LGR4GM

The fact that Mrtka had no skills or skating coach up until he goes to Seattle (who I assume has those) is fascinating because you can see two things. First is how much Mrtka worked out in his own brain. He saw deficiencies and attempted to fix them with what he had available. That's good. Second is the big unknown. What happens when you take a talented kid without all the fancy training and suddenly give him all the fancy training? Will it overwhelm him, is he actually not that far behind, can he incorporate that information, will he suddenly explode in skill because of it? Lots of questions there. This is similar to the bet they made with Jack Quinn who didn't fully commit to hockey until he was in drafted into Jrs. If Mrtka can do all that he can now without specialty coaches, what can he do with them? As far as Mrtka's physical play, I don't worry about it as much because he plays the game with more natural aggression than Owen Power. He demands the pucks more and shuts down plays in a more active way.

That's it. Piqued. I knew it felt wrong.

probably that 1st and 3rd range but you might need to go into the 1st, 2nd, 3rd range. Buffalo could not get into that next range.

Ventura liking Bedkowski's profile is really interesting to me. He must have some defensive tracking analytics that are telling more than what we see. EP tracked him for 7 games and he ends up with elite defensive numbers.

I don't like Forton but... some of what this reveals about Mrtka is truly interesting stuff. A lot of the Canadian and US kids are getting skating and skills coaches right from the get go. By jr A and certainly by Jrs you are working with those types of ppl. I do find it interesting that Mrtka didn't have that. With his June bday and finally getting that stuff once he got to Seattle, well, my curiosity is much more piqued I like that Jarmo and Karmanos are sitting next to eachother.

Yea and just before that is Karmanos. My guess is they cut off something to do with analytics and the player. Forton IMPO doesn't do a good job of considering the numbers, more of a feels guy.

My favorite part to this point is Terry trying to adjust his chair when Jarmo stands up to talk and being unable to.

Guessing he wants more than that or his attitude really does stink.

rankings this early are so you now some names, outside of McKenna you can ignore where everyone is ranked until January.

Greenway is a 4th line guy when healthy. I think Tage - Norris - Tuch as a line has a playmaking deficiency, it also means other teams can match all their good D players against 1 line.

Because Benson is elite defensively and 2 of the "better" players he had were Cozens, a guy who can't shoot for *****, and first half Quinn who wouldn't score on a goalie until December. It's unclear if Benson sticks there though.

here's the breakdown

I went with hope but in my heart, I know we're done.

Lhd Zac Jones was buried on the Rangers where their top D shoots right but will have a better chance on the Sabres where they have 2 first overall lefties, a 4th overall lefty, Bryson who they love because... vibes? And Ryan Johnson who's been waiting 3 years. Yea sure, Jones has a shot. Oh and Samuelsson... I suppose he counts

nah you see, we had to leave cap in case of a mythical offer sheet for Byram or something

Skinner is 4.44mil, idk how they are mathing but there's 7.39mil in cap space before Timmins deal gets done. Idk what the 10million number is or how accounting for skinner puts you at 8. You still have to pay Jeff Skinner whether you're a serious or crappy owner. around 5.5-6mil will be left after Timmins is signed, that's accurate.

Yikes, I'll pass

No, but I am not running to the NHL to make the trade call. It has merit but it isn't some make or break decision. Also if you assume Norris and Greenway will be injured, you should assume Chinakov will be injured.

Also @dudacek I'm very much on record as saying we need a 17% goals against reduction more than anything else. We lost about 50ish goals but brought in around 40.

Doan has 12g in his last 62. That's 16g in 83 games. Is Chinakov better defensively than Doan? You can trade for him but who are you moving out?

You can only roster 23 players though. This has 14 forwards and doesn't include Kozak.

Quinn, Rosen, Strbak

I suppose Joshua is better than Greenway but they like Greenway's leadership. They already added Danforth which could also be Joshua role. I could be convinced Joshua might be better but idk by now much.