Smashian Kassian

Ideally he'd have another year in a lower league (meaning not AHL) to keep building his confidence & consistency. Then bring him to Abby next season, or later this year if he's that good. I guess we'll see where he's at in camp, going straight to the AHL seems like a massive jump though.

It's not about traditional 'toughness', it's about being hard on pucks & strong along the walls. I do like having guys that aren't afraid to drop them if need be, but we don't need an enforcer type. Hamonic isn't afraid to throw them, Luke Schenn brings some toughness, & Im hopeful MacEwen can provide some of that muscle/energy (even if it's not an everyday role). As far as size from a 'hard to play against' standpoint, I think Podkolzin could be a pleasant surprise. He competes for pucks like his life depends on it.

So many things to be excited about coming into the year. OEL, Garland, Dickinson, Podkolzin, Rathbone. Even Poolman is intriguing given the bet made on him. On top of prior storylines; Petey coming off injury, Hughes potential bounceback, Demko first full year as starter, Hoglander/Juolevi 2nd seasons. Nevermind Abbotsford, looking forward to that team too. Should be a really fun year.

Its crazy that OEL was considered not good 3 years ago when he was scored 14 goals & 40+ points.

He's also still been very productive. He was on a 40+ point pace last season, Edler did that.. once? At his peak. And it's not like Hughes is going to take a total backseat with OEL coming in. As much as OEL might be more so the matchup guy, Hughes is too talented to not play big minutes & a big role. Should be a beneficial situation for both.

I wouldn't even split up the original 1sr unit like that. Boeser Horvat Miller Hughes Pettersson Garland Dickinson/Sutter Hoglander OEL Rathbone The thing here is both 'defense' pairs have the #1 QB type, then also the big shot. Not sure who the better 2C option is but you mainly want them to win the draw & play net-front anyways. So the perceived skill level shouldn't matter as much. (So long as they can tip pucks) It's shaping up to be a nice 1A/1B situation, with plenty of versatility. If one unit isn't going we won't

If this team really succeeds I would not be surprised if Jim Benning ends up being a GM of the year candidate.

I'm just thinking regardless of the origin, hadn't this already been going on in China prior to coming to the rest of the world? Didn't a doctor who originally tried to warn people about the seriousness get warned to be quiet by the gov't, and then the gov't had to apologize to his family b/c he died of covid? Because that's definitely negligence in my view. (I actually found this article about it, certain parts of my questions/rambling is addressed; https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51364382 I guess there could be political factors that played into why Chi

This is great for Columbus. Keeping a core piece when they've lost most of them lately. Hopefully for their sake its the beginning of breaking that trend.

Deductive reasoning Rupert. Your know what your right. Fauci didn't know masks were effective while simultaneously trying to hoard them for people in contact with the virus. I was wrong to suggest he was dishonest. Now care to answer my question about China? I mean it in good faith as I'm genuinely curious what you think on it.

I agree they've done a great job. The last time I was this excited about the changes going into a season was the 2010 offseason.. and obviously we know how good that team was. We won't be that, but Jim has drastically improved the personnel & I can't wait to see it on the ice. Still more work to do on defense in the coming years to make this a contender, but being a consistent playoff team is the first step & with Garland/OEL locked down (along with our existing core) I think we have the pieces in place to be that for the foreseeable future. Then ju

Hmmm... I mean it would be pretty hard to turn down a trade with Victor Hedman coming back. I love Quinn Hughes & want to see him retire a Canuck.. but maybe for Hedman/Sergachev.

By saying they weren't effective so that they could protect from a shortage? (Which he called the "critical issue" in explaining the change). The discouragement of them to the public when they apparently knew better (given the implied importance of, you know, not running out of them...), is the dishonesty. I don't really want to waste more time arguing about this, agree to disagree. I do have another question for you though actually,- and @stawns if he wants to jump in - when we're beyond this do you think China will and/or should face some kind of consequences for their ne

Yeah Parayko is definitely preferably. Would you consider Manson a legitimate #3? I actually view building defenses now as a top 3/bottom 3 thing. Like in order to have a good defense it starts with having 3 guys that you'd consider credible top end/hard minute defenseman, no matter how the pairs line up. Example; Tampa with Hedman/McDonagh/Sergachev, or St.Louis winning with Pietrangelo/Parayko/Bouwmesster. You need a good #4 too (Cernak, Edmundson), and depth after that, but it starts by finding your top 3. OEL & Hughes could be 2 of them for Vancouver, just not s

What are you on about? I made an offhanded comment adding to the point that some of our politicians have been dishonest (and you can add hypocritical too in some cases), using the Fauci example. Its not an attack on anyone's viewpoint. Don't know what your trying to paint me as but I'm politically cynical, & just find some of the contradictions/hypocrisies from leaders (or narrative drivers) amusing. Your right, he didn't didn't explicitly say he 'lied'. I hyperbolized it, but again giving the reason like he did is an admission imo. We