The London Knights Seth Griffith, playing on a line with Jared Knight and Vladislav Namestnikov, is really beginning to find his grove. The three together are now tied for the Knights scoring lead with 9 points in 8 games. After scoring his first goal of the season Friday night, Griffith tallied another on Saturday and had numerous other chances, only to be robbed by Rangers goaltender Brendan Maxwell.
All he needed was to get that first one off his back and you can see the confidence starting to boil over. Remember, he is my sleeper pick and has been going back to late last season. With the lack of offense the Knights are showing early on, they are going to need the three of them to continue to produce points, and at an even higher pace. Keep a close eye on Griffith. He's not on anyones radar, but he will climb.
Is there a goaltending controversy in London ? Michael Houser went undrafted in 2010, mainly because he didn't get enough starts. Igor Babkov (Ducks prospect) was suppose to come in and be number one but its Houser that's stealing the show after making his 5th straight appearance last night.
I have lots of faith in Houser and watching him in 5 games this year, he's been amazing, making key saves when called upon and keeping his team in the game while waiting for their low octane offense to produce something. I expect him to climb the goaltending charts if he continues to get the starts over Babkov.
I've spoken plenty of Ryan Murphy but i couldn't let this go. On Friday in Kitchener, i was speaking with another scout from and independent scouting publication who tried to convince me that Murphy won't be chosen until the 2nd round in the NHL entry draft.
He cited his size and lack of defensive ability as two reasons. Of course i had to tell him he was nuts. People only need to look at whats happening on the ice and draw conclusions. Murphy is paired almost exclusively with Doornbosch on defense, another puck moving defenseman. That in itself warrants that Murphy concentrate more on defense. He's often the last man back. And watch when someone is trying to beat him on the outside. His speed just allows him to keep people on the wall and out of the danger zone because there are very few that can beat him. And teams almost refuse to dump the puck in when he's on the ice. They have next to no chance of retrieving the puck against his speed.
I just have to shake my head and move on from this. If Ryan Murphy is a second rounder, then the second round must start at picks 5 to 10.
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