-
Posts
1,273 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Blogs
Gallery
Everything posted by Ihatetomatoes
-
IMO the amount of weight Elias can put onto his small frame is going to be the difference of him being an elite first line center or just a good first line center. If he just puts on 15lbs and ends up in the 180lb range he has the talent to put up points but won't be able to take over games like a Backstrome can do because he can dominate and control the pace of the game. If Elias can get up to that 190+lb range not only will he have the elite talent and smarts he'll be able to protect the puck and win board battles. If he gets there I can see him being a ppg elite top line center.
-
Any word on why Juolevi didn't get iced tonight?
-
Excited to see Jake play in some games against regular NHL players. It's basically been 3 AHL level games here and Jake has shown that he has grown a lot as a player. Curious how things will shape up as the competition gets stiffer. Good to see Jake turning it around though, I've $&!# on him for years. Would love it if he proves me wrong.
-
The problem with this is acting like it's not ok to be wary of a prospect or critical of a prospects development. For every 1 Bo Horvat there is 10 Cody Hodgsons, Jordan Shroeder's, Hunter Shinkaruk's, Sergei Shirokov's, Yann Sauve's. If you follow hockey you know that most prospects don't live up to expectations, the odds are against them, especially with highly drafted D. Take a look back at the last 20 years of 5th overall draft picks and you'll see a lot of busts and really average defense. http://www.mynhldraft.com/nhl-draft-picks/5th-overall/50509/ Luke Schenn, Karl Alzner, Ryan Whitney, Vitali Vishnevsky, Eric Brewer, Richard Jackman..... There is lots of time for Juolevi to grow into a great defenseman but let's not act like it's crazy to think he might not pan out become a top pairing defender.
-
Ya I remember Horvat looking so slow and thinking he was never going to be more than a 3rd line center, maybe 2nd if we're lucky. Looking forward to seeing Juolevi get in some faster paced games and get used to NHL speed. Also after watching the game with Pettersson last night I was really impressed with the quality of play in the SHL, that is a fast skilled league. If Juolevi ends up there it might not help so much with his board work as there is not nearly as much physicality and grinding it will force him to be quick and fast on his skates to keep up. Should be just fine for his development, better than back in the OHL
-
IMO Boeser looks a whole hell of a lot more NHL ready than Rodin. Rodin could really use some real playing time in the AHL to get back up to speed. The guy has barely played hockey in a year and a half.
-
Well that is one of the first positive reports I've read about Juolevi's season last year. Was a good read. All I know is from reading reports from people who watched him all year. Maybe they were negative nancies but from all reports he played uninterested and repeatedly would be getting burned for goals against. I personally only saw the playoffs in which from my account and the people he watched him the most he really picked up his play. Juolevi seems to be a guy who needs an extra reason to pick up the intensity to play at his best. Hence his brilliant play during his 17 year old WJC's and both his playoff runs with London. Hopefully he can learn to bring his best day in and day out.
-
Juolevi had an average season to those who watched him the most, London Knights fans. The only people who think he had anything more than just an average regular season are stat watchers and Canuck fans.
-
Nothing wrong with being optimistic I suppose. I just think you're looking at absolute ceilings if you're looking at Chatfield and Breisbois having top 4 potential. IMO that's not realistic potential. Same with Juolevi, his devopment so far points to a solid 2nd pairing guy. Sure he may reach his ceiling of a top pairing guy but since his draft year he hasn't done anything to show being an elite top pairing guy. Pretty average regular season last year and not a good showing at the WJC's. He was great in the playoffs last year and showed his promise of being a great shutdown defenseman that can move the puck. I guess we're agreeing that we need at least 2 more excellent defenders to be a contending team. I just try to see what a players realistic potential is vs ceiling potential with regards to what we have already since the majority of times players don't live up to expectations.
-
You're wearing some pretty rose colored glasses if you can list some of the names you did and believe those names could be part of a Stanley Cup caliber team, unless we draft the next Crosby, McDavid of course. I do think this is a good year to pick up defensive prospects. Hopefully we can hit some home runs and in 5 years they can be ready to be top pairing guys because we really only have decent top 4 young defenders (Stecher, Hutton, Gudbranson, Tryamkin, Juolevi) and a bunch of long shots to be bottom pairing guys.
-
A young feel with a bunch of average defenders. Stecher, Hutton, Gudbranson, Juolevi. None of those guys have top pairing potential on a cup winning team. Jury is still out on Juolevi but he looks to be more of a top 4 guy than top pairing. Even Tryamkin was a super long shot to be anything more than a top 4 guy and had a lot to work on to even be a solid top 4 guy.
-
People are just excited that he looks like he has the potential to be an NHL player, even if its in a 4th line or 3rd line role. Heck I've $&!# on Jake since the day he was drafted and watching these games gives me a little hope that he may not be a total bust and can contribute in a bottom 6 role. That's something to get a little excited over considering his progression over the last few years. Yes it sucks that we drafted him at 6 but for now if he can contribute at all its a win.
-
After watching the game last night one thing we desperately need to do is shore up our Defensive prospects. Juolevi is our only real NHL prospect with the rest being long shots. Makes me a little nervous know that defensive prospects usually take a few more years to reach their peak than forwards. Benning is going to have to find a way to fast forward the rebuilding of our D or we're going to have a team with a bunch of guys that can score but no talent on the back end.
-
Anyone else not that impressed with what Juolevi today? Looked incredibly average out there, kinda expected him to stand out a little more as a 5th overall draft pick and supposed potential top pairing d man
-
They are not cherry picked examples though. You can find plenty of examples of big guys that peaked at a later time in their career. However there is an equal amount of smaller players that peaked later in their careers as well. Some players take longer to develop for plenty of reasons. Often smaller guys take longer because they have to learn how to perform against larger competition. Big guys often take longer because they have to learn how to play against guys their size after being able to dominate in lower leagues because they were bigger. Its not cherry picked examples.
-
That is not reality though. Its a pure myth that has been repeatedly disproven. An equal amount of small guys take longer to develop as big guys. Its just a lame excuse for poor play.
-
Juolevi usually makes those passes from the left side to the right side no? Juolevi being a lefty and Boeser being a righty I don't think It will work with Boeser being the recipient of Juolevi's patented cross ice passes.
-
Fat boy Kessel or tiny Cammy? I think Mittlestadt has a better body type than those guys. You could be right about compete level but Mittlestadt is a pretty solid kid at almost 200lbs, I'm sure with some proper training he'll be fine body wise. I think Mittlestadt will be a decent NHL player just based on his hands alone, they really do look elite. It's the rest of his game that will determine just how valuable he will be.
-
Really good breakdown of Petterssons play. I too was incredibly impressed by the way he thinks the game, on offense the puck just follows him around the ice. Like you said unfortunately he doesn't have the strength yet to make a lot of the plays he wants to, which was compounded by playing on the small ice. You could tell he was used to having more room to make plays. I came away most impressed by his ability to create turnovers, with his elite hockey sense and ability to track the play and be where the puck is going combined with his incredible hand eye he was repeatedly knocking passes out of the air or intercepting them, it's an undervalued commodity in a player. Being great with the puck and creating offense in one thing, but being able to get the puck back from the opposing team so you can put those tools to use is a big deal. Ask Sens fans how undervalued Mark Stone is. That guy is a turnover machine, it leads to so many offensive opportunities. I hate getting too excited about prospects before they've even played in the NHL but a trio of Pettersson, Horvat and Gaudette down the middle could be a nightmare for opposing teams. All 3 are hardworking puck hounds.
-
Anderson did look great, definitely a do it all kind of player, no real weaknesses. If he develops a high end offensive game he could end up being one of the better players drafted. Liljegren I thought looked great at some points but made a few plays that made me understand why he fell so far. One point at the end of the game he had the puck on his stick and a defender right on him, instead of making a pass he blasted the puck right into the defenders shin pads and the puck bounced out. Another time the puck got dumped into his own end, it was a 1v1 battle to retrieve the puck and he literally just backed off and let the forward take the puck, he didn't even engage at all. That was a play I could see how scouts would have warning bells going off. That said he still dropped to far considering his talent. Mittlestadt looks amazing when he has the puck. Such great quick hands and makes great cuts with the puck. Pretty invisible otherwise though, kinda reminds me of a Kessel or Cammerleri type player, amazing if they're scoring goals but useless otherwise.
-
Looked decent. Would have preferred to see him playing center as that's his natural position. You can tell he has phenomenal hockey sense, really tracks the puck well and has great hand eye coordination, knocking pucks out of the air and causing turnovers. Didn't really stand out that much but you can see the potential
-
Ya but it was never reported he refused to waive his NTC. He was just asked if he would want to leave if the Canucks were rebuilding like Kesler did, he replied he would go down with the ship. Different case than Edler who has reportedly refused to waive his NTC.
-
Not sure, As with the majority of times when it comes to asking a player to waive his NTC it won't be made public because obviously you don't want to have a player on your team have to deal with the media if you made it public that you asked him to waive his NTC and he refused. If I remember right is was someone with ties to the team making reports that they asked Edler to waive and he said no, there won't be definitive proof. I don't remember if it was this regime or not but it's more the player than the regime. Like I said before Edler is a notoriously shy person and if there is one guy who wouldn't waive his NTC just for personal reasons it would be him. Maybe he will change his tune with the obvious rebuild happening or maybe he is comfortable with his life in Vancouver and wants to go down with the ship like the Sedins.
-
CDC never said that Burr, Hansen, garrison and Bieska would never waive. Maybe a few guys said it but there were never reports that they were asked to waive and refused to like Edler. Edler is a notoriously shy person so it's very believable that he won't waive, basically don't get your hopes up. It's more likely Hutton gets traded to make room for Juolevi than Edler.
-
I stand corrected. Figured I should have looked it up before I spouted off but Lucic just seemed so big even when he first came into the league. Lucic is what 230lbs now? Not sure if Gadjovic has the frame to be that big but any sort of skilled power forward on this team would fit in well with all of our smallish skilled wingers.