dudacek

So when do we expect these guys to arrive as full-time NHLers? Seems to me that last year’s rookies marked the last chapter of the first wave. 2018 Dahlin 2019 Olofsson, Jokiharju 2020 Cozens, Thompson, Mittelstadt 2021 Samuelsson, Bryson, Asplund 2022 Power, UPL, Krebs, Quinn, Peterka 2023 Levi, Rousek? Savoie?, Kulich? 2024 Savoie, Kulich, Johnson? Benson? 2025 Johnson, Benson, Östlund? Rosen? Kozak? Poltapov? Kisakov? 2026 Poltapov, Östlund, Rosen, Novikov? Nadeau? Neuchev? Wahlberg? 2027 Wahlberg, Lindgren? Komarov? Richard? Strbak? McCarthy? 2028 Strbak, Leinonen? Ratzlaff? Miedema?

Spuzzum has always been a favourite.

I gotta say you confuse me when you say things like Oscar Steen and Jacob Lauko are good 2-way bottom sixers and call Jordan Greenway fringe. The Bruin pair have a combined 49 NHL games in 7 years of pro hockey and have yet to fully crack an NHL roster. Greenway has been a pro for 5 years and an NHL regular for every one of them.

I think @PerreaultForever simply doesn’t think the Sabres have any bullies so by definition any team that has one is grittier. It doesn’t really matter if the Sabres aren’t scared, until the other team is scared. Meanwhile, the grit level of key Sabres like Mittelstadt, Cozens, Thompson, Power and Dahlin is found lacking, while the same of key Senators like Batherson, Norris, Stutzle, Chabot and Sanderson is ignored. The experience thing is interesting. The Sabres have one Stanley Cup ring (Johnson) as do the Senators (Tarasenko). The Sabres have four players with significant playoff experience: Johnson has 55 games, Tuch has 66, Jost 46 and Clifton 46. Greenway has 22 and Okposo 24. The Senators have 2 players with a ton: Tarasenko 97 and Giroux 95. After that, Hamonic has 22. That’s it.

I doubt Comrie is capable of performing well enough over 2 or 3 weeks to outright win the backup job. That’s not a shot at him as much as an acknowledgment that age, history, contract and waiver status all stack the deck significantly in UPL’s favour. However, it is possible UPL could perform poorly enough to lose it.

And how does the NHL dictate who wins the Vezina? Bribing the voters or blackmailing them?

They aren't bigger, aren't more experienced, aren't more battle proven, aren't faster, aren't more competitive, aren't deeper...? Where's does this come from?

The biggest difference between Buffalo and Ottawa on paper is the prospect pool, Buffalo’s remains strong while Ottawa’s has mostly graduated. Their NHL rosters look similar enough at this point that a few surprise or disappointing individual performances could tilt the balance in either direction. Stutzle and Tkachuk are studs. Sanderson is going to be very good. Norris is back. I suspect each team will be a thorn in each other’s sides for years to come.

This makes me wonder: how many jobs are ever outright won in training camp? What I’m saying is teams have a ghost roster in their heads where 20-ish guys are on the team, 5ish guys are in the mix for the last 3 spots, and 20ish guys are expected to be sent down. Sure, the bubble guys are fighting for those last 3 spots, but how often does a guy outside that bubble change minds with his training camp? Is there any chance Levi isn’t on the roster come October? Does Brett Murray really have a shot to be the 13th forward? Can Kale Clague or Ryan Johnson, or Jacob Bryson make the team over Eric Johnson? How bad would Peyton Krebs have to perform not to be in Buffalo? Don’t get me wrong, there are battles for spots most years, but not many guys are actually participating in those battles.

It seems to me from an outsider’s point of view that many Americans have fully bought into some ideas about post-secondary education that aren’t necessarily true: An education needs to be expensive to have value. You must go out and get a degree as soon as you’re done high school. You need to “go away” to college. The name of the institution on the degree matters more than the knowledge it carries. A cost-benefit analysis of your options post-degree is less important than figuring out how you can afford the degree itself. You can figure out whether it’s the right field for you, and how you’re going to pay for it later.

Geographically, Wenatchee is almost dead centre for WHL travel Winnipeg was way out on the eastern edge.

When, if given the choice between the developing player and the mediocre veteran, have Adams and Granato not gone with the developing player? Until we see them behave differently, it is hard for me not to perceive UPL versus Comrie as no different than Peterka versus Hinostroza.

Can’t wait until hockey starts agains. Mostly because I miss it. Partly because we’re running out things to say about situations that haven’t changed for months and nerves are starting to fray.

I watched the Canucks version of embedded at it was pretty clear that Adams tried to move up to 11 and Allvin rejected the offer. They were apparently locked in on Willander and didn’t want to risk losing him. I wonder who the Sabres were chasing? Was it Benson or Willander?

That’s a team very much trying to make the playoffs.

You didn’t pick one or the other, implying the possibility

Reinhart was 3rd among Panther forwards in ice time last season, 1st among right wings. He was 8th in ice time and tied for 10th in goals and points among all right wings, league wide. He’s indisputably a 1st-line right wing by any measure that should matter, even if Florida frequently chooses not to play him with its other best forwards. Wookiee’s not wrong, he often plays on Florida’s “3rd” line. It’s just another example of the imprecise nature of the hockey lexicon and why it is a bad idea to mistake the hierarchy of a pre-game roster with a player’s actual role and value. Ice time is always the best way to measure where a player stands on his team.

I think we saw it down the stretch last year. They had virtually identical goal and point totals over a full year, while Krebs had better possession stats. Krebs is faster, more skilled, plays with a lot more pace and is harder to play against. Geekie was getting healthy scratched by the Kraken and didn’t get a $1.4 million qualifying offer. I’m not sure what people are liking about his game.

Interesting how Quinn (late developer with upside) and Lundell (complete, nearly ready, lacks upside) have kinda been what the scouts were predicting so far.

Good stuff guys. LGR, Peyton Krebs is already better than Morgan Geekie and that will become more pronounced this year. Otherwise, I'm a little surprised at how much I agree with this. Eleven, yours reads like you don't believe Skinner Tuch Tage Cozens and Mitts are as good as they were last year (fair) and you still believe Marchand, Lucic, van Reimsdyk are still what they were 3 years ago (not so much). lumbering 31-year-old 16-goal Coyle over speedy age 22 with 31 goals Cozens is...interesting.

I don’t know man, their resumes look an awful lot like Brandon Biro and Lukas Rousek to me. But I should know better than to debate the merits of any Bruin with you 😁 Overall, we’re on the same page though: they will fall, it's just a question of how much and how far. And I’m not going to count them out until I see them out.

I’m talking division, not conference. As to your defensive part, I’m not sure where you’re getting that. It feels like a “Boston’s always good at defence” auto-defence rather than looking at the actual players. Morgan Geekie had some of the worst relative Corsi on Seattle last year, despite heavy O-zone starts. Lucic was also negative. They are both slow as molasses. These are not good defensive players and they’ve lost the best defensive player in the game. They will get bumps because of a great defence corps covering up for their mistakes, and yes, the system will help. Your example might work for Coyle versus Mitts. But Mitts is a better player than Geekie, full-stop. Of course we’ll see how things play out, but on paper the Bruins forward corps is full of Haydens, Staals and Caggiulas: guys who can fill a depth role but that’s it.

I don’t think it’s hyperbole: Pastrnak is a star and Marchand is fading but still a 1st liner Frederic, Coyle, Debrusk and Zacha are good middle-sixers. That leaves them 3 players short of a good top 9 and their depth is awful Lucic is done and Van Rymsdyk is barely hanging on, Geekie’s 25 and never hit 30 points, and Greer, Lauko, Brown, Megna and Boqvist are fringe. You know someone will emerge because it’s Boston, but whose forward corps is worse?

Oh I agree, you can’t count them out and they’ve got such a head start based on last year. But that is not last year’s team. They’ve lost 40% of their roster and replaced them with fringe guys. As I just posted in the other thread, objectively that is the worst group of forwards in the division.

And they’ve got history and a 40-point cushion to play with. Like others have said, they’re in until somebody knocks them out. But I do think their forwards are the worst group in the division and that shouldn’t be ignored. Zacha is going to have a career year with Pastrnak, but goals will be hard to come by.