Datsyerberger

Sign Kyle Wellwood, place him on a line with Tatar... the Meat & Potatoes line is born. /thread

Bruised foot? Maybe he was blocking shots. And maybe that means he has defensive commitment. Well, one can hope.

Yea, I was thinking of IHL/CHL/UHL with that whole merge/absorption thing. The states lower minor leagues are in such a state of flux it's hard to pin them all down at any given time.

I'd personally rank them: NHL KHL/AHL SEL/SM-L OHL QJMHL/WHL ECHL/NCAA UHL But that's just me.

You've been showing an unusual rash of humor and silly one-liners lately. It's rather strange. Anyhow, quick run down: AHL: NHL's primary development league. Though there are some veterans and full time AHLers that play here, it's largely filled with prospects NHL teams feels ready to adapt to the pro and/or North American style game. This is where most top prospects are going to play. SEL: Elitserien, or Swedish Elite League as we call it on this side of the pond. This is the top level Swedish league. It's probably close to equal with the AHL in terms of skill, though style of play is different due to differently sized european ice and contact rules. A large amount of players who were only good enough for 4th line/backup NHL duty, as well as more veteran good players that go back home, keep this a rather competitive league. It's often used as a Swedish version of the juniors, with NHL teams keeping Swedish players there to develop before adapting them to the NA game in the AHL. SM-Liiga: This is the top level Finnish league, and is generally used very similarly to the SEL. It also compares well to SEL in terms of skill, with some arguing that it's a more competitive league. Don't get that debate started between Swedes and Finns, though. ECHL: The minor pro league the step below the AHL. Often lower level talent is sent here, or sometimes young talent not suitable for juniors but not ready for AHL. Goalies in particularly sometimes get sent here, as they benefit more from a starting job here than a backup job to a more NHL-ready goalie in the AHL. A fair number of bottom line bangers, grinders, and gritty bottom pairing defensemen get their pro start here. UHL: A minor pro league a further step below the ECHL. On occasion, an NHL team will take a shot on a guy in this league, but if a guy gets sent here from an affiliate, it's usually not a good sign. Some AHL or ECHL teams use it as an affiliate for their lower end players. NCAA: Obviously, this is the all-encompassing American college hockey league (comprised of smaller subleagues based on school level). As a form of juniors, there's an age limit and other restrictions that apply here. Generally, guys in this league are 18-20 year olds that were just drafted a year or two prior, and not quite ready for the pro experience yet. CHL (QJMHL, OHL, and WHL): the CHL is the greater entity in which the three parenthetical leagues participate. These form the bulk of the high end Canadian juniors, and compares to NCAA hockey, but at a higher average playing level (due to a greater amount of trained Canadian hockey kids). KHL: This is the high end Russian league and the strongest hockey league in Europe. Not only are there a number of good Russian kids in there, but a fair number of middling or aged but still good pros. Additionally, some guys like Hudler wander over there despite not being Russian because of superior pay. However, because it's very competitive with the NHL, unless it's a young Russian kid who hasn't come to NA yet, going back to the KHL is looked upon a bit warily. There are many other junior and minor leagues as well as less powerful European leagues, but the above are probably the most notable ones at the moment. Someone else may do a more thorough rundown of the junior leagues, particularly the Russian & other European leagues.

The NHL: You still have no idea what the f*** we're doing, and neither do we.

Couldn't tell if he left his feet before the hit or as a result of the hit, but that looked like shoulder contact to the face/head to me. The angle of the hit was clean, and it could've been pretty much a clean hit, but contact was very poorly executed and imo 2 games at least seems deserved. I love hitting, but if players are gonna do it and they can't get it right to prevent head/neck injuries, give them time off 'til they do. I'm fairly certain the result to the player supports the fact that hit him right in the braincase. Edit: Watching a few more times, it looks like he went off his feet as a result of the hit, but his shoulder was already lined up with the guy's head. And the guy's head wasn't down, either. Bad decision, poor execution.

Get a Homer. Lifelong Wing and underrepresented guy who's been huge for us.

Hope this works out well for Lilja, he deserves NHL playing time and the Sharks could do well with him.

Sounds like he wants them to work on the interstate to me. Maybe he's fed up with 75.

I thought it was just Leech.

An interesting testament to Lidstrom's defensive abilities that he's almost always been paired with offense-first d-men, yet he's consistently been at or among the top in defensive statistics (not talking about +/-, but real defensive benchmarks). ...And then, despite being the first man back, he's still at or among the top of scoring for d-men for an extended period of time. That's what makes a great, folks.

Maltby was a 50 goal scorer in the juniors. Also, Beach only had 24 in 08-09, not 54. 09-10 was his first explosive year.

Except this is the internet, and people will debate EVERYTHING. Hence, noone will ever go up in the rafters again if we follow that guideline.

Eh, they shoulda just gone with Niiiiiiitiiiitttitittitty and Greiss. Both are better than Niemi, and both are more experienced.

'nuff said.

Sorta a repost from earlier in the thread, but with some rephrasing: I think more than anything, from a fan perspective, it shows that the player knows he might or is going to play in the minors, and is willing to take a pay cut in doing so. This means that A: he's going to have to bust his ass off to make and stay on the roster, and/or B: he's dedicated enough to the team to stick around in the minors for another chance at making the roster/coming in during the playoffs/getting a chance at the cup. The fan cares because (especially in the case of an older player who could just retire) it's a demonstration of dedication to more than just another paycheck. What does, say, a 110k paycheck at a 20% (rather generous by 2-way standards) really mean to Malts at this point? He's still around because he still wants to play hockey and maybe still has the drive to win. It'd be harder to say the same (more in regards to the latter) if he rejected the two-way clause.

I think more than anything, from a fan perspective, it shows that the player knows he could/is going to and is willing to play in the minors for a pay cut if he doesn't do something relatively spectacular to make the NHL roster.

That depends on who goes down injured, at what stage of the season and so forth. If you're sitting cozy at or near the top of the conference and its just a usual roster player that goes down, you call in the young guy and let him get some experience. If its an important veteran or the team is in a position where it needs to perform, you call in the experienced, stable vet. Honestly, I hope we're in the position where we can afford to call the kids up.-

True, but said bands also tend not to be (as) commercially successful (oldschool powerforwards aren't as successful in today's NHL) because the tastes and demand of the market center around the newer metal (the rules of the modern NHL fit modern power forwards better than oldschool ones).

Yea, except for at this point with him it'd probably just be $6.66

But we can agree that they're both metal, and on top of that, relatively few bands nowadays play metal like Sabbath, whereas new bands are more likely to play metal similar to Killswitch rather than Sabbath. The genre has evolved. Just thought I'd build on that analogy.

Happy to have him back in a two-way/GR depth capacity. Teach the kids how to hit 50, Malts.

Some thoughts from me: McCollum feels underrated, I think of him more as a 7.5-8C then a 7.5D. Despite that, though, I agree with whoever it was that said he and Larsson should be close, probably separated by no more than 2 rankings. Pulkkinen, as one person noted, has more of an 8-8.5 potential, but is definitely a D rather than the C given to him on there. He could be awesome, or his injuries could ruin him. Almqvist could be more of a 7.5D Ritola is more of a 6.5B then a 6.5C. And if nothing else, should be ahead of Axelsson at this point. I like Nyqvist, but feel he's a touch overrated. I'm thinking 7.0C Abdelkader is maybe more of a 7.0B then a 7.5C. Smith could be an 8.0C if Kindl is. On the whole, though, fairly solid list.

Like any other term, it must evolve to fit the times. Eva more or less has it right: a power forward is a large and/or strong dude that uses his strength and body as a primary tool to get the job done. This involves a lot of physical play, such as being the go to guy in the corners, going to and occupying a position at or near the front of the net, and making a hole in the opposition's defense with said physical presence. Note that while hitting is part of physicality, physicality =/= hitting. Hence, in today's NHL, players like Franzen and Holmstrom fit the term power forward. While they do not compare entirely to the power forwards of yesteryear, they occupy a role that most closely resembles that of said players tailored to the rules and gameplay of today's NHL.