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RogersTowell

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Everything posted by RogersTowell

  1. He sure is. He's owning that starting role with Utica. Shouldn't be too many seasons before we see him up with the Canucks. There are going to be a fair number of impact players making the Canucks around the same time in a year or three.
  2. Jonah is having a nice start to the OHL season. Not quite as big an impact on the score sheet as Lind in the dub, but it bodes well in a year or two when these guys are ready along with Pettersson.
  3. It is one of the indicators but of course it is not the entire picture. If it's been beaten to death, why bother responding?
  4. Essentially all you are saying here is that you don't agree with his statement without supplying a reason. This whole debate seems to be devolving into veiled ad-hominem attacks and meta-discussion. Why not reply instead with your take on Virtanen's progress (or lack thereof if that's your position) instead? For what it's worth I think Virtanen is making a decent bid to make the NHL team. We'll see as the pre-season progresses and more vets are pumped into the games just how ready he is. Green is well aware of where Jake is at and what he needs to do to improve. The teams he's been playing against to date have been a mix of AHL and NHL and he's performed quite well at both ends of the ice. Development can happen in both the NHL and the AHL. He might get less game time in the NHL, but he'd have a higher level of competition. Because of the type of player he is he can play bottom six minutes. Anyone he displaces from an NHL spot is no big loss if they are picked up off waivers as there are plenty more where that came from. There's no reason to get our knickers in a knot about a Megna or Chaput being claimed. Guys like that are put on waivers throughout the season. Nobody should get a spot just because they might get claimed off waivers. They need to earn it by being better players than anyone else competing for that spot.
  5. Hard to say. At 25, Bieksa played his first season in the NHL - 6 points in 36 games. Last year, at 24-25, Gudbranson had 6 in 30. Bieksa's break out year was the next season with 42 points in 81 games. I still agree that they play a different style of game, but we won't know what we have with Gudbranson for a couple of years yet. He did have some solid point production in the OHL.
  6. I agree regarding Rodin. One mediocre game can't determine a guys year. I think both of these guys could make an impact in the NHL this season. As of today, I'd give the advantage to Boeser, but there's a lot of time left for Rodin to change that. Hopefully he gets some ice time with guys who aren't plugs. Rodin is old enough to put in the bottom 6 if that's all that's available even if he's more suited to a top six role.
  7. One good game you can kind of pass off. Two games and you are starting to think he might have something going for him. If he manages a third game in a row, I'd say "He's kicking the door down". Even if he has an off game next outing I'd say he's having a strong showing. The kid showed a lot of class after the Vegas game and said it doesn't matter how things went offensively for him if it didn't help the team win. He says all of the things a coach wants to hear from his players. He could have said "I think so far I've made a strong statement to the effect that I should make the starting NHL roster this season" but he didn't, he talked about team goals. The kid is a class act. A few more years and I think we'll see an A on his jersey.
  8. Palmu currently 33rd in scoring in Finland (but same number of total points as 23rd - only 5 games played so far)
  9. There are at least two very good reasons that this is going down the way it is. The first reason is as you and Sid stated - it's in Pettersson's interest to sign next year. The other reason is that he needs a development year in a strong league that has a lower rate of injuries than the NHL or AHL. If JB plays along with this idea, he gains loyalty from the Pettersson camp, which is what you want long term.
  10. You've summed up a lot of what I saw in the prospects game, but I'd like to add that he not only had the vision and IQ, but, like Pettersson, he has the hands to make something really happen with that vision. He doesn't have the one on one moves of Pettersson, but he can sure play smart and dish off the puck to whoever is right out in front for a scoring chance. He must have generated between 1/3 and 1/2 of the offensive chances against Winnipeg.
  11. I had just found that article and was going to post - but of course you are already ahead on this one . The kid just might be a hockey player.
  12. Virtanen is by no means a lock to make the starting line up with the Canucks this season, but if he has done all we hope he has this summer he's got a solid chance of doing it. He's got a number of things that are holding back other players like Goldobin lack - size, grit, the ability to play bottom six and work his way up the roster and he's pretty responsible defensively. So far we haven't seen a big scoring touch at the pro level, but for all that everyone moans about us losing Kassian, he only had 24 points in 79 games last season (his best season was with the Canucks - 29 points in 73 games.) Kassian did have one ppg season in the AHL, however. I'd say there's a 50/50 chance we see Jake Virtanen start the season in the NHL.
  13. I like this idea, or Jake with Sutter. Either way it adds a bit more grit to the bottom six as well as some potential for scoring. It all depends on chemistry, which some times is a natural thing and some times it has to be worked on to develop.
  14. And... he's signed for $750k, two years, one way deal.
  15. I am assuming that Benning and the boys decide based on best player in camp and pre-season rather than waiver status when making up the roster this year. I fully expect to see Boeser and Rodin up in the NHL from the start this season with Goldobin a 'maybe'. To make the team, the young guys will have to prove that they are better than the older guys and are at risk of being sent down if they can't be obviously better. If they are obviously better, they stay up. You don't have to go full on 'asset management' when you get down to cheap free agents that nobody else really wants that much and has to pay full NHL salary to when down in the AHL. Those guys are there for depth and in case young players aren't ready yet. They also make good 13th or 14th forwards.
  16. Sorry to Alf and yes you are both correct. I had it misfiled under Dennis Kearns. My bad.
  17. Nope, but another guy who had a great 'stache!
  18. The roller hockey gives this one away. A much younger Alex Burrows.
  19. Correct! Although it's a fine distinction between that stache and this one:
  20. Pettersson made it look easy in the prospects game, almost like he wasn't even working up a sweat. Real NHL defenders in games that have meaning won't let him get away with it so easily, but if he can adapt to the more physical game, he could be the real deal. Every time I see him play I believe a little bit more.
  21. Goldobin isn't at the prospects camp because he's been playing professional hockey now for more than two years. We'll see what kind of professionalism he has when he comes to training camp. Is he working on his defensive awareness (not entirely sure how you do this in the Summer - watch video?). I bet he'll be in great conditioning and will still have an excellent first step with great speed and offensive awareness. I do love what Boeser is doing, though. I'm hoping to see both these guys make it on the roster this season.
  22. Some opinions are stated with rational arguments that provide credibility to their positions, while others think they are just as valid 'because they are both opinions'. One of these two camps needs to do some work.
  23. I strongly suggest that everyone look at other Swedish players who were drafted out of Allsvenskan. Pettersson has a better stat line than pretty much anyone I can find. Compare his stats this year to Dahlen's last year (hint - Pettersson is miles ahead). Compare him to Filip Forsberg in his draft year (Pettersson by miles again). Now stats aren't everything, but there is a lot going for this kid. He weighs the same at 18 as I did (I'm just over 6ft) and in my prime years as an athlete I weighed in at 185-190. But lets not focus in too much on weight. Gretzky was a scrawny kid back when he was breaking records the way Vladimir Krutov ate donuts. Not that I'm saying Pettersson is Gretzky - I'd say he's not even guaranteed to make it to the NHL. The thing is, the kids ceiling is higher than pretty much anyone else in the draft and sadly we will have to be patient to find out what we have. I would have taken Glass for a more sure thing, but Pettersson isn't a bad gamble at all. William Nylander might be a comparable stat wise in Allsvenskan, although Nylander spent some time up in the SHL in his draft year.
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