snizzle_
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Everything posted by snizzle_
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Anyone can make a "safe pick", the thing with Gillis is that he didn't make enough of our picks count. JB has done alot of damage control on top of the "safe picks" Gillis made; We basically gave up Mallet for free today and he was a 2nd round pick only 2 years ago.
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I would do Gaunce + 4th for Theodore
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Now, now, let's not sugar coat this. On the 2nd Hansen goal, Horvat actually lost the draw the Toews' side; it was a winger win by Dorsett that made the play happen.
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Very excited as to what he displayed today! If he sticks what happens to him for WJC, do we loan him still? He played really well, but I kind of want to down play it a bit. It's not like he had 3 amazing passes that resulted in goals. He had 3 assists but he wasn't even on the ice for 2 of them (boxscores show only a +1). All in all he played well and I hope this continues!
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Ya I just read about it too. In all honesty, the kid is nasty in Europe. I watched his highlights so far this season and he's unbelievably skilled. I don't think it'll translate the same to the NA game but he will be an effective player, as much as I hate to admit it; he has the confidence and the compete to make it happen.
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I want him to play with McDavid at the WJC. Omg that would be a dream
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Another 3 point night! Starting to find his groove for sure. Playing on that top line probably helps as well. Greg Chase who?
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I somewhat agree and disagree with your notion here. Where I do agree is that most players begin on the 3rd and 4th line and work their way up, but where I disagree is that players need to learn how to succeed offensively in order to produce at the next level. I mentioned this earlier but I'll rehash it again: The Detroit method works because they allow their players to develop their offensive touch through every rank moving towards the NHL, so the player never loses that "muscle memory" or "instinct" to score. It's not that young skilled players lose their "motor skills", it's that if they are rushed too early to develop defensive roles and are taught all defence, then they will develop that muscle memory and instinct to think that way in the NHL in the future. I'm not saying learning defence is bad, but it is alot easier to teach a skilled player to play defence than to teach a defensive player to play offence. If you're saying that "the offence will eventually come", well then more often than not it won't. Slow and Steady wins the race. Players can lose their offensive instinct and prowess if that happens, you look at so many top picks who were rushed because they were "physically ready" but may not have been ready enough to incorporate their creativity; just because a player is 6 1" and over 200 pounds doesn't make him "Ready". You want to develop players in all facets of their game that made them top picks to begin with; look at the Manny Malhotras of the world. Obviously it's different with every player but I feel like that is the basic premise to developing players right now.
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I wouldn't trust the WHL website either, they exaggerate just as much. The only real sites you can trust are third-party websites like at the Draft Combine or NHL.com From what I found, he was listed 6"0.75 and 208lbs at the Draft Combine (http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=718423)
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Actually, I kind of disagree. It is very unlikely that a player that puts up points in the NHL was not a prolific scorer in Junior; it is just a fact of the matter that a scorer in Junior will translate better to a scorer in the bigs than someone who is not. Obviously just because you show a high point total in Junior doesn't automatically make you a NHL scorer, but if you show progression through the AHL as a scorer than you can project them being a scorer sometime in the NHL. To be a prolific AHL scorer, you tend to be one of the best offensive junior players.
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If your team is substantially better with him than sure, but he's not making or breaking this team in terms of his value to the team. He's more valuable to us, long term, if he rounds out his offensive game playing 20 minutes a game and scoring points in Junior. He's already been with the team for 4 months and knows the routine. I'm sure he can bring back with him the lessons he's learned in Vancouver to London and play his game while developing his offensive touch.
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If he gets sent down to juniors after his 9th game, what are you guys' expectations of him offensively. Let's be honest here, all we want from him in Junior is to put up numbers, there's no other reason why we'd want him back down there. The problem is, Marner has slotted into that no.1 center role and Horvat, like someone suggested earlier, might play with lesser junior players and might have to carry the load on the line and develop some bad habits or whatever. If he goes back to Junior for the season, I'd expect him to score 1.75 ppg - 2.00 pgg depending on how many games he plays (i think there are about 35+ games left him to play in Junior)
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I like how at the draft, everyone was saying he was exactly like Ryan O'reilly. I don't know about you, but I interpreted that by thinking he would be ready sooner rather than later; Ryan O'reilly played right after being drafted. I'm not really mad at his play in recent games, I'm more bad at the fact that he hasn't progressed as far as I thought. It might have been naive to think Horvat would have as much as impact as O'Reilly did in his first years after being drafted though.
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minus for hovat in under 4 minutes of play... The kid can't get any traction, he's just spinning his wheels out there. He doesn't "look out of place" and all that good stuff but the kid can't get any momentum going. Like someone has mentioned before, he has 1 goal in the last 6 months of play. The kid looks like he's lost his offensive confidence.
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I don't remember alot of prospect that get the treatment Horvat is now and end up developping into anything special. -Getting your nine games, drawn out -Getting sent to the World Juniors -Return to CHL after I know alot of people want it and think its a great idea but I can't think of any previous examples where that's been a good way to develop a player. The only player that I can think of in recent years that did that was Matt Dumba and he has has fallen.
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What do you guys think is a successful draft year +1 for Virtanen overall. What are your expectations for him in points? Personally, I want him to have a really good year production wise. I really think that once he gets his groove, he'll end the year with 1.4 to 1.5 PPG. On top of that, I really think its important he has a very strong WJC. The World Juniors is such a big stage and if you can step up as a pressure player it really says a lot about a player going forward.
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He never said he was, and I agree with his sentiments. Virtanen had the best slapshot for forwards on that team, so he's being wasted being in front of the net. I also agree with the fact that he's lazy without the puck sometimes.
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Free Agency is a sellers market, they hold the bargaining power and therefore prices for UFAs are always outrageous. It is very rare, with exception to a few, that a contending team is built through free agency in a Salary Cap world. A contender has to be build through the draft and the use of ELC's. The Vrbata and Miller deals are placeholders while we develop our young talent, and are I hope they are the only big contracts we dish our in Free Agency in the coming years. Competition is good, but you need to give your prospects a chance for the sake of the Salary Cap. The only big name free agent that is on a contending team right now that I can think of is Marian Hossa, and I believe he took a pay cut to play in Chicago. We need to develop our core around our new young prospects and bring in veteran free agents as complementary players, no center pieces and preferably on discount deals because they want to play on a up and coming team. Horvat, Shinkaruk, Virtanen, McCann, and Gaunce are all good prospects that need to prove themselves. They are already trying to differentiate themselves from their peers and each other, why create added adversity by bringing in more veterans and telling them to beat out veterans. As a GM, it makes sense, but as a Coach it doesn't. In the end, a coach will rely on that veteran more time than not in key situations regardless of the potential of that prospect or how he's playing, because the coach is supposed to thing short term; win the game. We need our prospects to play and play in key situations for them to develop. I'm not against competition by any means but it's hard to compete against a veteran because of the stigma around the game of hockey.
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No one denies he's sound defensively and he can check with the best of them, but we don't want to develop a 3rd line grinder; if that's all he becomes when he's fully developed then so be it, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. The reason why the detroit model works, is that at every level a player plays, they maximize their offensive capabilities. In other words, they never lose their offensive mind set for too long. That's why the AHL has been such a great stepping stone for offensive stars in the NHL, because while they get accustomed to the pro style they don't lose their touch for scoring. What many teams have done with top picks over the years is even if the player is NHL ready, they may not be point producing NHL ready. Isn't that the ultimate goal with top picks? To have them being point producers? If they end up being grinders and heart players in the end then that's fine but you don't set out to develop a 3rd line player with a top 10 pick. Teams like Florida, Columbus and others have done this; while their prospects may have been physically and mentally ready to "stick" with the big club, they didn't help offensively and they eventually lose that touch for scoring. I feel like its more common than people think for a player to almost "forget" how to score. It sounds silly, I'm sure but how many players careers, top picks, have had their careers not pan out because they were rushed. Unless a player breaks down the door with offence, it's always safer to slowly ease them into big leagues so that they can maintain that confidence and scoring touch that made them a top pick to begin with.
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I think everyone can agree he doesn't look out of place. The thing with horvat is, we don't exactly need him unless he can put up some offence. We don't exactly have the luxury of time with him either so that's why people want him sent down.
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Kind of true. If the Canucks wanted these 9 games to last as long as possible and be as effective as possible, they missed on that tonight.
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bo's probably not even going to hit the 6:00 minute mark tonight. More and more i think he's going back to junior
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that was me Zack Kassian Plus though
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I didn't watch the game tonight but he was a -2. How was he defensively?
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I think he let up because he felt like he had the goalie beat, and frankly, he did. He gets that puck up or he tucks that a big faster to the far post that's in the net! Thought he had a very strong game tonight with some big hits, breakaway speed and a couple nice set ups but I did notice something in his game that I know alot of Canucks fans see on a daily basis with Kassian. Virtanen has that kind of "nonchalant" sense to him when he's away from the puck; a little disinterested or lack of instinct when he's not the focal part of the play. It might be just how he processes the game but that's just how I saw it from a spectators point of view. Anyways, he's a lock for team Canada no doubt and hopefully this game gives him some confidence up in till WJC camps.