The_Rocket

Sorry Alf, but McDavid has already changed the way the game is played. Speed, 3 line carries, scoring off the rush, and high end skill are the winning way of today’s NHL. There is none in the game better at it than the whiney boy in Edmonton.

Idk man people keep saying that our prospects were developed in the NCAA and not in Utica but the reality is they were developed in multiple leagues throughout their careers. there are very few players who play in the AHL in the D+1 or D+2 years. And player development goes well beyond players in Utica. Ryan Johnson stays in contact with the prospects in every league, communicating with them and their plans for them, their work out regimes, what they want them to work on, etc. I mean, the Canucks just invited Jett woo out to Vancouver and have him meet the team! That’s a huge part of development! Most players in the CHL can’t go to the AHL until their D+3 year unless they were born in between September 15th and December 31st (like Lind and Gadjovich). Even then, they have to be good enough to turn pro, or they will still spend their D+2 year in the CHL (like brassard). For NCAA players, those kids usually have made the choice to go that route before they are even drafted. Going to the NCAA means you get a education of some sort (2 year diploma or 4 year degree if you stick with it) and if your parents have saved in an RESP or something you can access that money. Plus, it’s ibviously great development (lots of gym and practice time for college players). So it’s normal for NCAA players to play a couple years in college. European players are interesting. Someone like joulevi, who is from Finland, still has to abide by the CHL agreement and couldn’t play in the AHL last season so he had to be loaned to play in Liiga. If not for the agreeement, it’s very likely he would have been in Utica last season as well. For players like pettersson, dahlen, etc. who played their junior years in Europe, I think you really have to appreciate that these are young kids, mostly teenagers or maybe 20 Yr olds, moving to the other side of the world where they speak a different language and have different customs. Expecting them to come to the AHL immidiatly after being drafted is overestimating the impact of moving to a new country. Yeah some kids come over earlier to play in the CHL (joulevi, palmu for example) but not all kids can do it right away. This is the case around the league. Players usually don’t start in the AHL until they are 20-21 years old. So complaining that the players are being developed in the NCAA or in the CHL and not in Utica is stupid. The AHL is a pro hockey league, probably the 3rd or 4th best league in the world. Playing in the AHL is not for learning how to play hockey but for learning how to play as a pro. Could Utica develop player better? Probably. But arguing that Demko, Goldobin, baertschi, virtanen, markstrom, and gaudette weren’t developed in Utica because they played in other leagues first or they only played 1 season or half a season in the AHL is stupid. The AHL’s existence is based entirely around players like that. Very few players play 3-4 years in the AHL and then turn into successful NHL players. It is much more common to spend 2 or fewer there.

It’s no secret that Jacob Markstrom is currently playing the best hockey of his career right now. His past 6 games he has 6 wins and a sub 2 GAA. Not only are his numbers really good, but even a fan like me who knows very little about goaltending can tell he looks more solid in the net and is giving up fewer opportunities for easy goals. Now obviously, 6 games is a small sample size. But I started to wonder, how long until we’re convinced Jacob markstrom can be a legit starter? 1 month? The rest of the season? This season and next season? Lots of goalies have one good year then cool off again (Talbots a couple years ago, Mike Smith last year, etc.). I’d be wary of labeling him as a bonafide number 1 until at least the end of the season to see if he can at least maintain his above average numbers from here on out. Anyways, I don’t know how long this play from markstrom is going to last but I’m going to enjoy every minute of it till it’s over.

the canucks do have goal scoring problems. both teams are in the bottom half of the league in goals for per game. the difference between the two teams is one can see a future where Vancouvers goal scoring improves (better puck moving D in quinn hughes, another high pick this year, enough cap space to acquire a scorer, etc.) Oilers have two of the top 15 scorers in the league but are still one of the bottom teams in goals for. they have no cap space and no prospect pipeline outside of maybe bouchard. maybe the get a high draft pick this year but it seems more like they'll be in the middle. Canucks goal scoring problems will likely be solved in the future, which is why they're not talked about very much oilers goal scoring is so bad the rely on Chiasson as a top line winger

this is a three player team. they go as far as McDavid, Draisaitl, and RNH take them. mostly McDavid and Draisaitl. ...okay, mostly McDavid.

Listening to the game on Krock ”get sauced Utica, the beard has landed” colton Saucerman with a goal in his debut

Looking forward to seeing this beauty play! from what I can tell he played at northeastern on the same team as Gaudette in 2015-16

yeah its more to do with NHL eligibility than college eligibility. since Fox is a February 1998 birthday and Hughes is a October 1999 birthday, Fox is considered 2 years ahead. for example, Hughes and Makar are both sophomores, but Makar is over 11 months older than hughes. mMkar was eligible for the NHL one year before Hughes was. Also, because Makar is older is PNHLe score is lower than Hughes's, even though he has a higher Points per game

Fox 2016 draft, hughes 2018 draft.

PNHLe scores adjust for age, league, position etc. It’s a way to put all prospects on equal footing. However, Fox has been having an unprecedented season and was up to over 2.5 ppg at the NCAA level at one point, but since has regressed to just under 2 ppg. hughes meanwhile started out quite slow offensively (relatively speaking) but after a handful of games he remembered he’s found his scoring touch and now he and fox are tied for first in NCAA defense scoring (fox in 11 games played and Hughes in 20). As the season rolls along, fox will likely regress a bit more and probably hughes to an extent as well, but they’re much more equal than the scores would suggest. Sample size and all that

An absolute embarrassment on me and my family for that blunder. joulevi is my guy and I failed him

https://twitter.com/nhlrankking/status/1071427898572201984?s=21 three Canucks in the top PNHLe scores for defensive prospects... Woo, Rathbone, and of course Hughes (who is tied for #2).

I am very, very confident Dahlen will be in the NHL by, at the very latest, the end of the 2019/2020 season. And he will be a top 6 scorer

I would wager it’s similar to Hutton’s rookie year. 0 pk time, less than 19 mins a night, 2nd unit pp (although I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets bumped up to first as the year rolls on). This is probably what it will will look like, at least to start. Edler re-signing is a factor in this too.

Why would the play him 7 games if they’re just gunna put him in the NHL? I’m not sure I see the point in that. Kind of an arbitrary number to pick? As for the idea that he should be in the AHL next season, it’s honestly way to early to be claiming that. Right now he’s one of the top defensemen in the NCAA. There’s no reason to think he won’t be ready next year. Other players like werenski and macavoy only needed 1 extra year of college hockey before they made the NHL. I find it interesting the only players you compared Quinn to were later picks than him and didn’t follow the same development path as him. Kinda ignored all players who made the NHL in their D+2

Watching the oilers makes me feel so much better about the Canucks. At least there’s effort when the Canucks play

Not gunna lie I think this is a bit of an over reaction. If not for the injuries on the Canucks, both Gaudette and Gaunce would be on the comets right now. On top of that, Benning went out and got Kero specifically to be a top 6 centre in Utica. Canucks build up so much AHL depth in every position this offseason but injuries to the NHL club have off set that. Yeah the canucks don’t have many centre prospects (only pettersson, gaudette, and madden coming into the season) but it’s not like Benning left the AHL team bare. Injuries have crippled both clubs, it’s not anyone’s fault

what an unreal first quarter of the season for bo horvat. leads the league in faceoffs per game (and total faceoffs), is on pace for almost 40 goals and over 70 points, is a key figure on both special teams, has taken over for other injured centres (whether it be petterssons offense or sutter/beagles defense) and has been playing with low quality wingers (all due respect to schaller and motte but they dont exactly scream "top 6"). on top of it all, hes been a leader on the ice and in front of the media. just stellar to have a player like this on the team. Hope he can find more success in the next 3/4 of the season. I feel like he doesn't get talked about enough even though he continues to be better every season

Was going to post this too! I’m probably more excited about this than anyone else on this board lol. I graduated with him in 2012. Haven’t seen him play a game since he was with the port alberni bulldogs. Definitely going to try and tune if he gets a start! great guy too. His dad is my dentist

I don’t think you should put too much into his ppg as defensemen who put up at or near a ppg pace in the NCAA under the age of 20 are all over the map in terms of impact. He should be at ppg but I don’t know how much you can look into it in terms of projection

injuries already starting to pile up again. We should see more gadjovich and palmu due to this, but still frusterating to see injuries to key guys

Demko and Boucher both represented the Comets at the Allstar game, if they didn’t think Demko was good enough they didn’t have to have him there. Also, he was 7th in the league in save percentage, 3rd amongst starting goalies. He tied for the 2nd most games played. He had one of the best playoff save percentages in the league as well. He also had the most “3 star” appearances of any goalie in the league. No doubt he was Utica’s best player last year. Just because he wasn’t sub 2.00 GAA like in College doesn’t mean he wasn’t carrying his team

+/- is just an indicator of how sheltered your minutes are

bad night for the baby nucks. they were an adventure in their own end, pk coverage was bad, sub par goaltending, and a whole lot of unforced errors including bad passes and bad penalties. didn't help that wedgewood was having an amazing night in goal for the amerks. oh well, on to the next one

oof. more awful defensive coverage on the pk by the comets. 4 pp goals for the amerks