Curt

Seriously, it’s Director of Player Development. Who the F knows if Ellis is good at organizing the activities of a player development staff. It’s something so far removed from even hardcore fans that our insight on the subject is basically zero.

Yeah, but they have already been working together. Adams has seen Ellis in action, not just going off what someone says in an interview. That’s my point. I didn’t step in anything. Your being dismissive.

Thanks for the discussion.

Honestly, I bet this hire of Ellis is in large part about putting someone in place who is on the same page and can implement Adams vision for how he wants the player development department to run. Probably more so about that than about how great of an instructor Ellis is. As a director level position, I doubt Ellis will be spending a lot of time personally working with players anyway. That’s for the development coaches to do.

Who would you have suggested as a hire? Who do you know would have been good as Director of Player Development?

It’s going to be more like a flu shot than, say a measles vaccine. It’s not going to be: “I got my shot, now I’ll never get COVID!” More like: “I got my shot, hopefully I won’t get COVID this year.” However, if a lot of people in a given area are vaccinated within a couple months of each other, it’s going to have a huge effect on the virus‘ ability to spread. It could change it from a pandemic, to something that we can deal with while going about “normal” life.

None come to mind honestly. It’s tough for prospects because it’s harder to track numbers for junior leagues and fewer numbers are available. I’m probably not the best person to answer though. I’m sure there is some stuff going on that I don’t know about.

I mean, NHLe is a points projection system, so yes, it projects only points. It doesn’t claim to do anything else. It’s useful, but not all encompassing. NHLe is not the only analytics thing out there. Analytics is anything that you do with hockey numbers, so it could be anything that you have numbers for.

You used Stutzle’s NHLe numbers in place of Raymond’s here. Raymond’s are much lower (12-18).

What are the similarities between Rolston and Appert so strong that they represent good evidence that Appert will be a disaster? Is it proven that anyone who holds the position of USNTDP HC is doomed to be a disaster as an AHL HC? That seems to be quite a leap of faith, or clairvoyance.

How do? None of Botterill’s hires had any NCAA coaching experience.

Are you sure? Crowe’s last season was 2016-17, Appert’s first was 2017-18.

First, I see people saying that Appert is a USHL coach, he isn’t really. Most of his experience is at the NCAA level. He has spent the past 3 years as HC of the USNTDP team, which is basically a draft/college prep program for elite USA players. They play against USHL and NCAA teams, about 50/50. Before that had 20 years of college coaching experience, 11 as HC of RPI. Also serving as President of the American Hockey Coaches Association for 3 years. Second, this hire seems fine.

Oh *****! Matt Ellis, the Matt Ellis of Player Development Directors!

I just wanna hear RJ pronounce it once.

Where would Marat Khushnutdinov rank here? His omission makes me sad (and hopeful that he might be there at #38). I think he is a stud.

Haha. You are right.

Examples???

I was attempting to be equally bombastic. However, you are right, that was in poor taste. I should have been smarter about it. That was not polite to Lehner or anyone else who might actually read it who has suffered from serious depression or alcoholism. For anyone offended, my apologies. Did not mean to diminish the very real struggles that people go through, and I really am so happy for Lehner.

This is some bombastic verbiage. Montour is a waste of a traded pick, but Lehner was a great talent? Counter argument: Montour is a good player who was acquired for magic beans and Lehner couldn’t even stay sober in Buffalo.

I don’t agree with this. He isn’t particularly good in the offensive zone. He is good at transitioning it through the zones, but when he gets in the OZone it doesn’t seem like he really knows what to do. I think he is better used in defensive situations. He is good at getting out of his own end.

I believe that this was only the case if the player in question waived the NTC as part of the trade. If the player is traded before the NTC takes affect, it remains in place and takes affect with the new team whenever it was scheduled to. No?

Olofsson produced ES points at a rate less than Kahun did. And Kahun didn’t spend 80% of his time on Eichel’s wing. I don’t mean to slam Olofsson. He was fine. Good 3rd line guy I thought. Could be even better next year. I’m also hopeful that Kahun can possibly be a serviceable top 6 wing as well though. Dark horse candidate to be a real asset and trade steal.

Yes

I don’t think #8 will be traded. Almost never happens in NHL and it’s probably unlikely that a new GM trades his first pick. Much more likely to be included in a trade for NOW assets would probably be the 2021 1st, perhaps with some protection (top 3?) attached.