KeslerPlaysLikeACanadian

Spelling doesn't matter to CRAZY_4_NAZI.

Seriously. I would like to watch a super fit and hard-working Kessel before I make pronouncements on his hockey brain. Some players play a smarter game than others, ie, Gretzky vs Roenick. Roenick isn't dumb (maybe), but he plays a different way. Forward-thinking rather than lateral thinking. Crosby and Ovi play a different way. It's fine to call one smart. Extreme examples are going to work a lot better here than close comparisons. But of course, this will get translated by the quantification-conscience hockey intelligentsia into an EA Sports model that rates prospects' IQ, before they are in the big leagues, outside of the context of their eventual linemates. And then Virtanen gets branded with, "low IQ, can't play with the Sedins", as though being a power forward with a cannon is not such a great thing.

This is well said. For me though, we have to find something better than Burrows. He was perfect at one time, but I am really sick of watching that line run around unable to get the puck. I do totally agree that they need a high hockey IQ guy. I don't know much about Virtanen, but I do think that it is worth a long look to see if he can get the hang of it. Smart as Burrows is, I do think he kept it really simple. IE, get in and stir up a puck, and go to the net. We may well have to turn to him throughout the year, but I hope we are also working towards something better. Virtanen may well be bad for the Sedin's stats, but we know what we are getting with Burrows, and it is just not quite good enough.

Err...no. Let's hope that never happens again. I don't mean just any grinder. I just mean not a pure skill guy.

The Sedins main need in a linemate is someone to get the pucks for them. Vrbata couldn't do that. It has to be someone fast who does good work in the corners.

I really don't see them starting Vey in the pressbox. It just doesn't seem like the right thing for him right now. I think that barring an upset its Kenins and Vrtanen.

Obviously the name. You want to sell a lot of Pilon jersies? The name hurt the kid.

There's a lot of pressure to go for it there. And, hard as it is to recall, Erat was a damn good top line player. Not sure I've ever seen someone fall apart that quickly. He's only 32. I feel like you can count the successful deadline pick-ups on one hand.

I thought that he could go as soon as he is old enough....ie, this spring. Does he really have to commit for a year to the dub? Self-answer: he turns 20 next august, so no A until after playoffs. Oh. Well in that case, maybe they will ease him in and keep him eligible for the world junior, and then play him more in the second half.

He can't go to the A until after Christmas, and he can't play in the World Junior if he plays more than 9 games (right?)

I think they will have him in the pressbox with Kenins to start the year and dole out his 9 games over the first half of the year, put him into world junior, and then send him to the A in the new year. Unless he dominates, which would be amazing. People predicting his goal ceiling aren't imagining him being set up by the Sedins the way I am. But he seems like the perfect example of someone not to send to junior.

Good players never fan on the puck. We should've picked the next Keith. The Sultan demands a guy who doesn't fan on pucks. What a joke of a hockey fan.

I agree, except that I am pretty sure he can finish the year in the A. Which is probably a better option for someone with that physicality and need to gain endurance.

I thought you might be. Regardless, at least 5 posters basically said that so I thought it was worth a wallop.