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Attila Umbrus

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Posts posted by Attila Umbrus

  1. 22 minutes ago, gwarrior said:

    I moved over this morning. And as GWAR said in "lust in space", f**k THIS PLACE!!!!!!

    Well said! I'm outta here too. This is my last post on CDC. It's been a slice y'all. See you on the new forum. 

     

    As one door closes, another opens my friends. Change is good if you accept it.

     

    Cheers everyone. Hope to see you on the other site.

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  2. 4 hours ago, NorthWestNuck said:

    One thing the Moose had on their roster was a proven competitor and veteran in Mike Keane, who was a great example for the kids on what it takes to be be a long time NHLer.

    Does Abby have anyone like that? I wonder if Irwin could be that guy?

    He was an amazing mentor. I agree, he was a huge reason our players back then made it to the NHL.

     

    Unfortunately they don’t have anyone like that in Abby…then again it’s rare to have a Stanley Cup winner/amazing NHL vet like Keane to play out their final years in the AHL. Hard to replicate a guy like that. Chris Chelios played into his mid 40’s for Detroits farm team back in the day too. These days you don’t see that too much.

     

    Abby has a young leadership group for sure. It’s hard to say who leads the pack but guys like Wouters and Bains definitely seem to have the young kids listening to them. 
     

    As for a saavy vet option, I agree a guy like Irwin would fit that mould for sure.

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  3. 1 hour ago, Nuxfanabroad said:

    There appears to be a divergence between the Utica & Abby approaches. Still early, but let's hope they keep at it with developing more org depth.

    There definitely is a difference in my opinion. In Utica we could barely turn a 1st/2nd round pick player into an NHLer...so many failed picks. Gaunce, Lind, Gadj, DiPietro, Jasek...the list is quite large. 

     

    Fast forward to Abby not only are our drafted players trending well but our undrafted players like Bains, Nielsen, Wouters etc are also making noise and will be pushing for NHL minutes. 

     

    There is a huge contrast in development between the Utica vs Abby teams. I've watched all our AHL clubs back to the Manitoba Moose days and for myself this has been such a refreshing change to see. We haven't had good development of our prospects in the AHL since the Manitoba Moose. A lot of our 2011 cup run players were groomed in Manitoba (Edler, Schnieder, Bieksa, Kesler, Burrows, Hansen). No matter where the prospect was drafted whether 1st round or 7th round they were turning out gems. Abby has similar vibes to me.

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  4. 6 minutes ago, AriGold said:

    Pretty much.. Angry JTM is the toughest, hands down..

    Someone a while back compared JTM to Iginla, I thought that was actually a pretty solid comparison…major difference between them is the fact JTM can play center too.

     

    Prime Iginla was awesome to watch as a hockey fan in general I always wanted him on our team.

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  5. 4 hours ago, spook007 said:

    Shades of Rick 37... 

    Can he play hockey?

    Still learning. He’s moving up the depth chart in Utica. His first season was very much AHL role player. Last season he come out in a big way. He is a defensemen first but he performed very well as a 4th line agitator as well.

     

    I will be watching him close this year. He misses assignments here and there and can be a bit choppy on plays but as last year went along a lot of that started smoothing out. You could tell he’s found a role on his team and relishes it.

     

    It would be a huge plus if he actually ends up being a decent replacement level NHLer. A spare player who can play forward and D…not had to have as a depth guy on your team.

     

    As for the Ryp comparison, for sure fighting wise yes. But AKL isn’t as hot headed as him so he’s a bit more trust worthy to play actual minutes than Ryp was. IMO

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  6. 2 hours ago, bluesy_shoes said:

    This is a misconception I keep seeing: Ownership is not losing money at all from OEL's buyout, and we should stop giving them undue credit for it. Contract buyouts are structured to protect owners from the ability to spend money to improve their teams through buyouts. It would be a disadvantage to poorer teams. OEL's buyout is entirely paid for under the salary cap. If they kept OEL, they still spend to the cap, so same money spent. If OEL was traded instead of being bought out, the cap space that goes to his buyout would be used for another player, so still spend to the cap. If they stop spending to the cap, which they can still do and has nothing to do with buying out OEL, ownership makes more money. If they find a way to spend over the cap, then they lose some money. If they make moves under the cap to improve the team, sell more jerseys, tickets, and make the playoffs, they make more money. OEL's buyout makes us better under the cap, and actually stands to make ownership more money than having kept him or traded him at a loss.

     

    If we want to judge whether ownership is cheap or not, we can watch what is done with Tyler Myers after his buyout. In this case, moving Myers after paying out his $5M bonus and replacing him with $5M more in player salary, then that will be a $5M loss of revenue for ownership. They will be needing an additional $5M to pay out player salaries. If they do trade him, then we can say they are willing to spend above and beyond to improve the team. 

     

    I personally think we will keep Myers in part for that reason, it is burning $5M of ownership's share of revenue. I think he also has more value than most give him credit for, and would actually be worth re-signing to a team friendly deal given he takes on a 3rd pairing role. I also think we see a better Myers this season as I feel the coaches are going to pull hard on the giraffe's reigns and have him play a more stay at home, heavy defensive role on his pairing. I am also quite sure there is an internal budget cap given to management by ownership, and spending $5M to replace Myers means $5M from the facilities upgrade budget, marketing budget, etc, and it just isn't worth that.

    Finally a person who can explain NHL salary cap to me without using numbers and such!!...lol, thank you for making this digestible. I get lost in the numbers and find it hard to follow.

     

    If this truly is the case then it definitely makes sense why Myers is still around. And I agree, he is still useful to us and could be very underrated this year by our fans. He's going to move back into a lower role than last year. Trim his minutes back, match him against the bottom 9 forwards of a team, simplify his game a bit and he can do good again. I thought he was dynamite for Team Canada this summer. Shows if he plays his game and doesn't play over his head he is still VERY effective. Hopefully Hronek just jumps in and does what we need him to do. That way we won't be forced into using Myers too much.

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  7. 29 minutes ago, BarnBurner said:

    That's actually a really good point. The development system took a big step in the right direction because Colliton, Up until that point, other than the Moose with Kesler, Bieksa, Burrows, and Rypien, it's been almost non-existent. 

    It’s a very good point to bring up. Although I give our Utica years a bit of a shot in the arm here. They were never given much talent wise to work with…no one major really was sent to them. They got Baertchi and Goldobin at the back end of their NHL careers. A crappy attitude Jake Virtanen. Gaudette here and there…all our prospects were rushed to the NHL and our farm club suffered . They constantly had to bring in ECHL veterans to fill the gaps. It was frustrating as a fan developmentally... Yet they always made it to the playoffs so they were fun to watch in that sense. The only guy I can say right now that Utica helped develop and can call a success is Jacob Markstrom…all the rest of our lower tier prospects that went to the team never made it…Jett Woo is still hanging in but every other guy is now gone basically. It was a dead end road.

     

    2 years in Abby and a big change in philosophy from management to support the kids there has been a huge boon for us. It’s such a stark contrast compared to Utica. I’m really loving it. Plus the fact they are taking in undrafted players and even they are finding some diamonds there too and developing them properly. So fresh to see.

     

     

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  8. 1 hour ago, hammertime said:

    Agreed he's got that Granlund quality. Just a good dependable pro who can fill in anywhere in the lineup in a pinch but probably isn't a long term solution.  

    I think he’s a bit chippier than Granlund. But that’s a good comparison. For his size he is a bull in the corners and has lots of jam to his game. Which I think if Granlund had he may have stayed longer. I don’t see top line potential but he’s a bottom 6 glue guy for sure. He scores lots of goals in close too, kinda has a knack for it. Just not sure he can do the same against NHL defenders. Definitely will be excited if he can tho! 

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  9. As for Linus, I think he's gonna make the team this year. He is ready IMO. Detailed defensively, has a very quick stick, even when he isn't scoring he's doing something positive on the ice like always. I think he starts the year as a spare/4th line guy but I think he can work his way up to the 3rd line for some regular minutes once Toc trusts him more.

  10. 30 minutes ago, hammertime said:

    Dude we have seen that Jeff Cowan can put up points w the Sedins. Linus Karlsson could do much of what Brock does and probably more given Brocks minutes. We saw Guiseppe do it. LOL Kuzzi isn't a 40 goal scorer those stats are so inflated. Pete's a great player we need to get him a Bertuzzi to get him some space and feed him the puck.

    I have hope Podz can play that big guy role for Petey. He obviously isn't there yet, but he's got my vote. Would love to see Kuz Petey Podz in the preseason to see if there is anything there. 

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  11. 5 hours ago, -DLC- said:

    Also, he's got that tough outer skin that's needed. He doesn't care what people think/say...he cares that his team wins. He's listened to a whole lot of criticism lately and it only seemed to fuel his fire. It didn't rattle him. He's absolutely captain material in every sense of the word.

    Well said, he is absolutely captain material…I got so sick of Horvat shrinking away to our media. JT will say it like it is. I think this team and this city needs that. For too long our media has pushed their BS on the players and they’ve all just taken it. I think JT is a great counter balance to all of it. I think he can handle the distraction too and still play good hockey. Where Petey and Huggy it may still throw them off…we need those 2 performing  at their best. JT is our captain America deflecting all medias BS with his shield lol.

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  12. 1 hour ago, Sativika said:

     

    Okay. Thanks for that. I seem to vaguely recall the scenario of Silovs being sent somewhere early on in his tenure with us. And I presume the ECHL is pretty much a bunch of undrafted/unsigned free agents with a sprinkling of semi-washed up pros and amateur pick ups?

     

     

     

    Must be horrid travelling for west coast based ECHL teams. But as far as an ECHL affiliate closer to Vancouver, I definitely see the advantage; as we're seeing now with our AHL Abbotsford Canucks!

     

    It’s tough travel in the ECHL. The Alaska Aces just couldn’t survive although pretty cool to have a team way up there.

     

    Victoria Salmon Kings were great to watch. Very physical hockey, lots of fights. So yes a bit of a goon league. But these guys still have skill. Lots of young lower level Canucks prospects have played in the ECHL. But honestly most don’t make it too far beyond the AHL. Carson Focht played most of the season with the K wings last year. Silovs the year before. Every season we have a few young rookies that can’t get minutes on the AHL squad so they send them to the ECHL to stay ready and play meaningful games.

     

    The K wings themselves are mostly a mix of older pro players who still get part time work in the AHL. We usually have a couple of young players each season that go down and try to make their way back up. Most don’t pan out. One of the Kwings big successes for our AHL club was reforming Darren Archibald. He played 2 part time seasons with them before he came a monster for our Utica Comets club. Darren didn’t do much in the NHL but he sure helped out on the AHL squad.

     

    Best ECHL success I recall for our team is Burrows…aside from that just part time role players. But in my mind it all counts.

     

    These guys in the ECHL are only making like 30 k a year or less (American), so all have second jobs etc. So I give props to any player willing to gut it out every year for that kind of money…you gotta really love hockey to do that.

     

     

  13. 59 minutes ago, DrJockitch said:

    The ECHL is to the AHL what the AHL is to the NHL.  It is the next step down where they can send players for further development.  Silov's was sent down from the AHL to the ECHL his first year.

    I’d sure love to see our ECHL club closer. 

     

    The Victoria Salmon Kings were a blast to watch back in the day. Maybe they’re up to something because they haven’t re upped long term with the K Wings. Each year they only extend one year at a time.

     

    After the Salmon Kings folded we moved our ECHL affiliate to the Alaska Aces then they folded and since then we’ve been with the Kwings…would love something closer.

     

    And honestly I like ECHL hockey better than any junior league. It’s still really good pro hockey in my opinion. Would be fun to have it in BC again!

     

     

  14. On 6/2/2023 at 6:30 PM, Bounce000 said:

    I remember when that guy hustled to help when the valley got flooded. 

    Thanks for mentioning this Bounce. A lot of people don’t know that it was him that got all the players rounded up to start helping. Out of all the present and past farm team tough guys Vinny has been one of my favourites. Rypien is my all time favourite since I started watching AHL hockey back in early 2000… but Vinny and Archibald are #2 and #3 respectively.

  15. On 6/12/2023 at 7:53 PM, CRAZY_4_NAZZY said:

    Will be interesting to see how July unfolds for the Abbotsford Canucks, they will have a very young roster next season.

     

    One player to keep an eye on is Tristan Nielsen. His 2 year AHL year has expired, and considering he has signed yet likely means he is hoping he will find an NHL deal come July. Would be tough to lose him as he was 4th in scoring for the Canucks last season.

    If we let him walk I’ll be pissed. This kid played his heart out this season. He’s like Stetcher but a forward. Hustles and never gives up. I’m sure it’s poker at this point. He had a good season, his party is probably pushing for an NHL contract where Vancouver is probably pushing for another AHL deal…that’s a tough divide. I’m scared a team might scoop him on us. We don’t have any rights on him….different management but I still get sour thinking about how we lost Tofolli. 

  16. 10 hours ago, VancouverHabitant said:

    Yeah, Colliton must be retained...  sounds like they have a great staff down there and it's all looked after by Ryan Johnson, who has overseen a lot of the changes and player personnel. 

     

    We also shouldn't ignore the fact that the Sedins have been spending most of their time at Abby, working with the young guys.  

     

    It will be really tough to go any further in the Calder Cup without having a fair amount of veterans sprinkled in.  I think that we had a really good mix this year, and we had the highest number of under 23 players in our 7 team division (I didn't bother comparing to other AHL teams).  

     

    While I'm musing here, let's see what the roster might look like next year...   

     

    Goalies

    Spencer Martin, Artur Silovs, and the 6'6 Belorussian goalie Talapila are all signed to contracts for next year.  I don't foresee any more signings being made on this front unless they decide that the big club needs a different backup.  

     

    Defence

    McWard, Johansson, Woo (needs a new deal), and Juulsen (needs a new deal) will make a very good AHL right side.  Brady Keeper might be gone as he's a UFA. Alex Kenon-Leipert is one of the most liked teammates and is needed to keep the opposition honest.  Him and Guitarri will be the 4th and 5th options on the right side when one of the top four RDs end up in the NHL.  

    Left side looks a bit sketchy as one of Hirose or Wolanin is probably in the NHL next year.  Rathbone probably won't survive waiver wire, so we will have to make a decision on him.  Schmiemann and Nychuk are both 22 and should be okay as bottom option LD in Abby.  

    It seems to me that our recruitment staff should be looking at bringing in one more LD this summer, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's a veteran AHL/NHL tweener.  

     

    Forward 

    Let's first look at the most likely candidates for Abby next year: 

    Arshy Bains, Aiden McDonough, Josh Bloom (turns 20 in a month or so), Klimovich, Max Sasson, Aatu Raty, Marc Gatcomb, John Stevens (needs a deal), Vinny Arsenault, Chase Wouters, Matt Alfaro, Michael Regush, and Tristan Nielsen.  

     

    That's 13 forwards without including Linus Karlsson or Nils Hoglander, who are likely to have a chance at the NHL.  I'd love to see Bains get some NHL games in, but I'm not holding my breath next year.  

     

     

    The players that I'm curious about are:  

    Jacob Truscott (finished the season injured, probably going back for his final year at Michigan, left handed D) 

    Connor Lockhart (perhaps he signs an AHL-only deal?  doubt he goes back to the draft, but he's a scoring winger) 

    Joni Jurmo (coming to Abby would be a small step up for the big man, left handed D) 

    Lukas Jasek (very strong Liiga performer, two-way winger) 

    Dmitri Zlodeyev (in the summer of 2024, he's a two-way center who doesn't look to have much NHL upside but could be a good AHL add) 

     

    I would like to see Joni Jurmo come for the development camp and then sign an ELC and stick with Abby.  He's been developing nicely in Liiga, and we have an open slot on the left side of our defense.  Going from a 2nd pairing in Liiga to AHL will be a good jump for the 21 year old.  

     

    If we were to forecast next season, for sure I think you’re close on your assessment. I’m curious about Lockhart and Jurmo. Both would be great adds to the team. I’d love to see Jasek back…but he’s maybe still pissed at us. Although with new management maybe they check in on him? 
     

    I also think they will sign another couple euro free agents this summer, Alvin seems to have a good pulse on talent overseas. Fill in the gaps with that kinda “show me what you got” talent. It worked well with Aman, he was a great depth add this year for our big club.

     

    One thing we haven’t touched on yet (and it’s a shame we didn’t see this line in the post season)…is the swedish line of Aman, Karlsson, and Hogz…they were absolutely dynamite in the AHL. And i’d love to see that line form again next season. Even as a 4th line on the big club. They were a VERY good line.

  17. 8 hours ago, Boudrias said:

    Are Colliton and assistant coaches signed for next year? With all the young talent signed this past year Abby should get even younger. There is a learning dynamic in Abby now which did not seem to exist before. 6 post season games should leave a taste for further effort. Very exciting for Abby. 

    As far as I know he is only signed to this season. I did some digging and not much info out there on his contract. Just says he signed this season to coach our farm team. He has a great AHL coaching record. I hope we retain him asap if he doesn’t.

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