Another d-man bites the dust, Thornton suspended two games

I’ve watched a lot of junior, college, and minor-league games in my day, and I know a couple of things about what scouts look for.

Joe’s right in saying that “outplay:” isn’t necessarily the right word to use to describe Cole’s play vs. Pietrangelo’s in training camp. I watched them both on ice a couple of times in camp, and what I saw was two very good young first-round picks who play a different kind of game.

Pietrangelo is much more a puck-moving defenseman, far more adept at making the first pass out of the zone, and moving the ouck himself up the ice, than is Cole. Pietrangelo is also better skater, not by a wide margin, but enough to be noticeable if you know what you’re looking at.

Cole’s no slouch as a skater, though, and he has a better point shot that Pietrangelo — he’s got a Scott Stevens kind of shot, not quite as big and heavy as an Al Macinnis shot, but very accurate. Cole’s also a little better defensively (although Pietrangelo has made big strides in that area over the last couple of years), and has a more solid and muscular build, lending itself to a more physical and "in-your-face’ kind of game on defense.

Pietrangelo takes a few more risks with the pouck, and some of those risks weren’t paying off in opre-season, and that (IMO) is what made some people assert that Cole had “outplayed” him. Pietrangelo is still more of a puck-mover, and still takes some of those risks, but they’re aying off for him and the Blues now, and that’s making a world of difference.