Speculation: 2024-2025 General Discussion. Threads: 3. Combined goals by Luke and Zemgus: 2

[Vasilevskiy]

Boeser is very overrated. Bjorkstrand would be cheaper and a much better fit. Go for him.

Tuch also but I doubt Buffalo sells one of the very few players that has heart on the team

 

[Ducati Boy]

Sum up: I'm in the 'get Bjorkstand' club. Always snipes against us.
The main positive with Howard, too, is that he finishes. Even if his two-way game up here is minor-league level, the fact that he can put the penny in the pot should earn him at least a late-season big squad look.

 

[Rschmitz]

A lot of talk about Vancouver as a partner but I haven’t seen any discussion on Conor Garland. I’d much prefer him over Boeser.

I’m may be alone in this but I have Ike slotted as our 2RW when he’s full on in his role. So, to me, I would like to see a move that perhaps nabs a RW on a 1-2 year deal after this season as placeholder for Howard.

I would love to see, or at least believe, that Howard can slot right in after he’s done at MSU. I think what he’s going to be to told is he’ll spend time in Syracuse but be on the shortlist for call ups here.

And I’m not coming off of my stance on snagging Bjugstad as our 3C. Be it trade (with the intent to sign extension) or this summer as a UFA

A third line that has BDN on LW - Another Nick at Center - and Geekie on the RW wouldn’t trouble me. Just my thoughts.

We know Vancouver is actively shopping Boeser while they are probably trying to hold onto Garland.

That aside I think if we are window shopping size can’t be ignored, without Paul or Geekie on our top 6 we are pretty small, adding 165 lb Garland isn’t helping that cause.

 

[RussianGuyovich]

It's a good problem to have when we're debating blue chip prospects, but Howard has never played a pro game and despite multiple camps with TB, didn't appear to be as impactful or ready as Geekie this past fall. I view the latter as being the better prospect with more upside, and I think he would be just as dominant in the Big 10 as Howard is now, if not more so.

Howard might be a bit fresher in a couple months, but if he's getting NHL minutes they'll be heavily sheltered. People need to pump the brakes on this guy.

thats weird, cuz isaac howard's world junior under 20 looks way better than geekie's. waaaay better.

but i don't want to get into a dialectical conversation about who's better, that's the point. we have two strong young forwards for the first time since, like, 2015? and we're excited to see the second one come into the league hopefully this spring, one who's playing at an elite level at a development league and is garnering votes for being the best in that league.

and i get that you are just trying to tamper expectations about howard, but i am here to tell you that howard is a primal talent gifted to all humanity much like the promethean fire, and you will soon see the light.

 

[Stammertime91]

We know Vancouver is actively shopping Boeser while they are probably trying to hold onto Garland.

That aside I think if we are window shopping size can’t be ignored, without Paul or Geekie on our top 6 we are pretty small, adding 165 lb Garland isn’t helping that cause.

Agreed. Garland is a solid player but he gets tossed a lot too. I've seen enough of that. Pass.

 

[Hoek]

It's not like we've never played a guy straight out of NCAA before, Sustr anyone? Playing Howard right away makes a lot more sense than that one.. I doubt JBB cares that much to play hardball over it.

 

[These Are The Days]

I do think Geekie really needs some AHL conditioning but at the same time I know Joel Bouchard is going to drain every ounce of creativity from his game and he will come back as a bottom 6 forechecker so I don't really like this.

That might not be the worst thing. Has anyone SEEN our bottom 6 lately? Everytime Geekie hits the offensive zone he velcros himself to the nearest possible defender in about 2 seconds and and spends the rest of his shift not being able to unstick himself while he fruitlesly tries to get open or fruitlesly works with the puck. Then the poor fella gets knocked on his ass

He plays a power game being 20 lbs too light. He just has to physically grow is all.

 

[These Are The Days]

I also doubt this means we have some other move coming. Geekie is doing everything right. He just needs to physically grow. There's no sense in dragging this on and killing him in the NHL anymore.


The only evidence we will have of a move is total radio silence from JBB until suddenly it's reported that we made a trade

 

[LordStanlersCup]

That might not be the worst thing. Has anyone SEEN our bottom 6 lately? Everytime Geekie hits the offensive zone he velcros himself to the nearest possible defender in about 2 seconds and and spends the rest of his shift not being able to unstick himself while he fruitlesly tries to get open or fruitlesly works with the puck. Then the poor fella gets knocked on his ass

He plays a power game being 20 lbs too light. He just has to physically grow is all.

He holds a lot of trade value so if all we see in him is a bottom 6 forechecker then he needs to be traded. He has shown some creativity on the rush and particulary on his zone entries. Great stick handling and decent skating when he picks up speed but can never stay on his skates and loses too many puck battles. Also never finishes his chances and like you mentioned his positioning in the offensive zone is very questionable.

 

[DistantThunderRep]

AHL is playing during the break right? So why not send him down and let him play rather than sitting on his ass?

 

[Point21]

AHL is playing during the break right? So why not send him down and let him play rather than sitting on his ass?

Syracuse has 3 games during the break

 

[DistantThunderRep]

Syracuse has 3 games during the break

Yeah, kind of my point. Instead of him playing 11 minutes a night for a few more games here, then going on break. Why not send him down and let him play 20 minutes a night now and during the break. It makes sense in that regard. I don't believe JBB did it to make some move, I totally believe he will make some knee jerk trade at the deadline. But not now. Hopefully I am wrong, but I don't see it.

 

[JTBF81]

Yeah, kind of my point. Instead of him playing 11 minutes a night for a few more games here, then going on break. Why not send him down and let him play 20 minutes a night now and during the break. It makes sense in that regard. I don't believe JBB did it to make some move, I totally believe he will make some knee jerk trade at the deadline. But not now. Hopefully I am wrong, but I don't see it.

Except, as I mentioned in another post, they have no one better to currently take his spot, and these next 4 games before the break are fairly important. Him getting an extra few minutes in a handful of AHL games doesn't seem worth it to lose one of the team's top 9F for this stretch.

 

[Point21]

Except, as I mentioned in another post, they have no one better to currently take his spot, and these next 4 games before the break are fairly important. Him getting an extra few minutes in a handful of AHL games doesn't seem worth it to lose one of the team's top 9F for this stretch.

maybe Joel Bouchard can teach him how not to fall more than Killorn

 

[Stammertime91]

Geekies legs look like two strands of linguine with hockey gear on them. He needs to talk to Gary Roberts or eat everything in sight all summer. He's too easy to push around.

 

[Point21]

Better than Lilleberg, big 6'5 stay at home Dman that could pair well with Perbix/Raddysh

 

[LordStanlersCup]

Players Pagnotta has the Lightning linked to:
Gourde - Love the player but he's 33 and seems more of a win now piece, even with an extension it's not preferable but I don't hate it. Seattle was asking for a 1st but he got injured recently, not sure if that impacts things.
Ferraro - I always hear people raving about him but his underlying analytics are terrible and I don't watch enough SJS to know if he's actually good. Apparently SJS is asking for a substantial return.
Dumoulin - He's an alright player and would fill 3LD fine but again he's 33, would like to get some players for the future.
Savard - He has not been good in MTL and at 34 we need someone younger.
Laughton - He's a replacement level player, nothing special, 30 years old, they are apparently asking for a 1st, no thanks. There's better ways of spending 3mil and he's a left shot
Grzelcyk - 31 years old, hasn't had a great last 2 years but was solid for Boston before that, wouldn't hate it.


The theme here is the Lightning are looking at LD's and they seem to be older hinting at them possibly just looking for rentals? I really think they need to secure the future at this TDL. On the positive side of things, most of the insiders don't get good information on the Lightning and often don't know what JBB is planning so he could have something totally different from this

 

[Major4Boarding]

Garland is a better Chaffee. No reason to give up more assets for him unless Chaffee moves in the trade. Garland produces best with a good playmaker. He's not going to get that one second or third line. But a line with Hagel, Cirelli, and Garland would seriously grind down lines.

And @Rschmitz - I didn't see Garland as a long term 2RW solution. I'm rooting for Ike to come straight outta the shitter and onto the 2nd line here but that's been an extremely rare case for this Org (as @Hoek pointed out with Sustr)

Lack of size concerned me for sure, but I didn't see Garland sticking around after contract expiration anyway.

JFBB holds all the cards no matter what anyway, but I just saw it as a medium asset swap/placeholder type deal because jumping in on a beefy 2RW is gonna cost Astrobucks unless we do so this summer

 

[Point21]

Players Pagnotta has the Lightning linked to:
Gourde - Love the player but he's 33 and seems more of a win now piece, even with an extension it's not preferable but I don't hate it. Seattle was asking for a 1st but he got injured recently, not sure if that impacts things.
Ferraro - I always hear people raving about him but his underlying analytics are terrible and I don't watch enough SJS to know if he's actually good. Apparently SJS is asking for a substantial return.
Dumoulin - He's an alright player and would fill 3LD fine but again he's 33, would like to get some players for the future.
Savard - He has not been good in MTL and at 34 we need someone younger.
Laughton - He's a replacement level player, nothing special, 30 years old, they are apparently asking for a 1st, no thanks. There's better ways of spending 3mil and he's a left shot
Grzelcyk - 31 years old, hasn't had a great last 2 years but was solid for Boston before that, wouldn't hate it.


The theme here is the Lightning are looking at LD's and they seem to be older hinting at them possibly just looking for rentals? I really think they need to secure the future at this TDL. On the positive side of things, most of the insiders don't get good information on the Lightning and often don't know what JBB is planning so he could have something totally different from this

im all for Grzelcyk, maybe even see if we can snag Bryan Rust as well

 

[DistantThunderRep]

Players Pagnotta has the Lightning linked to:
Gourde - Love the player but he's 33 and seems more of a win now piece, even with an extension it's not preferable but I don't hate it. Seattle was asking for a 1st but he got injured recently, not sure if that impacts things.
Ferraro - I always hear people raving about him but his underlying analytics are terrible and I don't watch enough SJS to know if he's actually good. Apparently SJS is asking for a substantial return.
Dumoulin - He's an alright player and would fill 3LD fine but again he's 33, would like to get some players for the future.
Savard - He has not been good in MTL and at 34 we need someone younger.
Laughton - He's a replacement level player, nothing special, 30 years old, they are apparently asking for a 1st, no thanks. There's better ways of spending 3mil and he's a left shot
Grzelcyk - 31 years old, hasn't had a great last 2 years but was solid for Boston before that, wouldn't hate it.


The theme here is the Lightning are looking at LD's and they seem to be older hinting at them possibly just looking for rentals? I really think they need to secure the future at this TDL. On the positive side of things, most of the insiders don't get good information on the Lightning and often don't know what JBB is planning so he could have something totally different from this

The fourthperiod and Pagnotta have zero credible sources. They are a joke and now just as bad as Hockeybuzz and Eklund. I'd believe Byrd has closer sources to the team than those jokes.

 

[Rschmitz]

Players Pagnotta has the Lightning linked to:
Gourde - Love the player but he's 33 and seems more of a win now piece, even with an extension it's not preferable but I don't hate it. Seattle was asking for a 1st but he got injured recently, not sure if that impacts things.
Ferraro - I always hear people raving about him but his underlying analytics are terrible and I don't watch enough SJS to know if he's actually good. Apparently SJS is asking for a substantial return.
Dumoulin - He's an alright player and would fill 3LD fine but again he's 33, would like to get some players for the future.
Savard - He has not been good in MTL and at 34 we need someone younger.
Laughton - He's a replacement level player, nothing special, 30 years old, they are apparently asking for a 1st, no thanks. There's better ways of spending 3mil and he's a left shot
Grzelcyk - 31 years old, hasn't had a great last 2 years but was solid for Boston before that, wouldn't hate it.


The theme here is the Lightning are looking at LD's and they seem to be older hinting at them possibly just looking for rentals? I really think they need to secure the future at this TDL. On the positive side of things, most of the insiders don't get good information on the Lightning and often don't know what JBB is planning so he could have something totally different from this

None of these guys are worth looking at. Gourde pre-injury may have been interesting depending on cost but that's over now.