Article: Wild Prospect Charlie Stramel Off to Hot Start at Michigan State

[Thomas Williams]

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[Citizen Strife]

Good for him.  Hope he takes Hartman's spot someday once Yurov settles in and goes higher in the lineup.

[mnfaninnc]

Good to hear about Stramel, hopefully he develops into a good 3rd line center for us. It'll be interesting to see if at the end of this year, he can fill in right away.

[mnfaninnc]

But, now we have to talk about the weekend. This was about as bad as it could get. Blowout loss to the Mammoth, and can't hold the Sharks down for less than 6. 

To me, though, this is not the real problem. The Jiricek-Buium pair just wasn't working. They do not enhance each other, they are both scary defenders, even with shielded 3rd pairing minutes. 

Those who got shafted in minutes were Yurov, Jiricek. The Wall is getting strictly backup assignments, and, really, it seemed like goal 6 was on him. I'm not saying that these rookies are deserving of the extra minutes right now, I am saying that they have to be given to get them experience which will help us in the long run. 

There were plenty of problems with every other line this weekend, nobody really showed up. Is there an expiration date on HCJH? Or, is this just the slow start I was expecting? I certainly hope the video coaches are having a lack of sleep due to what they need to piece together. 

I am concerned over the slow starts to games we have. This needs to be corrected. I'm also concerned that they are switching Buium to PP2. Interestingly, that's the unit that has scored the last 2 PP goals. He should be on the 1st unit, but they need to be skating and switching positions, not standing around guarding their little bit of ice. They were best when they were skating all over the place and that started with Buium. 

I don't know what it will take to start fast. This team has been a slow starter since Koivu except for maybe one year. This has got to be reversed.