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TOMapleLaughs

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Everything posted by TOMapleLaughs

  1. Not sure. Allowing pucks to go through his feet too much? I think the OP is just focusing on a few bad plays while discarding the many great defensive plays he's made. The overall point, that he is far from being 'bad' defensively, was made. I pointed out one specific example, but there have been a lot to show a pretty good ability to play defensively. Of course we can all nitpick individual plays till the cows come home, but I think the point still stands. He's pretty freakin' far from being a bad defensive player, and while he may or may not be a fantastic defensive player, i'm sure a case can be made that he's a (inserted to cause Elvis aneurysm) ringadingsuperlicious one, or maybe a superbombasticdynamoextremeforce one. As for the facial expression argument, wow, that just serves discredit the OP.
  2. Apparently that was judged in HF. btw Who is that TOML guy? Sounds like he knows what he's talking about.
  3. Was thinking god-mode-supergoodshabbadoodingdongtastic!
  4. Sorry. I meant super duper ultra great, not fantastic.
  5. This... Is correct? However, narrow in focus and besides the point, if not just being negative. And if you recall, it's TOML that is supposed to be negative.
  6. For his age? Fantastic. But the point was to put to bed the 'bad at defense' myth.
  7. YT, of course. For the pretty goal watchers, goal #6, although a 2-man breakaway, was real prrty. Virtanen, 0 goals so far in the series, passed up the shot to hand his teammate a gimme goal.
  8. Game 7 sequence starting at 9:05: Virtanen pressuring puck carrier in his own zone, giving him fits and driving him into the boards, causing a turnover. That opposition player? Sam Reinhart. This is not an isolated incident. I think we can put this myth of him not being a good defensive player should be put to bed. He's a fantastic defensive player.
  9. Booth was hella attractive, y'all.
  10. Not really. At times he reminds me of Cam Neely.
  11. That was a 9/10 on the sarcasmometer.
  12. Not that it's hard to point out minuses in back-to-back losses, this doesn't compute too well... 'Hansen's holding the line together, but his line is having a lot of trouble lately, but keep him in there.' Whut? Anyway, there's no point in speculating lineups until the time comes. (To me it's the Vey line that needs looking at first.)
  13. Finding it interesting that Bennett was called up, and there's even talk of Ehlers being called up, even though neither are ready imho. Not sure if either will play a game unless his team is out of playoff contention though. You wanna talk risky.
  14. Doubtful, unless you think the Kenins-Horvat-Hansen line is constantly being destroyed, and it's not.
  15. Alright. While he could learn systems in either league, I wonder if it'll be better for him to adapt to NHL speed and game situations right away. Disagree about Coho's labelling at the time, although this turned out to be overselling him imho: http://canucks.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=452860
  16. I disagree. When the team has the puck he at times uses his speed to get an edge up on the play, but the passes rarely arrive. To me this is more a concern. He's being held back. Billed as a smart, two-way, top-6 center, with 'character', Coho's two-way game never arrived, he's constantly out of position, lazy and his offensive ability peaked upon signing his first big contract. Turns out there are various physical aspects to Coho that hampered his progression to the next level. We were oversold on virtually every aspect of his game. Aaaand we learn. Of course people were concerned about Horvat's lack of production in the AHL. As well as there was concern about him not going to the WJC. These concerns are irrelevant though as it looks like Benning and Linden knew what was actually best for the player. As for Virtanen, I remain totally unconcerned about his defensive game, as he's actually performing quite well in that regard, pressuring the puck carrier whenever he can every shift and knocking them on their asses, creating turnovers. If he's a defensive threat as well as an offensive one every shift, then it just seems that there's no real concern to his game at this point. As the AHL is more for players with some major developmental requirement like speed or strength or lack of defensive acumen, I do not see the need for Virtanen to stay there for long. Esp. when the AHL isn't NHL speed, and Virtanen is. Then again, perhaps Benning and Linden do have an AHL development plan in mind for him so he can come into the NHL and dominate right away, rather than being brought in slowly like Horvat. I think both plans have merits. Time will tell. I do not believe that anyone here truly knows.
  17. While scoring-only stats are nice to overview, I think you have to look at it this way with 17-18yo players with regards to NHL effectiveness: "When he's not trying to score, he's ___________." If the blank is 'watching his team getting scored on' or 'getting physically dominated' or 'waiting up-ice to get the puck again', then there would be a legit concern with his development. But that doesn't describe Virtanen. To that end we've seen an improvement in his playmaking skills, his attention to defense, particularly in a shut-down role, and of course his size and strength, to the point of bullying everyone on the ice. We cannot confirm this with stats alone, but my feeling is that his development path right now is set to get him into the NHL in an effective two-way role sooner rather than later. Pretty much like how it was done with Horvat, who had a defensive acumen and size but had to work on his speed. Virtanen has the speed, so what did he focus on? His defensive acumen. I think we're gradually starting to figure out why a player like, for instance, Coho could not transfer his amazing junior numbers to the NHL and why you have to be an elite scorer at the NHL level to make up for a total lack of defense, and even then you're still going to need defense to stick in the NHL. Coho went from CHL player of the year to buyout candidate. Further to that, even AHL-level offensive numbers are meaningless. Was there 'great concern' when Horvat went pointless in his 5 AHL games? To the fans, yes, but to management and scouts, no. Horvat's a 19-20yr old NHL level beast now while an AHL all-star like Vey is still finding his way at age 24. I'm not sure if Virtanen is eligible for AHL time or not after his Hitmen season is done, but it should be interesting to see where Benning/Linden put him at that point. Like Horvat, I doubt he'll need much AHL time at all.
  18. Confused as to how Virtanen is not eligible to play in the AHL. Jensen did at 18yo. As did Schroeder and Coho.
  19. That's up to the organization to decide. fwiw I see no risk at all. People assumed Baertschi would be in Utica for the rest of the season and playoffs, because that's what was best for him, yada-yada-yada. Obviously Benning and Linden had other ideas.
  20. Utica does what we want them to. That's the point of having your own farm team.
  21. He looked like a rover before he scored that goal, then he started to settle into a more classical defensive stance. Looked like a pure adrenaline game for him complete with butterflies. He must be very stoked that he scored.
  22. Interesting goal as he looked like a forward on the rush. Hard to just his pro future based on that though, since all the opponents seemed to be standing and watching, bewildered. Still, good to get that monkey off his back right away. Also found it odd to see him playing the right boards on the power play, in particular, the Crosby spot, in so many college highlights. Is he actually a forward? (Actually, he's both. A forward who converted to defense.) Curious to see what his game is like without the puck in his own end against decent competition, but for now he's an interesting pro prospect, if not a weird one.
  23. imho This is because of his speed compared to WHL competition. A lot of the time he able to catch up with the puck carrier very easily and because Calgary is often giving him defensive assignments, he's putting pressure on the puck carrier a lot, and the pressure is significant because Virtanen can just catch up and paste them into the boards. Other times he can head up ice and doesn't get the pass, and then he slows down, waiting for the teammates to catch up, physically and mentally. What's interesting is that Calgary puts Virtanen in every situation and with every linemate combo possible. Is that building his versatility? Or just frustrating him? If it's frustrating him, he isn't showing it. Kinda like how he looked for Team Canada, just glad to do whatever the coaches want him to do. For now he just looks like he's in the wrong league. He needs to be in a faster one.
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