I thought Knight had a pretty decent freshman season. He didn't show up a whole lot on the goals/assists sheet, but he worked hard every shift and was probably one of our lowest penalized players all year. I think he'll get faster/stronger over the off-season and be a more dynamic and dominant player next year. I think there is more to the Toews story - when he played I generally liked what I saw...he won many races to the puck and had good hockey sense. It surprised me how little he played down the stretch. Cichy definitely didn't live up to the hype - should be interesting to see the progress he makes in the offseason as well.
Marto was stellar night in and night out...and MacWilliam adjusted to the college level of play faster than I anticipated. He really will be an "animal" on the blue line next season. LaPoint, while he was a decent player this year, seemed a half step slow most of the time and I'm not sure if that was his injury lingering from last year or if it was a mental thing but I think he needs to speed up his game a bit and he'll be even better. Gleason was pretty consistent and I think will have a solid roster spot next year even with the new guys coming in. Blood...well when he is conscious of how/where his body is and hits cleanly he is a force. He also has a very strong shot that can give goalies some fits. But he needs to learn how to control his shot better - he breaks lots of sticks at really inopportune times. And he always plays the body and not the puck...sometimes I wish he'd do the opposite when the situation calls for it. He often makes me nervous when he's trying to break out of our zone - skating right in front or through the crease. He needs to get quicker on his feet and learn how to hit without getting penalized.
All in all, the team that is coming back next year excites me. We return a lot of talent and a lot of character guys as well. A little healthy competition to earn a spot each night should only help the guys work harder and leave it all on the ice when given an opportunity. We could do some serious damage next year...
Oh, and I think we'll see Chay in the fall for the senior season he was robbed from having. October is too far away...