Dobber daily ramblings 6/23 - Filatov?

[Dakkster]

Hey Dobber, I just read your blurb about Hitchcock and Filatov in the daily ramblings. I\'m just curious about what source/article your using for that one. If you care to share that, I\'d love to read the full context of Hitchcocks opinion

[lanky522]

sentium wrote:

Hey Dobber, I just read your blurb about Hitchcock and Filatov in the daily ramblings. I\'m just curious about what source/article your using for that one. If you care to share that, I\'d love to read the full context of Hitchcocks opinion

It is interesting... I\'m wondering if this is some expression of Hitchcock\'s lack of confidence in Brassard and Brule...?

Otherwise (assuming columbus does land a big name center), Filatov will be playing third line center if he were to make the team... that\'d be kind of a waste.

[Khanadian]

Lack of confidence in Brule definitely. Brassard is progressing nicely though, so I could see Brassard & Filatov forming a nice 1-2 down the middle.

[Fergie]

I think it\'s this article in the Columbus Dispatch

LINK

[Dakkster]

I was just about to post that link. Good job, fergie.

A lot of encouraging points in that article, I must say.

Yesterday, as the final six rounds of the draft played out in Scotiabank Place, two players drafted in Friday\'s first round sat at their new team\'s table full of scouts and hockey operations folks -- Steven Stamkos, taken No. 1 overall by Tampa Bay, and Filatov, sitting two seats away from Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson.

\"(Filatov) knows as much about our team as some of the players already in our organization,\" Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock said. \"He\'s immersed himself in what\'s going on with our organization.\"

Filatov had at least three interviews with the Blue Jackets. On Thursday, Hitchcock -- an old school hockey coach steeped in Western Canadian principals -- sat with Filatov for more than 20 minutes.

He came away smitten.

\"We talked about his situation playing for Central Army, how he was a young guy trying to play with men,\" Hitchcock said. \"What I liked is the way he handled it, which was very mature.

\"He had a lot of respect for his coach. He didn\'t blame anybody. He didn\'t complain. He just kept working.\"

Filatov has expressed an interest in spending most of the summer in Columbus, training with the handful of other Blue Jackets prospects working out in Nationwide Arena.

Filatov has said he wants to spend five or six weeks in Moscow, then come to Columbus and begin the push to make the Blue Jackets out of training camp.

\"That is the goal, of course,\" Filatov said. \"But I will do what coaches think is best for me … junior, minor league, whatever it is.

\"I need to get bigger, stronger, for sure.\"

[Crazynuck]

I like his attitude. We are seeing more and more players from the other side of the ocean make a commitment to stay in NA in the offseason. Gaborik last summer and Berglund this summer. Great news for the NHL.

[Dobber]

Yeah, there wasn\'t much more than that re what Hitch said, only that the writer was laughing at the notion, which made lose a bit of respect for his hockey knowledge.

[Dakkster]

Yeah, I agree. I mean, even Filatov himself has said that he\'s comfortable playing both C and LW.