dudacek

Friedman was talking about how the Tristan Jarry contract screwed things up for the Sabres. He’s a very good comparable who just got $3.5 over 3.

Sabres can argue Linus has proven nothing beyond being a good backup. He’s played 20, 37 and 34 games. Linus can argue he emerged as a #1 last year. Its an interesting case.

No changed that a while back. Arbitrator can pick any number in between.

It would not surprise me if the writer has never seen the majority of those players he wrote about play a single game of hockey, or talked to any hockey people about them. The Hockey Writers is a mom’s basement clickbait factory and the level of content varies wildly based on the talent of the individual writer, from the level of a well-informed poster on here to a callow fanboy regurgitating opinions found on Twitter. By and large they are not well-connected, well-resourced, or well-paid. https://thehockeywriters.com/current-openings/

Montreal offer-sheeted Sebastian Aho last year. Carolina matched.

Tyler Bertuzzi is up next. Asks are $3.15, $4.25, according to Friedman. Another 20-goal 40-50 point man.

Connor Brown signed just hours before his hearing yesterday for 3 years at $3.6. Our buddy Garrioch says the asks going in were $2.25 and $4.8. Brown’s numbers last year aren’t hugely different from Victor’s. Victor has better PPG but less of a track record.

Linus gets his hearing Monday and Sam Tuesday. Victor’s is November 4. According to Dreger, all three are in serious negotiations as we speak. We had a leak a week or so ago (from Jeremy White, or Chad D?) that Victor was close on a two-year bridge similar to what Sam just finished. Nothing on the other two. So far around the league, all five scheduled hearings have been cancelled because deals were reached in time. Same for three other hearings next week. What’s going to happen with our guys? What should happen?

I think you're missing mine: that he's not alone in that. Lots of players plateau and even regress before finding themselves.

The view from next door: propagandists in the social media age have successfully undermined faith in institutions to the point that people's default is to pick and choose what they want to believe and summarily dismiss the rest as unreliable and agenda-driven. The degree of mistrust for authorities, science and the 4th estate is probably the biggest single factor in the failure to control COVID-19 and a major threat to democracy. Apologies for a post that is certainly political but anything but partisan.

I know you don't believe all players have the same development curves, or that teams don't screw up any more. The two leading rookie goal scorers from last year were 25! When Victor Olofsson was 21 he scored only 9 goals, and he was playing in the 4th-best league in the world. Sam Bennett a huge disappointment who finally seems to have emerged this playoff. Kevin Fiala 16 points when he was Casey's age. Jacob Vrana, 3 goals when he was Casey's age There are a ton of Casey's peers who haven't "made it" yet — Jordan Kyrou, Morgan Frost, Cody Glass, Josh Norris, Owen Tippett, Eeli Tolvanen, Gabe Villardi, Lias Anderson, Logan Brown, Keiffer Bellows, German Rubtsov, Henrik Borgstom, Mike McLeod... And that's not counting the Alex Nylanders and Tyson Josts who have made it, but are still considered disappointments because they haven't broken out. Some of them never will and some will become very good NHLers.

Trading young players for Kane would turn us into the Blackhawks. And just to be clear, I mean the 2020 Blackhawks not the 2013 edition.

You see I want to make sure that people understand I agree with 98 per cent of what you guys have written. My sole argument is with the people who have written him off at 21. When you say “anything we get from him will be a bonus” does that sentence finish with “just like Ryan Johnson or JJ Peterka” or “just like Andrew Oglevie and JOnas Johansson .” Because there is a big difference. When Rene Robert was Casey’s age he hadn’t played an NHL game. He scored 13 goals as a rookie at 24. Tony McKegny had 8 goals as a rookie when he was the age Casey is now. JP Dumont (a 3rd overall pick), nine goals when he was Casey’s age, 10 the following year Stu Barnes (a 4th overall pick) had 8 goals, then 12 Briere was in the minors, then he had 8 the following year and 1 the year after. Pominville was in the minors, and in the minors the next year too. Tim Connolly, no matter what revisionist history you want to put on him had 10. His 22 year old season was almost identical to Casey at 20 You either saw big holes, or didn’t see much at all from any of those guys in the NHL at Casey’s age either. That obviously didn’t mean they couldn’t play, it meant they weren’t ready. And of course I recognize it’s not just about goals. Asplund was the inverse of Casey; his average defence couldn’t make up for his non-existent offence. It’s about being ready. The fact Casey wasn’t ready at 21 might mean he never will be. Or it just might mean he wasn’t ready and Botterill was too dumb to recognize it.

Like I said in the Amerks thread, we needed another veteran Dman down there. Quite surprised it’s Casey. He seemed like he was at the point where both parties look elsewhere.

Pretty much. I said interesting, not exciting. Neither of those guys are at the same sort of crossroads, in my opinion.

Casey Mittelstadt has shown more inside and outside the NHL than Rasmus Asplund a lot more. He was not an NHL player last year, but I am amazed at how many people think he has shown nothing. He scored 12 goals in the season he turned 20. Do you know how many players turning 20 scored 12 this year? One: Svechinikov. Six players from his draft class have scored more NHL goals than he has. He sucked last year and has a lot of work to do. But his story has yet to be written.

That ^^^ is retro done right.

Ideal situation for Casey is he comes to camp in the best shape of his life, is one of the best 12 and he gets sent down anyway, where he dominates and forces his way back up. Basically, that would definitely answer the questions @LGR4GM is posing. Probably the second most interesting player in camp for me, after Dahlin

Ryan Johnson is not a PP specialist in any way, shape or form. He’s a shutdown defenceman whose game is based on elite skating. His game looks a lot like Jokiharju’s did last year, with his strengths being preventing zone entries and getting the puck out of our zone.

I heard talk of opening the season with an outdoor game without fans in the Rockies on the frozen waters of Lake Louise. That could be absolutely amazing.

Unless Thompson absolutely sucks, it would be at the expense of Cozens or less likely Lazar or Rieder. Which is entirely possible. We all think Cozens is ready but that doesn’t mean he is. Adams, very specifically said he intends to leave space on the roster for prospects if they earn it and you can see it in the way the roster is constructed. There is an obvious spot In the starting 12 being dangled for Thompson Cozens Casey Arttu, Asplund, or whoever to fight over. And Lazar and Reider have contracts that leave them open to losing their jobs, either in the starting lineup, or as the 13th man. Same on D where Irwin is the tentative 7th man, but is entirely vulnerable should a Borgen or someone else force their way on to the roster.

Gordie Howe isn't stuffing magazines into his socks on the frozen ponds of Saskatchewan any more.

This is something to consider: three lines he can depend on in both ends and a 4th line of situational guys might have lot of utility in terms of the matchups Ralph always talks about. We got a sense of some of Ralph's tendencies last year, but it always felt like he was coaching to cover his holes. This team is more built to his preferences.

I'm sure Adams would have circled back to him had they not signed Hall. But right now there is no cap space for him. As important, right now there is no roster spot for him in the starting 12 Think about it like the coach is: He's not taking one of the top three centre slots. He's not pushing Reinhart Olofsson Skinner or Hall out of the top six wing slots. He's not going to be used in a bottom six grinding role ahead of Girgs, OK, Lazar or Reider. He's not going to be a special teams, faceoff or tough guy specialist. Kahun is a complementary middle six offensive player. The only guys he can challenge are Thompson and Cozens. He might be a better hockey player right now. But the other two are bigger and faster and probably have more upside. And they were cheaper.

Only way I see Kahun back on the Sabres is if Reinhart is traded for help in goal or defence and the trade creates some space. He's not suited to any kind of grinder role, and it's pretty clear they prefer Thompson and Cozens in their depth scoring roles. *** Separately, but related: whatever line Cody Eakin centres will be the third line, whether it is a pure checking line, energy line or 2ndary scoring line. This is the reason he was brought in here and his minutes will reflect that.