After Further Review: Vladimir Grudinin
New Series!
Welcome to After Further Review, a series in which I take one game from a prospect and do a shift by shift breakdown. It’s a nice mix for me of getting more viewing time of prospects and introducing people to the playing style of a certain prospect. For the first episode, we will look at Severstal defenseman Vladimir Grudinin against Spartak. Grudinin will be in the yellow jersey and wearing number 2.
Should mention that I will only be showing 5 of the best and worst shifts. This should give a good overview of the player while also keeping myself out of trouble.
Shift 1
Well, can’t hate that. Takes the puck back after the faceoff win, dumps it around the boards to a teammate, who chips it in the offensive zone. The forward makes a play and what an absolute rocket by that Severstal player. The second half of his shift is just pure O-zone domination and while Grudinin never receives the puck, his feet are always active, trying to make himself open.
Shift 2
Grudinin made great strides this past season with Severstal as we can see, he’s out there on the first penalty killing unit for near 50 seconds. Big fan of him being proactive in his defense, nearly getting a clearance after predicting a pass correctly. Didn’t like him being beat on a puck in the air but in his defense, that looked like Spud Webb vs Shaq on a jump ball with the height difference (Grudinin is 5’10).
Shift 3
Didn’t like this shift. Big fan of the simple pass to setup a solid point shot but his jump in to try and save the puck was not great, the no look pass back was bad, and thankfully, he gets back in time but play gets stopped so he gets saved. Still growing into his role.
Shift 4
The good: His offensive zone work for the first 10-15 seconds.
The bad: Skating halfway across the ice to chase a puck, leaving a player open to create an odd man rush. Also, standing in front of the net without fully covering his man.
Thank your goalies
Sincerely, a former goalie
Shift 5
A top 5 shift. Collects the puck and makes a great, while somewhat weak, breakout pass to a wide open forward. If only they converted on the play but I still liked the execution of it. Makes a nice defensive play to stop the player with the puck leaving the zone and just getting the puck to his teammate who can get the puck in.
After Further Review
This was a nice game for Vlad overall. Held his own in high leverage situations and racked up a point, while also having a hand in how the first goal came to be. His skating held up nicely and while his decision-making can be better, it was overall a good outing.