Thoughts:
Foegele ... this is not really a shock, guys ... anybody painting it as such is just engaging in PR hype. Foegele was considered a bit of a steal at the position he was drafted, then proceeded to be a core player on a Memorial Cup runner-up once his game really blossomed after he went back to junior (on a team with Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Strome) ... and voted MVP of the Mem Cup that year. He followed that up with a VERY good rookie year in the AHL, playing a major role on the Checkers right out of the gate. He's the real deal and this higher pressure style suits his game to a tee. I've said this before but we're playing a LOT like the way Erie played when they won the OHL in Foegele's last junior year and he looks to be very comfortable out there. He's also got two veteran line mates, which never hurts.
Defense ... I thought Fleury was better than TVR had been on that third pairing. He's still got a lot of work to do on gap control and picking up on stuff before it happens rather than reacting, but he was decent. More importantly, he was decent enough that Pesce was able to settle in and actually do his job on the other side ... and got rewarded with a goal. Nice. Overall though, we've still got a LOT of work to do on D. It's such a young group, I guess that's what you expect. I did think deHaan played his best game as a Cane, so he looks to be settling in a bit. Slavin was terrific, and looks to be figuring out how to play off of Hamilton a bit better. I think this group will settle in and start to look more cohesive over time.
PDG ... did anybody hear if he got dinged up, because if not he got benched in the 3rd. Which was fine by me because he was tentative and generally awful in the first two periods. Once he was out of the mix, Necas actually started to stand out on a few shifts, which tells me that the young center is really being ill served by his line mates thus far. I mean, no shock there ... he's a slippery juke machine centering a couple of A to B grinders. That's not exactly a classic recipe for success.
Weirdly enough, that "fourth line" with Wallmark centering Matinook and Svechnikov is starting to develop an identity. Martinook is creating general havoc with his effort level while Svetch is just hard to play against period. And Wallmark is starting to find the pockets of space creating by the other two. It's a weird line, but so far a pretty good one.
Aho's comfort level at center is starting to grow. That guy was bloody everywhere last night. Swooping in at speed from all over the place to support his wingers in the corners, holding his own defensively, deflecting a million passes and flipping to offense on a dime ... just being a general pain in the butt for Vancouver.
Lastly ... Pettersson. Good gracious, the hands on that kid, and the vision. He's seriously good. Thin, but so very good.