-AJ-

In my mind, this is an antiquated viewpoint. When the NHL had six or maybe twelve teams, it was important, but the modern game is so much more team-oriented and parity-filled that I don't think it's reasonable to require a player to drag a team to the Cup in order to be considered great. I measure a team's greatness by playoff success, but I measure an individual on his own individual success. To measure a player's greatness by his Cups is to use the wrong measuring stick IMO. It's still important to assess playoff performance, but it's best to measure performance on an individual level when considering individual greatness. It's akin to trying to use a ruler to judge the heaviest apple.

I'd say Lemieux was more physically gifted, but Gretzky had the edge mentally.

Most notable name missing is Jagr IMO.

You might call him the "next" Suter.

Some info on Suter - On the smaller side at 5'11", 179lbs - Expect 25-35 points from him in 82 games, but his ceiling (based on his rookie year) is as high as about 40 points - 3C for Detroit last year - Minus three rating was third among Detroit regular forwards last year - Fairly weak at face-offs with 46.8% last year, though was at 49.3% in 2021-22 - Despite being the 3C, took fewer face-offs than Joe Veleno, the 4C (which is weird, because he's even worse at them) - Somewhat low hit frequency, though not alarmingly so (8th of top 12 Detroit forwards) - Average block frequency - Takeaways are double his giveaways (strong ratio) - Extremely responsible on the penalty front--takes very few penalties, though also doesn't draw too many. Still a net positive on that front. - Appears to probably spend most of his time on PK2, but maybe some time on PK1 as well. Arguably Detroit's best PK forward over the past two years, though more PK1 time might make it harder for him to continue results - Played on PP2 in 2021-22, but was largely absent from the powerplay in 2022-23 - 52.1% OZ% in 2021-22, but took on a more defensive role in 2022-23 with 44.3 OZ% - CORSI of 46.2% this year, which is arguably an improvement over last year's despite being about the same, because he was played more defensively - 2/3 shootout in his career for a strong 66.6% - Cap Friendly lists him as a C/LW, but it appears he's spent most of his NHL career as a centre In summary, Suter was used more offensively in 2021-22, but last year was deployed more defensively, which probably somewhat led to lower offensive output. He's been extremely effective on the PK, but it's hard to tell if that's been on PK1 or PK2 (likely a bit of both) (PK1 minutes are obviously harder). His face-offs aren't great, which should improve if he's to become a great defensive centre. All in all, probably a steal for $1.6M.

Unless Castonguay has some cap wizardry up her sleeve, I imagine there's a trade coming to free cap space.

Sprong had 21 goals and 46 points last year for the Kraken in 66 games and has 268 career games now. Solid middle six winger and is 26 years old. He's not a nobody--I strongly suspect there will be ramifications from this. Even if the victim egged him on or something, you can't just take it out by assaulting a guy. All that said, I don't watch Sprong, but it seems out of character for a guy who averages 13 PIM per 82 games.

Surprised Wolanin isn't there. I picked Hirose for LHD, but I could see Irwin winning it. Not sure if Wolanin only plays LD, but if that's the case, then he'd be my pick with none of the options winning RD spot. IMO Juulsen is overrated. He's a solid top 4 guy in Abbotsford, but not even their best defender. Rathbone is okay, but he hasn't shown he can hang in the NHL outside of the niche role of a PP guy, which we have two of in Vancouver now. McWard was fine in Vancouver, but he's obviously AHL-bound IMO. Woo took a huge step last year, but I'm not convinced that he's NHL level just yet. More likely role for him is the defensive guy on the top pairing in Abby with either Wolanin or Rathbone. I feel like Brisebois, similarly to Juulsen, is quite overrated and won't become an NHL regular beyond maybe a #7 guy at best. None of the RD guys are probably better than either Soucy or Myers, who are the most likely other bottom pairing players.

Bertuzzi - Miller - Smyl Hughes - Jovanovski Miller Drooling at the truculence.

A few years ago, I might've agreed, but even if it's home, it's hard to believe that a league that has a war-torn country as it's home is a good league to play in right now.

Yeah, he's only a 1C at his best, like he was in Vancouver this year, scoring at a 50-goal rate. Even, if you do him the disservice of removing this year, his scoring rate for the prior four years is 0.74 points-per-game. As of 2022-23, the average 2nd line centre was scoring 0.78 points-per-game. Note that this is likely higher than the reality because so many natural centres play on the wings and there are far more centres than wingers. So even with this likely higher than realistic standard and while also removing his best year, which is also his most recent, Horvat is nearly a 2C on offense alone. When you add in the fact that Horvat is almost certainly above average defensively, I think he easily matches the criteria of a solid 2C. I think the only way your argument holds merit is if you're basing Horvat's level entirely on his 30 regular season and 6 playoff games with the Islanders, a drastically smaller, albeit more recent sample. If Horvat continues playing like he did in New York this year, then you may be right--he may actually be a 3C now or at best, a low-end 2C. I'm not ready to hop on that bandwagon until I see a greater sample size of evidence though.

Miller is definitely a capable 1C, but calling Horvat a 2C in a really good day is terribly disingenuous. He's easily a 2C and a very good one at that. A very good day for Horvat puts him into 1C territory. However, we'll see if he remains to be that kind of player on the Island or if he's lost his magic. Might be the case that he's not what he was in Vancouver anymore.

What a story it would be if he can make it.

I disagree. He doesn't have an extensive history of injuries in the same way as guys like Poolman or Ferland. How good he is now after so long off at 30 years old (soon 31) is a question, but I do believe that he'll be playing and healthy for training camp.

Yeah, it's not as bad as the Selke, but the Norris is also a pretty reputation-based award. I've seen many older defensemen with a history of Norris votes still get votes just because of their names, even when they have a poorer year. Hughes might have to work his way into the cycle of Norris reputation.

Would take another level up again from his defense to get into a top 3 spot IMO, unless he actually has it in him to score 90+ points.

He was actually a pretty good middle six guy when he was healthy at times. His role has been filled in since he missed so much hockey last year though and it would be hard to find a role for him. I'm also not sure how good he'll be with so much time off since he's last played.

So, how about that Baertschi guy?

I'd honestly say there's more than a 50% chance this contract gets bought out before the end. Might be a decent deal for a year or two, but that's gonna look really rough when he's a third liner in his mid 30s. ...Except apparently there are signing bonuses. Reminds me a bit of Lucic's deal back in the day.

I would tend to agree, but I said very similar things about Juolevi over Tkachuk. All that said, Podz is very different from Juolevi.

Does sound very much like we're not bringing him back unless it's on a very cheap deal. Unless he's willing to play for like $1M, he'll probably sign somewhere else.

Was a big fan of his and always felt he got the short end of the stick, being waived. That said, he couldn't make the team out of Vegas either, so maybe he really wasn't the player he once was. Good middle six guy in his prime.

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