oldnews
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Well Stevie Y adds Sergachev and Foote in short order. D prospect pool looks an awful lot better already. What a boss.
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Cosentino talks too much.
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nice to see them give it up for Talon he's been undervalued in Florida the past few years.
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no wrong picks in this range really, Necas could go before Vilardi as well.
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Just catching up on PVR Cosentino in full troll mode.
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2017 NHL Draft - Chicago, Illinois June 23-24 2017
oldnews replied to hyper00's topic in Prospects / Farm Team
Button always has a couple outright bizarre rankings in his Clist. -
I'm actually surprised that there are people willing to publish such daft garbage - and willing to be so manipulative with their 'analytics' but the reality is that many people simply buy it outright and many people simply don't look into that junk. The assessments of Larsson were probably even worse / more laughable considering the knee jerk nonsense assuming that the 'type' of player he represented doesn't have value in today's game. I have ripped the Oilers a lot in my time, but I had to give them kudos - and this aint hindsighting - dealing Hall and Yakupov were precisely what they needed to do (real prototypical modern speed/skill players btw - the stereotype of what a lot of people parrot as the 'trend' in the NHL - but more like trendy players that are loved by highlight reel fans, and grossly over-rated by them) - while acquiring a guy like Larsson was precisely what they needed - and has played out to evidence that pretty clearly imo. Gudbranson has an incredible toolbox and (nearly) everything you need imo to be a great, prototypical modern shutdown defenseman. You'd think that with decreasing scoring, stronger, more talented fourth lines around the league, and fewer and fewer one-dimensional floaters who can't play without the puck - you'd think that with those 'trends' people would have a better grasp of the value of the defensive side of the game - and yet ironically, the ignorance seems to be lead by the 'analytics' community of all people. Gudbranson is quite a fast guy for his size - he skates very well north to south - obviously huge, big wingspan/reach, tough as nails, intelligent, a leader, a backbone type player. He also has latent upside that he evidenced before stepping up the NHL but that's not his bread and butter at this level and his career thus far has not enabled it / his situational usage has not been opportune - but he makes a good first pass, and he has a big shot when he gets the opportunity to get shots off. For me, the one thing that I think could stand to improve is his lateral movement/pivots - something that can be developed and worked on - and being a huge guy, not the easiest aspect of 'quickness' - he strikes me as somewhat of an 'upright' skater (not that unlike Bieksa, however Bieksa is a smaller guy - or Pedan, who is likewise a big, fast guy that may not stand to improve on his speed, but perhaps his 360 degree skating). I find that aspect hard to describe, but I have very little doubt about how important and effective he is going to be.
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And it doesn't hurt in their locker room either. When you have guys doing chickencrap things like a Matt Martin jumping a Troy Stecher, it sure as hell builds team to have a guy telling his team-mates that the cuprit if 'fn dead' - and meaning it (in a non-literal way). What an embarrassment for the weaselly media to be repeating that kind of stuff, prompting the weaselly Leafs-protectionist response from 'their people' at the league - but nevertheless having a guy like Gudbranson that is never going to idle when crap like that goes down is important - and it enables his team-mates to play their game with less caution. That might be lost on a lot of the 'big D are done' crowd, or the 'why Bennig gotta get Bennig type players when guys like Gudbranson are a throwback to a dead age in the NHL' - but I highly doubt it's lost on anyone that doesn't have such a myopic and skilled smurf / 'analyticz' perspective of the future of the NHL.
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That's not a look you typically see on Kassian's face. He's generally has a lot more edge / game face. Here he looks like he's knows what he's facing, is not too thrilled about it.
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[Official] Toronto Blue Jays Major League Baseball thread
oldnews replied to The Stork's topic in Off-Topic General
Jays off to a Canuck-luck start this season. Thankfully it's only 26 games in... -
2017 NHL Draft - Chicago, Illinois June 23-24 2017
oldnews replied to hyper00's topic in Prospects / Farm Team
He's got quite a toolbox for sure. Watching this game now - tremendous skater and very alert. Snuck in and buried a one-timer - guy looks effortless. Young draft age as well (late July). Could push into the top 10.... -
Depending on how the balls drop, they may be able to land a big, skilled, playmaking center in this draft though - which does go a long way to making a smaller scoring winger more viable - and is a good complement in their own end as well as it is the center that draws the responsibility down low. If we're fortunate enough in the lottery, we may not only get the highly skilled playmaker, but perhaps some size as well - and if that's the case, down the middle the team looks fairly strong in the future (ie Patrick, Horvat, Sutter ) Mittelstadt, Vilardi and Glass also have some decent size as center possibilities. So if they were to wind up with one of those C in their top 6, Virtanen in their middle six - reasonable size in Horvat, Boeser - they'd be making decent strides imo. And they'll finally have some depth of prospects, where they could actually have the assets - both up front and on the blueline - to potentially acquire a guy that rounds out the forward group better. My dream would be a deal for Boone Jenner, but Columbus' rise this year might make them less likely to be making pre-emptive deals to avoid expansion exposure - but a guy in Jenner's mold would certainly make the group another level of hard to play against.
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I couldn't care less what Flames fans think/hope tbh. Rebuilding teams add free agents all the time - there's nothing about taking advantage of every opportunity to improve that 'doesn't make sense'. If adding a Brouwer doesn't make sense then neither does adding a Matt Martin, or Radim Vrbata (in Phoenix), or Matt Moulson, or Milan Lucic. What doesn't make sense is trading picks and prospects at this stage to add 30 yr olds. But we're not doing that anyway. But the Leafs are lol. I guess they're done the rebuild
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.5 ppg over the past 8 seasons, 200 hits a season, hard minutes. thanks
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Getting a guy like Brouwer last summer would have been nice - but wasn't meant to be.
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Good points. This is one of those things that I think people underestimate about a player like Gudbranson and the effect he can have both on opposition forwards - but also in making life easier for a goaltender. That he can drop the gloves with anyone is a bonus, but not really the primary effect - which is that forwards have to battle with him all night long for pucks - in the corners, and he's not going to welcome you into our crease either. I think that between him, Sbisa (if he's still here) and Tryamkin (particularly as he develops, gets better conditioned and gains more confidence in being physically assertive) I think the team is shaping up nicely in that sense on the back end. Up front, it's really limited to our bottom six players - Dorsett, perhaps Gaunce to a lesser extent - and hopefully Virtanen develops into one of the elements the team really needs. Horvat may develop a bit more mean/heavy in his game as well, but it's not his bread and butter. The forward group remains a work in progress in terms of being hard to play against, but thankfully there is that element on the blueline - which can take a toll on opposition forwards. But we still need to add to our ability to work and wear on the opposition's defense.
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[Official] Toronto Blue Jays Major League Baseball thread
oldnews replied to The Stork's topic in Off-Topic General
Damn has Morales been hot. Looks like he loves hitting in this lineup. Great to see Tulo off to a good start too. Pitching staff getting a bit roughed up early though. -
[Official] Toronto Blue Jays Major League Baseball thread
oldnews replied to The Stork's topic in Off-Topic General
Interesting discussion in this game about changes to the traditional leadoff, bat-control positions in the lineup. Wouldn't argue with the new trend - but also loved the traditional setup. Most of all though I lament the devolution of skill. No problem with loading up the top of your lineup and not necessarily fitting the tradition speed/ob% leadoff and bat control #2 hitter - but what is unacceptable and surprising is the inability of so many of today's players to execute the simple fundamentals you could take for granted in the past. Guys that can't lay down a bunt - major league players = that is somewhat pathetic imo. I'd like to see the emphasis on basic fundamentals be just as focal as analytics. Love the Jays, and don't mind an unconventional batting order, but the inability to play small ball really needs to be evolved back out of the game. -
[Official] Toronto Blue Jays Major League Baseball thread
oldnews replied to The Stork's topic in Off-Topic General
Nice to see Grilli out there again. The Jays' Skille. -
Robert Thomas looks like a guy to keep on the draft radar at the high end of the 2nd round, where the Canucks will have a pick. Young draft age - July birthday - solid two way young center with good production (ppg) this year. Resembles Horvat in more ways than one.
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yes. Chatfield looks pretty solid as well.
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Another nice snipe. Man he's looking good.
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Lockwood looks like he's quietly slipping under a lot of people's radar. His production on the USHL US under 18 team was probably deflated by the sheer quality and depth of his team-mates. And then this year, 20 points in 30 games as a rookie 18yr old college player is pretty good - particularly when you consider that Michigan's team leader was a 20 yr old who had 21 pts in 35 games, on a team that wasn't particularly good or high scoring (a team that lost Zack Werenski, Kyle Connor, Tyler Motte, JT Compher), Lockwood's production looks even better.