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HockeytownRules19

Pulkkinen sent back to GR

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Unlike Jurco, if Pulkkinen isn't scoring he isn't doing much. I like it. He's not ready to consistently contribute in the NHL. Particularly for a team that's looking to finish strong and position itself for a playoff run.

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Unlike Jurco, if Pulkkinen isn't scoring he isn't doing much. I like it. He's not ready to consistently contribute in the NHL. Particularly for a team that's looking to finish strong and position itself for a playoff run.

Exactly. He will get his chance to learn to play at the NHL level next season.

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He needs to learn to get his shot off quicker and find the open ice at the pro level. He's got exactly one weapon, and he has no idea how to use it at this level. Which makes him pretty useless for the time being. He needs to go to GR and learn to score the right way, not just score a whole bunch.

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Pulks knows how to score in the AHL now he has to make the translation to the NHL by playing in the NHL and he will get the chance to do that next year, just too many guys currently

And then hopefully Mantha follows the year after that.

Edited by Crashnburnluder

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Exactly. He will get his chance to learn to play at the NHL level next season.

He could of been a valuable asset to us come the playoffs on a bottom 6 line with his shot ... Not saying he'd get a dozen goals but could of provided us with offence in key moments

I know he will/should be with us fulltime next year but I'd rather he play the rest of the way

Oh well ... Can't say I'm shocked though

He needs to learn to get his shot off quicker and find the open ice at the pro level. He's got exactly one weapon, and he has no idea how to use it at this level. Which makes him pretty useless for the time being. He needs to go to GR and learn to score the right way, not just score a whole bunch.

Score the right away? He's dominating the ahl ... The only way he's gonna get better at the NHL level is by playing in the nhl

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I think some people just quote things straight from a cliche book. Say what they think seems like it should be true rather than doing any actual analysis.

He has the best shots/60 on the team, 10th best among all forwards in the league in fact (and 4th best 5v5 ZS adj.). The % of his shot attempts blocked is a little on the high side, but not terribly so (and having a shot blocked does not necessarily mean he didn't get it off quick enough). He's not really missing an unusual amount of shots either, so I'd say his aim is fine. The low shooting% is probably from poor shot quality (I would guess Babs has told him to just shoot the puck whenever he can). He's also had a few shots that have gotten past the goalie but just didn't quite make it in. The stats could be skewed by the small sample size, but that goes for the negative ones as well.

He doesn't need to work on getting his shot off.

Biggest need for him to work on from what I've seen is working with his teammates. Seems often to be unprepared when the puck gets to him, especially on the PP. Needs to work on beating NHL caliber players too. Unfortunately, he can't do either that well in the AHL and we have better options now. But at least he gets to be a major player in GR, and hopefully have a nice playoff run. Next year will be his opportunity to take his game up a notch.

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With Cole coming in there's no room. It's not like he was tearing things up anyway. He gets more goals in the A because the goalies are worse and he has more time to uncork his slapper, pure and simple. NHL d don't give him the time and NHL goalies don't have as many holes.

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I think some people just quote things straight from a cliche book. Say what they think seems like it should be true rather than doing any actual analysis.

He has the best shots/60 on the team, 10th best among all forwards in the league in fact (and 4th best 5v5 ZS adj.). The % of his shot attempts blocked is a little on the high side, but not terribly so (and having a shot blocked does not necessarily mean he didn't get it off quick enough). He's not really missing an unusual amount of shots either, so I'd say his aim is fine. The low shooting% is probably from poor shot quality (I would guess Babs has told him to just shoot the puck whenever he can). He's also had a few shots that have gotten past the goalie but just didn't quite make it in. The stats could be skewed by the small sample size, but that goes for the negative ones as well.

He doesn't need to work on getting his shot off.

Biggest need for him to work on from what I've seen is working with his teammates. Seems often to be unprepared when the puck gets to him, especially on the PP. Needs to work on beating NHL caliber players too. Unfortunately, he can't do either that well in the AHL and we have better options now. But at least he gets to be a major player in GR, and hopefully have a nice playoff run. Next year will be his opportunity to take his game up a notch.

His biggest asset is his ability to score( at AHL level) but if like you're saying he's not prepared to shoot the puck on the power play and he can't beat NHL defenseman what is the use in having him on the team at the current moment?

When you're unprepared and you take the shot anyway,you rarely know where the shot will end up. He also as you mentioned hasn't learned how to properly beat NHL players with his shot, a lot of times his shot goes straight at the defenseman, completely wide of the goal,or right at the goalie. The game is moving too fast for him. I agree that we have better options at the moment. Which is why I don't think there's anything wrong with sending a young kid back down to the minors to practice on the things that he realized he was doing wrong and the NHL level.

Fyi: "poor shot quality" as you put it, goes to his ability to recognize a shooting situation and getting off a good shot on target. Which he hasn't learned to do yet.

Edited by wings87

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This argument is exactly the same as about Mrazek. Both are very successful in the AHL but, depending on who is posting, need to develop further on the AHL or be given a chance to learn the NHL game by having as much time as possible on the Wings

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This argument is exactly the same as about Mrazek. Both are very successful in the AHL but, depending on who is posting, need to develop further on the AHL or be given a chance to learn the NHL game by having as much time as possible on the Wings

I agree but the wings are playoff bound and unlike last year don't have the injuries which would allow these guys to develop at the NHL level.

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I'm happy for him to go down to GR, I think the guys have a good chance at the Calder Cup (in fact a better chance than when they won it) so let him, Mrazek, XO, Sproul etc get some real playoff experience it's only going to help the big club.

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I'm happy for him to go down to GR, I think the guys have a good chance at the Calder Cup (in fact a better chance than when they won it) so let him, Mrazek, XO, Sproul etc get some real playoff experience it's only going to help the big club.

Mrazek's already won a Calder Cup with this team :).

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He could of been a valuable asset to us come the playoffs on a bottom 6 line with his shot ... Not saying he'd get a dozen goals but could of provided us with offence in key moments

I know he will/should be with us fulltime next year but I'd rather he play the rest of the way

Oh well ... Can't say I'm shocked though

Score the right away? He's dominating the ahl ... The only way he's gonna get better at the NHL level is by playing in the nhl

We need to ice the best lineup going into the playoffs, not use it to let guys learn to play at this level.

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I think some people just quote things straight from a cliche book. Say what they think seems like it should be true rather than doing any actual analysis.

He has the best shots/60 on the team, 10th best among all forwards in the league in fact (and 4th best 5v5 ZS adj.). The % of his shot attempts blocked is a little on the high side, but not terribly so (and having a shot blocked does not necessarily mean he didn't get it off quick enough). He's not really missing an unusual amount of shots either, so I'd say his aim is fine. The low shooting% is probably from poor shot quality (I would guess Babs has told him to just shoot the puck whenever he can). He's also had a few shots that have gotten past the goalie but just didn't quite make it in. The stats could be skewed by the small sample size, but that goes for the negative ones as well.

He doesn't need to work on getting his shot off.

Biggest need for him to work on from what I've seen is working with his teammates. Seems often to be unprepared when the puck gets to him, especially on the PP. Needs to work on beating NHL caliber players too. Unfortunately, he can't do either that well in the AHL and we have better options now. But at least he gets to be a major player in GR, and hopefully have a nice playoff run. Next year will be his opportunity to take his game up a notch.

You've provided quite a lot of evidence, and observation, that seems to support the theory that he needs to work on getting his shot off.

1. As you've said, he's got a higher than average rate of blocked shots.

2. He's got a low shooting percentage, so he misses a lot.

3. Poor shot quality as a result of the coach favoring quantity over quality.

You've also suggested he needs to improve a couple of things, which are directly tied to shooting as well.

1. You've said he's unprepared when the puck gets to him. Unprepared for what? To get the the shot off?

2. You've said he needs to work on "beating NHL players". Again, beating them and do what? Drive the net and bang in a rebound goal? Probably not. Beat them and get a shot off? Probably.

I'm not really sure you're disagreeing with anything we've said above. He's got one offensive weapon. By your own admission he's unable to beat defenders to use that weapon, and he's unprepared to use it when his teammates set him up. Further, you've stated that when he does use it, it's got a higher than average chance of being block, or missing, as a result of poor shot selection.

Doesn't that all suggest that he needs to work on getting his shot off? Or at least, he needs to work on getting BETTER shots off?

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Ive mentioned this a couple times in GDTs in the past, but I think the two biggest things Pulkinnen needs to improve upon are supporting his teammates in the offensive zone ie being more active in the cycle, behind the net, along the boards, and secondly, being smarter with his choice of shots.

To the first point: there have been many times when Pulkinnen has looked (and found) the quiet area of the ice where he can rip a one-timer. The problem is his linemates are struggling to retain possession of the puck on the other side of the ice. It's difficult to find the open man and get him the puck when your back is to the play and you have a defender hounding you down. So instead of getting a one-timer off, these plays often would result in a change of possession and the puck gets cleared out of the zone.

To the second point: Pulkinnen has taken so many shots that, against NHL quality goalies, are almost never going to go in. I'm talking about unscreened shots from the point with no rebound support. It's essentially a turnover. I'd rather Pulks hold onto the puck and rely more on his teammates instead of trying to put one in when the odds of him actual scoring are quite minute.

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You've provided quite a lot of evidence, and observation, that seems to support the theory that he needs to work on getting his shot off.

1. As you've said, he's got a higher than average rate of blocked shots.

2. He's got a low shooting percentage, so he misses a lot.

3. Poor shot quality as a result of the coach favoring quantity over quality.

You've also suggested he needs to improve a couple of things, which are directly tied to shooting as well.

1. You've said he's unprepared when the puck gets to him. Unprepared for what? To get the the shot off?

2. You've said he needs to work on "beating NHL players". Again, beating them and do what? Drive the net and bang in a rebound goal? Probably not. Beat them and get a shot off? Probably.

I'm not really sure you're disagreeing with anything we've said above. He's got one offensive weapon. By your own admission he's unable to beat defenders to use that weapon, and he's unprepared to use it when his teammates set him up. Further, you've stated that when he does use it, it's got a higher than average chance of being block, or missing, as a result of poor shot selection.

Doesn't that all suggest that he needs to work on getting his shot off? Or at least, he needs to work on getting BETTER shots off?

You said he needs to work on getting his shot off quicker. That isn't true. It's just a cliche, "He's a rookie, so he must need to learn that...". But it isn't true and the stats show it.

And no, the things he needs to work on are not just related to shooting. No player, no matter how well he shoots, is going to survive in the NHL with just that. Sometimes he's been unprepared to take a shot when the puck has come to him, but because it seems he didn't expect to get the puck, not because his shot is too slow. Beating NHL players means beating them on the boards, beating them on breakouts, beating them to open areas without the puck, beating them with passes, etc., just as much as beating them to create a scoring chance for himself, and does not at all mean that he needs to shoot quicker.

Shot selection might need some work, though that's not what you said and not what I was refuting. But even that, if he can maintain his shooting volume, would be fine with me.

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You said he needs to work on getting his shot off quicker. That isn't true. It's just a cliche, "He's a rookie, so he must need to learn that...". But it isn't true and the stats show it.

And no, the things he needs to work on are not just related to shooting. No player, no matter how well he shoots, is going to survive in the NHL with just that. Sometimes he's been unprepared to take a shot when the puck has come to him, but because it seems he didn't expect to get the puck, not because his shot is too slow. Beating NHL players means beating them on the boards, beating them on breakouts, beating them to open areas without the puck, beating them with passes, etc., just as much as beating them to create a scoring chance for himself, and does not at all mean that he needs to shoot quicker.

Shot selection might need some work, though that's not what you said and not what I was refuting. But even that, if he can maintain his shooting volume, would be fine with me.

Fair enough. I'll concede. He needs to work on getting off better shots, as the blocks and missing attest. Not necessarily quicker shots.

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