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Everything posted by aGENT
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All players don't take a linear path to the NHL
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I never claimed he was playing well. I've said quite the opposite. Many times actually. He needs to learn to constantly push and attack instead of floating like he could get away with in Junior. Because he's not doing that, he's not having success. Because he's not having success, his confidence is also down. Vicious cycle. He's very much being stripped down to be built back up by Green right now IMO. As such, I doubt we see much production from him this season in Utica either. Especially given the context that they're not a very good team. If he hasn't started to 'get it' in the next couple years, I'd say THEN it's his fault.
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Nylander (who was curiously and conveniently left off his list) is also not exactly setting the world on fire in TO either. We don't need Virtanen to be putting up points right now. (Unless some of us were under the assumption we were going on a cup run this year...?). If Virtanen doesn't score another NHL point for 2+ more seasons, I couldn't care less. All I care about is that he develops and is able to put up some complimentary points while being a giant pain in the arse to play against in around 4 years. How he (hopefully) gets there is largely up to him.
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Another way for the panicky faction of CDC to lose their shi...
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I personally could care less what any of then are doing in two years. YMMV. I'm more concerned what Jake is doing in 4+ years when we're hopefully back to contending. And FWIW, I'd not expect the other two guys to be getting 50 goals either. Ovechkin is barely on pace for 40.
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That he'snot healthy or that he's a poor fit for a 4th line role? Either way, I'd wager you're wrong.
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He re-tweaked his knee. He's also not a fit on the 4th line to replace Chaput or Skille even if healthy. Which he's not.
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He needs to adapt his game to the NHL level. The vast majority of doing so is to be willing and able to constantly push and attack rather than coasting like he could in junior. That's going to take a LOT of work and time to sink in/develop. As that develops, it will naturally improve his 2 way game as well. That's what will get him back to the NHL.
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This is what I think of Virtanen. He has elite skating, shot and physicality. We saw glimpses of what he can be in January 2016. He needs to do a LOT of work to get his game up to NHL standards, including getting his confidence back. Some of that is work in the gym, some of is work in practice, some of it is watching video, some of it is simply getting play time (including hopefully on a better Comets team next year). Some of it is maturing and getting his ego to realize he's going to actually have to work and work HARD to play at the NHL level and not just 'show up'.
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That was last year actually. Would you have played him ahead of Tryamkin and possibly lose the latter back to Russia? That's the only spot he was realistically going to take. They were determined to have an offensive/PP D in the lineup regardless so he wasn't going to get in over Larsen and certainly not now over Stetcher.
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Yes complimentary. All three are. Which is perfectly fine for a 6th overall pick. And I said Granlund's not far behind while playing a solid 2 way game on a match up line against high QOC and low ozone starts. Don't ignore what he's accomplishing in those conditions. He's not far behind given that context. And yes Baer who has one of the highest PPM on our team and is producing at a first line level along with Horvat who I also mentioned. And yes Boeser who has shown no signs of slowing down even after wrist surgery but yes with the caveat he has yet to prove it in the NHL. Virtanen has the capability to be much more than just an 'energy player'. Does he have work to do to get there? Absolutely.
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Somebody needs to resort to insults because they don't have an argument for their cherry picked/poor reading comprehension comment.
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Somebody needs to work on their reading comprehension and cherry picking.
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I'm sure Benning had hoped Virt would have started to put it together sooner. Who wouldn't? I'm sure he's also not surprised that he hasn't yet. Why would it be so surprising to think Benning had a general outline/plan of where the team was going and how they were going to get there? Sure, it would be nice to have lots of players. Just as I noted in the Juolevi thread, it would have been nice to get Tkachuck, Keller, Jost, Sergachev etc too. Short of trading for additional picks, you only get one. You can't have all the players.
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COMPLETELY agree.
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Ask them But seriously, because I keep hearing this 'who's replacing the Sedins' sentiment or 'Benning picked meat and potatoes Virtanen (Boston model) over skilled Nylander/Ehlers' or that 'Benning doesn't draft skilled players' etc, etc. Maybe's Benning's got a plan that involved getting Virtanen (who's far from a closed book) while also adding skill via the likes of Baer, Granlund, Boeser (not to mention the aforementioned Lockwood, Zhikenov, Gaudette etc) and also adding more skill later in the rebuild via the draft as well as likely moving some of our depth on D for young forwards. It's myopic. I wasn't comparing the two. I said he wasn't 'far behind' Baer/Horvat while also playing on a match up line against high QOC with less O zone starts etc.
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They're certainly bigger long shots and possibly/likely more 'middle 6' but yup. Gaudette as well.
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As is Baer and Horvat with Granlund not far behind while playing a solid 2 way game and Boeser on the way. The horror!
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His ice time went up 1 min, 2min and 2 min over the last 3 games vs what he was playing before. They were also still largely struggling to create offense.
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It's somewhere in the 748 pages
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People ARE acting like we missed out on a future Sedin though. The HOF comment was my own opinion. Ehlers/Nylander are good, complimentary, skilled top 6 forwards. Nothing at all wrong with that. But of the more talented pieces on a given roster (ie: not plugs), they're some of the easier pieces to come by (via draft, trade or UFA). And if you do draft them, they tend to have an impact sooner than later (with exceptions). Never mind that it looks like we're doing ok with similar level players with the likes of Baer, Granlund and Boeser looking quite promising at UND. Forest. Trees.
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It's easier to add the likes of Nylander later actually. People need to quit acting like we missed out on a future Sedin. Neither Nylander or Ehlers are likely future HOF players. Jake's going to take time. And that's OK.
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This. Some of it, I think, is simply a lack of confidence. He struggled at the NHL level because he wasn't NHL ready. On top of the all to common with kids coming out of junior 'coasting' issue. So he hasn't yet learned to constantly push, hence wasn't able to perform at a level he (or coaches/management) expected and it affected his confidence making it worse. Not just that he's 'lazy and whiny' Though I do think he has a touch of entitlement/ego that coaching is having to work around as well. Either he'll learn to listen to them and that he needs to work a lot harder on and off the ice and becomes the player he can be, or he doesn't. It's far too early to conclude he's a lost cause though.