Mathieu Dandenault

[Lethbridge Broncos]

Ten years ago, Scott Bowman took a young green great skating Frenchman named Mathieu Dandenault and moved him from wing to defense. While Danenault has not been a Norris type player, he is a solid top 4 guy in the league and has built quite a resume.

 

The Sabres are doing this with Gragnani. He looked great last night -- and played his heart out (as the Sabres were down to 4 guys). After his terrible Calgary game (where Bert went around him and he wouldnt hit anybody) -- he was assertive, creative and showed his spead and stick handling skills on a few rushes. His shot and passing skills are evident -- he sees the ice well. But this guy is calm -- under pressure he is pretty relaxed back there. And he smashed one Phoenix winger on the boards -- which was good to see. He is big -- 6'2, 200 pounds and very young (21 or 22). But his skating style is very interesting and appealing (he has good balance and puck control). He needs some polishing with his back skating and crossovers -- but he is an interesting prospect.

 

I give a thumb up. I would like to see him get a little more aggressive around the cage -- he will need to get a little more dirty with his stick after plays. And you have seen Butler do this. Butler is now hacking away at guys and looks like a little baby Rivet -- with the snarl.

[tom webster]

Ten years ago, Scott Bowman took a young green great skating Frenchman named Mathieu Dandenault and moved him from wing to defense. While Danenault has not been a Norris type player, he is a solid top 4 guy in the league and has built quite a resume.

 

The Sabres are doing this with Gragnani. He looked great last night -- and played his heart out (as the Sabres were down to 4 guys). After his terrible Calgary game (where Bert went around him and he wouldnt hit anybody) -- he was assertive, creative and showed his spead and stick handling skills on a few rushes. His shot and passing skills are evident -- he sees the ice well. But this guy is calm -- under pressure he is pretty relaxed back there. And he smashed one Phoenix winger on the boards -- which was good to see. He is big -- 6'2, 200 pounds and very young (21 or 22). But his skating style is very interesting and appealing (he has good balance and puck control). He needs some polishing with his back skating and crossovers -- but he is an interesting prospect.

 

I give a thumb up. I would like to see him get a little more aggressive around the cage -- he will need to get a little more dirty with his stick after plays. And you have seen Butler do this. Butler is now hacking away at guys and looks like a little baby Rivet -- with the snarl.

 

1) Gragnani has been a defenseman his whole life. Playing forward the second half of last year was the experiment.

2) While he has been a good fill in, I'd be surprised to see him become more then that in the coming years. He is probably 10th on the list of young defensemen in this organization.

[cilevel]

Ten years ago, Scott Bowman took a young green great skating Frenchman named Mathieu Dandenault and moved him from wing to defense. While Danenault has not been a Norris type player, he is a solid top 4 guy in the league and has built quite a resume.

 

The Sabres are doing this with Gragnani. He looked great last night -- and played his heart out (as the Sabres were down to 4 guys). After his terrible Calgary game (where Bert went around him and he wouldnt hit anybody) -- he was assertive, creative and showed his spead and stick handling skills on a few rushes. His shot and passing skills are evident -- he sees the ice well. But this guy is calm -- under pressure he is pretty relaxed back there. And he smashed one Phoenix winger on the boards -- which was good to see. He is big -- 6'2, 200 pounds and very young (21 or 22). But his skating style is very interesting and appealing (he has good balance and puck control). He needs some polishing with his back skating and crossovers -- but he is an interesting prospect.

 

I give a thumb up. I would like to see him get a little more aggressive around the cage -- he will need to get a little more dirty with his stick after plays. And you have seen Butler do this. Butler is now hacking away at guys and looks like a little baby Rivet -- with the snarl.

 

I was at last night's game and will say Grags did play well. No glaring mistakes although he got beat a couple of times. I noticed a couple of his hits as well and took note.

 

He was a defensemen that they used at forward last year though, and not the other way around so he is just in a learning curve. Still, I give him a thumbs up.

 

Butler got Doan back last night right in front of me as he was skating backwards along the Sabres blueline - Buts chopped at his skates and down went Doan. I believe he was getting Doan back for an elbow to the face of Kaleta that took place behind the play and went unnoticed.

[...]

Gragnani will be 22 in March. He's young and clearly has some talent. These young guys are going to get beat once in a while. Hell, even the vets get beat. From the few games he's been in this trip I think he'll be (a lot) more than just a 7th spot D man.

[Lethbridge Broncos]

Yea, I agree, he demonstrated last night -- in a big game on the road, with only 4 defensemen, that he could play at this level. He needs some serious polishing -- as his game as grainy as hell, but I think he can make some hay in the national league because of his frame, stride, cerebral style, quick hands and passing ability and his willingness to skate up ice and lug the puck when he has too. he has confidence -- i like that.

 

 

 

 

 

Gragnani will be 22 in March. He's young and clearly has some talent. These young guys are going to get beat once in a while. Hell, even the vets get beat. From the few games he's been in this trip I think he'll be (a lot) more than just a 7th spot D man.

[tom webster]

Yea, I agree, he demonstrated last night -- in a big game on the road, with only 4 defensemen, that he could play at this level. He needs some serious polishing -- as his game as grainy as hell, but I think he can make some hay in the national league because of his frame, stride, cerebral style, quick hands and passing ability and his willingness to skate up ice and lug the puck when he has too. he has confidence -- i like that.

 

 

I didn't say it was impossible, just extremely unlikely that he is a top 4 defensemen. There have probably been 50 young defenseman that have gone through Buffale alone that contributed a few games, got people excited and were never heard from again. Can anyone say Jean- Luc Grand-Pierre, Bill Houlder, Bob Halkidis.......