kipwinger

I'm pumped to see Berggren tonight. Really think he'll make a difference on the powerplay as he settles in.

Awwww, thanks boo.

Man, this aged like fine wine. With Mazur, Lombardi, and Buchelnikov ripping it up in their respective leagues one has to wonder why I'm not already an NHL front office executive.

Three point night for Amadeus Lombardi: And Carter Mazur continuing what he started last year:

And like clockwork...

Well the US has the USHL and the USNTDP, but I think the big difference is that pretty much no American player is treated anything like an equivalent Canadian player. Like, half the puds accused of sexually assaulting this lady aren't even that good, but because they're on Team Canada they're given the keys to the city and treated like rock stars. Not surprisingly they develop an unhealthy attitude vis-a-vis the consequences of their behaviors and how their actions affect other people. Jack Hughes or Jack Eichel are probably the best American players to come from the US system in the last 10 years or so, and while they both have some entitlement issues and definitely have oversized egos, is there any doubt how much worse they'd be if they were Canadian? s***, Canada got their hands on Matthews as an NHLer and now he's posing in fashion magazines and hanging with Beeber. That kind of adulation is bad enough for a 20-something, but WAY worse for a 16 year old.

Hockey Canada exists for the same reason the NCAA does in American college sports. Junior hockey in Canada is a business. A big business. Governing bodies exist to profit off this business. They are not, and never have been, about the kids playing. It's a way for non-players to siphon money off the industry.

Fully agree, he needs to be in GR to clean up his game. Defense is hard and he's really really young. My overall thoughts on his long term projections remain the same, but he's very obviously not ready for the NHL.

I find what's happening in Canada really interesting. There seems to be some sort of reckoning happening and it's fascinating. Almost monthly there's some new terrible story involving rape, racism, bullying, or whatever. And of course all the prognosticators are in the background screaming "Change Hockey Culture!", which is totally bogus. There is no "hockey culture". They play hockey in Sweden, Finland, and Germany too, but miraculously they're less assholey about it. Maybe, just maybe, the problem is that in Canada these kids are treated like superstars from the time they're 15 and acquire a healthy dose of entitlement and self-righteousness along the way.

Edvinsson was absolutely out to lunch pretty much the whole game. In the highlights package below you can see him getting beat pretty bad 1:15, 4:15, 6:15, 7:32 (of the video, not the game). Three of those ended in goals, one should have.

At least you're honest enough to admit it. He was baaaaaad last night.

Bud, you REALLY need to pay attention. Last game, against the Pens on 10/3, Raymond and Vrana combined for ZERO points. neither the box score, nor the "statcards" I posted above suggest they were good in that game. So I'm not sure what you're basing your opinion on here? The game before that, when they combined for 4 points against the Blackhawks they WERE the best players on the ice and both the box scores and the "statcards" I posted above support that. You're right, stats don't lie. You clearly don't have a clue though. Hard to imagine why I don't put any faith in the eyeball test though.

I've watched every single game. If you have, you haven't been paying attention closely because Johansson wasn't on the ice for the first even strength goal of that game, the 2nd he got burnt on, the third was a powerplay (he's never been a penalty killer before), and the fourth was an empty net. So it's safe to say "he was on the ice for three goals against" is lacking a fair amount of context. At no point have I said he's been perfect in the preseason, I said he's been a net positive at both ends of the ice (he has) and that he's been better than Edvinsson (who's also been on the ice for more than a few goals against). I also never said he WOULD start in Detroit, I said I'd start him there over Edvinsson (who's struggled badly).

Because sometimes players have good games and sometimes players have bad games. And when you look at all 82 games in aggregate you get a clear picture of just how good (or bad) a player is overall. So far, Johansson has had two good games and no bad ones. Conversely, Edvinsson has had two bad games and one good one. Which is precisely the point I've been making all day. There is literally nothing to suggest that Edvinsson has been better than Johansson so far. From here on I'll have to charge you for these types of lessons in critical thinking.

If you need to me explain how to read graphs/stats then you probably shouldn't be arguing with me. p.s. You're definitely reading them wrong.

Again, feel free to turn your attention to the stats I've posted above. At no point in training camp or the pre-season has Johansson been a liability in the same ways that Edvinsson has been. In fact, he hasn't been a liability at all. He's consistently good at both ends of the ice. Edvinsson has had one good pre-season game and a couple of stinkers. I'd agree if you said "Edvinsson WILL be better". But there's literally nothing, statistically or anecdotally, to suggest he's better right now. Other than your eyeball test, obviously.

Never say I'm unwilling to compromise. In the end I'll just leave this as a final point in the Johansson vs. Edvinsson debate: It's all love baby.

How dare I pull quotes from one whole week ago. They're obviously irrelevant. But again, I'll wait for you to post all the times Lalonde has said anything equivalent about Johansson. And then when you're done with that feel free to respond to the fact that Johansson has not even once posted a negative impact, offensively or defensively, in a pre-season game (something that DEFINTELY can't be said about Edvinsson).

Then, of course, there's these bad boys which seem to show Simon Edvinsson fluctuating from horribly bad to moderately good while Albert Johansson has been consistently positive in all facets of the game. But I'm sure the ol' eyeball brigade has it right on this one.

That's odd, I don't recall Lalonde saying anything like this about Johansson: "You don’t have to be a trained hockey guy to see I’m sure he led the entire group today in turnovers,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said of Edvinsson. “It’s something we’re going to work on with him. I think with Simon, he might have had six or seven turnovers in that first half,” Lalonde said. “That’s something he’s going to have to manage. That’s something we’re going to have to work with him.” I don’t know if it’s so much going to be a negative early on,” Lalonde said. “We understand it’s a process with him. Unfortunately for him, a lot of turnovers ended up back at him and caused him to defend on shifts where obviously we’d like him to be playing north." Maybe Lalonde is giving you and the other "95% of those that watched the games" too much credit?

Something about your reply seems deliberately provocative but I just can't put my finger on it. Edit: And speaking of things I just can't put my finger on, there's something I really like about Marco Kasper's game but I'm at a loss...

Disagree. Right now Albert Johansson is a better player than Simon Edvinsson. He's consistently been better all pre-season as well.

I agree with your premise but not your conclusion. His play is lazy right now, and definitely sloppy. But I don't think it's that he's "not close to Seider" or whatever. The dude DOMINATED the SHL a year ago. His 5on5 scoring rate as a D+1 was better than Seider's as a D+2 in that league. He was dominant in the Champions League tournament. At points a year ago the SHL seemed genuinely too easy for him. Now he's playing with a bunch of kids that don't play right, aren't in their spots, don't play defense, etc. I think Edvinsson is way too good for the Traverse City prospects tournament and he knows it, so he doesn't care. I play in a pool tournament every week and it seems like you never play your best when you're playing someone who's obviously terrible. Partially because you know you're better than them, and partly because the game becomes sloppy and chaotic when people don't know what they're doing. I'd send him to GR to prove a point, anytime your skates touch the ice you better bust your ass. He's cocky and hasn't had to earn the level of entitlement he seems to carry around just yet. I agree it's a matter of maturity, but I don't think it's a matter of talent. His game is pretty mature, his attitude isn't. He looks like Jacob Chychrun in terms of his skill level and physical tools. He's on another level than most guys athletically (even Seider). Because of that I think things come easy to him and he hasn't had a reality check yet. Better to do it now than have him turn into the Mantha of defense.

The format changed because a bunch of teams dropped out because of the pandemic and/or started their own prospects tournaments.

He's already an awesome skater and has really good skill (particularly passing). If he can get up to about 190-195 lbs I think he's a real threat in the NHL.