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canucklehead44

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Everything posted by canucklehead44

  1. This is Gaunce's second year of pro hockey. This is Jensen's fourth. Gaunce is fine playing out the year in Utica with a few call-ups. Next year I would be a bit more worried. He is also a guy who will be pegged for the fourth line, and can play both centre and wing. It will be easy to slot him in. Vrbata, Baertschi, Prust, Virtanen (AHL), Cracknell, all likely not in the lineup next season. Higgins can probably be moved at the deadline for a mid-round pick. While Jensen is in a bit of a do or die situation he has kind of sucked (at least very inconsistent). The player I am most concerned about is Grenier. He has developed nicely in our system. Consistently one of the best offensive players and is an absolute beast in terms of size. I would hate to see him lost on waivers without at least 20 games in the NHL to prove himself.
  2. Very solid pick, liked Boeser at the time and still do. Looking at his USHL numbers he is in great company. In fact, it is hard to find an NHL player who had a better GPG than Boeser in the USHL. One player is Thomas Vanek. He also scored 43 goals as a 22 year old in the NHL. The other is Jack Eichel. Very few players dominate the USHL statistically like they do in the CHL leagues. Look at Sam Gagner - 46 points in 56 games in the USHL, followed-up by 118 points in 53 games in the OHL. A lot of solid NHL players (Saad, Backes, Okposo, Purcell, Chiasson, Girgensons, Read, Lee, Pacioretty, Pavelski, Sharp, Larkin) scored around or a little over a ppg. Kept up a similar ppg pace through University and became solid top 6/9 players in the NHL. This path doesn't seem to produce "super star" type players (with the exception of Eichel and Vanek, who were rare talents). Instead it prepares players well for the transition to pro hockey. All of the aforementioned guys seem to have a well-rounded game and are "great players to have", beyond even their offensive output. I feel good about Boeser progressing nicely and not having much trouble transitioning into a pro role, first in the AHL and the the NHL. He might be an "older rookie", but he will slide into the lineup nicely like Ben Hutton. http://www.ushl.com/page/show/1209183-alumni-in-the-nhl
  3. In some situations players can get frustrated and demand a trade. Shirokov for example left a lot of money to get a shot in the NHL. Played well the preseason, earned a spot on the roster. He did nothing and got sent down, played pretty well the rest of the year on the Moose. This is fine. The second season is where he got the shaft. Despite leading the Moose in both goals and assists (while sporting a +7 on a team with a lot of minuses) he received only a two game call-up. What is even crazier is in his second game he scored and was then benched the rest of the game. As much as we complain about Vey and Baertschi it is great to see them get a real opportunity. We will never know what Shirokov could have become if given the chance. Gaunce still has plenty of time. Jensen has had his fair share of opportunities, but just isn't that good. If he scored 60 points while adding some grit to his game he would earn a roster spot. Until this year Shink hadn't earned a spot either, but has been lights out this season. It was nice that we rewarded him with a game. Virtanen and McCann, because of their situation, have to play in the NHL or get sent back to junior and I am sure the other prospects understand that. Vey was in a do or die situation, same as Baertschi this year. Vey is probably done in the NHL. I hope Jensen and Gaunce get a similar opportunity if it does come to that.
  4. Agreed. I would love to see Rodin come back. He had 7 goals in 53 games in the SEL before coming to the AHL. This year he has 10 in 16. Safe to say he has developed his game. Also the Chicago Wolves team he played on was a black hole for prospects. He also got injured. 1 year, one-way deal for about 1.75M would be well worth the risk if he can score 20 goals / 40 points. Soderberg didn't fully breakout until 26 and has put up excellent 2nd line numbers since coming to the NHL.
  5. I completely agree with you. Watching him in Utica I really liked his game on the wing. Like you said he doesn't play a nasty game, but he plays hard. Trevor Linden was never a dirty player, but being big, strong, and intense made him very hard to play against. I think he becomes an NHLer for sure, but probably doesn't move out of the bottom six much throughout his career while still being one of those "important players", especially come playoff time.
  6. 5 hits as well last game. Since we can really only measure him for minutes, hits, and maybe shots (he doesn't score a lot) things are looking positive. As a top two minute cruncher on his team in the KHL that should convert into a bottom pairing in the NHL. His skating is good for his size.
  7. I read one re-draft article that put Horvat at 7th. Mackinnon, Barkov, Monahan, Jones are top 4 untouched. Lindholm, Ristolainen, and Horvat are the next group where they are contributing players who look like great picks. Next you have Droiun and Nichushkin who have a tonne of potential but aren't quite there yet.
  8. Only 1/8 3rd round picks play over 200 NHL games anyway. I would gladly keep taking these guys to see if one becomes a force. I am sure we will eventually get a physical 7th D at worst. I can see Pedan reaching this level very realistically given how he played with Utica.
  9. He didn't have a great season last year unfortunately. The year before he was amazing.
  10. Future line of Boeser Horvat and Kenins Bro Bo & Ro
  11. I hope he isn't on the team. With the current lineup Kenins would already be a spare. Also Grenier deserves a shot more if we were to go that route.
  12. You are right. Not a very exciting prospect. That said, neither was Tanev. If he can skate, has good reach, works hard and is solid positionally he could end up being a good player for us. Another example of a new breed stay-at-home defender. He was ranked 48 by TSN. As high as 41, low as 67 overall so selecting him at 66 makes him a solid selection there. I didn't like the selection at first and would have preferred Speers but I think overall he was a good selection. Not sold on Neill or Gaudette, but they were 5th round picks so the chances of either of them panning out into an nhl player is only around 25%.
  13. Even though Versteeg didn't score much at junior he adapted well to the pro game with 49 points in 43 games as an AHL rookie. Interestingly, only 19 PIM. His third year in the AHL he had 174 pim in 59 games. So Versteeg started out as a scorer and became much more physical likely with strength and physical maturity. Versteeg would be a best case for Shinkaruk, who had a very disappointing rookie year.
  14. Outside of Boeser, Jasek is our best pick of the draft. I feel somewhat relieved... http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=739668 Early in the year he was projected as a potential 1st round pick.
  15. Brisebois is more carrots and rice than meat and potatoes.
  16. Scored 3 goals in 35 games in the Russian junior league, packing on a solid 5'11 165 pound frame. Excellent pick.
  17. Amazing eh. I went through 1st and 2nd round picks only. It seems that the USHL wasn't really taken seriously up until about 2006. So many steals. And a lot of guys who play in the USHL and go to the CHL tend to put up way bigger numbers in the CHL so it certainly isn't an easy or high scoring league. If only we took the chance on Pavelski instead of country music star Chad Brownlee.
  18. Really good pick. I think the USHL is very underrated, a lot of later 1st round and 2nd round picks become really solid players. Kyle Okposo, Sam Gagner, Jeff Petry, Max Pacioretty, John Carlson, Justin Abdelkader, David Backes, Keith Ballard, Matt Carle, Alex Chiasson, Justin Faulk, John Gibson, Zemgus Girgensons, Alex Goligoski, Matt Greene, Martin Hanzal, Seth Jones, Rostislav Klesla, Dylan Larkin*, J.T. Miller, John Moore, Matt Nieto, T.J. Oshie, Brandon Saad, Jaden Schwartz, Paul Stastny, Mark Stuart, Jared Tinordi, Jacob Trouba, Thomas Vanek, Patrick Wiercoch, Jimmy Hayes, Blake Wheeler 35 goals is very impressive. Here are USHL goal totals at draft year (in some cases 1 year before or after) amongst a number of successful NHLers: Okposo: 27G 50GP Gagner: 11G 56GP Pacioretty: 21G 60GP Abdelkader: 27G 60GP Backes: 28G 57 GP Chiasson: 17G 57GP Girgensons: 24G 49GP Hanzal: 4G 19GP J.T. Miller: 3G 21GP Nieto: 14G 21GP Saad: 12G 24GP Oshie: 3G 11GP Schwartz: 33G 60GP Stastny: 30G 56GP Vanek: 46G 53GP Hayes: 4G 21GP Wheeler: 19G 58GP Boeser is in some very good company. Only Vanek scored more goals, and he is an elite level sniper. I would expect Boeser to be in the 40-50 point range, and a guy who regularly scores 20 goals and might hit 30 once or twice.
  19. You are right grape. Not only that, but if Virtanen gets a spot on the Canucks he takes it away from Alexandre Grenier who is the third best forward in Utica, developed on the farm and produced well, and is at the age where he really needs to get an opportunity before he is too old. Considering all that he has accomplished plus his physical attributes it would suck to see him not penciled in on the 4th line to see what he can do.
  20. No doubt. And really, there is not much indicating Virtanen will be better than Torres. Torres was more highly touted when drafted. Scored 50% more goals his +1 draft year, and his first AHL playoff had 17 points in 20 games. Torres actually scored 27 goals as a 23 year old. I thing somewhat his rambunctious style hurt his offensive game in the long run, and he settled in as a "physical 15" 3rd liner. I really like the Virtanen pick, and I was a huge supporter of both Booth and Torres. If Virtanen becomes a 15 goal scorer, 3rd liner who is physical and speedy I will be satisfied, albeit not exactly happy about it.
  21. At the end of the day this is Jake Virtanen talk, and people are entitled to an opinion. Personally I don't really like the idea of rushing him. Horvat was the perfect fit for our 4th line centre, following a similar development route as Kesler. Virtanen as a winger, and more offensive player, could be stunted in that kind of role. I would kind of like to see him loaned to a team in Europe then brought back to the AHL for late in the season/playoffs, so he can at least play against grown men. Maybe the ZSC Lions to play under Marc Crawford?
  22. I was actually a big fan of David Booth. Even after he got kicked in the mud by Tortorella and buried in the bottom 6 he adapted his game and played very physical, leading forwards in hits. I would have liked to see Booth stay healthy and put in the right opportunity. His first season here he scored at a 23 goal pace, which is pretty good for a second line winger. Virtanen and Booth are the same sort of size and build - not super tall, but heavy. Both skate well, hit hard, and have a good shot. Both kind of lack in playmaking/offensive awareness. While physical, neither one is going to fight more than maybe once or twice per year. And comparing Virtanen to Booth really isn't an insult. Booth is 10th in goals for his draft class, 6 players ahead were 1st round picks. Even Raffi Torres as a comparison isn't too bad - he is sitting 9th in goals. Jarome Iginla and Shane Doan is way too optimistic. They are currently 1st and 2nd in their draft class in goals (and points). Other realistic comparisons would be players like Upshall, Umberger, Brouwer, and Kulemin.
  23. High-end potential: 23 year old David Booth Low-end potential: 29 year old David Booth
  24. I can see him being a third line player calibre player who brings size, defensive awareness, and faceoff ability to a 2nd line. Vey for example has the offensive ability to be a second line centre, maybe not next season but the season after. However, he is lacking in faceoff ability, size, and defensive awareness. A player like Gaunce on the wing could complement these deficiencies, and with a go to pure goal scorer on the other line could be a decent line. Gaunce would never drive a scoring line, but he might have enough skill to keep up.
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