Speculation: 2013 Offseason: UFAs, Trades, What's Next? | Part VII

[BondraTime]

Isn't every proposal a pipedream since we are not involved in any way? I agree with you I doubt there will be any more moves too & have said so before, they will see what they have at training camp & decide from there..



Why not? He is a right shot, he is a PMD & he slots into Gonchar's spot for a yr while Ceci develops in Bingo. He is an experienced NHL defenceman who has had a decent NHL career. This will help the young guys so they can develop under controlled minutes. Gryba is also a right shot which I see him playing in the 3rd pairing.

Methot-EK
Wiercioch-Phillips
Gryba-Cowen

Or whatever Combo


If you see Gryba playing on the third slot, it is likely Corvo would be 7th D-man. I think he will be a regular, but judging by the contract to Wier, he will be playing ahead of Corvo. Leaving Gryba and Corvo to battle for the third pair

 

[ATdaisuki]

Da Costa's skating is not where it needs to be to make the NHL.

Dang, I guess I missed the report on his skating being too slow for the NHL.

da costa's skating isn't a problem. he's no pageau, but he has good speed and good agility. the problem is his strength, consistency, shot, and risk taking in his own zone (wasn't a problem in his first stint, was a problem in his second, so i'm guessing he can improve).

there's no room for him on this team, so i wouldn't be against trading him for a fourth or so. if he's willing to hang around the ahl and wait, he might get a call-up to show what he's got so we can trade him. if he's willing to try and play on the wing, i say we should keep him a little longer. overall, i don't really think he has a future on this team though.

 

[aragorn]

Methot-EK
Wiercioch-Phillips
Gryba-Cowen

Or whatever Combo


If you see Gryba playing on the third slot, it is likely Corvo would be 7th D-man. I think he will be a regular, but judging by the contract to Wier, he will be playing ahead of Corvo. Leaving Gryba and Corvo to battle for the third pair

It's another story line to watch, the only pairing we can be sure of is Methot & Karlsson. Outside of those two who knows? We saw that Maclean liked Cowen & Gryba together in the playoffs but that could change & Phillips is a left shot who has played the right side on occassion. Karlsson, Corvo & Gryba are right shots & Methot, Cowen, Phillips & Wiercioch are left shots.

It should also be interesting to see what they do with Phillips this yr & whether he gets a lot of ice time as he is used to or whether they start to reduce his time & give it to the younger guys more. Then whether he is re-signed or not.

 

[The Fuhr*]

Just in division can Ottawa honestly say they have a better lineup then Boston, Detroit, Toronto and Tampa Bay?

Really wish we had a couple more vets and not so much youth.

 

[YouGotAStuGoing]

Just in division can Ottawa honestly say they have a better lineup then Boston, Detroit, Toronto and Tampa Bay?

Really wish we had a couple more vets and not so much youth.

You'd be hard-pressed to say we're worse than Toronto and Tampa. Tampa has subpar goaltending and bad D and Toronto lost too much offensive depth between MacArthur/Grabovski/Frattin.

I see Ottawa as duking it out with Detroit, somewhat better than Toronto and Tampa, not on the same plane as Boston, and significantly better than Montreal, Florida and Buffalo.

 

[FolignoQuantumLeap]

Ottawa worse than a blue team without a #1 goalie, and center? We have two goalies better than their best and 2 centers better than their best. You can go a lot deeper than that but it's not really needed, you just have to peek at the staring line ups.

Boston is the only team that's better than Ottawa on paper. Detroit's age will show itself in a head to head match up. Tampa will score lots of goals but allow even more. They're a Stankos or St.Louis injury away from being a lottery team again.

 

[Super Cake]

You'd be hard-pressed to say we're worse than Toronto and Tampa. Tampa has subpar goaltending and bad D and Toronto lost too much offensive depth between MacArthur/Grabovski/Frattin.

I see Ottawa as duking it out with Detroit, somewhat better than Toronto and Tampa, not on the same plane as Boston, and significantly better than Montreal, Florida and Buffalo.

Too be honest, we never really had too much trouble with boston last season. We had more trouble with toronto then we did with boston. Yes, we lost all but one of the games between boston and us, but they were mostly one goal games. I feel that with a healthier lineup, we may be able to fair better against boston.

 

[BK201]

Just in division can Ottawa honestly say they have a better lineup then Boston, Detroit, Toronto and Tampa Bay?

Really wish we had a couple more vets and not so much youth.

We can beat Tampa but Boston and Toronto have our number, just like we are evenly matched against Montreal and have florida's number.

The real problems for us in our division are those 3 Toronto Detroit and Boston but we have a good team against Tampa, Florida, Montreal, Buffalo.

I'm not to worried, I just hope we can start splitting series in the regular season with Boston and Toronto and we're on our way.

 

[Super Cake]

We can beat Tampa but Boston and Toronto have our number, just like we are evenly matched against Montreal and have florida's number.

The real problems for us in our division are those 3 Toronto Detroit and Boston but we have a good team against Tampa, Florida, Montreal, Buffalo.

I'm not to worried, I just hope we can start splitting series in the regular season with Boston and Toronto and we're on our way.

As i said before, i think we can beat boston. We technically had an easier time playing boston then we did playing toronto last season. We mostly got blownout by toronto while boston was usually just 1 goal games against us. We just had problems scoring being that our offense was bad last season as we all remember. With a health lineup and getting our offensive talent back, we might be able to actually beat boston. Toronto is a different story though. We always seem to have trouble against toronto.

 

[BK201]

As i said before, i think we can beat boston. We technically had an easier time playing boston then we did playing toronto last season. We mostly got blownout by toronto while boston was usually just 1 goal games against us. We just had problems scoring being that our offense was bad last season as we all remember. With a health lineup and getting our offensive talent back, we might be able to actually beat boston. Toronto is a different story though. We always seem to have trouble against toronto.

As much as I agree they just seem to have our number. I'm not saying that they're killing us, just that they somehow find a way to beat us and I think we have the talent to split the series but I think they'll still have good luck against us.

 

[Super Cake]

As much as I agree they just seem to have our number. I'm not saying that they're killing us, just that they somehow find a way to beat us and I think we have the talent to split the series but I think they'll still have good luck against us.

Ya, i do see your point. They do seem to have good luck against us. I still remember that one game where in the last half of the third period, they won the faceoff and the defense got the puck and shot it and scored. Hopefully we can have some luck against them next season.

 

[Topside]

Just in division can Ottawa honestly say they have a better lineup then Boston, Detroit, Toronto and Tampa Bay?

Really wish we had a couple more vets and not so much youth.

No, maybe, yes, YES.

 

[OgieO]

Just in division can Ottawa honestly say they have a better lineup then Boston, Detroit, Toronto and Tampa Bay?

Really wish we had a couple more vets and not so much youth.

On par or better than all but Boston. Being on their level depends on development of our younger players.

 

[Xspyrit]

Just in division can Ottawa honestly say they have a better lineup then Boston, Detroit, Toronto and Tampa Bay?

Really wish we had a couple more vets and not so much youth.

I think the real question should be what do you prefer in the end? An "old team" (that you were complaining about before the "rebuild") or a "young team?

If your answer is something in the middle, just wait a few years and you'll have it.

 

[The Fuhr*]

I think the real question should be what do you prefer in the end? An "old team" (that you were complaining about before the "rebuild") or a "young team?

If your answer is something in the middle, just wait a few years and you'll have it.

I would not complain about going with the youth if we had our 1st this year... we need to win games...

 

[FolignoQuantumLeap]

I would not complain about going with the youth if we had our 1st this year... we need to win games...

We're going with youth in secondary and supporting roles. Spezza is 30 and the #1C and offensive leader. Methot is 28, the mule of defense. Anderson is 32 and a legit top 10 goalie. Michalek is 28 and a proven goal scorer. Bobby Ryan is 26 and already a four time 30 goal man (in the West, no less).

The only young guys that we'll be heavily leaning on are Karlsson, Cowen and Turris. Karlsson is 23 and has a Norris to his name while Turris is 24 and led the team in scoring. Cowen is the only real question mark and for him its just about recovering and developing his decision making.

Our youth just need to produce at a similar clip to their rookie successes or even slightly below. Its not as if we're relying on one guy in particular to succeed. There are throngs of them who'll get a chance if one or two falter. One guy out of Gryba, Wiercioch, Borowiecki, Ceci, Claesson and Cowen need to solidify the top 4. One guy out of Zibanejad, Hoffman, Conacher, Stone, Pageau, Schneider Puempel or Prince need to solidify the top 6. I'm not stressed about this considering our recent history with prospects.

 

[Mercurial]

There was an article on ESPN about how the Leafs were lucky to be in the playoffs last year, basically a statistical anomaly, and over an 82 game season would have evened out.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Just in division can Ottawa honestly say they have a better lineup then Boston, Detroit, Toronto and Tampa Bay?

Really wish we had a couple more vets and not so much youth.

Tough crowd to throw that out there on.

As much as I despise the Leafs I do think they showed a lot vs the Bruins. With Detroit in the mix it will very competitive to make the playoffs. We will be better than last year with Ryan and MacArthur I am not sold on Turris as a legit #2 centre. Pageau out played him in a few spots since being called up and to me shows more ability to battle intelligently and lots of upside creativity wise. Is he a legit # 2 centre say compared to Boston's #2. I will be happy to be shown otherwise. I also think Conacher (IMO) is over rated and needs to show more at this level. There was a definite drop off when he left Tampa. Both Turris and Zib along with the youngin's will need to take another step up. I like our D and our tending. IMO We need one more legit 2nd liner to provide us the depth to rise near the top of and possibly win the Division .

 

[Senscore]

There was an article on ESPN about how the Leafs were lucky to be in the playoffs last year, basically a statistical anomaly, and over an 82 game season would have evened out.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-p...luckiest-nhl-teams-2013-season-184041337.html


Standard deviation is gonna hit them like a ton of bricks.


Can't wait.

 

[DrakeAndJosh]

Tough crowd to throw that out there on.

As much as I despise the Leafs I do think they showed a lot vs the Bruins. With Detroit in the mix it will very competitive to make the playoffs. We will be better than last year with Ryan and MacArthur I am not sold on Turris as a legit #2 centre. Pageau out played him in a few spots since being called up and to me shows more ability to battle intelligently and lots of upside creativity wise. Is he a legit # 2 centre say compared to Boston's #2. I will be happy to be shown otherwise. I also think Conacher (IMO) is over rated and needs to show more at this level. There was a definite drop off when he left Tampa. Both Turris and Zib along with the youngin's will need to take another step up. I like our D and our tending. IMO We need one more legit 2nd liner to provide us the depth to rise near the top of and possibly win the Division .

There's no reason to not be sold on Turris as a #2 at this point. He led the team in points during the season, he was second in the playoffs.


Also, take a look at this chart:

Entered the O zone with control in the playoffs successfully 70% of the time. The closest Sens to him were Pageau and Condra, who both had less ice time and total entries.

Started in the O zone 48% of the time. Alfredsson, the only player with more points than him, started in the O zone 58.4% of the time

He led the team in shots generated from his entries.

Drew the most penalties per 60 minutes than any other player except for Gryba, who played 6 less games and had 2 more PIM per 60 minutes than he did

I'm just beginning to learn about advanced stats, but everything I've seen points to him being at the very least, a fantastic 2C.

*If some of this is wrong, please correct me, I'm trying to learn as much about advanced stats as possible.

 

[The Fuhr*]

He had a 19 game goaless drought and followed that up with another slump of 22 games where he only got 2G (both in the same game)

When Turris is good that's awesome but he can't be going through a spell of 38 games where he provides scoring in only 1.

A hot streak scoring goals does not mean you are allowed to vanish for weeks on end.

 

[YouGotAStuGoing]

He had a 19 game goaless drought and followed that up with another slump of 22 games where he only got 2G (both in the same game)

When Turris is good that's awesome but he can't be going through a spell of 38 games where he provides scoring in only 1.

A hot streak scoring goals does not mean you are allowed to vanish for weeks on end.

Being a good #2 isn't exclusively about putting up points, although it certainly helps. As Smeddy just showed though, Turris drives possession. He creates chances. He draws penalties. And, despite the occasional cold stretch, he does put up points. On this team where we've been dying for an effective #2C since Fisher left (and for a #2C who could put up points since even before him,) I don't think you can ask for much more from your second-line pivot.

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

He had a 19 game goaless drought and followed that up with another slump of 22 games where he only got 2G (both in the same game)

When Turris is good that's awesome but he can't be going through a spell of 38 games where he provides scoring in only 1.

A hot streak scoring goals does not mean you are allowed to vanish for weeks on end.

That's why we didn't trade Zibanejad and Pageau's performance gives us good backup plan if we go crazy.

I ain't worried at all.

Let me ask you this, did Ottawa possess literally any real flaws last year before Spezza went down?

All we were missing really was a top 4 on our D since Cowen wasn't available.

The addition of Bobby Ryan makes us ten times stronger in the scoring department.

The speed and grit of McArthur and Ryan is what is overlooked here. Last year teams like Toronto and Tampa used speed against us to win but with those guys in our top 6 it changes the dynamic of our offense completely. Especially since we had molasses latendresse.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

Cant see Corvo playing much. I think he is an insurance policy for injuries...DEVELOPMENT IS THE GAME HERE IN OTTAWA..

Tell that to Paul Maclean. Winning is his number 1 priority, I guarantee it.

 

[Samsquanch]

He had a 19 game goaless drought and followed that up with another slump of 22 games where he only got 2G (both in the same game)

When Turris is good that's awesome but he can't be going through a spell of 38 games where he provides scoring in only 1.

A hot streak scoring goals does not mean you are allowed to vanish for weeks on end.

Yes the drought was bad, but if you really did watch all of those games you'd know that Turris was the victim of some pretty terrible puck luck, and the team in general was struggling mightily to score goals.

I for one believe that a 1-2 combo of Spezza and Turris is the best we've ever had in Ottawa. You just know when Turris carries the puck that he's a player capable of making something happen; basically the polar opposite of Mike Fisher.

He still ended up leading the team in points, and had an outstanding showing in the playoffs, so all things considered I think this drought is being blown way out of proportion when looking towards the future. Strange things can happen in a lockout shortened season (see Kadri and Subban). It really seems to me like you won't be satisfied with our #2 center until they produce at or close to a #1 center's rate, which just simply isn't a fair or reasonable expectation.