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Ray_Cathode

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Everything posted by Ray_Cathode

  1. I’d agree that he can add a lot to his game. The question is, how much does he need to add to be a very useful player (by which I mean capable of deserving to take someone’s job)? If his growth continues, he will be more than ready in another year.
  2. At 26, it’s hard to believe that his game will be any better than it is now.
  3. I saw that very differently - he had just turned 18 in June - very young, I saw Podkolzin playing chess while the rest of his team with one exception, were playing checkers. I saw Podkolzin creating a lot of play on which his teammates did not capitalize. He defended well, but his sense of the game really showed on the man advantage. I guess all of us owns his own perception and estimates. After the WJHC his KHL coach, not noted for using young players, dramatically increased his icetime - it would seem that he saw something too.
  4. I think we are far more at risk of losing Demko than a defenceman - we don’t need to protect Hughes, wouldn’t protect Edler his age and contract are protection enough, we would protect Myers, we would protect Tanev if we still have him, Stetcher, Benn and Fantenburg we would be willing to lose, and that leaves one or two spots depending on Tanev, to protect one or two of Rafferty, Tryamkin, or Juolevi (does he even need to be protected?).
  5. That is just the banks boycotting their customers. They are mad that the customers come attached to their money, which they would like to separate from them - customers being an annoying inconvenience. As for Facebook, I hope it stays neutral - censorship has never served a useful purpose, remember that the views you subscribe to today, people in the past have tried to censor.
  6. The terms will be interesting. Do you think there will be a pandemic clause?
  7. One should remember that if the players get more money, the fans that attend games will pay for it. All economics works on the margins. If costs increase without corresponding increase in revenue, marginal teams will fail. Since players are paid in US dollars, many of the teams that could get in trouble are Canadian - granted the exchange rates.
  8. Wow. I thought I was the most negative guy on cdc regarding a Juolevi! Guess not. My argument is that injuries curtailed his development - but argued that a specific issue was the problem - his injury hampered his pivot to the left, which meant that it affected his gap when defending and his acceleration and general mobility. However, after his being brought to Vancouver for some treatment last year, I thought his play had markedly improved - and that was without a year of training while healthy. For me, the jury is still out, I want to see him 100% fit (or as near to it as possible for a pro hockey player - they are almost always nicked up one way or another). I think this long layoff - if he has put in the work - could really tell the story on him. My argument has always been that as he is, he is not ready because he was not healthy. He just turned 22 a month ago - definitely not too late for a defenceman.
  9. I think it would be an interesting line with Virtanen and Podkolzin on the wings and Gaudette in the middle. As a third line, it could be a killer.
  10. Yeah, we have great promise among the forwards, but we have to rebuild this defence to win a cup.
  11. A lot of the responsibility for a centre is more complex than for a winger, and I haven’t much seen Lind perform those tasks. I do note that the Utica staff has used both Jasek (almost exclusively) and MacEwen (to a lesser extent) as centres, I’m uncertain as to their reasons, whether it is primarily team need, or to broaden the player’s utility in case of call up, or for whatever reason. So, back to your question, Lind made great progress during this year, his development reminds me of Gaudette, and I see him as a similar player. That said, looking at what stands ahead of him in Vancouver, if we re-sign Toffoli, that makes the wingers Miller/Pettersson (they kind of share the centre/winger roles), that would be the first line, with the second line likely to be Horvat with Boeser and Pearson. Is there a spot there for Lind to take (apart from injury)? Well, maybe - if not this year, maybe next. But... I see Podkolzin as a superior player on the wing in two years (he will learn enough in the KHL to step right in), and there is the possibility that Hoglander too is a top six type of forward in another year. This might push Lind to the bottom six to break in kind of like Gaudette, but depending on who we lose in expansion, he might have both Virtanen and MacEwen ahead of him. Nice problem to have if one or more of these guys outplays a vet - having excess valuable assets is how you fill needs that you haven’t been able to meet through your development system. And now your question, for me, if Lind continues his development in the coming year, he has the look of an NHL player - maybe with the Canucks (he might be an inexpensive replacement for a vet that we move on for another asset), or maybe elsewhere.
  12. Oh yeah, just thought of something while thinking about Tryamkin’s active player thread, once he got out of what’s his name, the coach’s doghouse. The comments on Tryamkin got more and more positive and glowing up until the where he decided not to come back and be badly coached. At that point he suddenly became substandard, without talent, too soft for his size, a lousy passer, couldn’t skate, didn’t stand up for his teammates, and on and on and on... ‘Hell hath no fury like that of a woman scorned’ - describes about half of cdc at that point. As far as I can see, nobody knows what went on between player and management, all I care about is can he play.
  13. Too covid isolation...gets to the best of them.
  14. Not that I have been able to find. I watched pretty much all of the Utica games, but my observation is, of course, entirely anecdotal. My guess is tha5 Lind won a lot more face offs than he lost - even took some defensive zone face offs toward the close of their season.
  15. You are wrong, bad luck, joint the the enormous club of those occasionally wrong. I am old enough and wrong enough to be a founding member... of course I could be wrong about that...
  16. The blank period on this thread occurred when he was playing with the Canucks and thus no longer a prospect - this is the PROSPECT thread, he would have been transferred to the active player thread. Nobody discussed him on the prospect thread then because he wasn’t one, but there was a ton of discussion on his active thread when he was contributing to the team.
  17. Oh, I’m thrilled with this pick, I think it is an unbelievable steal. But with the robust game that I expect this kid to play, I want him to have the best chance possible to succeed, Marchand and Gallagher both made the league as 20 year olds, Hoglander is 19, I think you agree that another year In Sweden would be great for this kid. The way this kid trains he will be faster, stronger, more ready to compete in the best league in the world.
  18. He spent a lot of time paired with Juolevi - Sautner is a left hand shot who often plays the right side, and the unit/or when paired with someone else played a lot of time against the other team’s top unit, and Sautner killed a lot of penalties. Purely based on observation and subject to my own prejudices, I don’t think he was as effective this year as he was last year before he was hit with a horrific (for which the perp was suspended) hit from behind. Before that injury, he and Brisebois were the guys called up from Utica to fill for injuries - he was a strong AHLer and a marginal NHLer - he played because he could be relied on. I’m not certain he is that guy anymore, but how much to attribute to playing on an almost entirely defensive role in Utica, often with a partner still learning his trade, and on a young team not strong through the middle, and having recovered from serious injury, it is tough to separate the player from his circumstance. This will be a big year for him when they finally get to the ice.
  19. Actually, we did pretty well with Canuck acquisitions at D. In the past, Utica mostly filled out their D with minor pro journeymen. This season, Utica had seven Canuck prospects/properties on D - Juolevi Rafferty Brisebois. Chatfield Teves. Sautner Eliot Outside of Utica, we have Tryamkin, Rathbone, Woo, and Utunen. That’s not bad. The Hockey News Future Watch has us rated at fourth overall with an A- on the prospect list (this after recently graduating Demko, Gaudette, Pettersson, Boeser, and Hughes). On our top ten prospect list are four defencemen - Juolevi, Woo, Rathbone and Utunen. That’s pretty rich. But yes, only one of those guys is a high first round pick, and yes, I’d love to see another high end prospect on D - a team just never seems to have enough. But we might be thin for centre prospects, only one in our in the Future Watch top ten was Focht at nine - though we do have Costmar and Karlsson - at 25 Michaelis is hard to still consider a prospect, and we gave up Madden for Toffoli (Madden was 68th). We are richest on the wings for high end prospects with Podkolzin, Hoglander, and Lind in our Future Watch top ten (first, second and fourth, respectively). In a redraft of 2019, Podkolzin and Hoglander both moved up - Podkolzin up a single spot to 9th, but Hoglander all the way up to 18th - quite a rise out of the second round. Teves
  20. The problems for Juolevi are fundamental and tied to his health. He struggles on his pivots - especially to the left and his acceleration from a standing start is not good - both are critically important for a D. Those are not problems for Rafferty or Brisebois, and neither of those were issues for Tryamkin either. As I have maintained from the beginning, Juolevi has to get healthier before we can even judge what we have. Those deficiencies of Juolevi are not age related - it doesn’t matter if he is 22 or 26, if a D struggles to pivot or a make a quick first three steps, he is going to be hard-pressed to flourish in the NHL. If better fitness for him can be attained through recovery, training and work on his skating, fine, I’d love to see it.
  21. But how effective could Gallagher have been on the larger ice? And yes, I do get your point, there are (or have been) players like Fleury, Gallagher, and Marchand. But mostly my point is that other than a few forays he hasn’t shown a lot in Sweden yet - against men - not like he stood out at the world junior.
  22. Yeah, Gretzky did kill penalties, so did Messier. Gretzky and Messier are one/two all time in short handed goals, followed by Yzerman and Lemieux and Kurri at sixth. Only Goring at fifth was a truly defensive guy, and for a defensive guy he brought a lot of offence. Players are sure used differently now - maybe that came with the advent of graphite sticks and so many guys that can shoot near a hundred mph on the points on the pp’s. Too much risk of injury blocking shots.
  23. Perhaps injecting a little realism here would be a good thing, because having unreasonable expectations of a player can harm their careers. A lot of CDC had great expectations of Gaudette, but fortunately the Canucks were more realistic and did not burden him with unrealistic expectations - not every player is Boeser, Hughes, or Pettersson that impress from day one, and when they are not they are not failures - Gaudette has shown great growth in his game and could still become a very, very valuable player. I’m not as sure as some people that Hoglander is ready to make the Canucks. Is he even twenty yet? Although he had some wonderful offensive forays, his results did not reflect a consistently effective player and were only marginally improved over his play in his prior year. Until he is strongly effective in a lesser league than the NHL, I don’t think he’s ready. Now, some players are more effective on the smaller ice, but I don’t see how that helps a player of Hoglander’s stature - willing as he is to engage. Another season in Sweden, or in the AHL would be very good for him.
  24. Yeah, he’s listed at 6’3” 189, but he plays a lot stronger than that now. Only my opinion, but I’d guess he’s over 200 lbs now.
  25. Yeah, if social distancing ever worked the riots put an end to that.
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