pi2000

If they keep him on the 1st line he'll be somewhere around 40-50 points. One the third line, where he belongs, maybe 30-40 points. He's not a scorer, he's an undersized forechecking puck hound. He's good at it, that's his role. There is absolutely nothing tangible to suggest he'll ever be anything more than that.

ceiling McDavid floor Lafferty

A 10 goal 30 point winger on the top line? lol Put Tuch in Benson's spot on the 1st line, Zucker in Tuch's spot on line 2, and Benson on line 3 with Greenway and Kulich.

..so McKenna leaves the WHL to play for Penn State... at Pegula Ice Arena. 🤔 Seems like an odd choice as there are better NCAA programs out there. Maybe some Pegula bucks in play? That said, the league screwed Buffalo out of McDavid in 2015, and have recently voiced concern over their last decade plus of failure. I wouldn't be shocked if Buffalo somehow "wins" the lottery in 2026.

won the off-season

GMKA seems to think the goaltending metrics will improve if they play better team defense. Is there any evidence to support this?

Bought an Amazon gift card from our local grocery store. Turns out part of the claim code (under the sticker) was intentionally scratched off so my Dad couldn't redeem it. So apparently the scammers take the gift cards off the rack, carefully remove the stickers, record the claim codes, scratch it off the card so the buyer can't redeem it, then glue the sticker back on, return them to the store and wait for some poor bastard (me) to activate it. They probably have a script running which is constantly checking the claim codes and redeem them almost immediately after activation. Quite clever actually. The grocery store won't refund or replace the card as "all gift card sales are final". Amazon won't help as I didn't purchase the card from them and they tell me that card has been redeemed. That's the last time I buy gift card from a store.

My point was that trading Peterka is not going to help resolve the goals against issue. Quinn, Cozens, Malenstyn, Lafferty, Power, Clifton, Bryson.. those guys were the problem, and as you mentioned, some of them are gone. We'll see if their replacements are any better, but the guys that are still here, notably Quinn and Power, two guys who we can expect to see non-trivial amounts of ice time at even strength.... need to improve. Kesselring was a +4 (+6 team relative) Danforth a -6 (-8 team relative) TImmins +9 (+13 team relative) in 17 games with PIT

He looks good in white tho.

You might be too young 🙂

prepare the banner

are they still doing the black and red games?

he can't play NCAA now thought that would be a good path for him at his size to play against 22, 23 year olds instead of junior age players so now it's probably 1 more year of junior then AHL

JJP was fine defensively, was a +2 team relative plus/minus. You want to allow fewer goals? Trade Quinn and Malenstyn, they were a combined -34!

Peterka had a positive plus minus and a positive team relative plus minus. The idea that he was a defensive liability is simply not true. He plays defense better than most 23 year old 30 goal scorers. You're not just losing his 30 goals next season, you're losing his 40, 45, 50 goal seasons.... yes 50, he will score 50 at some point. To trade him as an RFA for a middling defenseman is criminal and in no way shape or form makes the team better. The actual defensemen are not the problem. The commitment to play sound team defense is... for both defensemen and forwards. The problem is the construction of the team. KA ices the youngest roster in the league and then acts annoyed that they can't keep the puck out of their net. I posted about this a few months ago... there's a massive correlation between average team age and goals against.. and it's been this way for as far back as they keep those statistics. You want to make the playoffs Kevyn? Trade 5 or 6 youngsters (Kulich, Benson, Johnson, Rosen, Östlund, Helenius, etc....) packaging them for some proven vets. Problem is that his primary strategy is to only bring in players who "want to be here"... and there aren't many proven vets willing to waive to come here, so he whines about taxes and palm trees, when in reality, YOU Kevyn, are the reason, not taxes, not palm trees... but LOSING and having no real plan to improve.

His value goes up now that his contract is a known commodity.

Still think he gets traded. He won't get the opportunity he deserves with Dahlin and Power anchoring the power play units. In my opinion, he should be ahead of Power on the second unit.

Peterka had a positive team relative plus minus last season. They didn't need to ship out Peterka to fix how they defend... it's not one or the other. Capable front offices address their weaknesses without sacrificing their strengths.

Hope is not a strategy.

They scored the 8th most goals in league and gave up the 4th most. They traded away 27 goals in Peterka. If you take away his goals, they finish in the bottom half of the league in goals for. They're undoubtedly worse on paper. I'm not buying the idea they got better defensively. There's just nothing to support that claim... same goaltending, same coaches, same game plan. The team as a whole plays poor defense. Dahlin and Power are not defensive stalwarts, the're offensive minded players who will continue to struggle defensively against tough matchups. UPL is borderline NHL backup, Levi isn't good enough... Lyon? lol They needed to make a splash, trading some assets for a starting vet goalie and finding a vet partner for Power... and I'd argue Dahlin needs a steady defensively sound partner as well. Samuelsson ain't it, he's regressed. I like their draft, but that's not going to help this year. Norris is a roulette wheel, if he plays 60 games I'll be tickled. This feels to me like lowkey subtle tank for McKenna. They have all the excuses built in... Norris injuries, UPL, still a young team, etc etc. If they were serious about making a run at the playoffs they would've kept Peterka (he's an RFA, who cares if he "wants to be here"), fired some coaches, acquired a starter and a proven vet defenseman for Power. Improving the defense and maintaining the offensive production is what was needed, you don't need to sacrifice one for the other if done correctly.

It will be interesting to see if his production drops playing against 23-24 years olds. Will all these kids transferring from the CHL to the NCAA see their draft stock drop as a result?

It's better for Johnson's development to play heavy minutes in Rochester vs the spot duty Bryson is getting in Buffalo.

I expect somebody will break out in Rochester and get some extended looks in Buffalo this season. Impossible for us to predict who that might be, but the "older" guys like Rosen and Kozak are running out of time.

Agreed. Johnson needs the heavy minutes in Rochester at this stage of his development.