SwedeLundin77

I have been known to give a pep talk from time to time... but nothing serious.

Yeah, which is why I'm saying it's not just fans that this stuff is coming from... They may get the idea from experts and analysts, but it's not like it was some mass fan theory. Are you getting defensive? If so, I don't quite understand why.

So Hronek is for sure in GR next season? I was really hoping he'd crack the lineup with Hicketts and we'd not waste money on Green again. Kotkansalo should hopefully be a solid D-Man for us in a couple of seasons Is Lindstrom playing in Sweden again, or coming over? Smith is on the Griffins this fall, right? Having been one, we goalies are a weird bunch

Fair enough, just saying, to lay it at the feet of fans for creating the fervor is incorrect, whether we're talking left or right feet.

I'm pretty sure the "analysts" of the hockey world do the exact same thing. If anything, it's something the "experts" have infected the fans with.

To be completely fair to the kid though, he was only allotted 5-8 minutes a night and hardly ever on the powerplay. That's a HUGE reason why he didn't do much while called up. Oh, and linemates make a big difference, too... He was paired with Witkowski on some nights. Talk about being tied to an anchor. And as the one scout pointed out, he was doing the little things right, so he's on the right path. Hicketts also had a train wreck of an AHL season, yet posted 3 assists in 5 games when called up (because he was actually given minutes and powerplay time).

2014 Draft: Larkin - Definitely a solid choice and continues to grow and succeed and should be our 1C this upcoming season Turgeon - Has improved every season since we drafted him. If his recent health issue doesn't get in the way, should be a solid 4th line center (signed for 1 more year) Ehn - Seems to be a bust. Is a solid defensive forward with little to no offensive upside (signed for 2 more years) Perry - has regressed and only played 12 games this season, posting a losing record and poor stat-lines and is currently unsigned Vahatalo - has regressed since we drafted him and is currently unsigned Holmstrom - just completed his first season with GR and looked decent so we'll see how he does this upcoming season, but looks to factor in as a bottom 6 forward at the NHL level (signed for 1 more year) Kadeykin - has not shown much progress since having a good first season in the KHL and is currently unsigned

The one interesting name that I've seen pop up via Khan, etc is Jesperi Kotkaniemi out of Finland. He's a left-handed center who has shot up in rankings this past season. He's currently listed as #6 by NHL Central Scouting among EU Skaters. He played well at the WJC-18 and played a season for Assat in Liiga as a 17-year-old. He put up 29 points in 57 games which is pretty impressive for a kid at that level. He has decent size already (6'2", 190 lbs). I feel like if they don't get the D they really want at 6, they may trade back and add a pick and get this kid around the 10 spot. It's all a crapshoot though, so who knows. I understand they are looking at D and Centers as the priority but I would be annoyed if they passed on Wahlstrom, given his skillset and NHL readiness. He's listed as a winger, but I'm pretty sure he's played center at some point.

Yep, classic twisting of the words.

Some people are just tiring.

Some might say Colorado took the risk and drafted smarter than the Wings.

It's a forum... most of it is hindsight, captain obvious. My point was more relevant when talking about Abdelkader who they moved up to pick... because Holland loves his US Dev players. Abdelkader is nothing special without Datsyuk to feed off of. He should never crack the top 6. Stastny on the other hand...

So going into that season we had the following defense: Lidstrom (35 years old) Schneider (36 years old) Chelios (43 years old) Lilja (30 years old) Woolley (36 years old) Lebda (23 years old) Kronwall (24 years old) Fischer (25 years old) Quincey (20 years old) Obviously not knowing Fischer was going to be seriously injured, they had 4 young guys who were promising at the time and Ericsson in the system (sleeper pick at the time). Lidstrom, Schneider, and Lilja all had a few seasons left. They didn't need to burn that pick on Kindl. I understand he looked good at the time, but if you look down that draft... yeesh. Tuukka Rask taken 21st T.J. Oshie taken 24th Matt Niskanen taken 28th James Neal taken 33rd Marc-Edward Vlasic taken 35th We picked Abdelkader at 42nd overall Paul Stastny taken 44th The fact that we missed on Rask, Oshie, Niskanen, Vlasic, AND Stastny (after Abdelkader) is interesting.

1. Larkin +5 goals over last year Mantha + 5 goals over last year Athanasiou + 5 goals over last year Rasmussen + 15 goals added 2. Rasmussen + 5 goals Bertuzzi + 10 goals Hicketts + 5-10 goals Hronek + 5-10 goals 3. Carter Hutton or Jonathan Bernier

I just don't understand the decision on Sambrook.... a 20-year-old prospect who had a good season split between 2 teams. He has decent size and a right shot. Why not bring him up to GR this upcoming season and see what he's got?

Pat Nagle had a better win-loss ratio, but that's a team stat as much as it is a goalie stat. Nagle - 50 GP 2.23 GAA .923 SV% 3 SO Machovsky - 21 GP 2.02 GAA .928 SV% 2 SO You can't tell me that he was outperformed by Nagle at the same level. It's just inaccurate. Coreau - 38 GP 2.52 GAA .913 SV% 2 SO McCollum - 37 GP 2.64 GAA .912 SV% 1 SO Machovsky - 4 GP 2.43 GAA .911 SV% 0 SO Again, better if not comparable stats for someone who is not used to the smaller rinks. In-Accu-Rate.

I just don't believe you can look at a 24-year-old goaltender with solid stats overseas and say he'll never amount to anything. McCollum, yes, he's nothing more than an AHL goalie, but Machovsky or any other goalie that young that has put up good stats in their career could definitely develop into an NHL goalie. There are several goalies, even now, that didn't really get NHL established until they were 27 or 28.

Perhaps he was, but the stats are very respectable from Machovsky and I can see why he's disappointed in his stay here.

I would say he never really had a shot to challenge Coreau/McCollum. He played 4 games in GR and had a better GAA and almost exact same SV%. So it's pretty silly that they even traded for McCollum in the first place... they need to be developing goalies for the NHL, not guys who are career minor leaguers.

Yeah, it's not ideal, but until the NHL puts in a hard cap, it'll continue to rise. I just hope that Kane getting 7 million doesn't screw everything up. Now that's a DUMB contract.

It's interesting because I've seen some scouting reports/reviews state that Dobson is just as gifted offensively but better defensively than Bouchard... this draft is giving me headaches. After watching clips of him, I'd prefer Hughes just for his speed and tenacity/creativity. He basically seems like a Larkin on D.

Spending 10 million on rising stars who will put up 100 points (at least) combined is perfectly fine. Larkin just put up 60+ points and he's still improving... the way I see it, that's the market. For around every 10 points you put up, it's a million if you're a key player. That's the trend I've seen, generally. Now, spending 10 million on 2 goalies... that's just asinine. Thank goodness that's over and hopefully, Holland learned his lesson on that one.

Yeah, when you have played well and then end up playing in the ECHL behind a 30-year-old Nagle (50 games to his 21), I'd say that's pretty much a waste. The biggest mistake made in this whole process was signing Machovsky who I'm sure thought he was going to GR to split with Coreau and maybe get a call-up, only to then turn around and trade (luckily we gave up nothing) for a career minor leaguer in McCollum. It was stupid back when it happened and it's still a stupid today. Coreau just led you to a championship the year before and you bring in a Czech goalie who put up solid numbers overseas only to shaft him to the ECHL? I would be pissed, too. This, ladies and gentlemen, is why we are seeing a sparse cupboard when it comes to goaltending prospects. Our best option to next take the reigns is Larsson and he still needs a couple of seasons at the college level to be truly ready, in my opinion. Petruzzelli has the highest ceiling but is coming off a poor season and will need to compete hard to take over the starting gig at QU next season and get plenty of starts.

If the coaching staff wasn't so abysmal with line jumbling and inconsistency, than Mantha would have been paired with Larkin and Athanasiou all season and the three of them would have all been better off for it. This isn't a knock on Z, just that whenever they had those 3 on the same line, it was usually pretty electric.

Good signing... considering we don't have many pro-level goalies under contract right now. I could see him pushing for a chance to backup Jimmy but, more than likely, playing in GR. Still hoping we can get Hutton as a stop-gap until Petruzzelli or Larsson are ready. Bernier is my other pick in the free agent market.