travel_dude

And we have a camp invite, a guy passed over in the draft.

I am really interested is seeing what Kinvaal has to offer. He was a really offensive player in Europe. He had some issues in his game defensively, or so I was led to believe. Wonder if he can transition to NHL rapidly. He hasn't got as much experience as Kylington, but has done things we hoped Kylington would do. He's down on the depth chart, but I do think he could be a big surprise.

Whether we agree with you or not, we agree to your right to be wrong. 🙂 I would only ever block you if you spouted things that broke the rules of posting (as defined for all NHL sponsored sites). If I don't want to listen to you, I can "ignore" you with a click. Anyway, I only saw the link between convicted felons and having to show your passport. The other stuff is noise I choose not to listen to. Twitter and SM are things that are allowing lies and crap to be shared. Along with truths. Both receive the same amount of "press" on these sites. Hey, you kids get off my lawn.

We re-signed Mackey to a 2 year deal as well. I'm not sure about Brad. Can't really remember what he did in ARI lately. 2 years ago he had 19 goals on the season.

He must have deleted this; it's pretty crazy. The one I saw suggested that convicted sex offenders had more rights than those being required to show a vaccine passport. They don't have to show proof of abuse. Anyway, I'm out on this topic. Just was asking a question.

Out of curiosity, what are you referring to? Tweets about predators? Conspiracy theories? Just curious. He has a number of things he has tweeted and the one I thought they were focusing on was about predators.

I got really annoyed watching him play against his "friends" prior to this season. It seemed like either he didn't want to engage or he was neutered by the coach Wardo. What is really strange is that Lucic fought Nurse the day after Wardo was fired. Ritchie fought 10 days later. The stick incident with Tkachuk happened in January. Whatever the lack of identity was then may have been resolved by Sutter talking to Lucic, either directly or indirectly through Huska. I'm just speculating here. It definitely changed over the course of March. Some hanging on to old ways, but we started having each other's backs.

In some ways I can't really blame Lucic. He is a paid fighter that gets his knuckles beat up on a guy's helmet. Must be tiring. The game in question was a frustrating loss, but some of the guys were okay and just skated off. Matty decided an insult is an insult.Flew off the handle. Gio was the guy on the ice that didn't press it. Lucic is a proud guy, so I think he hates more that players give up than anything else. He will go to war if it's worth it. Gio, at times, was more concerned about leaving and moving on. I hope they decide as a group to fight to the end in every game. Sutter seemed to bring that mentality to the team. They played the final games like they were in the playoff race. I want that. I hated the result, but whatever. It's what you want your team to do, play at or above their level not below. F the draft pick. If we deserve a lotto pick we get one, otherwise gve us 13th.

What, Gio wasn't invited? Just kidding, it's a young man's wedding. No Lucic. The Swedes are in BC catching fish with 420.

I think there are several options. If you go for a shutdown pair, Zaddy and Tanev. Or a mix of vet and young players, Zaddy with Kylington/Mackey, Hani-Ras, Vali-Tanev. Pays to have multiple looks too.

What is the point of that. Buffalo is still below the cap floor. They will need to keep Eichel and trade for salary coming back. Just to be allowed to play without penalty. They have gutted the team to lose, but still are unable to ice a team. We could just offer a roster player and picks to help them out. How does Hanifin + Pelletier sound to you? Too much? Not enough? Leaves us short?

Was Brodie the problem? He stabilized Gio's game. He wasn't the toughest D-man, but he was more effective that a lot on our team. Tanev is a good replacement fo the D side of the game. Ras and Hanifin have moments of great play on both ends. Valimaki could be a great player. Zadorov brings something we lacked. I would like to add a D-man that adds some offense and puck moving.

Very few team have a mix of RHS and LHS defense that is one for one. Many LHS have the ability to play RD. Brodie was actually better in this spot. W just need to have a guy that excels on RD.

I was thinking the same. The trade of picks was confusing enough with picks going back and forth. ARI seems to get something for a player they wanted to trade, and get okay picks in the process. They will have enough picks to completely rebuild now.

I sometimes wonder if picking single players makes sense. Reider would work well with certain players, but what is the point of his speed playing with Lucic? He's not suited for top 6 here. I don't think he's a good enough defensive player to play with Backlund and Dube. Could be worng too. It's like signing Stone. It makes sense, but really only works if you have the right person to play him with.

Mange is most likely top 6. He fits with either Tkachuk or Coleman. We need scoring for sure.

If Ruzicka gets a C spot, then his linemates would be Lucic and Pitlick or Dube. Frankly, I think he is more of a Sutter player than Gawdin and could add some offense with either of those two RW.

Reider was one of those guys that had positive and negative impacts. I liked what he did, but at the same time I question whether he was effective on the PK. Sorry, I can't remember the exact situations, but at times he was a negative impact. I like his wheels and his ability to score shorties. For the money, a decent fill in. Does that make us any better?

I think it's kinda an overall assessment. The 2nd rounder for me is a good pick. Love the 1st. Some of the later rounds have player we look at with stats and other things like consensus, but there is more to it than that. I usually prefer to see D+1 before I criticize or praise the later picks. The 2nd, for instance, will play in Sweden's top league. He could become part of the WJC this year. The others will see elevated roles in their respective league, yes even Huskins and Why Not. The Flames have missed on some players in the past, but most recently, they are not bad picks. They may not be top 6 players in the NHL but you don't always get those in the 4th round or later. 2020 has some hit or miss guys in it (like Francis and Poirier, plus Kuz). 2019 has Nikolaev and Noddler, plus Wolfie. 2018 had nothing but 4th or later and still some possibles.

The problem with him in the O-zone is when he only goes to his LW side. He's much more deadly on his off-wing.

I should have said "listed". I don't know for a fact he was committed. Regardless, I think coming to NA and playing in the USHL is not a bad thing for a player. Good place to start here.

What I found interesting this year was Gaudreau putting more shots on net. Part of that was necessity, since Monahan was limited. And the 3rd F was usually incapable of getting anything away. I really haven't decided what the optimum line with him looks like. Gaudreau-Lindholm-Coleman Mangiapane-Monahan-Tkachuk (OHL line) That first line has a couple of players that can get open or take the puck to the net.

I thought he was committed to U of Con.

You mean with Nikolayev going there? USHL might be a great place for him to work on his game.

Playmakers will only have success if the rest of the line can raise their level. We didn't see any combination of Gaudreau and Lindholm in any playoffs yet. Call it mitigation, but really a playmaker is not going to have any success on their own. Would I like to see Gaudreau play more like Mangiapane? Sure, but I would rather see him have options. Obviously, the belief is he is pass first, so he needs to take more low shots on net. But the guys playing with him need to get open FFS. The PP last year was predictable when Gio was out there. JH passes to Gio who walks in or passes to Lindholm. Anywat, Pelletier is a bit of Gaudreau and a bit of Mangiapane. Smaller, more of a playmaker, but goes to the net. Would like to see him get 10 games in the latter part of the season, after he has spent time as a pro.