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Post by Willie Dog on Feb 6, 2020 9:13:48 GMT -5
And perhaps Suzuki is more comfortable & doing well because he went back to junior last season & dominated in the playoffs, almost winning a Memorial Cup. Didn't management learn anything from that? It's all about PR... Next year it'll CC and Romanov... They'll get messed up as well. This organization is not bright enough to see how other teams are having success... they keep doing the same thing over and can;t figure out why it doesn;t work... Like a messed up Roomba... banging into the same wall repeatedly.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 6, 2020 11:35:27 GMT -5
And perhaps Suzuki is more comfortable & doing well because he went back to junior last season & dominated in the playoffs, almost winning a Memorial Cup. Didn't management learn anything from that? This is key. Suzuki dominated. He came in with confidence. OHL playoff MVP. Several dominating OHL seasons in a row. Gord Miller expands on this very well in this interview on TSN690. He also talks about how the Habs are a bit hooped now that they have burned a lot of his waiver eligible games. PR "shiny new objects" moves come back to haunt ya.
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Post by Tankdriver on Feb 6, 2020 11:48:12 GMT -5
And perhaps Suzuki is more comfortable & doing well because he went back to junior last season & dominated in the playoffs, almost winning a Memorial Cup. Didn't management learn anything from that? This is key. Suzuki dominated. He came in with confidence. OHL playoff MVP. Several dominating OHL seasons in a row. Gord Miller expands on this very well in this interview on TSN690. He also talks about how the Habs are a bit hooped now that they have burned a lot of his waiver eligible games. PR "shiny new objects" moves come back to haunt ya. Sounds a lot like GM over his head.
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Post by Skilly on Feb 6, 2020 12:08:54 GMT -5
And perhaps Suzuki is more comfortable & doing well because he went back to junior last season & dominated in the playoffs, almost winning a Memorial Cup. Didn't management learn anything from that? And maybe Suzuki is comfortable because he is playing the role they acquired him for with quality linemates. They drafted KK as a potential first line center. Not a third line shut down guy. As for his development, no one here was wanting him in Laval or Finland last year when he was playing well. If the argument is that he needs to develop from the lower lines and work his way up, then last year around January (much like Suzuki) they should have put him on the first/second line and left him there. Let him develop for the role they want him for, IN the role they want him. Rookie Suzuki - 55GP - 10G - 23A - 33PTS - 15:49TOI (2:06 PP TOI per game) Rookie Kotkaniemi - 55GP - 10G - 17A - 27PTS - 14:06TOI (1:56 PP TOI per game - this is for whole season, not first 55 games) Now factor in their linemates and tell me again how Kotkaniemi didn't develop very well last year? He did everything he could and more and still did not get rewarded as Suzuki has …. sometimes you don't need to go to Laval, you need to be put into a position to succeed
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Post by jkr on Feb 6, 2020 12:22:48 GMT -5
Montreal is a most difficult market; management knows this. Yet, they throw two 18 year olds into the deep end (Galchenyuk, Kotkaniemi) and expect them to thrive without putting them in a position to succeed by playing them in challenging situations with linemstes that have some talent.
Hindsight is easy now. Both should not have made the team & should have been sent down for further development. Galchenyuk, especially, because of his injury that limited him to 35 games in his last two seasons of junior. This path isnt new or ground breaking. Its the way most teams handle development. Even someone as talented as Marner, picked at #4 overall, was returned to junior by the Leafs.
I doubt guys like Hoffman or Stone would have become good NHL scorers if drafted by Montreal because they don't seem to possess the knowledge or patience necessary to develop players properly.
It's just one more thing with these guys & one more reason why the Habs won't get far as long as they are in charge.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 6, 2020 12:41:30 GMT -5
And perhaps Suzuki is more comfortable & doing well because he went back to junior last season & dominated in the playoffs, almost winning a Memorial Cup. Didn't management learn anything from that? And maybe Suzuki is comfortable because he is playing the role they acquired him for with quality linemates. They drafted KK as a potential first line center. Not a third line shut down guy. As for his development, no one here was wanting him in Laval or Finland last year when he was playing well. If the argument is that he needs to develop from the lower lines and work his way up, then last year around January (much like Suzuki) they should have put him on the first/second line and left him there. Let him develop for the role they want him for, IN the role they want him. Rookie Suzuki - 55GP - 10G - 23A - 33PTS - 15:49TOI (2:06 PP TOI per game) Rookie Kotkaniemi - 55GP - 10G - 17A - 27PTS - 14:06TOI (1:56 PP TOI per game - this is for whole season, not first 55 games) Now factor in their linemates and tell me again how Kotkaniemi didn't develop very well last year? He did everything he could and more and still did not get rewarded as Suzuki has …. sometimes you don't need to go to Laval, you need to be put into a position to succeed Agree, and since Claude is not comfortable with KK in that role, then at least he is getting that role in Laval. He had 4 assists in his first two games there playing with good linemates and getting PP time. Let him play out the season doing that. Assistant coach Daniel Jacob said they are going to play him a lot, let him make mistakes, and let him learn from them. Claude cannot afford that approach in Montreal, his boss is still pushing for an elusive playoff spot. Same with Poehling. I can guarantee that they did not draft a centreman 25th overall to be a fourth line winger and play him less than 10 minutes a game. It is funny, but if you had said that only one of Poehling, KK and Suzuki would have a locked in spot with the team this season and playing in an impactful role, I am not sure Suzuki would have been the first name to pop out of mouths. I thought he needed more seasoning than the other two. Shows what I know!!
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Post by UberCranky on Feb 6, 2020 15:30:02 GMT -5
And maybe Suzuki is comfortable because he is playing the role they acquired him for with quality linemates. They drafted KK as a potential first line center. Not a third line shut down guy. As for his development, no one here was wanting him in Laval or Finland last year when he was playing well. If the argument is that he needs to develop from the lower lines and work his way up, then last year around January (much like Suzuki) they should have put him on the first/second line and left him there. Let him develop for the role they want him for, IN the role they want him. Rookie Suzuki - 55GP - 10G - 23A - 33PTS - 15:49TOI (2:06 PP TOI per game) Rookie Kotkaniemi - 55GP - 10G - 17A - 27PTS - 14:06TOI (1:56 PP TOI per game - this is for whole season, not first 55 games) Now factor in their linemates and tell me again how Kotkaniemi didn't develop very well last year? He did everything he could and more and still did not get rewarded as Suzuki has …. sometimes you don't need to go to Laval, you need to be put into a position to succeed Agree, and since Claude is not comfortable with KK in that role, then at least he is getting that role in Laval. He had 4 assists in his first two games there playing with good linemates and getting PP time. Let him play out the season doing that. Assistant coach Daniel Jacob said they are going to play him a lot, let him make mistakes, and let him learn from them. Claude cannot afford that approach in Montreal, his boss is still pushing for an elusive playoff spot. Same with Poehling. I can guarantee that they did not draft a centreman 25th overall to be a fourth line winger and play him less than 10 minutes a game. It is funny, but if you had said that only one of Poehling, KK and Suzuki would have a locked in spot with the team this season and playing in an impactful role, I am not sure Suzuki would have been the first name to pop out of mouths. I thought he needed more seasoning than the other two. Shows what I know!! What Suzuki has over the other two is high hockey IQ. That's something that can't be taught AND something that facilitates learning. I thought that Poehling had a high hockey IQ too but somehow, it doesn't seem to translate to his offence. Atleast, not yet.
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Post by seventeen on Feb 6, 2020 15:37:13 GMT -5
It really depends on the player and their circumstances. It hasn't hurt Brady Tkachuk, but he's almost a year older than KK. It didn't hurt Dahlin. It didn't hurt McDavid. Its easy to look at a whole bunch of guys who didn't do well immediately and say you should treat everyone that way.
The factors are:
1) the player's physical make-up. It's probably easier for a big guy to fit in right away, than a small guy....but not always. It didn't bother Patrick Kane in the least. 2) His draft position. The higher the pick, the more likely his team will want him starting in the NHL. 3) Marketing - If a team is really bad and needs the juice provided by a high pick to generate ticket sales, they're going to start in the NHL (Jack Hughes) 4) the situation - Brady Tkachuk moved onto a team with little or no competition, so he got plenty of ice time and was put in positions to succeed. The Ottawa mentality is to play the kids, mainly because they've traded away all their expensive veterans
So....look at KK in that context. He's tall enough and while he's not a stringbean like Pettersson, he'll probably play at a higher weight when hes physically mature. This category is inconclusive. Maybe he could have been kept in the minors, but he played well enough to stick.
2) Third overall pick. Pretty high, so the inclination is stronger to keep him than send him down 3) Marketing. The Habs aren'r hurting for ticket sales, but there was a lot of excitement around KK, so there was pressure to have him stay with the big team. 4) Ah, the situation. Claude Julien was quoted in an Athletic article yesterday (it was about Armia) that he treasures consistency, and prefers it to the possibility of improvement. That's a direct quote. He loves knowing what a player can give him and isn't crazy about someone who might give him more in the long run, but who he can't count on tomorrow. That says it all to me. I know myself, I prefer what I'm used to and while I am perfectly capable of learning new things, unless I can see a continuing use for it, I'd simply prefer not to put the necessary work into that new thing. Julien turns 60 in April. If he's normal (and I suspect he is), he's more interested in simply getting on with things than spending the time necessary to improve Kotkaniemi with the result he helps out some other coach, immensely, in 3 years time after Julien is let go. He wants Cousins' and Thompson's consistency now. Course, it's useless consistency, and KK might be just as good right now, but he might have one great day and one really bad day. That drives coaches nuts. So the situation for KK wasn't and isn't good. There are too many players competing for jobs on the Habs, unlike Ottawa, so Julien has choices. He simply prefers veterans because his core belief is that veterans make fewer mistakes. (Loud buzzer sound). That's not necessarily right, of course, but it's what he believes to his core.
So, in KK's case, there are enough good reasons to have held him back, but there are understandable reasons why he was not. IMO, for it to work out, Julien has to go. The team needs a coach who is more equitable with their ice time. There are some guys Julien will ALWAYS trust more, even if their time has passed. And, of course, IMO, we're well past the time we needed a new GM. After this season....HIS team, HIS players will have missed the playoffs 4 of the last 5 years. Completely unacceptable. Don't bank on all those kids turning out well. Bergevin is the master of quantity rather than quality. I don't expect that to change.
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Post by Willie Dog on Feb 6, 2020 18:45:52 GMT -5
As long as Julien and Danault are with the team, KK will never get a shot at the #1 centre spot he was drafted for... MB will extend Danault for 4 or 5 years for big bucks and stay in the #1 spot...
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Post by Skilly on Feb 7, 2020 9:47:01 GMT -5
As long as Julien and Danault are with the team, KK will never get a shot at the #1 centre spot he was drafted for... MB will extend Danault for 4 or 5 years for big bucks and stay in the #1 spot... Danault is a good player, but I came to the realization long ago, that he is the impediment to developing these players. Against Anaheim, the three centers were Danault, Suzuki, Domi … It was the first time they put Suzuki with Armia and Lehkonen (Kotkaniemi's old line from last year) Imagine putting Kotkaniemi in the lineup instead of Danault. Heck, Imagine dropping Danualt down to the third line and and moving Domi to the wing in a top six role … Player Development on this team is non-existent. Strange how KK can go to the AHL, get PP minutes and first line minutes, and score 4 points in 2 games and that will likely be evaluated as being third line ready ... Suzuki scored last night, on the PP, without from Lehkonen and Armia. I'd be very interested to see if they keep that line together and to see if Suzuki can produce as much as KK did on that line, at even strength. Another FYI, Suzuki has never played with Cousins, Weal, or Weise either.
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Post by Willie Dog on Feb 7, 2020 10:12:46 GMT -5
As long as Julien and Danault are with the team, KK will never get a shot at the #1 centre spot he was drafted for... MB will extend Danault for 4 or 5 years for big bucks and stay in the #1 spot... Danault is a good player, but I came to the realization long ago, that he is the impediment to developing these players. Against Anaheim, the three centers were Danault, Suzuki, Domi … It was the first time they put Suzuki with Armia and Lehkonen (Kotkaniemi's old line from last year) Imagine putting Kotkaniemi in the lineup instead of Danault. Heck, Imagine dropping Danualt down to the third line and and moving Domi to the wing in a top six role … Player Development on this team is non-existent. Strange how KK can go to the AHL, get PP minutes and first line minutes, and score 4 points in 2 games and that will likely be evaluated as being third line ready ... Suzuki scored last night, on the PP, without from Lehkonen and Armia. I'd be very interested to see if they keep that line together and to see if Suzuki can produce as much as KK did on that line, at even strength. Another FYI, Suzuki has never played with Cousins, Weal, or Weise either. Danault is CJs DD... plain and simple.
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Post by Tankdriver on Feb 7, 2020 12:24:17 GMT -5
Danault is a good player, but I came to the realization long ago, that he is the impediment to developing these players. Against Anaheim, the three centers were Danault, Suzuki, Domi … It was the first time they put Suzuki with Armia and Lehkonen (Kotkaniemi's old line from last year) Imagine putting Kotkaniemi in the lineup instead of Danault. Heck, Imagine dropping Danualt down to the third line and and moving Domi to the wing in a top six role … Player Development on this team is non-existent. Strange how KK can go to the AHL, get PP minutes and first line minutes, and score 4 points in 2 games and that will likely be evaluated as being third line ready ... Suzuki scored last night, on the PP, without from Lehkonen and Armia. I'd be very interested to see if they keep that line together and to see if Suzuki can produce as much as KK did on that line, at even strength. Another FYI, Suzuki has never played with Cousins, Weal, or Weise either. Danault is CJs DD... plain and simple. I don't think so. That was Therrien. He is Juliens version of Bergeron. A top line 2 way responsible center to be played in all situations.
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Post by Willie Dog on Feb 7, 2020 12:39:06 GMT -5
Danault is CJs DD... plain and simple. I don't think so. That was Therrien. He is Juliens version of Bergeron. A top line 2 way responsible center to be played in all situations. I get what your saying... what I'm saying is like DD blocked Galchy, Danault will block KK...
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Post by Skilly on Feb 7, 2020 13:58:35 GMT -5
Danault is CJs DD... plain and simple. I don't think so. That was Therrien. He is Juliens version of Bergeron. A top line 2 way responsible center to be played in all situations. A "top line" … that's where we will have to agree to disagree. I would like my top line center to have more than 50 points (which Danault only broke once). I'd also like my top line center to score more than 13 goals (which he may finally do this year). Danault is not a top line center. He has been given a chance and has put up decent numbers, but who wouldn't with that ice time and quality of linemates? If we had a legit top line center, maybe the wingers produce more too.
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Post by Andrew on Feb 7, 2020 14:39:47 GMT -5
Gord Miller expands on this very well in this interview on TSN690. He also talks about how the Habs are a bit hooped now that they have burned a lot of his waiver eligible games. Here are highlights of Miller's interview pulled from a reddit post. Credit to BlazeOfGlory72 for the transcription:
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Post by jkr on Feb 7, 2020 15:19:52 GMT -5
A couple of things about that article:
Galchenyuk had very little time in his last 2 years of junior. He had a serious knee injury. He only played 35 games in Sarnia & that had to have hindered his development; yet he made the team as an 18 year old.
The part that really caught by eye on JK was the waiver eligibility. It's hard to believe that management didn't see this coming. They have hamstrung themselves with bad planing. Why am I not surprised.
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Post by UberCranky on Feb 7, 2020 15:31:24 GMT -5
No player doesn't develop in a vacuum. One can point fingers at management, but also has to do with the players desire, umm, emphasize DESIRE to be an NHL player.
Another point, Kk was playing "well" for half or last season playing protected minutes. What happened? Did he get tired? Or when faced with "unprotected" minutes, his 200 ft game was lacking. Ditto for this season. So it's not "tired", it's his 200 foot game that needed and needs improving.
From here on in, it's going to be all on Kk. He has to dominate the AHL....AND with the 200 foot game in his arsenal.
I wouldn't be surprised if he never becomes a 1C. Players like Dubois were projected 1C from day one, Kk on the other hand was seen as a 6-7th pick and rose through the ranks as "perception", which became worse because we drafted on "need" then BPA. (Hello Tkachuk)
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Post by Douper on Feb 7, 2020 19:10:21 GMT -5
And perhaps Suzuki is more comfortable & doing well because he went back to junior last season & dominated in the playoffs, almost winning a Memorial Cup. Didn't management learn anything from that? And maybe Suzuki is comfortable because he is playing the role they acquired him for with quality linemates. They drafted KK as a potential first line center. Not a third line shut down guy. As for his development, no one here was wanting him in Laval or Finland last year when he was playing well. If the argument is that he needs to develop from the lower lines and work his way up, then last year around January (much like Suzuki) they should have put him on the first/second line and left him there. Let him develop for the role they want him for, IN the role they want him. Rookie Suzuki - 55GP - 10G - 23A - 33PTS - 15:49TOI (2:06 PP TOI per game) Rookie Kotkaniemi - 55GP - 10G - 17A - 27PTS - 14:06TOI (1:56 PP TOI per game - this is for whole season, not first 55 games) Now factor in their linemates and tell me again how Kotkaniemi didn't develop very well last year? He did everything he could and more and still did not get rewarded as Suzuki has …. sometimes you don't need to go to Laval, you need to be put into a position to succeed KK did nothing after February last year. He ran out of gas. Suzuki is our #1 Centre. He sees the ice and has the physical strength to win battles. KK needs to go to Laval and get them in the playoffs. Comeback next year and take his place down the middle on the top 6
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Post by PTH on Feb 7, 2020 21:43:25 GMT -5
I don't think so. That was Therrien. He is Juliens version of Bergeron. A top line 2 way responsible center to be played in all situations. I get what your saying... what I'm saying is like DD blocked Galchy, Danault will block KK... Seriously ? Given how Galch's career path has been since then, I think we have to assume the guy just never had it in him to be the kind of top 6 offensive center we all wished he'd become. He was more of an Andrei Kostitsyn, able to score well enough given good linemates, but not a guy who could drive offense in any way, and not a guy to try to develop into something he wasn't. If anything, MT has been validated in his choice to give DD the icetime rather than Galch. We have to stop assuming that everything about a guys development is defined by how he's handled: a lot of it is personal growth, capacity to listen and learn from the right sources. Guys like Gallagher, Suzuki, Markov, Koivu, Bure, Emelin, came in and gained increasing responsability simply through smart, solid play and contributing. Yes, sometimes coaches give them less ice time than we'd wish, but it's usually so they don't lose confidence when facing some tougher situations; also, they need to earn their spots, not have them handed to them, which is why we see more "filler" (Weise/Cousins/Weal come to mind) on the ice than we'd wish. but it's for the best in the medium and long term.
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Post by Willie Dog on Feb 7, 2020 23:01:51 GMT -5
I get what your saying... what I'm saying is like DD blocked Galchy, Danault will block KK... Seriously ? Given how Galch's career path has been since then, I think we have to assume the guy just never had it in him to be the kind of top 6 offensive center we all wished he'd become. He was more of an Andrei Kostitsyn, able to score well enough given good linemates, but not a guy who could drive offense in any way, and not a guy to try to develop into something he wasn't. If anything, MT has been validated in his choice to give DD the icetime rather than Galch. We have to stop assuming that everything about a guys development is defined by how he's handled: a lot of it is personal growth, capacity to listen and learn from the right sources. Guys like Gallagher, Suzuki, Markov, Koivu, Bure, Emelin, came in and gained increasing responsability simply through smart, solid play and contributing. Yes, sometimes coaches give them less ice time than we'd wish, but it's usually so they don't lose confidence when facing some tougher situations; also, they need to earn their spots, not have them handed to them, which is why we see more "filler" (Weise/Cousins/Weal come to mind) on the ice than we'd wish. but it's for the best in the medium and long term. Bottom line Galchy never became a #1 centre and DD never should have been one... pretty simple... the same can be said of Danault... that's on Berg and no one else. How can any Habs fan validate anything Michel Therrien did with the Habs... he was and is a bad coach... the fact he has not gotten another head coaching job validates that. regarding earning spots... pettersen, tkachuk and others have done well being put in positions to succeed and learning on the job by more modern coaches than this team has had under the Bergevin regime.
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Post by PTH on Feb 8, 2020 1:21:57 GMT -5
How can any Habs fan validate anything Michel Therrien did with the Habs... he was and is a bad coach... the fact he has not gotten another head coaching job validates that. Some people can see shades of gray, the world isn't all black and white. Therrien could be right while also not being a terrific coach. Houle was our worst GM in living memory, but he made some ok moves, too. Putting Kotkaniemi in someone else's situation doesn't make him a better player. Being a better player makes him a better player and earns him the additional icetime.
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Post by Willie Dog on Feb 8, 2020 11:15:55 GMT -5
How can any Habs fan validate anything Michel Therrien did with the Habs... he was and is a bad coach... the fact he has not gotten another head coaching job validates that. Some people can see shades of gray, the world isn't all black and white. Therrien could be right while also not being a terrific coach. Houle was our worst GM in living memory, but he made some ok moves, too. Putting Kotkaniemi in someone else's situation doesn't make him a better player. Being a better player makes him a better player and earns him the additional icetime. So you're ok with the way the Habs have developed players? We'll never know what KK could have done if he was put in a position to succeed at 18 but we have to compare similar situations with players drafted around KKs 3rd overall selection we have no other way to compare him to his peers... what I do know is that statistically he's done better with better linemates, as anyone would do, but in the end keeping KK at 18 was a PR move to save Bergs butt and wasn't done in KKs best interest. Koivu himself said KK should have gone back to Finland for a year and i think he could have come over to the Rocket this year at 19.
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Post by habsorbed on Feb 8, 2020 12:13:04 GMT -5
It's early yet but right now Tkachuk is much better than KK. So management can't have it both ways - either they picked the wrong player or they have mishandled his development. Fact is, had they taken Tkachuk we'd probably be in a playoff position right now. I love KK and think he'll be a top end centre but so far his development has been a gong show.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 8, 2020 14:12:56 GMT -5
Poehling back in Laval. Hopefully, this gets him better utilization and opportunities too.
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Post by PTH on Feb 8, 2020 14:31:53 GMT -5
So you're ok with the way the Habs have developed players? Strawman fallacy. I'm saying that the end result of development depends at least as much on the player developing as on the choices the team makes. Last year, KK seemed ready, and while he sometimes seemed to have been rushed, he also took great strides forward. If Tkachuk is ahead, it doesn't mean he was better developped: he might have just been a better pick all along.
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Post by UberCranky on Feb 8, 2020 15:24:50 GMT -5
We drafted Kk on need, not BPA.
TK was a better choice.....and will probably be the better choice.
I don't see Kk as a 40 goal scorer, I do see Tk as a 50 goal scorer.
Right now, if somehow we had Dubois and Tk, it would be a different team. One we had to pay through the nose, the other would of fallen in our hands (since the desperate need wasn't there for a center).
Had we traded for a center, like ROR, again, Tk was going to land on our lap.
Decisions and actions have long term consequences....
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Post by seventeen on Feb 8, 2020 17:36:09 GMT -5
The only argument for Tkachuk being BPA last summer is that he has gotten off to a better start than KK, which is hindsight. At the time Tkachuk wasn’t scoring goals at a level where he should have been dominating. Totals of 8 -23-31 in 40 games in Skilly’s favourite league was underwhelming. At the same age Caufield has 18-12-30 in 27 games. KK had been getting better and better as the year progressed and was THE key reason for Finland winning the U-18’s. There were many good reasons for taking him at 3.
This is a no win exercise. Why didn’t Jersey take Pettersson instead of Hischier? Sometimes team drafts for need. Sometimes they project ahead and get it wrong. It takes some luck. By no means do I think they erred on KK. It may take him a year longer to grow, get stronger and bull his way past Tkachuk.
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Post by frozone on Feb 8, 2020 20:48:11 GMT -5
A couple things to keep in mind:
- Tkachuk is almost a a full calendar year older than KK. - Tkachuk hasn't exactly progressed this year. He hasn't really regressed like KK, but he hasn't progressed.
I still believe in KK's future, and I still think that his play in the first two thirds of last season justified keeping him in the NHL. I don't think anyone could deny that he looked very good. I think the realistic explanation is that he played too much hockey and ran out of gas. I saw at least two youtube videos on the Habs' youtube channel last year where it was mentioned jokingly that KK was always sleeping. I thought it was strange for an 18/19 year old. As for this season, an early groin injury and concussion could derail any player's mojo.
As for KK being stuck behind Danault, I don't understand. Danault's not the #1 center, he's a matchup center. His value to this team is as an even strength beast and he's still getting better. I really don't understand why we fail to acknowledge how good he is. He's 13th among centers in even strength points tied with the likes of Pettersson, Barkov and Barzal. He doesn't even average as much PP time as Kotkaniemi. If anyone is holding KK back right now it's Suzuki. Suzuki has straight up passed KK this year and is not showing any sign of slowing down.
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Post by Skilly on Feb 9, 2020 12:45:03 GMT -5
A couple things to keep in mind: - Tkachuk is almost a a full calendar year older than KK. - Tkachuk hasn't exactly progressed this year. He hasn't really regressed like KK, but he hasn't progressed. I still believe in KK's future, and I still think that his play in the first two thirds of last season justified keeping him in the NHL. I don't think anyone could deny that he looked very good. I think the realistic explanation is that he played too much hockey and ran out of gas. I saw at least two youtube videos on the Habs' youtube channel last year where it was mentioned jokingly that KK was always sleeping. I thought it was strange for an 18/19 year old. As for this season, an early groin injury and concussion could derail any player's mojo. As for KK being stuck behind Danault, I don't understand. Danault's not the #1 center, he's a matchup center. His value to this team is as an even strength beast and he's still getting better. I really don't understand why we fail to acknowledge how good he is. He's 13th among centers in even strength points tied with the likes of Pettersson, Barkov and Barzal. He doesn't even average as much PP time as Kotkaniemi. If anyone is holding KK back right now it's Suzuki. Suzuki has straight up passed KK this year and is not showing any sign of slowing down. Bingo. But in my mind, matchup centres should NOT be playing with the first line wingers. Too much time is spent stopping their top line and not enough time is spent in the offensive scoring scoring ... Danault would be the leagues best third line Center. Put Danault with Cousins and Weal and see how much he produces! I'd even go so far to state no HAB produces as much with Armia and Lehkonen as Kotkaniemi ... They took Suzuki off their line after one game.
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Post by Skilly on Feb 9, 2020 12:55:12 GMT -5
Gord Miller expands on this very well in this interview on TSN690. He also talks about how the Habs are a bit hooped now that they have burned a lot of his waiver eligible games. Here are highlights of Miller's interview pulled from a reddit post. Credit to BlazeOfGlory72 for the transcription: Miller discusses this through blue and white coloured glasses ....there are many things wrong with this, but I'm not going to dissect it all. Just points out the lazy journalism. Comparisons to Thornton, Huberdeau, Barkov ... Neither started their career on the third / fourth line. So "development" at NHL level based on dominance in lower levels is a garbage argument ... You want to make that comparison then give Kotkaniemi the same ice time and quality wingers. The 2003 draft ... It was the best because they had an extra year to developed based on the lock-out? ... So we are just going to forget the 2003-2004 NHL season entirely? And if you look at some of those players stats, they weren't dominant until 2-3 years AFTER 2004-05 (the lock-out year) ... As an example, (there are many other examples) After the lock out Jeff Carter had 42 points (after 2 extra years in the AHL) .... Lazy journalism. Remember KKid had 39 as an 18 yr old
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