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kloubek

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Everything posted by kloubek

  1. I don't agree he's a #2, but #2 or #3 it's really not that much of a difference. I agree that he's our best overall d-man, and I find it odd that while Benning has amassed an impressive cupboard of forwards that he has totally ignored our d. If he attended to it earlier, perhaps we *wouldn't* be putting all the pressure on Edler to be something he's not. The time to move on improving our D is now. If we draft a really high end guy, he should be ready to play with us in about 2 years or less - which is right about when we should have a slew of young talent also coming in and making an impact. If we miss this opportunity, we will have no choice but to work the UFA or trade market to get our guy, and we all know young and elite d-men are incredibly expensive.
  2. I would say would be a 3D on almost ALL nights on a team that actually had a good defense. The reason people are so pissed with him is because we play him like he's our #1, because he IS our #1 - regrettably. It's really not his fault - other to say that it is unfortunate his game regressed from his earlier year(s). Likely due to his clauses, we have been unable to move him. Presumably, he hasn't waived the clauses either because he hasn't been asked because management sense he doesn't want to leave, or because he has declined. Either way, it is obvious he wants to stay. He only has 1 season left on his contract after this year, so I can totally see us re-signing him to 2.75-3 mil a season as the #3 guy he really is. And if we do, I hope people finally lay off him. Yes, he's inconsistent but he's bled blue and green and should be respected for that.
  3. I agree that he MAY be ready to play in the NHL right away. However, if you look at how management was reluctant to let Boeser do his thing until it was obvious he *could*, I expect similar treatment of Pettersson. They want to do this rebuild right and don't want to rush anyone in fear that you shatter their confidence. Additionally, assuming we are going to play him at center (which I think is our best bet), there is even more weight on his shoulders. Finally, smart - absolutely. Big enough to withstand NHL-quality hits night in and out? I'm not so sure. I'd have no issue with management keeping him in the AHL for a couple of months. If he is tearing it up down there and performing as we all hope, then perhaps he can transition in.
  4. I was totally suggesting we had a decent chance of making the playoffs when the season started. But man - we've been terrible lately. I know it is largely due to injuries but still..... Since it's almost impossible to make the playoffs now, I support the tank. Give the young guys plenty of ice time. If we can manage to get a #1 defenseman from the draft it will go a long ways to helping us going forward.
  5. Perhaps. When I was a kid I couldn't put any weight on. When I graduated high school I was 6'0, 155lbs - skinny as heck. I could eat anything and any amount without gaining weight. Once I got to 22-23, I started putting on muscle. I was 195lbs by 25, and I barely worked out.... it was just a natural body change. After a few years like that then I started gaining fat because I'm a lazy ass. Point being that sometimes your body just doesn't allow you to gain weight, but often eventually it does. If he's the same way, I expect him to remain skinny for a bit but think there is a strong possibility that with his height he will fill out. Maybe not 200 but 190? That's perfectly fine in today's nhl. He's not going to be expected to be a hard-hitting guy anyway. He's a finesse guy. So as long as he doesn't get knocked down regularly (a la Raymond) he should be just fine.
  6. Exactly. Also, let's not forget he has lots of time to gain that weight anyway. The guy is still a teenager! ...buuuttt... imagine if he does get close to 200 lbs (which given his frame is entirely possible). He appears already to be able to hold his own. That would make him unstoppable.
  7. I cannot comment on this specifically as I clearly haven't seen him play as much as you. But while I understand you were not directly claiming he will be exactly as good defensively as Tanev, its almost unfair to compare almost any player to Tanev as he is SO high end in that regard. Perhaps lets just say he appears very sound defensively. Which when combined with some scoring makes for a solid middle pairing defenseman. If thats what he turns out to be then it is unfortunate considering initial hopes but it could be worse.
  8. While I haven't been particularly impressed with what ive seen so far from him, it is way, way too early to suggest he's on the level of a typical 3rd round pick. (Which is basically saying he probably wont make the NHL) I'm pretty sure he will be a defenseman for us... but doubt he's going to be the hoped #1 guy. He's probably going to be a #2 at best or a very good #4 at worst... but even that's too early to say.
  9. From what I can see, I feel your point predictions seem accurate. He looks solid on both ends of the ice, but despite his smarts I just don't see him putting up elite numbers most of us were hoping for. Is that worth more than a Tkachuk? Maybe, but we are assuming Juolevis ceiling whereas I think the ceiling of Tkachuk is also still unknown. In any case, I think Juolevi will be good enough to be a strong second pairing or complimentary first pairing guy... Though I still feel we need that true #1 star defenseman that I believe doesn't exist in our syatem
  10. Pouliot was supposed to be such a guy. Yes. And although he is probably our most dynamic, pp-style defensemen I am not at all convinced he's the guy we need. MAYBE he's our poor-mans second pp guy. He's certainly looked better than I anticipated so maybe I'm wrong about his ceiling as well, but unless Juolevi becomes an absolute stud for us, by my calculations we need one really strong (star) defenseman fairly quickly if we want to be truly competitive. Out lack of scoring from the blueline ks, quite frankly, embarassing.
  11. ...and the answer is: Probably not. Of all those guys, Juolevi is the only one with the raw talent to be the quarterback defenseman we so badly need. Besides that, I'm not sure if the rest of that group can get it done offensively either. We badly need at least one guy who can score back there with regularity. Its been one of our biggest deficiency for years. Ideally, we would have a 1-2 punch there actually which is especially important for the 2nd pp unit. The rest can be the assortment we have available, including Tryamkin if we can convince him to come back, as his physical presence is important. Especially so if we do indeed lose Gudbranson.
  12. Did he say that? Was that right at the draft or after we've seen Pettersson tear it up this season? Its a pretty lofty statement to make in light of a strong 1-2 punch of Hirschier and Patrick so Benning must be super confident in Pettersson. And at this point, he clearly has every right to be. What a gem.
  13. I keep waiting for his pace to slow down because history tells us that is what usually happens. But while I still think it may, his shot is something really special. It might not just be luck with this guy.... he really might be that laser accurate. When you can stare down Price with all that time for him to set up and then score, thats rare. His ability to get open for his shot is also elite. We are so lucky to have had Benning steal him for us in that position and will have a ton of fun watching him for a long time. We really needed talent of this level again with the Sedins basically done their careers.
  14. Lets not forget that when Kesler first arrived most of us pegged him as an elite 3rd line center. Thats where I also feel Gaudette will end up, and I agree he plays a similar game. If he turns out to be 2b level then all the better. For those feeling Pettersson will play on the wing, I doubt it. If a player has the capacity to play center, you play him at center unless you are overstocked in that position. I feel he has elite talent and will probably start as 3rd center and will quickly work his way to 2c before eventually surpassing Horvat as 1c once he gets the experience and adds some weight. That would put our center depth as: Pettersson Horvat Gaudette Sutter That's one hell of lineup down the middle. Boeser looks to be an obvious 1st line winger so we just need to get an appropriate lw for Pettersson and we could have one of the better 1st lines in the league. We do have a few players in the system who might end up capable of assuming this role by that time. I'm really eyeing Dahlen given his existing chemistry with Pettersson and high ceiling but who knows. Baertschi is just fine on the left of Horvat so that's 2/3 of a very good 2nd line as well, and perhaps Eriksson can continue his recovery and play on the right. That's 3 55-65 point players right there. We have plenty of players in the system who can fill out the remaining bottom four winger positions with high ability. All in all we will be stacked in a couple of years. Super looking forward to it.
  15. Ive never really appreciated Gudbranson much considering his contract and the likelihood he will be asking for even more going forward. But ill admit... we miss him right now. His push back is sorely missing on our depleted team.
  16. kloubek

    Sam Gagner | C/W

    I really think you guys are being too hard on him. Its a new system for a historically streaky player and his ice time rivals that of Gaunce. (Which is to say very close to the bottom third of all our players). I expected more after his stats last season but I still think he may come around at some point. Besides that, his contract is fairly reasonable and hes 7th on the team in scoring which isn't that bad. If anything my biggest beef with him is his lack of defensive play.
  17. I realize this. You are both missing my point, and I'm certainly not trying to detract from what Pettersson has accomplished so far, nor do I believe it has anything to do with his potential. What I'm saying is that if he is performing at a virtually record pace for the SHL of ANY aged player, how is it that there are so many players who have almost as many points? There ought to be a half dozen players in that league breaking records right now.
  18. You are missing my point. I don't deny that his season is impressive - even more impressive than players like Forsberg that had amazing NHL careers. My point is that he currently had several SHL players close to him in points and I wonder how that is even possible when he is having such an outstanding season. It looks like at this pace there are going to be several players breaking records this season - and many of them aren't even historically good players.
  19. Thank you for that. See, even for the SHL I don't see 19% being sustainable. So either this means he is ridiculously lethal with his shot, he's really lucky, or some of both, but I would guess he is unlikely to keep up quite this pace. (Which is ok, considering my reference to Forsberg). The thing I find interesting is that he's still in quite a race for the SHL scoring lead with others nipping at his heels even at the level he's playing. If he is so elite when comparing his stats to historical all-time stats, how are all these nobodies even keeping up?? Most are well into their careers and some were even NHL-bound at one point but failed. The SHL is a weird league. Yeah you could. So I'll say the same thing about him - either he has a lethal shot, is really lucky, or both. In Boeser's case, his elite-level shot is obvious so I'll lean less on the lucky side a bit - but I would also expect even him to regress a little by season's end. I mean, do we really think Boeser is going to end up with 83 points in 80 games played? That'd be awesome but I just don't see it as likely.
  20. Ever. Yes - that is impressive. Especially when you compare to guys like Forsberg who ended up being a true elite player and didn't accomplish remotely what Pettersson is on pace for, even at his young age. I don't have many concerns with Pettersson. Even his size doesn't bother me at all; I think he will be just fine and expect him to pack on some size in the next few years; at least he has the frame for it. I am slightly concerned (as I am with all european players) that his game might not translate to the NHL, but he's smart enough that he should find a way to overcome that. The only real (and only potential) concern I have here is that I can't get any stats on Elias's shooting percentage stats. Is he shooting at a sustainable pace or has he just been really lucky? If the latter, his stats might be inflated as a result - but the longer the season wears on the more I feel he might just be that good!
  21. We all hope he comes back. We talk about needing a physical presence, and at least from an on-ice perspective I'd rather be paying Tryamkin 3.5 million than Gudbranson right now. His return would be *huge* for us.
  22. Contrary to your belief, I actually think we're on the same page. I agree that at peak he was about a #2 expected to be a #1, and that he's currently about a #3 defenseman. The thing is that everyone expected and seem to still expect that he's a #1, and he just isn't - and you're absolutely correct... by being expected to be the #1 it's put a lot of pressure on him to do damn near everything and as a result, he hasn't done anything particularly well. But with that said, he's still one of our best rounded defensemen. Assuming we retain him through his entire contract, I'm curious what he will expect and what he will get when and if re-signed.
  23. In his defense ive also seen him save a couple of sure goals in the last few games. We've all wanted more out of Edler. When he was signed and early in his career it all seemed awesome. His contract was reasonable, he was scoring, and had an obvious physical edge. Then it all fell apart. He almost never plays his old physical game, doesn't score, and is sometimes suspect defensively. His +- is often pretty brutal these days but I beleive that is heavily skewed by beimg put up against the 1st line of the other team more often than not. You know what.... Hes really not THAT bad when you consider his contract now. Salaries have gone up and on the open market he's still probably worth 4m. He's been the whipping boy for years because he never lived up to expectations but I don't think he has deserved quite the hate he's received. He's not awful as many claim. He just isnt very good either.
  24. Does indeed sound callous, but is a legitimate question. I believe that he remains on the active roster and goes on LTIR, and we can go over the salary cap by the same amount as his contract. (2.65m). If he outright retires instead of going on LTIR, I believe we eat that cap for this year and the next.
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