Ray_Cathode

I’ve been watching Rafferty all year, he just keeps getting better. He keeps expanding his game, trying more stuff and succeeding - as is reflected in his +/-. The Vancouver right side D have been playing pretty well, and both of Benn and Fantenburg can play either side. Don’t think we’ll see Rafferty except in case of injury, bad slump, or hopelessly out of the playoffs.

I agree, injuries change a team’s context and can open spots they didn’t anticipate - especially as the near the trade deadline and are looking at a battle for a playoff spot - they might want a proven vet in that instance over bringing up an untried prospect.

One thing to remember is the effect of injuries in transitioning players into the lineup. Edler was initially an injury replacement callup from the AHL, so were Bieksa and Tanev. There will be an injury on the right side of the D, not wishing any ill will on anyone, and Rafferty could find his way up. Tryamkin plays either side, so an injury to any defender could create a place for him. That creates the opportunity that Edler, Bieksa, and Tanev took advantage of - they outplayed an existing roster player and became regulars. Now, if the guy they replace is considered a value by someone else in the league - you have a tradeable asset - if not, you have a cap issue.

Don’t see a trade for Baertschi if we can’t give him away, can’t see a trade for Leivo if he is out for two or three months with a fractured kneecap.

I think it would be a mistake to replace Tanev unless he is injured - this long healthy stretch has really enabled him to recover his total game and at his best he is a really great player - a much undervalued talent. If Rafferty can replace Stetcher, but pair Rafferty with Hughes and move Myers and Tanev to the two and three spots - it might be very interesting. Rafferty and Hughes would make for a very slippery pairing for escaping our zone, and a very dynamic pair in the attacking end. I see Tryamkin ultimately as the replacement for Edler s defensive game - a game that now depends on Edler’s health - and the team struggles when Edler is missing or not playing at 100 percent. Ideally, it would have been Juolevi that takes that job, but I don't think he’s ready (even though he had a good game tonight (scored the winner and was very useful in his own end at dulling the opposition attack). I think he may be better served with progressing his game, his fitness, and building his adult body in Utica. If he realizes what he showed in potential in junior, he could be a valuable piece in a couple of years. Meanwhile, Rafferty is close now.

6 Gretzky has four Stanley Cups, Messier has six. Just sayin’.

Most of Rafferty’s time is spent at even strength. When the Comets are away, it is difficult to select the lines that play against him - so to claim that he plays against weaker opposition there is mostly specious. Rafferty is also a primary choice late in games whether they are ahead or behind. If they are ahead he is good at escaping the zone, if they are behind, he their best bet to lead the offence. As for Juolevi, if they are going to develop him you have to give him ice time. He is simply not the offensive talent that Rafferty is - at least not yet - sonRafferty gets most of the PP time. If you want to give a Juolevi a role, that leaves him the defensive role - which he shares with Sautner and Brisebois - who are also pretty decent players. Earlier in the year, Rafferty spent a lot of time with Teves - during which time Teves led the team (along with Rafferty) in +/-. You really have to watch the games to see Juolevi’s struggles - but as has been commented, he is younger than Juolevi and Teves - so, he still has time to develop. But, from what I have seen, his skating is hampering his defensive play. Still, Lind and Gadjovich both struggled keeping up last year too, and this year they have both come miles. Let’s hope he gets better. Ultimately, we have to have a guy to take on the role assumed by Edler - we can hope that will be Juolevi - but I think we’d better improve our available options for that role.

Rafferty, with two more points tonight now leads all AHL defencemen in points, he is tied for fifth in best +/- - as a rookie. He has 24 points in 29 games - but 13 points over his last ten games. Granted, he is a 24 year old, but this is a great improvement in his offensive stats even over his college career, where in his final (and best year) he had 24 points in 38 games. To be more effective in a pro league compared to a college league is pretty impressive. He is also third among all rookies in scoring.

Naw. I think Juolevi needs a full year of training while he is healthy. He has to improve his skating before he should be asked to suffer the abuses offered in the NHL.

Where did I say the management and coaches are responsible for injuries? But now that you bring it up, giving contracts to guys with a history of injury - is pretty much like ignoring reality and going with, “Well geez, they used to healthy once...”. Giving contracts to guys with an extensive history of concussion is also a crapshoot with overwhelming risk - Baertschi, Ferland - and with that in mind, keep an eye on Demko. A guys injury history with concussion especially is a pretty good indicator of his injury future.

I was gonna comment on the ex Comet contingent, I would have thought that the Ottawa farm team would stuffed with great prospects - instead they are recycling the guys we let go.

I look at the Canuck problem in terms of unproductive assets. Eriksson 6 mil Luongo 3 mil Baertschi 2.3 mil Ferland 3.5 mil Edler 6.0 mil That is a quarter of our cap space. I attribute much of the above to ownership pushing management for immediate results. This does not even account for draft picks surrendered to provide the illusion of a temporary fix. Hardly any of those surrendered picks gained us anything even in the short term (the great exception being Miller). The reason it is an issue is that management has shown just how much useful talent they can pick up with the picks that we have had - add some useful amateur free agent signings of prospects to that pool.

The definition of insanity is when you endlessly repeat doing that which did not work. The moment we recover the puck in our zone, all three forwards bolt up the ice to the other blue line and the defence has nowhere safe to move the puck, only to stationary players a hundred and fifty feet away, capable of nothing but tipping the puck in - if they are lucky enough to tip it at all. I am so sick of watching our forwards stationary at the opposing blue line, or so far away from the D that we are not a unit, just two disparate groups not supporting each other. Apparently, we improved our power play tonight by having Boeser and Pettersson switch sides so that our two best shooters had no angle to shoot from. Our problem on the PP has to do with zone entry and that the unit stands around. We do not rotate the unit to open lanes, pull players out of position and make the defence skate to exhaust them. We also really miss having a healthy number one defenceman.

I don’t argue that Benning has mostly made good picks, but Juolevi isn’t one of them - the thing that hurts is that it was a high pick. Fortunately, he has some great winners to offset Juolevi - Pettersson, Boeser, Hughes already look like great picks - Virtanen looks like a guy worth waiting for - and we have a ton of prospects that could well be important for us in the future - most of whom I have defended on this site - but Juolevi isn’t one of them. I’m sorry, but skating matters and until his skating improves, I don’t see him as a player.

He’s not playing well for us, he is terrible defensively and contributes little to the offence. For any who have actually watched him play, they know all too well that he is not very mobile - he can’t even keep up with AHL play, never mind the NHL. You want to see him exposed? Bring him up and let him play in a league where everybody can skate. In 38 games he is -23. In a full season, that is almost -50. -10 or -15 over a season - yeah, that can be a matter of deployment. Minus 50? You suck.

A thing to remember is that McDonough did not play in the first three games - he had to make the team. Then he had to make Madden’s line - another couple of games. Since then he has done pretty well.

Really, do you think Johnson is going to come out and say, “Well, I guess Jimbo really screwed up that fifth overall pick when he took Juolevi, should have taken that other guy...”?

On the other hand, he might be helping Madden to be better, that can cut both ways. Of his four points in his last game, Madden, his line mate, was only in on two of them.

Consistently bad starts is a coaching problem.

McDonaugh third in points per game among freshmen, and just seems to be getting better each game. What a find!

Lind has really adjusted well, plays well and confident now to make moves in traffic - continuing to improve, so interesting where he’ll be at by year’s end. Good with puck and quick to reposition his feet to set up for shooting, puck protection, and getting his hips turned to better take a hit.

No pk, lots of pp.

I’m just speculating, but in the dub I don’t think he was on a strong team. With Boucher, Baertschi, and Goldobin - never mind Bailey, Perron, Jasek, and lately Gadjovich, there are a lot of players that can ‘rip the puck’ - Lind has the great opportunity to play with guys that can really play. Oh yeah, and we’ve had MacEwen and Glaovac up here - so they can play too. Lind is tied for third on his team for points, but if you watched Utica, you’d see him grow game by game. He made some great plays tonight, but came up unlucky. He has 5 goals 7 assists in his last 10 games. His 22 points leave him tied for twentieth in league scoring - remember he is only a second year AHL player - though, in fairness, a number of the guys ahead of him in AHL scoring are within a year or two of his age (he is just turned 21).

That would be the guy, not like the Demian, Herman.

Rafferty is now ahead of Pouliot by a point for defencemen. https://theahl.com/stats/player-stats/all-teams/65?playertype=skater&position=defencemen&rookie=no&sort=points&statstype=standard&page=1&league=4 He is a a much better defender than Pouliot who is -5 compared to Rafferty at +12. Pouliot is not a great skater, Rafferty is, which enables him to recover from his errors. Pouliot tends to panic under pressure - probably why he is back in the AHL, Rafferty is fearless, maybe a little too fearless for his coach’s heart. In any event, Cull sure throws him out there a lot - particularly when they are behind.