Out of town 2022-23

[Tankdriver]

Time to start a new thread with camps opening up.

[seventeen]

I would not want to be a Flyer this year. As we've seen so often, that brown, oozy stuff flows downhill. If you have a lousy owner (or one under the influence), they make a bad choice with the prez or GM and then that person makes another bad choice and so on until you end up with Torts. Those types of guys always manage to win 1 cup (eg Keenan) but then no player really wants to play for them, especially the stars who are made to block shots and get injured.

I'm just amazed that Molson overcame the influence he was under and made a good choice. Honey also flows downhill. Ed Snider had a head on his shoulders, but sonny boy Jay, not so much (going back to the Flyers). I still find little to like about them, even when they have good players. Those Broad Street Bully years taint them.

PS. I especially enjoyed those games when they'd bring out their secret weapon, Kate Smith, to sing God Bless America and the Habs would beat them.

[Tankdriver]

Ladd is out for the year in Arizona. I think he was missing 8 games for a 1000.

[folatre]

Yeah, it will be hard for Montreal, even with injuries and a leaky defense, to be worse than the Flyers. A team already short on talent heading into the wilderness without Couturier and Ellis profile to be truly awful. Tortorella will have to really tighten up the team defense while he ramps up the compete level because it is simply hard to see where the goals are going to come from.

Of course, the Western Conference is where the most determined tankers are playing hockey this season. Could San Jose, Seattle, and Anaheim be in the Montreal and Philadelphia range of bad? At least right now one would assume Chicago and Arizona are in a class of their own.

[seventeen]

Sept 24, 2022 7:14:53 GMT -5 folatre said:

Yeah, it will be hard for Montreal, even with injuries and a leaky defense, to be worse than the Flyers. A team already short on talent heading into the wilderness without Couturier and Ellis profile to be truly awful. Tortorella will have to really tighten up the team defense while he ramps up the compete level because it is simply hard to see where the goals are going to come from.

Of course, the Western Conference is where the most determined tankers are playing hockey this season. Could San Jose, Seattle, and Anaheim be in the Montreal and Philadelphia range of bad? At least right now one would assume Chicago and Arizona are in a class of their own.

Coaches like Torts have a history of raising a team's performance in their first year. I wouldn't mind getting Philly's first rounder in 2025, after Tortorella has coached them for 2 full years. (Always planning ahead).

[folatre]

It is hard not to love Jason Robertson's game. But I do not really understand what Jimmy Nil accomplished there. How does Dallas incur a $7.75 million cap hit while not buying even a single UFA year? Why commit big money to a kid who had no leverage when the kid is committing nothing in return?

[Disgruntled70sHab]

[seventeen]

That's a lot of space to give a guy. Looks cool though.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

... hoping to use this one in a Buffalo thread ...

[Tankdriver]

Valimaki on waivers today with the flames. Former first rounder. Wouldn't mind putting a claim in on him.

[seventeen]

Tough call. Seems like he's plateaued. Really good numbers (1ppg) in Finland in 20/21, but that was Covid time. 26 points in 35 gams for Stockton of the AHL, which isn't bad for a D-man. The other positive thing is that he's not top 6 in Calgary where they have Weegar, Hanifin, Andersson, Tanev, Kylington, and maybe even Zadorov ahead of him.

He was drafted in 2017 and 5 years later hasn't broken into the line-up, so that's not a good sign....but he's still just turned 24 and dmen develop more slowly. I'd certainly want to see the analytics or the scouting reports on him before making a claim. Or we can just wait till tomorrow and see what the Habs have done.

[folatre]

There is no question Calgary has a deep blue line, so I would not necessarily discount a kid's talent based on him not cracking their lineup. But I am sure Treliving prefers to trade a kid that he knows will get claimed by someone on waivers and the fact that he has not managed to deal him must signify something about how Valimaki is perceived around the league.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

[seventeen]

Lehky with an assist and 2 PP goals so far tonight. I don’t think we EVER used him on the PP.

[jkr]

Like Danault, Lekhonen had to leave to find his offensive potential.

[Tankdriver]

Oct 13, 2022 6:14:59 GMT -5 jkr said:

Like Danault, Lekhonen had to leave to find his offensive potential.

It's a coaching philosphy plague that has developped in Montreal the past 30 years. Finally with St Louis at the helm he is letting people think offense and being themselves.

[seventeen]

The coaches read the writing on Bergevin's wall. It's his philosophy which screwed us. They simply did his bidding. He was never a fan of offensive dmen. Kind of like himself.

[Willie Dog]

Sens lose to the Sabres 4-1

[Bobs_HABit]

I see Florida is losing Ekblad for a month or two.
The remaining D corps is very scary.
Could that Florida 2023 1st turn in to a real bonus in the rebuild? I'm not thinking top 5 but what about top 15...that roster is thin behind the stars and another injury or two and lookout.

[folatre]

For sure, it would be ideal if Florida somehow experiences a subpar season and has to battle to make or miss the playoffs.

Ekblad is not supposed to be out for more than a month, but their quality and depth on the blue line could certainly become an issue unless they are high flying like last season and score 4 or 5 goals a night.

I have never been a huge believer in Paul Maurice, but he seems to be the kind of coach who, at least when he is new on the job, can steady the ship in the face of some challenges.

[Willie Dog]

Keefe walks back statements he made after the loss to the Yotes... he is now a lame duck coach because he hurt mitchy and aussies feelings... Leaf fans are not happy...

[folatre]

Keefe made himself look weak, which makes any message he was trying to send convoluted and altogether less credible. Even if, of his own accord, he wanted to explain or soften the message privately with Marner and Matthews, I do not understand why in the world Keefe would go in front of the cameras to essentially admit he lacks the stones to stand by what he said.

My brother in law is a calm Leafs fan and now he is starting to think Keefe should be on the hot seat.

Keefe is Dubas' bud, so I would imagine that things would have to get a lot worse before Toronto fires him.

[jkr]

It's a sad state of affairs in leafland when a coach can't be honest with his team and tell them they aren't playing well. It's obvious to all except the stars I guess.

They have lost 2 games in the final minutes ( or seconds) to Montreal and Arizona, 2 teams that project to finish at the bottom of the league. That late call in the Coyotes game was , I think, correct but poorly handled by the officials. In the heat of the moment he spoke out but I don't think he should be apologising.

Are the Leafs so mentally fragile that they can't take a little criticism? What a bunch of prima donnas.

[jkr]

Big night for Kessel yesterday. He is now the NHL Iron Man at 990 games. He also scored his 400th goal on a nice play where he outskated the Sharks D man in the neutral zone and cut across the crease before flipping it in.

I don't see a lot of Sharks hockey but I wonder how long the Sharks can afford to pay Karlsson 11 million a year for the next 5 years. I saw 2 plays in a short highlight package where he was beaten cleanly one on one, the 2nd time led diectly to the winning goal.

Mike Grier has a lot of work trying to shed that deal along with Vlasic, etc.

[seventeen]

Oct 26, 2022 12:50:07 GMT -5 jkr said:

Mike Grier has a lot of work trying to shed that deal along with Vlasic, etc.

It'll be tougher than the Weber contract. Karlsson can still play (a bit), but Weber's deal had the advantage of a high CAP hit and low salary. Karlsson's is still 8 figures for this and the next two years and it doesn't drop much after that either. No one's paying that for a declining asset. That's the risk when you go all in. If you don't make it that year....ouch. Vegas is facing much the same. They're not as good a team as they were 3-4 years ago, but their prospect pool is shot and their CAP situation is really icky.

[Boston_Habs]

Watching Rangers vs Islanders.

Man, the skill level of Panarin and Fox is next level. The two of them basically play tag team in the high offensive zone, switching places, constantly probing for a bid or pass.

Jordan Harris should spend a day just watching Adam Fox clips. He has the skating and passing skills. Of course those instincts are hard to replicate but Harris should be encouraged to be more assertive, take chances. This is the year to do it.

[frozone]

Oct 26, 2022 20:33:43 GMT -5 Boston_Habs said:

Jordan Harris should spend a day just watching Adam Fox clips. He has the skating and passing skills. Of course those instincts are hard to replicate but Harris should be encouraged to be more assertive, take chances. This is the year to do it.

That is a great idea. Because you're right, JH has everything that he needs to be a 40 pt defenseman. He just defaults way too easily to the safe play.

[Boston_Habs]

Fox and Harris are very similar in profile. Both listed at 5'11", 185 lbs, both played NCAA, but Fox was basically a PPG guy while Harris was a 0.5 PPG. Part of that is pure instincts and creativity but part of that is the game they were asked to play. Harris plays the safe, smart game but I saw offensive flashes when he was at Northeastern, but mostly in late game situations, desperate for a goal kind of thing. Otherwise he was safe and steady and boring.

Harris has most of the same tools as Fox in terms of his skating, passing, all-zones ability, but like you said he defaults to the safe play. Can he be coached to be more assertive? Can you teach someone who has more traditional D instincts to be more offensive and creative? Does he have it in him? It's an interesting question in the new age of development, analytics, sports psychology, etc. Marty and the staff should be pushing Jordan to be THAT GUY.

[seventeen]

the game is becoming one of dmen taking more chances and getting involved in the offense. You need great skating because sometimes you have to get back, fast, but Harris has that. I'm not sure he can match Fox but if he can get up to 40-50 ppg, that would be a super help to the team. The offense from the back end is coming. Guhle has it in him, Wifi has it in him, Mailloux has it in him and it's Hutson's raison d'etre. I'm wondering if it's possible for a team to win the Cup with defense scoring by committee rather than one elite guy. I tend to lean to the one elite guy because there's historical proof of that and in those key moments, you need a guy who can break down a defense by beating someone one on one. Committees don't do that.

[Disgruntled70sHab]