GoldenAlien
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From the 2018 draft, forwards who were taken in the top three rounds and played in the NCAA this year: #11 Oliver Wahlstrom: 36GP - 8G - 19pts - 0.53 PPG #14 Joel Farabee: 37GP - 17G - 36pts - 0.97 PPG #19 Jay O'Brien: 25GP - 2G - 5pts - 0.2 PPG #42 Jack Drury: 32GP - 9G - 24pts - 0.75 PPG #63 Jack McBain: 35GP - 6G - 13pts - 0.37 PPG #68 Tyler Madden: 36GP - 12G - 28pts - 0.78 PPG #69 Jake Wise: 12GP - 0G - 2pts - 0.17 PPG #78 Sampo Ranta: 36GP - 6G - 16pts - 0.44 PPG #79 Blake McLaughlin: 35GP - 5G - 20pts - 0.57 PPG #89 Logan Hutsko: 36GP - 6G - 26pts - 0.72 PPG All were playing in their freshman seasons except Hutsko, who was drafted as a 19 year old and was a sophomore. Madden has the second highest point-per-game in the group after Farabee, who was drafted 50+ spots higher. Gives even more credence to the thought that Madden could be a first rounder in a redraft.
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Tryamkin has always left the door to Canucks open: As more time passes, I think it's increasingly clear that Desjardins doesn't communicate with guys who somehow end up in his doghouse. For example, in L.A.: Kovalchuk is on pace for 42pts, good for third among L.A. forwards. Instead Desjardins goes with seven defensemen on the league's lowest scoring team. Virtanen has also said that Desjardins rarely talked to him. Remember the "stuff" fiasco? Desjardins loves the Derek Dorsetts of the world, guys who earn their spots through their work ethics and fighting spirit. And players like Kovalchuk/ Virtanen/ Tryamkin can certainly learn from that. But it seems like if you're not immediately a Jonathan Toews then Desjardins rather bench you until you "get it" instead of working with you. A few months after Tryamkin left: For all the hoopla around Tryamkin wanting more ice time, his main concern might've actually been the lack of direction from Desjardins. It's one thing to not play as much as you'd like, it's another to not know why or how you can earn more time. I think it's pretty obvious that Tryamkin didn't know what Desjardins was thinking, and perhaps he didn't want to spend key developmental years in an uncertain situation. This is a guy who traveled to the draft combine even though he was not invited and was passed up the previous two years. He came to development camp even though he barely knew any English. He wanted to play in the NHL, but hockey is a short career and stagnating at any job is a terrible feeling. However, he's expressed multiple times that he still follows the Canucks, so if the situation is right I don't see why he can't be brought back on a one or two year contract. There's not a lot to lose but tons to gain for both sides.
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Ask and you shall receive:
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Rathbone's season ends, final stat line of 32GP - 7G - 22PTS - +15. Makar at the same age had 34GP - 5G - 21PTS - +9. A great freshman campaign by Rathbone, now all eyes on Adam Fox and his pro plans.
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It seems silly to suggest that Quinn Hughes can't be a #1 because he shouldn't be paired with another Quinn Hughes. Shea Weber also shouldn't be paired with another Shea Weber. It's no surprise that Weber was at his best with guys like Suter and Josi -- quick skaters who can get to the puck first and make good passes to set up his shot. His ideal partner would not be a young Robyn Regehr. Weber was far better with the 5'9" Victor Mete than the 6'3" Karl Alzner. If a #1 needs to have size, strength, shot, physicality, skating, vision, defensive awareness and offensive moxy, we'd all be waiting a long time. Meanwhile, one team wins a cup every year. A franchise defenseman isn't supposed to perform every function on the ice while doing Cirque du Soleil during the intermissions. That's why hockey is a team sport. You're supposed to have teammates with complementary skill sets. Besides, good stick, positioning and IQ are easily the most important parts of preventing goals. Orr and Lidstrom didn't combine for 15 Norris by clearing the crease. A 5'9" Spurgeon is better defensively than a 6'5" Gudbranson. If you're mucking it up in the corners and jockeying in front of the net, you're already behind. You lost the puck. Had you been on the puck first and moved it out, you wouldn't need to be standing around pushing and shoving. You'd be on the other side setting up a goal. Why choose a guy who's really good at chasing the play if you can have a guy who will be ahead of the play? As a bonus, the Duncan Keiths of this world tend to have longer primes than the Brent Seabrooks.
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It's not just his skating. In the OHL, Gadjovich was a near immovable net front presence, money beneath the hash marks, and a monster in the corners. Doesn't matter if he was scoring or not, everyone knows when Gadj was in the game. The same things can't be said about him now. It's not like he's so slow that he can't even get to the wall or the net before the puck's gone. There are plenty of bigger guys who aren't great skaters in the AHL and they still manage to be intimidating, but Gadj is just not. It doesn't mean he'll never get there, but it demonstrates how difficult it is to be hard to play against when your competition is a 28 year old, 220lb man instead of a 20 year old, 180lb kid. Virtanen destroyed people in the Dub. He was not destroying people in the AHL. And this is a top 10 pick who's an A+ skater and measures 6'1", 226lbs. Lockwood is 5'11", 180lbs. Motte plays a similarly chippy game, but he scored 56pts in 38GP at Michigan as a junior. He turned pro and he got 16pts in 43GP and -19 in his first AHL season. It's really hard to play in a league where people's livelihoods depend on their performance. Lockwood is an undersized forward who hasn't dominated the NCAA, why rush him into the pros if he's not done learning at the college level?
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For reference, Jimmy Vesey had 58pts in 37GP as a junior and is now a 30-40pt player in the NHL. Lockwood had 31pts in 36GP. I don’t think Lockwood has outgrown college hockey and it’s going to be hard playing his style against pros given his frame. Gadjovich is 6’2”, 210lbs and he’s having trouble translating his physical game at the next level. Guys like Sikura and Jankowski played all four years and still signed with their teams instead of going FA. The best thing for Lockwood, both hockey and life-wise, might be to return for his senior year.
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It's official!
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At this point it may be better to leave Palmu in Europe and hold onto his rights like we did with Rodin. If he has a dominant season we can bring him back for another look; but if he can’t be a top scoring player in Europe he’ll never make it in the NHL.
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With Hughes and Hutton back, this is probably the only time we’ll see Teves this season. Though it sounds like he’s got a full plate anyway:
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With Motte and Roussel out, I hope we call MacEwen up and let him play 4-5 games to finish the season. A Granlund - Beagle - MacEwen line could work well.
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2018-19 Utica Comets Thread
GoldenAlien replied to stonecoldstevebernier's topic in Prospects / Farm Team
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Despite being eliminated by Clarkson in a 5-2 game, Harvard was selected to play in the NCAA Tournament, so Rathbone's season continues! If Harvard gets by UMass this Friday, they'll play the winner of Clarkson/ Notre Dame on Saturday. If they win again they'll be in the Frozen Four.
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2018-19 Utica Comets Thread
GoldenAlien replied to stonecoldstevebernier's topic in Prospects / Farm Team
If Utica was stalling their development then players should get better once they leave. But who's been better since switching teams? None of the more offensive forwards -- Shinkaruk, Carcone, Grenier -- have scored at a higher rate on other AHL teams. Palmu was only in Utica for two months. Cull can't possibly be so destructive that 60 days with him ruins your career. Palmu has had plenty of time to "recover" with his old team, yet he hasn't made any advances compared to last year. Getting high end talent has much more to do with drafting than developing. You can't spend a second round pick on an Alexandre Mallet then expect your farm team to give you back a Nikita Kucherov. Canucks draftees who have been sent to Utica prior to this season: Forwards: Alex Friesen, Nicklas Jensen, Alex Grenier, Joe Labate, Ludwig Blomstrand, Brendan Gaunce, Alex Mallet, Hunter Shinkaruk, Cole Cassels, Jake Virtanen. Defensemen: Yann Sauve, Peter Andersson, Adam Polasek, Henrik Tommernes, Frankie Corrado, Anton Cederholm, Jordan Subban, Guillaume Brisebois, Ben Hutton (4 games). What superstars could anyone possibly expect from this bunch? -
2018-19 Utica Comets Thread
GoldenAlien replied to stonecoldstevebernier's topic in Prospects / Farm Team
In the eight games since Dahlen has been in SJ (per their Twitter lineup posts): Games 1 & 2: first line Games 3, 4 & 5: second line Games 6 & 7: fourth line Game 8: scratched Palmu's current year in the Liiga: 18pts in 29GP (0.62 PPG), 0pts in 2 playoff games. His rookie year: 36pts in 59GP (0.61 PPG), 6pts in 11 playoff games. Seems like the skilled players that Cull was not developing isn't trending upwards anywhere else either. For all the complaining about making everyone play a three zone game, Dahlen and Palmu's PNHLe are 31pts and 25pts respectively. They're nowhere close to being good enough to outscore their mistakes. I'm sure many former junior stars think they can make the NHL as pure skilled players, but Cull knew that only the truly elite gets to keep an NHL job while being a defensive liability. -
A projected 36 points/ season as an NHLer.
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Man that skating... Cannot wait to see him walk the line on PP1.
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Not sure why Dhaliwal thinks Brassard is going back to the draft. He should become an UFA as this is his overage year in the OHL and he's 21 years old in August. Per NHL draft rules: Brassard had issues with his skating and management probably just didn't see NHL upside in him. It's not all about the points. Carl Neill had 69pts in 67GP as an overager, better than Brassard's 56pts in 65GP. Sautner had 51pts in 72GP as an overager, and only 1pt in 5 playoff games. Canucks decided to let Neill go and he's now playing at Concordia U; on the other hand, Sautner is in the NHL. Coincidentally, Neill was also not a good skater. Ten years ago, teams would've tripped all over themselves grabbing Bouchard over Hughes and Boqvist. But more and more, skating ability determines your ceiling at the NHL level. Contract spots are limited and the Canucks are at 48/50 currently. If there's little chance that Brassard will turn into anything better than a waiver pickup, why waste a contract on him for three years? Even if you don't need that extra spot right now, there's a good chance you might need it before his ELC expires.
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Northeastern's regular season: 34 games. Comets' regular season: 76 games. Northeastern's playoffs: up to 9 games. Comets' playoffs: up to 26 games. Total (maximum): Northeastern: 43 games Comets: 102 games The NCAA offers far more training and rest time -- and far fewer guys who'll elbow you in the head and take you out for 20 games. Gaudreau, who was drafted at 5'6", 137lbs, spent three seasons in college even though Calgary wanted him to turn pro after his sophomore year. He went on to score 2 PPG as a junior and the extra time allowed him to be more NHL ready (he's now listed at 165lbs). Even Boeser, who was already 191lbs at the draft and scored 60pts in 42 games as a freshman, stayed for a second year. Madden is 150 lbs. If he wants to play a gritty style in the NHL, he needs to add at least 30lbs. For comparison, Baertsch is 5'11, 190lbs and he's not exactly a bulldozer out there. Unless he blows the door off and runs away with the Hobey Baker next season, I think Madden would be better served to play three years in college like Gaudette. John Madden didn't even start college hockey until he was 20 years old and played all four years, and he turned out just fine.