travel_dude

I really wonder what Sutter actually means when he talks. He gets angry when asked cerain questions. When he is being thoughful, the thought process is more coherent. He talked about playing young guys to TSN, saying he wanted to get at least two games in a row for guys like Ruzicka and Mackey, and mentioned specificallly Mackey, Kylington, Valimaki and Nesterov (?). He wasn;t excluding Phillips, just didn't say their names. Said he was constantly telling them things they need to work on, so it's not specific assignments in these games. His comments about being big and fast seems to me (on reflection) to be how you have to be able to contain the top teams. Can't expect to win if you don't win battles and your bottom 6 is on the ice for too many goals against. The D needs to be better at containing forwards. Filling up on Ritchie's and Robinson's isn't the answer. Fast attack still seems to be an issue for us. Slow, plodding, dump and chase is a strategy, but probably easier to defend against. A lot of one and done possession. I really didn't like the way our players were distributed through the lineup. Lucic with Backlund didn't make a lot of sense to me, nor did playing Mangiapane there. I'm not sure if Gaudreau doing well with Tkachuk and Lindholm is a product of end of season or if they fit that well. Prior to that it was Gaudreau-Monahan-plugin, which only makes sense if it's a player that fits and a healthy Monahan. 4th line always seemed to be leftovers.

The only team real question is whether VAN wins and passes us or we win 2 of 3 to pass CHI, since ARI doesn't get a pick. Not a big swing in the standings or draft order. Other than a lotto team passing us, which is as remote as winning it ourselves. 10th overall if VAN passes us. 11th overall if we win 1 game. 12th overall if we win 2 games. I may have mixed up your comments about Cossa. I thought you were saying he would go at least by 12, or I got that from the Wolf thread. Doesn't matter. If you believe Wally is better and we should not touch Cossa unless we drafted like 15th to 20th, then I won't really dispute that ranking for now. I not going to bother with the debate on the BPA available at our range. It's going to be anywhere from 1st to something after our current 11th overall rank depending on lotto. If it's a D, C, or W then whatever, only matters if there is a marginal upside to one over another. If it's Wally, then I'm sure our Euro scouts will have a good handle on if he is worth the pick or not.

Let me simplify it for you. We should be drafting between 10 and 12. You want to pick Cossa there. I talked about having luck with first round picks and really in the last 10 years only Tkachuk, Monahan, and Bennett are in that range. Maybe Baertschi. Other than the Feaster later picks and Janko, everyone of the 1st have become NHL players. Bennett the most perplexing, but still a NHL player that we could have used in the top 6. Baertschi's career disintegrated. You have been pretty vocal to draft Cossa. Build from the net out. Somehow Wolf is not even as good as Cossa, so need to draft Cossa. I disagree.

Nordstrom is a role player. Maybe not everyday player, but played to kill penalties and forecheck. Leivo never hit his stride, so I don't really know how to evaluate him. I like Ryan, but he's no match for bigger players. Not the same ability to fight for spots as Mangiapane, even though Mangiapane ends up on his butt more often. Stone played the way you want an injury call up or 7th D to be. If that's the best we can do, then we are in big trouble. I know I have been critical, and I also know he has been much better of late, but that is limited duty. My issue with using either of these new guys is that they will be played the way 4th liners are played here. Crash and bang for 8 minute. Did so much good for Bennett.

So, I was confused. Tampa has Gourde, Johnson, Point and Kucherov all below 5'11". Fast yes. All their D over 6 feet. Most teams have similar size. Hedman a difference make and huge. Vegas was a big team, but they didn't go to SCF. He was answering a general question with one or two sentences. He may have strictly been talking about bottom 6 and D. Might be the reason why he doesn't like Valimaki and Kylington. Don't hit enough. I think he tolerates Guadreau and love Tkachuk. Tolerates Johnny because he stirs the offence and can get results under Sutter. I will reserve judgement, since I think Sutter will only get some of what he thinks he needs. Backlund doesn't fit his mold, nor does Dube. AT some point, it might come to a head, since we jave some players that will be shunned that BT wants to see in.

NOTE - not direct quotes, but essentially what he said. Interesting press conference with Sutter post practice. "Size and grit wins championships" "Having size and grit on your 3rd and 4th line wins...." Asked about Phillips' assessment. "I seen him play 1-2 times, so can't give a fair assessment". Asked about size versus speed in today's game "Vegas came in 3 years ago and are big and fast. Just finished playing for the President Cup. Went to the Cup Finals. Big and fast wins chanpionships. Tampa brought in big and fast last year". The way I read that is your 3rd and 4th lines are grinders and gritty guys.

As liable to trade for or sign a starter in 3-5 years as draft one. We've drafted a few 1st rounders in G. Name one we had much success with. The majority of our 1st round picks at C, F and D have become everyday NHL'ers, Feaster not withstanding. Let's just go down the road a bit with drafting Cossa (assuming it's not a wasted pick at 10-12). His body of work is really 1.5 seasons at junior. Only this year has he gotten over .921. We get an equivalent player to Mangia[pane or Dube at F, you would be disappointed? Sheesh, tough to please. Is one of the D-men available at 10-13 trending towards being the next Jones? Would you really draft a D-man rated well below the forwards because you want a D?

I think it's important to look at what you have in the pipeline and take a step back before you use a 1st on a goalie who might go 2nd round in other drafts. Our pipeline for forwards is shallow. Have to hope that Phillips or Ruzicka or MEP make it from the current pro stock. Zary, Pelletier, Francis from the junior players. That's a 1-3 year timeline with not much else beyond that. I would also be more inclined to go after a D-man this year. than a goalie That's even worse shape. Sure, we may have a few that surprise us, but at this point no foxes. Maybe Kinnvall, but I think he is less of an all-round guy, more an offensive guy. I don't think we are talking about a Valilevskiy level goalie available here. Maybe not even a Spencer Knight. Maybe a Koskinen.

I think Green said he can't play all the players he wants to because of recall restrictions. Somehow, I don't think that is being enforced. If that's the reason why we can't see player X, then I get that. The comments sound nothing like that. The players on the ice give the impression that some or all will get their shot. Frankly, if we get 3 wins with Yelesin, Mackey, Phillips, Philp, Gawdin, and Zagidulin all on the ice, so be it. At least it lets them know they may be close to NHL. The "vets" can play in those games and understand they are the reason we see a bunch of young guys playing meaningless games. The vets had the chance to go to the playoffs. By vets, I mean all of the guys that played the season, not a few that sat a lot.

Gaudreau didn't enter the picture. Tkachuk-Lindholm-Dube was the default 1st line. The 2nd line made less sense with Gaudreau-Monahan-(Simon, Leivo, Bennett, whatever). I've never liked Bennett on RW; he gets too cramped and moves to middle to try to beat everyone. Bennett got a slight bump after he asked for a trade. But really, at that point Gaudreau-Monahan was completely stagnant. Should have moved Monahan to a different line to get him going. And move Lindy back to RW. Tkachuk-Monahan-Dube Gaudreau-Bennett-Lindholm or Tkachuk-Monahan-Lindholm Gaudreau-Bennett-Dube Not that there was evidence those would work, but really nothing else was. We knew there was chemistry between Bennett and Dube. We knew you could fit Monahan and Lindholm together. We knew we could use Gaudreau and Lindholm together. Blame Wardo for screwing up the lines, but part of that came from BT. MUST USE LINDHOLM AT C. But a real coach uses that as a guideline to get a winning formula.

Lysell, Stankoven (shoirt but built like Debrincat), Lucius, McTavish (C), Bolduc (C), Svechkov (C), Sillinger.... BPA is hard to quantify if you have a lower rated goalie vs a high ranked forward or D. So, if you are comfortable with picking from a small list of goalies (bust probability higher) than a number of players with lower bust potential, have at it. You want to pick Cossa at 10, I get it. Waiting till next year to load up on RHS prospects is a pretty risky strategy. Only have 1x1st next year, right?

As hopeful as that sounds, it's just a practice for players not generally practicing. What was the point in trying to get Markstrom another win in a meaningless game in garbage days? Get him another couple of games in Vancouver, so he can win there? I get it. The players want to play. They want to pad their stats. They want to win games. But honestly, I can see no good reason to play Ricthie and Nordstom at the least. They have done enough to prove their future value here. Gio and Tanev are two guys that could easily draw out to give some guys a chance.

That is the crux of the argument against taking them with your only 1st round pick. Honestly, we have bigger needs in the next 5 years than a goalie. We should be filling up on RW, RHS's, RD, C's....

I'm hoping that VAN goes on a winning streak so they can feel good. Would rather them pass us than us battling CHI for a worse pick. What bothers me more about winning now is that it sets up some belief that we are close and this season was somehow an outlier. That's the wrong thing that should happen. If injuries are the reason, then shut them down. Take an honest look at the player performances and decide if you expect them to continue that way or return to normal.

One thing I didn't take into consideration, Arizona lost it's draft pick. If we pass them, I don't think that changes our ranking.

I never understood why we needed to completely change what had worked to something that wasn't working. January through February, we we 10-10-2. Something wasn't right. It's one thing to use Bennett on LW in the top 9. Instead it was 3rd line RW, shutdown duties with a sometimes mistake prone Lucic. Or 4th line C. I mean it's up to him to elevate his game to get more ice, but not the easiest to do when you are played in a role or position that doesn't make that easy.

Kylington's reward for a Grade A chance - lowest time of any D-man, including Stone and Nesterov who missed time in the game (went down the tunnel). Considering we had on PK only, Gio and Tanev played less than they could have. The only thing meaningful at this point is draft order (yes, I feel like crap for hoping for losses). Currently 10th in standings, pick 11th. If we win one more or VAN loss, we can finish no better than 10th. 3 points and we pass Arizona for 11th. 4 points and we pass Chicago for 12th. The only improvement can be had in one of two lotto draws. Not great odds, but other teams have won them recently. About time we get something out of the odds.

I know you do more than look at numbers, but honestly it seems sometimes that's all you do. You ever watch Pelletier outside the WJC? How about watching either Wolf or Cossa play games? I get it, you don't like the players' size. But size does not guarantee success. Cossa has all of 52 junior games to his credit. I remember a big goalie drafted with better numbers for 3 season in the NCAA. Didn't make it...

I understand why you might want to start Markstrom, but what difference does it make to him if he gets 3-4 shutouts? Absolutely nothing. Meaningless games against a team that is being held together by spit. I can get behind giving Kylington the games, just have no idea what point there is for Nesterov. TBH, even Stone, Gio and Tanev have no real need to play. They have solidified their futures (Stone's 4 games are not going to do anything for BT to make an offer or not). Ritchie and Norstrom? Where is the need to play either of them? We know what they are. Even Backlund and Ryan are guys I would consider sitting. Maybe a line of Mangiapane-Gadwin (or Ruzicka)-Dube would be something to see what they can do. Or try out Dube at C. Or get Phillips out there. We draft guys that fit into the top 9 and play them on the 4th line, if they are lucky. And there seems to be zero creativity in changing anything. Gotta have Gio play 24 minutes. Gotta use Ras with a guy that had been bad for 1/2 the season. Gotta tie Dube to Lucic.

I was thinking about Pelletier. Maybe I'm off base, but I have to think he's our top prospect right now and could be better than what we draft. I don't know though. So hard to project futures for players not in the top 5. We win the lotto, then different story.

There is no good reason to play Gio or Tanev. Risking either of those players for nothing games is dumb as well. Backlund should take an early vacation and head to Sweden. One could argue he started that a few weeks back, lol. You aren't going to fins (many?) any coaches that sign off on icing a watered down version of the team. Sutter wouldn't do than no matter what the stakes. The AHL season was a gong show. Barely 2 months of play. 30 games for us, teams as low as 24 and as high as 41.

I don't know that I agree with this statement. The latter part, yes. If we get a lotto pick, then yes he would likely be their best prospect.

I guess one good thing is that some of our young players are going to the WC. Pettersen, Ruzicka (maybe), Dube, Mangiapane. Think a few of those guys really need it. The AHL was a gong show.

You give a guy like Big Snag Zag the chance, where he is fighting for his next contract, he's liable to get 4 shutouts. Awesome story, but what would that even prove? We are quite capable of losing to a team like Vancouver. And after a loss, we will see worse players getting the call over young players.

Funny. I get a little sensitive at draft time. Liked the Monahan, Bennett, Tkachuk, Valimaki picks. Okay with Pelletier, as he is one of the best players in the Q. Beyond that, drafting smaller guys outside the 1st round is fine.