Alflives Posted May 26, 2018 Share Posted May 26, 2018 6 minutes ago, cuporbust said: But he is still not finishing. Until he does that, i cant really say he is suprising me personally. Its time for Virtanen to move past the word potential William Karlsson took a big jump in production, when given opportunity at age 25. Jake is a late bloomer, who is still maturing. I think he scores 20 if given opportunity. Then, when he’s 25, we are seeing him dominate on the score sheet and physically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cuporbust Posted May 26, 2018 Share Posted May 26, 2018 3 hours ago, Alflives said: William Karlsson took a big jump in production, when given opportunity at age 25. Jake is a late bloomer, who is still maturing. I think he scores 20 if given opportunity. Then, when he’s 25, we are seeing him dominate on the score sheet and physically. Well, there is also Zack Kassian. Ill wait until it happens to say im pleasently suprised. So far , he hasnt lived up to his draft position . He has shown maybe he can. Thats it so far imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alflives Posted May 26, 2018 Share Posted May 26, 2018 16 minutes ago, cuporbust said: Well, there is also Zack Kassian. Ill wait until it happens to say im pleasently suprised. So far , he hasnt lived up to his draft position . He has shown maybe he can. Thats it so far imo. I’m one who absolutely loves Big Zack, and believe if he didn’t have addiction issues he’d have become one heck of a player. Jake doesn’t have those issues, so I see him reaching his ceiling; it’s just to take more time than some of his peer group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spook007 Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 16 hours ago, cuporbust said: But he is still not finishing. Until he does that, i cant really say he is suprising me personally. Its time for Virtanen to move past the word potential Totally understand what your saying, but he is definitely moving the right direction. He hits hard, he chases back and win possession like no other, and he is starting to find the twine. Expect him to score more next season, while he keeps improving all aspects of his game. Love the direction he is heading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IBatch Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 3 hours ago, spook007 said: Totally understand what your saying, but he is definitely moving the right direction. He hits hard, he chases back and win possession like no other, and he is starting to find the twine. Expect him to score more next season, while he keeps improving all aspects of his game. Love the direction he is heading. Me too. I also agree with Alf in the fact he hasn't had top line minutes and pp time yet, at least with any regularity ( not that he has deserved it yet either) but yes trending in the right direction which is a good indicator that its possible he can and will be a top six guy. I like the idea of him and Horvat on the same line. He has elite speed for a guy his size or anyone for that matter, and a great shot. His hockey sense has improved but is still his Achilles heal. Thank god Petterson is coming and hopefully Dahlen too, we have some exceptional talent coming up to given Green the option to play Virtanen with some good players to help with the process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spook007 Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 6 minutes ago, IBatch said: Me too. I also agree with Alf in the fact he hasn't had top line minutes and pp time yet, at least with any regularity ( not that he has deserved it yet either) but yes trending in the right direction which is a good indicator that its possible he can and will be a top six guy. I like the idea of him and Horvat on the same line. He has elite speed for a guy his size or anyone for that matter, and a great shot. His hockey sense has improved but is still his Achilles heal. Thank god Petterson is coming and hopefully Dahlen too, we have some exceptional talent coming up to given Green the option to play Virtanen with some good players to help with the process. I think its been discussed a lot, that It takes time for power forwards to develop their game. I'm no expert in developments of players so I listen to what a lot of posters here explains or have to say, as well as examples brought forward, and it seems to me that he is now following the trajectory hoped for... Love to see him flying down the ice and driving the net. I'm sure his goals will follow... Definitely huge improvements in his game compared to 2 seasons ago, or even a season ago.... The boy is still only 21. 2 more seasons and I think he'll nail a spot in the top 6. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IBatch Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 6 hours ago, spook007 said: I think its been discussed a lot, that It takes time for power forwards to develop their game. I'm no expert in developments of players so I listen to what a lot of posters here explains or have to say, as well as examples brought forward, and it seems to me that he is now following the trajectory hoped for... Love to see him flying down the ice and driving the net. I'm sure his goals will follow... Definitely huge improvements in his game compared to 2 seasons ago, or even a season ago.... The boy is still only 21. 2 more seasons and I think he'll nail a spot in the top 6. I agree that his trajectory is back on track and he's got the tools to be a very good second liner, maybe even more. It took Benn a few years to get going too, but when he hit his prime he was one of the best players in the world for a couple years. Id like to see him amp up his physical play though, it's a bit of a tease that he doesn't cream guys more often given we know what he can do, and when he's on he actually reminds me of Iginla, playing a hard to catch up North South game. I have a hunch that WNP would have done better with him rather than Ehlers in the lineup, it would be glorious if we could put that dead beaten horse to rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spook007 Posted May 28, 2018 Share Posted May 28, 2018 13 hours ago, IBatch said: I agree that his trajectory is back on track and he's got the tools to be a very good second liner, maybe even more. It took Benn a few years to get going too, but when he hit his prime he was one of the best players in the world for a couple years. Id like to see him amp up his physical play though, it's a bit of a tease that he doesn't cream guys more often given we know what he can do, and when he's on he actually reminds me of Iginla, playing a hard to catch up North South game. I have a hunch that WNP would have done better with him rather than Ehlers in the lineup, it would be glorious if we could put that dead beaten horse to rest. +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magicman12 Posted May 29, 2018 Share Posted May 29, 2018 On 25/05/2018 at 10:35 AM, oldnews said: Gaunce had literally unreal defensive numbers last year. 14.9 % offensive zone starts is relatively unheard of for young forwards breaking into the NHL, That's relatively extreme for even veteran shutdown guys like Sutter or Malhotra. His corsi was 46%. Those are outstanding possession numbers in that context. His on-ice goals against was 1.7 per 60 minutes - the best on the team - and literally outstanding in the context of 14.9% ozone starts. People that get caught up on Gaunce's production miss his value entirely. He's being developed into an elite level shutdown forward - on that can turn territorial disadvantage into ozone starts for the top 6. That is a valuable role player on any NHL team - and when you can do that at the level Gaunce was as a 23 year old - that is exceptionally promising. When you also factor in that he's a very good skater - that he weighs in at 217 lbs - that he's a natural center (so he has the groundwork of a great defensive game, with upside) - and has taken faceoffs his entire career - he makes an ideal winger conversion and second faceoff guy on your shutdown unit. You also have the ideal left handed draw to complement Sutter as a RH center. Those two give you the makings of an elite shutdown unit, with the possibility that Gaunce succeeds Sutter in the future giving you homegrown continuity. 'Bottom six' forwards are almost always undervalued and under-rated around here, particularly the guys whose roles are defensively weighted. Granlund, although different, has a similarly well-developed 'adult' game and is generally under-rated around here. These two imo are fixtures that when put in lists with players like Boucher (an AHL tweener) makes me shake my head. Gaunce - if he continues to develop and perform as he has - is an absolute keeper - and some secondary scoring (while not really his role) will come nevertheless as the team improves and he gets more confident and takes more chances/opportunities. But his 'possession' and defensive numbers alone are absolutely outstanding (and an indication of what he's capable of playing with a guy like Sutter - who is also in part responsible for those numbers...) How can a player go a season without scoring even tanif a defensive defenceman scores more points. Defensive players don't win games , team defence while pushing offence as much as possible (speed). It's the way the league is going, 4 scoring lines that check ....... Vegas, Pitts., Nash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldnews Posted May 29, 2018 Share Posted May 29, 2018 7 hours ago, magicman12 said: Nilsson was 14, not 12. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magicman12 Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 On 29/05/2018 at 8:40 AM, oldnews said: Nilsson was 14, not 12. 12 was my hockey # Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86Viking Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 I really hope we embrace this rebuild and give the younger players quality ice time,and if they make mistakes they get sent back over the boards with full confidence from the coach. Player I think that need to see minimum top 9 ice time are Goldobin and Virtanen. Both show great flashes of what they can do, but they lack consistancy but imo they need to know if they make mistakes their ice tiem wont be slashed or they wont be sat the following game. You can debate all you want about not gifting players certain roles on the team, but we LACK scoring & to me Goldobin is a very gifted offensive player. I hope he is training hard like Larionov said. I wouldn't mind seeing him and EP out on the ice together at some point during the pre season either 5-5 or on a PP unit. Virtanen has the speed, not sure what has happened to his shot, lack of confidence? Shoots alot at the chest way too much imo. Hope he practices his wrap around and can tuck the puck tight to the post cause he will score some goals that way. But again he lacks confidence from the coach which really hurts his ego imo. Jake with his speed and hopefully more grit could be a nice fit with EP, just need another decent C to play with them if we choose to keep Bo with Brock and some other LW. All in all, stay away from the UFA market and maybe sign a guy like Roussel but other than that we have a ton of waiver eligible players who i would rather see us just flat out use this coming year and deal with the growing pains vs signing vets and losing a guy or 2 on waivers before really seeing what they can do at the NHL level. We are in 0 rush now that the Twins are gone, embrace the rebuild full on this year and see what the youth can deliver! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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