En juillet dernier, le Canadien de Montréal obtenait, en plus d’un choix de deuxième ronde en 2009, Greg Pateryn que les Maple Leafs de Toronto venait de repêcher en 5e ronde, 128e au total.
En échange, la Flanelle larguait l’infâme Mikhail Grabovski - qui semble toujours traîner un problème d’attitude.
On ne sait quel joueur sera réclamé au 37e échelon par le CH (pas mal quand même), mais l’amateur peut toujours se réjouir des progès effectués par le défenseur des Wolverines de Michigan cette saison.
Pour en savoir plus sur cet arrière pléonastique (i.e. défenseur-défensif), SFC s’est entretenu avec un journaliste qui couvre les activités des Wolwerines, Gjon Juncaj du Michigan Daily.
À sa première saison à l’alma mater de Max Pacioretty et Mike Komisarek, Pateryn ne s’attendait pas à voir beaucoup d’action. Un rôle de 7e, voire 8e défenseur lui était réservé. Mais une sérieuse blessure à l’espoir des Ducks d’Anaheim Mark Mitera lui a permis de faire ses classes un peu plus tôt que prévu. Comme quoi le mahleur des uns…
“After opening weekend, Michigan had three defenseman out of the lineup. The Wolverines had no choice but to play a true freshman with one career appearance (Pateryn) and a walk-on (Eric Elmblad) who didn’t have much game experience himself. But Pateryn’s development over these past five months has been the silver lining of those. When you watch Michigan games now, you see a lot of what Pateryn can be next year or in 2010-11. If those injuries never happen, no one outside of the coaching staff and teammates would really know what they would have in him.
Une première saison typique pour une recrue comme Pateryn: ajustement au niveau de la vitesse et du temps de réaction.
His huge frame obviously has a flip-side, in that he sacrifices some speed to be that big. Pateryn and his position coach, Billy Powers, both said it took him a while during the season to adjust to the speed of opposing forwards at this level. Powers also said that Pateryn might’ve been overthinking the game in the first half this season. (…)
If you watch his games now, it’s obvious he’s a lot more comfortable out there. He doesn’t get deked out of his shorts; he play’s pretty sound positional hockey. He doesn’t put himself in a position where a speedy forward can just blow past him. (…) Pateryn’s strength is just that — his strength.
Malgré une fin de campagne passée sur la galerie de presse, suite au retour de plusieurs réguliers dans la formation, Pateryn semble destiné à tenir un rôle plus important à la défense des jaunes et bleus.
Next year, Mitera will have graduated. A lot of people believe junior Chris Summers has played well enough this season to warrant leaving early as well, but who knows. If he gets a little faster and a little more crisp on his passing, I think Pateryn will be a regular in the blue-line rotation next year. His offseason training will be huge in helping him get a spot in preseason camp. And I think the coaching staff is happy with his season, even if it does end with him on the bench.
Heading into next year, I’m curious if the coaches would want him on the power play. He’s seen limited time there this season (four of his five assists are on the power play, I believe), and has a hard slap-shot.
Par contre, il est encore trop tôt pour savoir si Pateryn est du “matériel de a LNH”.
He definitely has the size to make a professional roster in a few years. But my best guess is that scouts aren’t going to know what his future in the NHL is until the second half of the 2010-11 season. In general terms, regarding his collegiate career, I think he’s going in the right direction.
Aucun problème de consommation? Des accointances avec la mafia? On n’est jamais trop prudent.
I’ve heard a lot of funny stories about them at parties and such, but they’ve been nowhere close to the level of hanging out with mobsters. The vast majority of stuff I’ve heard can be applied to practically any American college student. I haven’t heard anything about Pateryn’s extra-curricular activities in particular, though I’ve never asked anyone either.
In short, I would guess that the Michigan hockey players have more common sense than the Kostitsyn brothers and Roman Hamrlik.
C’est fou ce que peut faire un peu d’éducation…
