ pounder.

He was so impressive at Flyers camp last year, he made the team and played in 39 games. He was later sent back to Lethbridge as the Flyers had a glut of D as well as cap issues so removing his cap number helped. He went on to play over 30 minutes a game back in junior helping his team advance in the playoffs.

Sbisa is expected to make the Ducks right out of camp, many expect him to be paired with Scott Niedermayer, on one hand that’s going to help him learn a lot about what it takes to become a great player. On the other, that means Carlyle is throwing him into the fire against top offensive players. Can he help contain players like Joe Thornton, Pavel Datsyuk and so on? If he can it could accelerate his development, if he can’t….it could stunt his growth. So It’s a bit risky, no doubt but I’ve heard rave reviews about his character.

Sbisa has number 1 type upside with his all around talent and if he can start to excel in a few areas, he could be one of those franchise type D every team craves.

No.2 Jake Gardiner

Gardiner was drafted as a project he’s a recently converted defensemen who hit a growth spurt over the last year, he went from 6’0 to 6’2 and 187 pounds. If he has another growth spurt we could be talking about a beast of a player. He improved significantly through the course of his freshman season in Wisconsin.

Flat out, he is one of the best skaters I have ever seen and I’ve seen plenty of Scott Niedermayer and Paul Coffey. Ilya Kovalchuk is the only player that I can think of that hits that top gear so fast, he literally gets to it in about 2-3 strides and because he played so much forward he has puck skills a lot of D lack, when you combine these three assets……Size, speed, puck skills you have yourself a player that could be a big time impact player. His defensive abilities have gotten better and I saw some instances where he showed some bite to his game. He had 3 goals and 18 assists for 21 points last year, with Jamie McBain moving on Gardiner is expected to anchor the UW power play, he could have a major increase in production this year.

He could be ready to turn pro after next season but remember he’s in a great program for defensemen so the Ducks could keep him there longer, but I think they really want to get him into a pro camp and see how he stacks up, he should make the US WJC U20 team this year, he drew rave reviews from the recent camp.

Gardiner is a boom or bust type of player but he could always possibly be switched back to forward, but I doubt it, he seems to be making big improvements on D he could really compliment Luca Sbisa, Ryan Whitney and James Wisniewski in the future.

No. 3 Peter Holland

1. Peter Holland, I wrote a long report about Peter Holland after the draft, I think he has big time upside that a lot of people don’t see due to the system he plays in. He’s a big kid that can skate, is defensively responsible and has an excellent wrist shot, with good playmaking abilities.

People out there will question his drive and character but let’s make one thing clear, Character has been a big deal to the ducks the last several years, if he impressed them in his interviews, well that’s good enough for me. Ryan Getzlaf and Bobby Ryan both had their drive and character questioned, and now they are the anchors of the teams offensive future along with Corey Perry.

Holland just has a ton of talent, that’s why the ducks took him where they did he could be the guy that compliments Ryan Getzlaf as the teams number 2 center in the distant future. Holland will finish out his junior career this season, but I look forward to how he performs in his first pro camp this fall. Being on the ice with the talent the ducks have could really motivate this guy to steal a roster spot next year, though the ducks are known for being patient with their players.

No. 4 Nick Bonino

4. Nick Bonino-



This may surprise many of you that he’s rated this high but flatout he’s a stud, here’s a quote from Max Gieses blog which was talking about Patrick White but referenced Bonino


“I also can't believe the Sharks traded that Bonino kid, the kid's a stud!"

Now if you remember after the trade deadline when the ducks got him Bob Murray was really speaking highly of this guy.

So what does Bonino go and do? Help lead BC to a national championship. He’s a thick body at 6’1 190, he will play one more year in BU then likely turn pro, remember how I just said Holland could be the teams no.2 center? Well Bob Murray was projecting Bonino for that type of role after the trade.

He has to improve his skating, but he can shoot the puck and he can pass it and is not afraid of the dirty areas one bit. The Sharks will regret this trade I have almost no doubt, the reason Bonino gets no talk at all……his draft position, if he was a first or second rounder instead of a 6th round pick, more people would be on the bandwagon.

I could see him in the NHL after spending a half a year, to a year in the AHL. The ducks have some big time forwards coming to surround their 3 franchise forwards, Bonino is one of them.

I would compare him to Joe Pavelski of the Sharks, not the best skater but very good at a lot of things.

No.5 Mark Mitera

5. Mark Mitera- Mitera was selected 18th in the 2006 draft. He’s a big strong defensive defensemen who plays with nastiness to his game. At 6’3 and 215 pounds he has a pro body, when you combine that size with his skating, defensive intelligence and toughness you have a guy who should be a top 4 shutdown type D.

He’s an excellent penalty Killer and makes that all important first pass. Last season he tore his ACL early in the season but returned in time to play a couple of games at the end of the season as well as play for the Ducks former AHL affiliate, Iowa Chops.

No doubt the knee injury is going to set him back in terms of his NHL debut. He will likely start the year in the minors but do not be surprised one bit if he leapfrogs Festerling, Mikkelson, and Salcido on the depth chart and earns the first callup. Mitera has the pedigree to back it up. Mitera will be attending his first pro training camp which is going to be big in evaluating where he’s at. He’s always been highly underrated by the “prospect media” but from what I’ve seen he should be a very effective pro.

I would compare him as a player that could turn out between a Sean O’Donnell and a Robyn Regehr type player