2009-2010 Season Wrap Up: Part Three

Who finally has her very own internet connection?  This girl does.  And I must confess that while I had every intention to resume my season review this weekend, I spent an embarrassingly large portion of Saturday and Sunday stockpiling my Instant Play Queue on Netflix instead.  Now that a new week has started and the World Cup has reminded me of how my love of sports is ever-growing, it is only right to continue on with the write ups of the one sport I love over all others.  So, to continue…

11 David Legwand – forward

If Martin Erat has 1,000 doubters, David Legwand has 3,000.  His contract is equally as hefty as his Czech team mate and yet, the criticism he receives borders on the ridiculous.  Not that the criticism (and sometimes ridicule) is unfounded.  Legwand manages to fall far short of expectations on a regular basis.  Even I am not immune to his extremely long draughts of goal scoring.  But, I believe I have mentioned this on more than one occasion in the past and it bears repeating.  Leggy has been given the moniker of being the Predators “franchise guy” and with that, there is certainly a heightened expectancy placed on his head.  He has yet to live up to this expected potential but I’m not so sure it won’t ever happen.  He had a great run in the post-season so something changed his mindset.  I hope he can carry that over into training camp and next season.  The routine Legwand-bashing is starting to get old.

14 Dustin Boyd – forward

Honestly, I can’t say too much about Dustin Boyd’s performance this season.  He was a late Trade Deadline day acquisition for the Predators and he wasn’t on my radar much at all; as evidenced by the fact that I refered to him as Nick Boyd even into the post-season.  He seems like a decent enough player but also much like a third/fourth line grinder type.  The roster is already chock full of those guys though I’m sure David Poile had a very good reason for picking him up.  I’ll reserve judgment until I see more from him.

16 Cal O’Reilly – forward

Not to name names but SOMEONE **cough**Jeremy**cough** was absolutely positive that this would be Little Baby Cal’s year.  Things didn’t quite work out that way, however.  I think Cal still has some maturing to do, something that could be much better achieved with a good solid year in Milwaukee.  I’m all for working out the kinks with the Admirals and then bringing him back to the Predators, with added confidence that he can skate with the big boys.  I always got a sense of timidity from him while he was on the ice, not to mention his deer-in-the-headlights look during warm-ups.  When everything finally clicks for O’Reilly, he’ll be a solid player.  I just think he needs a little more time.

18 Michael Santorelli – forward

I only mention Santorelli in these write ups because he seemed to be unstoppable on shootouts.  Unfortunately, that’s where the goodness of his play stopped.  Like Cal O’Reilly, Santorelli just needs a little more maturing and I think he probably got a healthy dose of that during his season with the Admirals.  I’m interested to see what he looks like during training camp this year.  I’d like to think he’d find himself with a spot on the roster, but we all know anything is possible when it comes to training camp outcomes.

Up next: Jason Arnott, Ryan Suter, Jordin Tootoo, Jerred Smithson