kipwinger

There is an open spot at left wing and an open spot on the 2nd pair RHD. Or rather, those spots are up for grabs. Don't be surprised if some combination of Mazur, Danielson, or ASP make the opening night roster in lieu of any additional moves from outside the organization.

The judge was also a woman.

I didn't really follow it too closely, but the fact that they had their day in court and a female judge said the accuser's claims were "not credible and not reliable" seems pretty shut and dry to me. But I don't really care about the case. I'm curious when these guys will be able to play again. Carter Hart and Alex Formenton are both dudes that could really help this team given that they're not rapists.

Looks like the Canadian World Junior defendants are being exonerated today. Wonder how long it will take NHL teams to start scooping these dudes up?

You'd have to imagine not very much considering the cause of the impasse is that Minny management don't believe Rossi is a top of the lineup player despite his point totals (according to reports). If that's true then I'd imagine you'd have to give them a comparable bottom six roster player and a B-level prospect (given that Rossi is cost controlled). I think something centered around Compher/Berggren and a prospect would do it.

I was listening to a podcast with Max Bultman from the Athletic and he claims that Max Plante was an already over 6 feet tall on draft day. Bultman claims that his own height is a “true” 5’11 and that he looked up to Plante upon meeting him for the first time. Perhaps he’s a grower and not a show-er?

I agree and think Plante, in particular, is going to be a very good center in the NHL. Like, I think he’s going to be one of those “how did he fall to the 2nd round” sort of guys.

I put some feelers out to CBJ fans on Reddit to learn more about his defensive game and physical game. I know he's not some kind of Tkachuk style "power forward" but if he can use his size to protect pucks, win board battles, and crash the net then he may just be an option with the guys you mentioned. I just don't know enough about his game to know if he's got top line potential, but it's an interesting thought.

I'm not a Dougie Hamilton fanboy or anything, but he's a MUCH BETTER player than Karlsson. Hamilton gives you the same offense and powerplay expertise but he can actually defend against top players at even strength. That's the problem with Karlsson in a nut shell. He can score a zillion points, but only if you play him 20 mins a night. And if you play him 20 mins a night he'll get scored on even more than he scores...which is a lot. Hamilton doesn't have that problem. I agree. He's also a pretty stout guy too, so even through he brings "soft skill" it's more of the Daniel Sprong variety than the Jonatan Berggren variety.

I agree with all that, but I also think it's selling his skill a little short. Every hockey fan (I know this isn't what you're saying) thinks skill = flash and he's certainly not that. But that's a bogus premise. He's got "pro style" skills. Who cares if you can dipsy doodle with the puck (a la Tomas Jurco) if you can't do it consistently in a game ya know? Who cares if you're fast as greased lightening (a la Andreas Athanasiou) if it only factors in when you're on a breakaway? Over the years I've learned to really value pro-style skill and I'm pretty skeptical of the Youtube highlight players. If you can't fight win board battles to maintain possession or fight through checks to jump on rebounds then your value is pretty limited in the NHL, regardless of how cute your stick handling is. It reminds me of all these college football quarterbacks (e.g. Vick, Tebow, RGIII, Newton, Young, etc.) that have success in the NCAA playing a way that will never EVER work in the NFL. Who cares if you can rush for a billion yards if you can't throw? The NFL is a passing league. If you can't pass it doesn't matter how great your rushing is because your team will lose more than it wins.

Does anyone else think we got a really good one in Carter Bear? I didn’t follow the draft closely this year and didn’t know too much about him going into things but the more I read the more I really like this kid. He’s still go so much filling out to do too. He’ll play at 6’1 and 195 lbs with legit skill and grit. I love this pick.

Yeah, you’re in the right ballpark. Can’t imagine it would cost much. But I wouldn’t expect too much either. He’s basically Dominik Kubalik 2.0

Intriguing name out of Columbus: Yegor Chinakhov. Former 1st round pick that just requested a trade out of CBJ. His career has been sidelined by a series of injuries, but produced about .5 ppg when in the lineup. Has size and a wicked shot. Might be a good "buy low" candidate with some potential uptapped upside.

Apparently it's time for my yearly reminder that Erik Karlsson isn't any good. I'm not really sure why I have to keep telling everyone this. We can prove this, statistically. He scored 53 total points. He had 38 even strength points and got SCORED ON 62 times, accounting for his whopping -24 +/-. So that means he only scored 15 powerplay points, 9 fewer than Mo Seider. Now let's put it all together. He's a net negative at even strength, he'll get scored on much more often than he'll score. He's also worse than our own internal PP quarterback, and that's the BEST part of his game. And he does ALL THAT for one of the worst contracts in the league. He's horrible and SY would be retarded to trade for him.

Lemme guess, the top of Wheeler's list is full of 5'11 finesse players that were drafted in the last year? That guy is such a pud and his biases are pretty obvious at this point.

I'm starting this thread with the purpose of having someplace to discuss the team's season in overview. I want to leave the GDT (if we're still doing that) for game by game commentary. But this, I hope, will allow us to contextualize our season. We can compare what we are saying at game 45 to what we were saying at game 15 and see what's changing as the season plays out. And the main thing I want to start with is the play of the kids. Much has been made of Lalonde's coaching, and a lot of the criticism is deserved, but since early in the season he's been giving a lot of big, important, minutes to Edvinsson, Kasper, and Berggren. Less so for Johansson, but the Maatta trade should change that a bit. And from a fan standpoint it's hard to be mad at the results. These guys aren't playing like superstars (although I'd argue Edvinsson is close already), but they've been really really good. Kasper is still a long way off from turning 21 and he's out there taking faceoffs (and winning them) against Syndey Crosby. Berggren has been making things happen all over the ice, but particularly in the offensive zone where his stats don't really tell the story of how good he's been at creating scoring opportunities for the Wings. And then there's Edvinsson. This guy is unreal. Watch how many plays he kills in the defensive zone with a simple poke check (his reach is insane) or by simply pinning his weight into a forward along the boards. He's got two fewer points than Seider (without powerplay time) and he's shouldering the same defensive matchups at even strength. He's still got things to learn (like not taking late penalties) but it's beginning to look like we've got another of the top young defenders in the league. And importantly, he's a defender that should be able to hang with bigger, tougher, playoff-type teams. If Lalonde really is coaching for the future, then by mid-season I'd like to see: 1. Marco's line seeing their ice time start creeping up at even strength (they're currently our 2nd best forward line) 2. Berggren getting top powerplay looks when guys like Kane, Raymond, Dcat, deal with injuries. 3. Edvinsson taking over the 2nd powerplay unit (Seider to the 1st) 4. Johansson as an everyday 3rd pair defender.

I stopped drinking a number of years ago. I have pretty strong feelings on how stupid and mean alcohol makes people. That said, it also often leads to hilarious moments of instant karma that are almost impossible to replicate without booze. For instance, in college a buddy of mine was "riding" a skateboard with a bottle of beer in his hand despite knowing nothing about how to ride a skateboard. Another friend yelled "do a trick" to which he responded (in a very cocky way), "I don't DO tricks". Almost instantly he shifted his weight, the board rolled out from underneath him, he fell, and tried to catch himself with the hand holding the bottle. It broke and sliced his palm pretty good. He had to go to the hospital and get stitched up. Pretty awesome trick.

People said the same thing about Kasper. I'm not worried. Kid just played 1C in a top pro league as a rookie. His focus on proper defensive play means his offense doesn't pop yet, but he still outscored Kasper at the same point in their careers and we all just saw Kasper produce just fine in the NHL despite all the negative prognostication. With the exception of Raymond, every SY draft pick has supposedly had "limited offensive upside" and every single one of them scores just fine once they get to the NHL. Prioritizing defensive play is not the same thing as not being able to score. Buium was the best defenseman in GR last year. However I agree that the bar was pretty low but I really liked his game and thought he was the best LHD on the team.

Id go Danielson and Buium but I can see an argument for Kiiskinen and (to a lesser degree) Johansson. I think center is a harder position than winger and the AHL is a better league than Liiga. So I give the nod to Danielson. On defense I really liked Buium’s game last year in GR and I like that he’s played big roles on winning teams. I also think he has more puck skill than Johansson. Im very excited about Kiiskinen tho and see him as a modern day Tuomo Ruutu (Finnish Carter Mazur). I think he’s going to be a good NHL complimentary scorer with a decent amount of pluck. I’m less sure about Johansson. I think he did well on a bad team in the SHL last year and has the size, skating, and mean streak to be a good 3rd pair shutdown guy. But I don’t know enough about his game to say whether he’ll be able to move the puck out of the defensive zone after he makes stops. I just haven’t seen enough of him. In any case, I think Wallinder is trade bate.

I wouldn’t be so sure about Gylander. He had a pretty decent rookie year in Toledo and that league is super hard on goalies. I’d imagine he’ll see plenty of games in GR this year if one of our two top goalies gets injured and Cossa has to move to a backup role in Detroit.

Detroit is absolutely stacked at goalie. Cossa, Augustine, Guimond, Gylander, Postova, and now Pradel. I'd expect one of these guys to be part of a big trade at some point in the near future. All of them are good to great prospects.

Prediction: Yzerman trades for a defenseman before the season starts. The catch? It will be a lefty to play with Seider, forcing Chiarot down the lineup to play with Edvinsson. Because Edvinsson can defend really well, Chiarot will be able to riverboat gamble a bit (as is his inclination) and the pair will be surprisingly effective.

I think our defense is going to absolutely suck again this season barring some kind of trade or huge progression from ASP/Wallinder/Buium/Tuomisto. Long term I think our defense is going to be very good, but this season the defense is basically the same as it was with the caveat that Edvinsson is still not maxed out. I think the Chiarot-Seider pairing is good enough to hold water until we find someone better to take Chiarot's place but we've got no decent option at 2nd pair RHD unless we run it back with Johansson...and that wasn't good enough a year ago. Joking aside I do think JBD at least has a shot at being a Walman-type guy who has talent but wasn't really ever in a position to succeed. It's a long shot but it's a shot.

Totally agree. Same for Seider. There were players ahead of both Ed and Seider that I wouldn't say were "better". They just play for better teams and/or score more points. Fans don't know diddly squat.

Stylistically, Seider reminds me of prime Doughty and Edvinsson reminds me of prime Hedman. Hedman is physical without fighting, Doughty is at his best when he's being a surly SOB. Two totally different ways of being physical and being elite. I think Edvinsson will always be the better defender because of his size and insane wingspan. You basically can't score on the guy when he's in position. Seider's two-way game is better because he's better in transition and I think he sees plays in the offensive zone better than Ed does. That's why Seider is, and should remain, the better powerplay option of the two.