|
|
Post by NWTHabsFan on Mar 7, 2018 15:43:14 GMT -5
Both 19 year old forwards out of the OHL get their entry level deals. I fully expected one for Bitten and felt that Pezzetta had shown some good improvement this year and would be a possibility as well. Bitten definitely has the best NHL upside of the two, which is not a surprise given when they were drafted.
The team can sign Evans once his NCAA season is done.
|
|
|
|
Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Mar 8, 2018 20:39:44 GMT -5
... didn't know Will Bitten was bilingual ... grew up in Ottawa (Gloucester) ...
Translated by Mircrosoft - "Thank you, I would like to thank my former professors at the École Franco-Cité D'ottawa for their help during my studies."
|
|
|
|
Post by blny on Mar 8, 2018 21:30:48 GMT -5
Congrats to both. Bitten will be 20 in July, so he could play for Laval in the Fall correct?
|
|
|
|
Post by NWTHabsFan on Mar 8, 2018 22:13:43 GMT -5
Congrats to both. Bitten will be 20 in July, so he could play for Laval in the Fall correct? Both can. Fleury can also be signed and play next season too due to his November birthday. |
|
|
|
Post by blny on Mar 9, 2018 6:41:08 GMT -5
Congrats to both. Bitten will be 20 in July, so he could play for Laval in the Fall correct? Both can. Fleury can also be signed and play next season too due to his November birthday. Thanks. Wasn't sure what the cut off was. Get em in there. Some youthful skill not just playing for the sake of it. AHL vets like Chris Terry and Taormina aren't doing them any good. |
|
|
|
Post by seventeen on Mar 9, 2018 13:45:59 GMT -5
Both can. Fleury can also be signed and play next season too due to his November birthday. Thanks. Wasn't sure what the cut off was. Get em in there. Some youthful skill not just playing for the sake of it. AHL vets like Chris Terry and Taormina aren't doing them any good. It's a bit confusing because the draft age cut-off is Sept 15th while the determination for an over-age player for both IIHF (the World Juniour Tournament) and things like eligibility for the AHL is Dec 31st. Fleury will be 20 before Dec 31st so he's eligible for Laval. Bitten and Pezzetta played two more years in juniour after being drafted so they too will be 20 before Dec 31st. I'm very interested to see how Fleury and Bitten do. Fleury will have the MEM Cup for us to check him out as well. |
|
|
|
Post by NWTHabsFan on Mar 9, 2018 14:19:58 GMT -5
I think Fleury will hold his own, unlike rookie Simon Bourque who has not managed to get much playing time at all this season. They have not even sent him down to the ECHL to get games in. Seemingly, it is better to be a healthy scratch on a struggling team with tons of PTOs than getting him some playing time. He is playing now as they are really out of healthy bodies on D.
Fleury has developed quite well this year, and it is not just because he was moved at the deadline to a much better team in Regina. That has sure helped, but he was also doing a lot of things better this year in Kootenay. They were a really bad team last year and he was basically on his own and did not play with very talented partners, so he was all over the ice trying to hold down the fort on D. He has really got more structured in playing his role and develop better two way habits. He plays solid defensively by breaking up plays, often in the neutral zone. He likes to be aggressive in gap control and he is also the most physically inclined of our four WHL defenders. He has a decent first pass, is mobile, and has a decent panic threshold, so he will hold on and look for options before just dumping it up off the boards. He is decent on the point on the offensive side as well, and his hockey IQ is good.
He and Brook are really impressing me so far this season. Both have things to work on, but I do like both of their upside.
|
|
|
|
Post by frozone on Mar 9, 2018 15:01:57 GMT -5
I haven't seen Simon Bourque play this season, so take it with a grain of salt... but I was happy to see that he's a +7 on the year (34 games), which leads all active Rocket players in that category. Mind you he only has 1 assist, but at least he doesn't seem to be a write-off.
|
|
|
|
Post by NWTHabsFan on Mar 9, 2018 15:51:55 GMT -5
A very timely tweet considering we were also talking about Fleury (above) and the possibility of the Habs signing him this off season.
|
|
|
|
Post by mikeg on Mar 13, 2018 15:28:55 GMT -5
I just read the athletic's take on Bitten and Pezzetta. Bitten is an intriguing prospect who definitely is the Gallagher replacement... Pezzetta though... ugh, I think this passage sums it up best: "It’s true that Pezzetta is a unique prospect. Few players bring such an established off-ice presence and leadership ability, and he's a force around the net. However, less than 10 percent of players who have produced around 0.84 points per game in their fourth year of OHL hockey have become NHLers, in any capacity. The ones who have are overwhelmingly replacement level, at best. This phenomenon should be familiar to the Canadiens, as it has occurred often in their developmental system. In the last decade, the organization has signed several similarly low-scoring fourth and fifth-year junior players, such as Connor Crisp, Ian Schultz, Alain Berger, Philippe Lefebvre, Stefan Fournier, Jack Nevins, and more. None of them even played a single game in the NHL, and many were fringe AHLers.
This illustrates that, despite the evidence being overwhelming against signing players of Pezzetta’s statistical profile, the Canadiens do it anyway. And they receive no tangible NHL (and often, AHL) benefit in return.Of, course this doesn’t mean that Pezzetta will follow the same path; he brings attributes that could make him a valuable pro-level hockey player. But the odds are against him." |
|
|
|
Post by seventeen on Mar 13, 2018 18:26:41 GMT -5
I just read the athletic's take on Bitten and Pezzetta. Bitten is an intriguing prospect who definitely is the Gallagher replacement... Pezzetta though... ugh, I think this passage sums it up best: "It’s true that Pezzetta is a unique prospect. Few players bring such an established off-ice presence and leadership ability, and he's a force around the net. However, less than 10 percent of players who have produced around 0.84 points per game in their fourth year of OHL hockey have become NHLers, in any capacity. The ones who have are overwhelmingly replacement level, at best. This phenomenon should be familiar to the Canadiens, as it has occurred often in their developmental system. In the last decade, the organization has signed several similarly low-scoring fourth and fifth-year junior players, such as Connor Crisp, Ian Schultz, Alain Berger, Philippe Lefebvre, Stefan Fournier, Jack Nevins, and more. None of them even played a single game in the NHL, and many were fringe AHLers.
This illustrates that, despite the evidence being overwhelming against signing players of Pezzetta’s statistical profile, the Canadiens do it anyway. And they receive no tangible NHL (and often, AHL) benefit in return.Of, course this doesn’t mean that Pezzetta will follow the same path; he brings attributes that could make him a valuable pro-level hockey player. But the odds are against him." Seems Montreal's advanced stats guy is asleep at the switch. Or doesn't believe the above stats. I read that earlier, but my gut test tells me that if a guy doesn't improve substantially from year to year the odds he makes it are low. I haven't been as high on Pezzetta as I am on Bitten, even before this article, which certainly confirms the gut test. I used to read the section of the NHL guide which showed the stats for every current player or prospect for an NHL team and one thing you take from the numbers after a few years, is that the guys who don't improve on a points per game basis in leagues before they get to the NHL often don't make the NHL. Another point of interest...guys who succeeded to the NHL, may have had 'normal' stats during the season and then improved on those in the playoffs. They often went on to take that improvement into the next regular season in their post draft year. I guess reading all those stupid stats wasn't a waste of time. Or maybe it was. I could have been finding a cure for cancer instead. |
|
|
|
Post by NWTHabsFan on Mar 13, 2018 18:38:37 GMT -5
I like what Bitten brings. He has speed, decent skill, and some jam for his size. He could end up being a bit of a Paul Byron type of bottom six guy. Or not. But at least he does bring some talent to the table. More than his stats alone show.
Pezzetta was always going to be a big “do they sign?” for me. If we did not have so many contract spaces open, I would be a lot more opposed to a three year deal with this type of player versus a much more skilled UFA for example. I still want to see us getting more speed and skill, no matter how they find it: draft, trade, free agent. Pezzetta has put up decent numbers this season, blowing away his past offensive output. He also gets to play with some really top notch guys in Sarnia. His style just does not scream NHL production to me. I am still not sold on his NHL upside or potential yet either. He may make it, but there just are too many other more talented guys fighting for spots.
|
|
|
|
Post by blny on Mar 14, 2018 5:35:35 GMT -5
I just read the athletic's take on Bitten and Pezzetta. Bitten is an intriguing prospect who definitely is the Gallagher replacement... Pezzetta though... ugh, I think this passage sums it up best: "It’s true that Pezzetta is a unique prospect. Few players bring such an established off-ice presence and leadership ability, and he's a force around the net. However, less than 10 percent of players who have produced around 0.84 points per game in their fourth year of OHL hockey have become NHLers, in any capacity. The ones who have are overwhelmingly replacement level, at best. This phenomenon should be familiar to the Canadiens, as it has occurred often in their developmental system. In the last decade, the organization has signed several similarly low-scoring fourth and fifth-year junior players, such as Connor Crisp, Ian Schultz, Alain Berger, Philippe Lefebvre, Stefan Fournier, Jack Nevins, and more. None of them even played a single game in the NHL, and many were fringe AHLers.
This illustrates that, despite the evidence being overwhelming against signing players of Pezzetta’s statistical profile, the Canadiens do it anyway. And they receive no tangible NHL (and often, AHL) benefit in return.Of, course this doesn’t mean that Pezzetta will follow the same path; he brings attributes that could make him a valuable pro-level hockey player. But the odds are against him." Not to nitpick that list, but Fournier was a ppg player in his last two years of jr. Stefan's issue was skating. He can't. If Pezzetta can, he's got leg up. |
|
|
|
Post by NWTHabsFan on Mar 14, 2018 11:49:10 GMT -5
Pezzetta's skating is not an issue. He is definitely a north-south guy though, so not a dipsy doodle skater. Kyrou does all of that fancy skating on the line.
|
|
|
|
Post by blny on Mar 14, 2018 11:59:47 GMT -5
Pezzetta's skating is not an issue. He is definitely a north-south guy though, so not a dipsy doodle skater. Kyrou does all of that fancy skating on the line. If he can keep up with the likes of Kyrou, he's definitely got pro level skating. |
|
