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The Gaudette Conundrum

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BrockBoester

Gaudette's poll  

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There's no conundrum. The Hockey Gaud makes the team. CUT THE FAT!

 

Have Sutter take the faceoffs to begin with and have them swap positions once the puck is dropped. Or, even just swap positions in the offensive/defensive zones with Sutter acting as defensive center in the D-zone and AG88 playing the offensive center role in the O-zone. Once AG88 brings up his defensive game up to a high standard, we can make that line more of a 3rd line offensive threat by moving Sutter to Beagles line to create a pure shutdown line. 

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4 hours ago, Alflives said:

Hockey Gaud has been better than both Sutter and Beagle too.  I love how Beagle plays centre on the fourth line.  I think Sutter plays wing well enough to have Hockey Gaud as third line centre.  Baer, Gaud, Suts is a good third line.  Is Gaud going to play, barring injury, as one of our top 2 centres?  Of course not.  So play him as our third line centre.  That’s where we want him anyway, right?  

Gaudette was 40% in the faceoff circle last year Alfie - he'd have to take a giant leap - and at the same time develop a veteran level shutdown game - before anyone should consider moving Gaudette into a bottom 6 C role.  The only way that makes sense imo is if you revert to using Horvat's line as a secondary shutdown line and utilize your 3rd line as a secondary scoring/ozone starts line - something I would not do at this point.

 

Gaudette's production in preseason was nice - and he looks like an absolute no-brainer NHL player in due course  - but there's a lot more to the game - and I don't think he's ready to be displacing veteran shutdown centers - elite penalty klller and faceoff guys - who are the ones that will be enabling the EP, Boeser and hopefully Horvat lines - to play in opportune situations.

 

I think barring a center trade, Gaudette is probably a winger at the NHL at this point if he were to make the roster (I'm not sure management will share the fan judgement - that is based mostly on some offensive production and not so much on watching the rest of his game - and trading one of Sutter or Beagle leaves this team in an awful position if the other were to get injured in their absence.  For that reason I can't take the Gaudette as a center coming out of camp discussion that seriously - he's not developed enough in that role to outperform a Sutter or Beagle, and moving one of them creates a risky situation where Horvat is your secondary shutdown guy - and becomes the primary if Beagle were to get injured (assuming the team moved Sutter, which is such an in-vogue idea - but premature imo.)

 

It'll be tough to make space for Gaudette given the wealth of winger depth in the present.   I'd waive Eriksson and Schaller - and the question imo becomes whether they waive Goldobin as well, to make space for Gaudette - I could see that happening, but what I don't see is Gaudette earning a center role in the present mix.  I'd probably mentor him on one of Beagle or Sutter's wings - and having a second center to take draws on one of those lines enables the principal guy to be that much more aggressive.  It could push a guy like Leivo to the 13th spot and I think that would be a reasonable competition to earn minutes.

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1 minute ago, oldnews said:

Gaudette was 40% in the faceoff circle last year Alfie - he'd have to take a giant leap - and at the same time develop a veteran level shutdown game - before anyone should consider moving Gaudette into a bottom 6 C role.  The only way that makes sense imo is if you revert to using Horvat's line as a secondary shutdown line and utilize your 3rd line as a secondary scoring/ozone starts line - something I would not do at this point.

 

Gaudette's production in preseason was nice - and he looks like an absolute no-brainer NHL player in due course  - but there's a lot more to the game - and I don't think he's ready to be displacing veteran shutdown centers - elite penalty klller and faceoff guys - who are the ones that will be enabling the EP, Boeser and hopefully Horvat lines - to play in opportune situations.

 

I think barring a center trade, Gaudette is probably a winger at the NHL at this point if he were to make the roster (I'm not sure management will share the fan judgement - that is based mostly on some offensive production and not so much on watching the rest of his game - and trading one of Sutter or Beagle leaves this team in an awful position if the other were to get injured in their absence.  For that reason I can't take the Gaudette as a center coming out of camp discussion that seriously - he's not developed enough in that role to outperform a Sutter or Beagle, and moving one of them creates a risky situation where Horvat is your secondary shutdown guy - and becomes the primary if Beagle were to get injured (assuming the team moved Sutter, which is such an in-vogue idea - but premature imo.)

 

It'll be tough to make space for Gaudette given the wealth of winger depth in the present.   I'd waive Eriksson and Schaller - and the question imo becomes whether they waive Goldobin as well, to make space for Gaudette - I could see that happening, but what I don't see is Gaudette earning a center role in the present mix.  I'd probably mentor him on one of Beagle or Sutter's wings - and having a second center to take draws on one of those lines enables the principal guy to be that much more aggressive.  It could push a guy like Leivo to the 13th spot and I think that would be a reasonable competition to earn minutes.

I think Adam has improved his face off technique and is much better now.  Last night he was 11/18.  Sutter loves the shut down role though, and we need that too.  Sutter has 2 seasons left and so does Besgle.  Adam isn’t taking Petey or Bo’s minutes.  

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1 minute ago, Virtanen#18 said:

ahhhh... got it!! So your type is??? 

 

I want Eriksson's look (coz... you can't tell what he's thinking), Boeser's flo, Myer's neck and Goldy's body! Can someone do this in PS?

I was surprised how strong Goldy looked at that team golf outing.  

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56 minutes ago, Alflives said:

The argument is that JB didn’t say “when” he’d make room.  Clearly Hockey Gaud earned a spot.  JB said he will make room for a player who earns a spot.  However, that could be in November.  

By November will be even harder barring a bunch of injuries. Rousell will be on the horizon needing a spot

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1 hour ago, Silky mitts said:

Let’s just get Jake thrown on bar watch and banned from cactus club. That ought to light a fire under him.

or just maybe the start of the regular season is the catalyst.  I swear people think the Cup is handed out at the end of September

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My take on the roster fool's game (difficult decisions to try to make, let alone predict what management will do - particularly if there is any trade market movement)

 

Ferland EP Boeser

Baertschi Horvat Miller

Pearson Sutter Virtanen/Gaudette

Motte/Leivo Beagle Gaudette/Virtanen

 

I think that performance-based, there 'should' probably be a competition between Motte, Leivo, Virtanen and Gaudette to see who earns the 3 remaining roster spots (maybe Pearson and/or Baertschi are in or find themselves in that group at this point or in the future).

Beagle has been great in preseason (added a goal), Sutter has had a pair of goals in 2 games - not sure why people are inclined to replace one of them -even if it were on preseason performance alone (which many people seem to feel has earned Gaudette a spot) - but these guys have probably only made the incline steeper (and maybe that is a good thing for Gaudette, who is developing with that group?)

 

Of course, the above leaves out LE - and Roussel.

 

And it includes Boeser - if Boeser isn't ready to return by opening night - another one of these decisions sets back - so it may be premature to be expecting to see guys like Goldobin or Eriksson on waivers at this point.

 

I think if it were a question of waiving Goldobin or not, I might not waive LE, but if keeping LE means waiving one of Motte, Leivo or Virtanen, I would not be keeping LE on the roster.  Assigning Gaudette to keep one of LE, Goldy, Schaller = might be a difficult decision...(maybe they'll manage a trade - but otherwise I think Goldobin has been 'ok' in preseason, but not sure he's done enough to hold off Gaudette (who looks like the better bet to be an NHL player).  Also hard to say whether Goldobin would be claimed if he were exposed.

 

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2 hours ago, stawns said:

Do people really think established players play as hard as a guy fighting for a spot?  They're aiming for the playoffs and Sutter and Beagle are going to be important parts of that push.

As always, preseason furor clouds judgement.

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