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Post by GNick99 on Dec 28, 2017 3:04:20 GMT -5
According to the Spector site via TVA, the Habs tried to trade Zach Fucale last week and found no takers. Spector comments that it is looking unlikely Fucale makes the bigs. www.spectorshockey.net/2017/12/nhl-rumor-mill-december-27-2017/If true, both our 2nd rounders drafted that year, De la Rose and Fucale, seem like big whiffs Goalies are a wild card...why I don't like drafting them high. Fucale was drafted large part on great comeback win in '12 playoffs against Remparts. Where he provided a Roy type spark to win. Comeback made had more to do with QC collapse though.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Dec 28, 2017 10:22:08 GMT -5
Very true GNick, goalies are a big time wild card. Right now, we have two undrafted free agent signings (Lindgren and McNiven) ahead of a high second rounder (Fucale) in our depth chart. Fucale was the top ranked goalie of his draft class and un gars de chez nous, so I understand the pick. Still do. To make the whole drafting goalie thing even weirder, our seventh rounder from the last draft (Primeau) is having an amazing rookie NCAA season after pretty uninspiring USHL numbers in his draft year.
My wife still reminds me a lot of my reaction to picking Price in the 5 spot. “We drafted a goalie?! We drafted a goalie?!” I have long wanted us to draft more big, talented centres with our top picks, and that year was no exception. I wanted Kopitar. Price has beaten the odds, but way too many don’t even come close.
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Post by blny on Dec 28, 2017 14:54:37 GMT -5
Not sure if this is the place for this. I have been watching the WJC off and on & attendance looks pretty spotty. I know there was some discussion here about ticket problems in Montreal for this tournament but, from what I've seen, Buffalo doesn't look much better. Even the first US game was terrible. Long side seats, between blue lines, were not completely full. End zone and upper bowl seats were basically empty. Canadian fans crossing the border have kept it from being completely embarrassing. I haven't seen any games from the pool playing two blocks away in the smaller rink. Keep this in mind ... organizers waited until today to decide whether or not to have the outdoor game tomorrow. It's a go, for now. If things change they would move to the late start time tomorrow evening. If they can keep things that open, that tells you what ticket pre-sales are like. No way they are on the fence if the game had sold more seats than the Sabres arena could hold. Buffalo last hosted 7 years ago. Attendance was better, on paper. I don't know if this includes comped tickets. I seem to recall a lot of empty seats 7 years ago, and it being an issue. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_World_Junior_Ice_Hockey_Championships
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Post by seventeen on Dec 28, 2017 15:54:47 GMT -5
Lots of prospects to watch on Thursday. Noon ET. Finland (Ikonen). TSN. 2:00pm ET. Canada vs Davos at Spengler (Evans). TSN2. 8:00pm ET. USA (Poehling) vs Slovakia. TSN. I saw part of the first game Canada played and tried to keep an eye on Evans. Unfortunately the first play that stood out was him not being able to get back and the guy I thought was his check scored the first goal of the game. I'm not sold on his speed as I was watching for it. It's on the big ice surface, so that's going to hurt him if he's more of a positional player, but still, it would be nice to have seen some more speed. Small sample, though.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Dec 28, 2017 18:35:33 GMT -5
Evans is not a speedster. One of the things that may hold him back a bit.
He played a lot more in game one. Did not get that much ice time today.
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Post by Willie Dog on Dec 28, 2017 21:27:37 GMT -5
A buddy is at the Belleville Rocket game in Belleville and he pinged me to tell me Lindgren got hurt in the game... they were leading 4-1 ... it's now 4-3
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Dec 28, 2017 21:37:47 GMT -5
Poehling centering the top line tonight against Slovakia. He has some past chemistry with Tkachuck from the Summer Showcase. The two combined for the US first goal tonight.
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Post by blny on Dec 28, 2017 22:54:44 GMT -5
Poehling centering the top line tonight against Slovakia. He has some past chemistry with Tkachuck from the Summer Showcase. The two combined for the US first goal tonight. Didn't see but the end of the game. Slovakia stuns the USA on the strength of their goalie Durny. USA outshot them 44 to 24.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Dec 29, 2017 1:17:40 GMT -5
Poehling centering the top line tonight against Slovakia. He has some past chemistry with Tkachuck from the Summer Showcase. The two combined for the US first goal tonight. Didn't see but the end of the game. Slovakia stuns the USA on the strength of their goalie Durny. USA outshot them 44 to 24. If you can find a clip of the winning goal...watch it! The Slovak players walks through the US team. Of course, you will also notice that a Poehling was trailing on the play and rather unengaged. He was not alone though, that was a mess.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Dec 29, 2017 1:18:45 GMT -5
A buddy is at the Belleville Rocket game in Belleville and he pinged me to tell me Lindgren got hurt in the game... they were leading 4-1 ... it's now 4-3 I saw the stats, looked like McNiven played the full 60. Makes sense since it was two games in two nights.
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Post by seventeen on Dec 29, 2017 1:46:06 GMT -5
Didn't see but the end of the game. Slovakia stuns the USA on the strength of their goalie Durny. USA outshot them 44 to 24. If you can find a clip of the winning goal...watch it! The Slovak players walks through the US team. Of course, you will also notice that a Poehling was trailing on the play and rather unengaged. He was not alone though, that was a mess. I watched him earlier and he looked really good. He was very strong on his stick on some forechecking plays and I liked seeing that. His passing and vision are also very good. I didn't see enough of that last Slovak goal to work out who missed assignments.
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Post by blny on Dec 29, 2017 10:42:41 GMT -5
Didn't see but the end of the game. Slovakia stuns the USA on the strength of their goalie Durny. USA outshot them 44 to 24. If you can find a clip of the winning goal...watch it! The Slovak players walks through the US team. Of course, you will also notice that a Poehling was trailing on the play and rather unengaged. He was not alone though, that was a mess. Wonder if he was at the end of a shift. Snow plow legs for sure.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Dec 29, 2017 11:21:08 GMT -5
Poehling had a good game overall. It was an infinitely better performance than game one. He does a lot of little things well for an 18 year old. Yeah, that back check on the winning goal kinda sucked. He was gassed and he had four teammates between the puck carrier and the net. Should have been okay, right? It will likely earn a few folks some video time with the coaches! They are young players, and are still learning.
Ikonen had a better third period yesterday. I am still left wanting more given his improved men’s league play leading up to the tourney. Hope he keeps improving in the rest of their games.
Watching the “unleashed” Mete in his two games has been fun. It is not only his skating that stands out, but his decision making is top notch too. He picks his spots wisely, and can usually recover with his speed. By contrast, Beaulieu used to constantly over-play that card with a lot less hockey sense.
There is a role for smaller defenders in today’s NHL, but they do need to be sheltered from facing too much physical onslaught. That would need a good solid defensive corps around him. The Habs are not there yet. It will be interesting to see what the Habs do post-WJC. Given his limited usage prior to the WJC and given the gong show nature of the D these days, does a half season dominating in juniors really sound all that bad for his development?
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Dec 29, 2017 11:41:16 GMT -5
WJC first ever outdoor game. Today. 3:00pm ET.
Canada (Mete) vs USA (Poehling).
Top spot in the group up for grabs. A very quick turnaround for the US kids. An important game being played outdoors...hmmm. The stands have been very far from full indoors so far, even for the US games. Interesting to see how many show up today in a cold football stadium. Counting on some serious cross border shopping today methinks.
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Post by blny on Dec 29, 2017 11:47:26 GMT -5
Poehling had a good game overall. It was an infinitely better performance than game one. He does a lot of little things well for an 18 year old. Yeah, that back check on the winning goal kinda sucked. He was gassed and he had four teammates between the puck carrier and the net. Should have been okay, right? It will likely earn a few folks some video time with the coaches! They are young players, and are still learning. Ikonen had a better third period yesterday. I am still left wanting more given his improved men’s league play leading up to the tourney. Hope he keeps improving in the rest of their games. Watching the “unleashed” Mete in his two games has been fun. It is not only his skating that stands out, but his decision making is top notch too. He picks his spots wisely, and can usually recover with his speed. By contrast, Beaulieu used to constantly over-play that card with a lot less hockey sense. There is a role for smaller defenders in today’s NHL, but they do need to be sheltered from facing too much physical onslaught. That would need a good solid defensive corps around him. The Habs are not there yet. It will be interesting to see what the Habs do post-WJC. Given his limited usage prior to the WJC and given the gong show nature of the D these days, does a half season dominating in juniors really sound all that bad for his development? He'd be back in London, so I think it would be good for him. There's no doubt he can play the game at a high rate of speed and make decisions at that speed. I haven't seen too many poor decisions in his own end. He's been pressured by the opposition and routinely made the right plays.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Dec 29, 2017 14:52:52 GMT -5
How about this play by Vejdemo? Nice all around.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Dec 29, 2017 14:59:44 GMT -5
I am keeping my eye on this lad since he came back from injury. He is rising in our prospect rankings big time IMO.
I have two games from this week to watch, he is on TV tomorrow, and comes back to Edmonton the first weekend in January.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Dec 29, 2017 16:07:28 GMT -5
First I am going to get my beef out of the way. The WJC is a short tournament, and this game means something big in terms of the standings and playoff matchups. Not the best choice for an outdoor gimmicky game. Also, I would rather see these two best teams head to head on normal great ice conditions. Oh yeah, those long angle side camera shots are really poor.
Good first for Canada. Mete blew a tire twice and was a bit flat footed with seconds left to take that hooking penalty. I am sure would rather be indoors!! Poehling is looking good. He is good at faceoffs, along the boards, especially in puck retrievals, and in open ice. He is also very effective on both PP and PK.
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Post by jkr on Dec 29, 2017 16:17:29 GMT -5
It's snowing heavily & conditions are pretty poor in Buffalo.
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Post by seventeen on Dec 29, 2017 16:41:55 GMT -5
I wouldn't mind seeing Canada lose this game. The last few tournaments where Canada has met the US, the team winning the first round robin game has ended up losing the more important knock out games later on (revenge incentive?). So if we lose this one, we'll have more incentive to win the next, if we meet.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Dec 29, 2017 17:14:50 GMT -5
I wouldn't mind seeing Canada lose this game. The last few tournaments where Canada has met the US, the team winning the first round robin game has ended up losing the more important knock out games later on (revenge incentive?). So if we lose this one, we'll have more incentive to win the next, if we meet. I want this one. The US beat us 3-1 in the round robin last year and then we lost the gold to them in a game that I felt we gave away in the 3rd. Carter Hart is way better this year than last, and this team rolls four tenacious lines. This team does not have the first round star power of the US or the Finnish defense, but it is a tough team to play against. We don’t win gold much any more. I want it back!!
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Dec 29, 2017 17:33:14 GMT -5
Dumb play Comtois. Game on.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Dec 29, 2017 18:09:35 GMT -5
Off to OT. That should be enough for Canada to win the group. They will need the full three points against Denmark tomorrow to be sure. They can still win this one of course.
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Post by seventeen on Dec 29, 2017 18:48:34 GMT -5
Glad they lost, as per my post above. This was a dog's breakfast in so many ways. Crappy conditions, crappy tv angles. Was that a real sized ice surface? It looked like the side boards were right up against the goal, it was so narrow. Canada looked tired at the end, to me. Did anyone else think so? Too many times where they weren't busting out on a turnover because they were gassed. Conditioning, or the temperature? In any case, I'm perfectly fine with a loss. Nothing for the US to rally around if they meet again. But lots for Canada to get excited about. NOt crazy about Hart's play in the shootout, though. He didn't have Mittelstadt's shot covered either. Mittelstadt just missed sliding it in all on his own. Not saying he had a bad game (in all honesty I didn't watch about half of it. Couldn't make out the puck for snow flakes, so why bother). Could be he was tired too or just frozen. The attempts on Oettinger were pathetic. Steel's was ok but hit the bar. The other 3 were again, slow and tired. Nice. Makes the US think we're not as good as we are. Ducharme must be ticked. I hope they never have another outdoor game again. Useless exercise but I suspect they will. They probably made a whack of $$ off it.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Dec 29, 2017 18:53:53 GMT -5
Glad they lost, as per my post above. This was a dog's breakfast in so many ways. Crappy conditions, crappy tv angles. Was that a real sized ice surface? It looked like the side boards were right up against the goal, it was so narrow. Canada looked tired at the end, to me. Did anyone else think so? Too many times where they weren't busting out on a turnover because they were gassed. Conditioning, or the temperature? In any case, I'm perfectly fine with a loss. Nothing for the US to rally around if they meet again. But lots for Canada to get excited about. NOt crazy about Hart's play in the shootout, though. He didn't have Mittelstadt's shot covered either. Mittelstadt just missed sliding it in all on his own. Not saying he had a bad game (in all honesty I didn't watch about half of it. Couldn't make out the puck for snow flakes, so why bother). Could be he was tired too or just frozen. The attempts on Oettinger were pathetic. Steel's was ok but hit the bar. The other 3 were again, slow and tired. Nice. Makes the US think we're not as good as we are. Ducharme must be ticked. I hope they never have another outdoor game again. Useless exercise but I suspect they will. They probably made a whack of $$ off it. Bad format for this tourney. Not a great viewing spectacle in the least. Glad it is over. I love this tourney...this game, not so much. Hart has been awesome this year, but the USA team is his kryptonite. We will still win the pool. Focus on getting better from now on.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Dec 29, 2017 19:01:28 GMT -5
Saturday is full of Habs Prospects on TV. Hope you all have PVR space left. Delete some of those Habs games if not!!
9:00am ET. TSN2. Spengler Cup (Evans). 3:30pm ET. Sportsnet. Moose Jaw (Brook). 4:00pm ET. TSN. Finland (Ikonen). 8:00pm ET. TSN. Canada (Mete).
Please check your listing in case I have anything wrong.
Brook is on a roll of late. Hope he keeps it going on National tv.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Dec 30, 2017 16:34:29 GMT -5
Another assist for Vejdemo today. He has now matched his SHL season high in points...already!
This was a well executed two on one. He was the one receiving and dishing the puck back to his teammate for a goal.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Dec 31, 2017 9:27:18 GMT -5
Good experience for the young man, although the big ice does definitely favour faster skaters. The big question mark will be what he does when his NCAA season and career are over this spring. I am sure he is getting sick of that question by now.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Dec 31, 2017 9:52:48 GMT -5
Will Bitten doing a lot of good things so far this season and has been heating it up offensively of late. This is big for him as he will be looking to lock up his entry level deal before the summer.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Dec 31, 2017 10:00:28 GMT -5
Sunday prospects on tv.
4:00pm ET. USA (Poehling) vs Finland (Ikonen). TSN.
This is a big game for both teams. Second place in the pool is on the line.
Want to see a future Hab? Insert overly-optimistic giggles in the background. Russia-Sweden are on at 8:00 ET featuring the top two projected picks of the draft. The WJC do actually feature four of Button’s projected top five picks, so it has been great for draft watchers.
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