Alexandre Mallet Talk

[Canvoucer Vanuck]

You'd pick Burrows over the Sedins?

Whoops - I should've said after the good picks. Guys like the Sedins, Zetterberg, Havlat etc.

Point being that if you can get a very good player even with a high pick you do it. And that's where the Canucks' projection of him comes in.

[mangosteens]

With overagers like Mallet and Grenier, you expect more of a finished product and shorter time to the NHL. That is why they draft them. The fact that these guys are both in the ECHL does not bode well.

Gillis' 2nd and 3rd round picks have not turned in to much:

2008

2nd round - Yann Sauve - is now in the ECHL. D-men taken in the 2nd round after him: P Wiercoch, Justin Schultz, Hamonic, Scandella. He should be knocking on the door to be in the NHL, not getting sent to the ECHL.

2009

2nd round - Anton Rodin - has not been able to stay healthy. Thank goodness we didn't use a 1st rounder on this guy. Players from this draft are starting to filter in to the NHL now. Rodin is not exactly pushing his way to the NHL.

3rd round - Kevin Connauton - actually looks like he could be an NHL player. Best of the 2nd and 3rd rounders by Gillis.

2010

no 2nd or 3rd round pick.

2011

3rd round - David Honzik - will not be signed by the Canucks. Not sure if he will even play pro in North America.

3rd round - Alex Grenier - overager who is in the ECHL. Another overager taken in the 5th round of that draft was Andrew Shaw in Chicago. Not ready to give up, but not looking good.

2012

2nd round - Alex Mallett - would have expected him to stick in the AHL given he was a 2nd rounder and overaged. Trend is not in the right direction right now, though he is getting some production in the ECHL.

[BananaMash]

With overagers like Mallet and Grenier, you expect more of a finished product and shorter time to the NHL. That is why they draft them. The fact that these guys are both in the ECHL does not bode well.

Gillis' 2nd and 3rd round picks have not turned in to much:

2008

2nd round - Yann Sauve - is now in the ECHL. D-men taken in the 2nd round after him: P Wiercoch, Justin Schultz, Hamonic, Scandella. He should be knocking on the door to be in the NHL, not getting sent to the ECHL.

2009

2nd round - Anton Rodin - has not been able to stay healthy. Thank goodness we didn't use a 1st rounder on this guy. Players from this draft are starting to filter in to the NHL now. Rodin is not exactly pushing his way to the NHL.

3rd round - Kevin Connauton - actually looks like he could be an NHL player. Best of the 2nd and 3rd rounders by Gillis.

2010

no 2nd or 3rd round pick.

2011

3rd round - David Honzik - will not be signed by the Canucks. Not sure if he will even play pro in North America.

3rd round - Alex Grenier - overager who is in the ECHL. Another overager taken in the 5th round of that draft was Andrew Shaw in Chicago. Not ready to give up, but not looking good.

2012

2nd round - Alex Mallett - would have expected him to stick in the AHL given he was a 2nd rounder and overaged. Trend is not in the right direction right now, though he is getting some production in the ECHL.

To be fair to Sauve, he was doing well in terms of development until he got hit by that SUV. He was looking like he'd be a Willie Mitchell type defender, but with more speed. It's a shame his development got stunted when he was hit.

Rodin did actually look like a good pick at the time, he's just been terrible at translated his play to North America. He did look like a good pick, just one of those things.

It's far too early to tell with Grenier and Mallet.

[stonecoldstevebernier]

Mallet, Grenier and Sauve have both been victims of the Wolves' management and coaching staff. The Wolves are a long-standing franchise with independent ownership, and they have a number of AHL-only players signed to their roster. Haydar, Sterling, Davies, Hunt, Matheson, Didiomete, Groulx, Longpre, Miller, Kattelus, Blain, and Climie. That's 2 forward lines and 2 defense pairs worth. All of these players leave less room for the Canucks' prospects... so how exactly can guys like Mallet, Grenier, Rodin, and Sauve prove themselves? Better to get top ECHL minutes than 5 minutes a night at the AHL level (like Mallet was getting earlier this season).

Hopefully the Canucks can reach an agreement to buy Peoria and bring 'em to Abbotsford next year, because the arrangement with the Wolves is not working out. Our prospects need ice time to develop.

[thad]

Lp

[Smashian Kassian]

What SCSB said.

[NuxFan09]

Mallet, Grenier and Sauve have both been victims of the Wolves' management and coaching staff. The Wolves are a long-standing franchise with independent ownership, and they have a number of AHL-only players signed to their roster. Haydar, Sterling, Davies, Hunt, Matheson, Didiomete, Groulx, Longpre, Miller, Kattelus, Blain, and Climie. That's 2 forward lines and 2 defense pairs worth. All of these players leave less room for the Canucks' prospects... so how exactly can guys like Mallet, Grenier, Rodin, and Sauve prove themselves? Better to get top ECHL minutes than 5 minutes a night at the AHL level (like Mallet was getting earlier this season).

Hopefully the Canucks can reach an agreement to buy Peoria and bring 'em to Abbotsford next year, because the arrangement with the Wolves is not working out. Our prospects need ice time to develop.

This is exactly the point I made in one of the prospect threads awhile back. Agreed completely.

The Wolves have a disgusting amount of players on AHL only contracts, which means there is a disturbing amount of Canucks prospects in the ECHL (7, by my count: Sauve, Rai, Anthony, Friesen, Grenier, Mallet, Myron). Rai and Anthony are pretty much busts, so I'm fine with them in Kalamazoo, and Myron unexpectedly dropped out of college so you can't exactly fault the Wolves for not being able to accommodate him. Sauve, Friesen, Grenier and Mallet, though, really should be developing in the AHL.

[Ray_Cathode]

we already have good defensive prospects like tanev sauve connaunton labate and some others.the only good forward prospects we have are jensen and kassian the rest suck until nowsince we got gaunce and mallot

Let's start with the fact that Labate is a FORWARD. Sauve spends most of his time in the ECHL - that scarcely qualifies him as a great prospect. Tanev is no longer a prospect, he is a player - usually paired with Edler and spending much time on the PK. Connauton has a long way to go before he can play in the NHL - consider that he has yet to play a single reguar season game. Corrado looks interesting as he just missed the Canadian Junior team - but that's it, isn't it? He missed selection! Our forward prospect pool is also thin, and with no really highly regarded prospects. Kassian looks more and more like a dud with each game. Jensen and Gaunce are probably the best, though we may one day get some use out of Grenier, Labate, Blomstrand, and perhaps, Mallet. Our prospect pool is ranked what - 26th by Hockey's Future? But the chilling number is not that, it is that we did not have a single one of our prospects rated in the top 50 - and the closest were probably forwards Jensen and Gaunce.

However, it takes longer generally to develop D, and is much easier to build a stock of forwards - when we actually start to keep our draft slots. Of course many cdcers seem to think we will harvest a bounty of prospects when we move Luongo - I am not holding my breath on that fantasy.

[rkyway]

"Kevin Connauton - actually looks like he could be an NHL player. Best of the 2nd and 3rd rounders by Gillis."

- C. has the worst plus minus on the Wolves (-13) For comparison; Polasek is +7.

- I can't see C. making the NHL with his inability to play defense.

[Fred65]

"Kevin Connauton - actually looks like he could be an NHL player. Best of the 2nd and 3rd rounders by Gillis."

- C. has the worst plus minus on the Wolves (-13) For comparison; Polasek is +7.

- I can't see C. making the NHL with his inability to play defense.

I think the experiment of Connauton has run it's course. Try him up front or move him. I have to say I think Polasek is more likely to make it. Seems like he's treated like the ugly sister by those in charge

[Canvoucer Vanuck]

I think the experiment of Connauton has run it's course. Try him up front or move him. I have to say I think Polasek is more likely to make it. Seems like he's treated like the ugly sister by those in charge

Agreed - move him up to forward or just move him.

[KeslerBEAST]

Gillis probably wanted mallet as a depth 3rd/4th line guy so hopefully next year when we got the rivermen he can actually do a full year in the ahl in a 2nd/3rd line role.

with Connauton I don't think AV would EVER play a dman who can't play D, he already hates forwards that don't play D and isn't impressed when they score (like on shirokov's first goal he was pretty pissed that he scored, what kind of coach gets mad when you score?).

and with Rodin maybe gillis should have let him stay in europe and dominate the SEL before coming over.

[Canvoucer Vanuck]

Did AV actually get mad that Shirokov scored? LOL

[KeslerBEAST]

Did AV actually get mad that Shirokov scored? LOL

some guy pointed it out on the forums yesterday and I went to check and i found it kinda funny, didn't notice at the time live when he scored though haha but he didn't look too happy there. had 1 goal 6 shots, pretty much benched next game and then sent down after that

kinda stupid how things work, he wasn't producing offensively before so he kept getting sent back down then he gets a goal and still gets sent down. I think AV is just obsessed with player skillsets because shirokov wasn't big or fast instead of player IQ which gillis USED to say he prefered but now he's drafting big.

[Canvoucer Vanuck]

some guy pointed it out on the forums yesterday and I went to check and i found it kinda funny, didn't notice at the time live when he scored though haha but he didn't look too happy there. had 1 goal 6 shots, pretty much benched next game and then sent down after that

kinda stupid how things work, he wasn't producing offensively before so he kept getting sent back down then he gets a goal and still gets sent down. I think AV is just obsessed with player skillsets because shirokov wasn't big or fast instead of player IQ which gillis USED to say he prefered but now he's drafting big.

Thanks. He did look pretty dour there. I suspect it had something to do with the way it was scored - dangling right in front of the goalie when he probably thought he should have just shot it. Does it really matter how he scored as long as it's in the back of the net? Seriously...

[KeslerBEAST]

Thanks. He did look pretty dour there. I suspect it had something to do with the way it was scored - dangling right in front of the goalie when he probably thought he should have just shot it. Does it really matter how he scored as long as it's in the back of the net? Seriously...

yeah I think AV just doesn't like players doing things that show that they're gaining confidence or something AV didn't expect(usually riskier plays but good players will make the riskier play pay off) kind of like how ballard CAN carry the puck out of the zone but AV would probably prefer him to play like a real 5/6 dman and chip it off the boards, probably won't get the most out of a guy but it's the high percentage play defensive play.

[wshdrvvn]

Gillis probably wanted mallet as a depth 3rd/4th line guy so hopefully next year when we got the rivermen he can actually do a full year in the ahl in a 2nd/3rd line role.

with Connauton I don't think AV would EVER play a dman who can't play D, he already hates forwards that don't play D and isn't impressed when they score (like on shirokov's first goal he was pretty pissed that he scored, what kind of coach gets mad when you score?).

and with Rodin maybe gillis should have let him stay in europe and dominate the SEL before coming over.

he doesn't show that much emotion ever really, you celebrate with teammates when you score. You're just looking for a reason to bash him i think. bet money he had some positive words for shiro when he got to the bench.

I haven't been impressed this year with connauton. all star last season with baumer on his side. arniel couldn't have broken him that much, he needs to be supported, he can't carry his pairing if need be. i've watched a lot of the wolves (especially during the lockout) so if i'm missing something let me know. i'd rather see tommernes being tuned for our power play.

Rodin is hindsight, but i respond because i agree about mallet. if the wolves roster was made up differently i think mallet would have been able to go through the season in the role you mentioned. I wanted to see him on the third line with the wolves. getting tough match ups in the d-zone and lesser competition on offense. one can wish that will be the case next season.

[Canvoucer Vanuck]

yeah I think AV just doesn't like players doing things that show that they're gaining confidence or something AV didn't expect(usually riskier plays but good players will make the riskier play pay off) kind of like how ballard CAN carry the puck out of the zone but AV would probably prefer him to play like a real 5/6 dman and chip it off the boards, probably won't get the most out of a guy but it's the high percentage play defensive play.

Yep. This coach refuses to adapt his system to the strengths of his personnel. See Ballard for the perfect example.

For Shirokov, he had to produce and wasn't given a chance to in the 2nd game. No leeway at all.

Fortunately we do have a lot of prospects coming up who are more two-way players like Mallet and Gaunce, but I would like to see some room for offensive skill again. But in the end it may not even matter by the time they make the team as AV could be gone anyway.

[RustyShackleford]

Mallet might be a sleeper pick to make the canucks 4th line this season but I think Mallet is a better option then Lain at this point.

[stonecoldstevebernier]

Mallet might be a sleeper pick to make the canucks 4th line this season but I think Mallet is a better option then Lain at this point.

I'd say Lain has the inside track because of the role he plays - he's excellent on faceoffs which we definitely need in our lineup. Plus, he's older and is farther along in his development. Although Mallet is fiesty, and a lot tougher than Lain even though Lain's much bigger. I wouldn't rule him out but I still think Lain's got a better shot.