2024-25: Phantoms (AHL), Reading Royals (ECHL), NCAA, Jrs., Int'l, etc.

[deadhead]

London could use a center.

 

[BigToe]

Another L for Guelph. Another pointless Jett game.

 

[Magua]

Another L for Guelph. Another pointless Jett game.

This is what being too advanced for the CHL looks like.

 

[deadhead]

This is what being too advanced for the CHL looks like.

This is what playing on a really bad team looks like.

 

[Magua]

This is what playing on a really bad team looks like.

You brag about not watching CHL games, so how would you know what it looks like?

Jason Robertson played on the lowest scoring team in the OHL his D-1 and D+2 seasons. He got his. Luchanko is the best player on Guelph, and I think it's a reasonable expectation they'd improve with him, if you believe he's one of the best handful of OHL players and beyond the junior level. I obviously don't care about this sample, but there were concerns last season with his offense when they were not a bad team. He has to dispel that -- he didn't with the Flyers either.

 

[deadhead]

The only other team that's as futile offensively is Petersborough, and they don't have a player scoring at a PPG rate.

Guelph forwards (ES):
Namenstikov 13g 2-4 6
Karabela 11g 3-1 4
Alrikkson 10g 2-1 3
McLean 12g 2-1 3
McKenzie 14g 2-2 4
McFadden 11g 1-3 4

Usually a junior team has 2 or 3 scorers that can compose a 1st line.
A couple 20 year olds and a hot shot draft prospect.
What makes it worse are bad goalies, so you'd think they'd score just b/c they're in shootouts.

The Flyers should hope Jett gets traded to a team like London and soon.

 

[Magua]

The only other team that's as futile offensively is Petersborough, and they don't have a player scoring at a PPG rate.

Guelph forwards (ES):
Namenstikov 13g 2-4 6
Karabela 11g 3-1 4
Alrikkson 10g 2-1 3
McLean 12g 2-1 3
McKenzie 14g 2-2 4
McFadden 11g 1-3 4

Usually a junior team has 2 or 3 scorers that can compose a 1st line.
A couple 20 year olds and a hot shot draft prospect.
What makes it worse are bad goalies, so you'd think they'd score just b/c they're in shootouts.

The Flyers should hope Jett gets traded to a team like London and soon.

It’s pretty simple. If you believe his realistic upside is a middle 6 center, in need of offense helpers, you can make some of these arguments. If you are calling him the future 1C who is too good for this level, the standards and expectations, independent of teammates, rise enormously. “His team isn’t good, and he needs players better than him” isn’t the defense you think it is.

 

[CutOnDime97]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1852867872021680282

 

[deadhead]

It’s pretty simple. If you believe his realistic upside is a middle 6 center, in need of offense helpers, you can make some of these arguments. If you are calling him the future 1C who is too good for this level, the standards and expectations, independent of teammates, rise enormously. “His team isn’t good, and he needs players better than him” isn’t the defense you think it is.

I don't see him as a 1C, more of a two way 2C, a 40 point ES scorer who's above average defensively.
But we'll see, he's got raw tools, he can pass, needs to work on his shot.

It would help his development to play on a team with skilled wingers, and even better, a team that can go deep into the CHL playoffs.

 

[deadhead]

Gaucher with a hat trick for the Phantoms, now has 5 ES goals in 8 games.
Playing with Richard and Eklind.
All I can find on him is he's supposedly high IQ, big body, listed at 6'3 195.
The Q, then a good season in the ECHL, last year with the Phantoms primarily defense and PK.
Seemed alright in the one game I've seen so far.
Still only 23, probably a SSS heater, but never know, could be the 1 in a 1000 late bloomer.

Why do I separate ES from PP?
Tuomaala is a good example
8g, 8 points. Sounds good. But 8g 0-1 1 -5 at ES - that sucks.

 

[mr4tno]

Gaucher with a hat trick for the Phantoms, now has 5 ES goals in 8 games.
Playing with Richard and Eklind.
All I can find on him is he's supposedly high IQ, big body, listed at 6'3 195.
The Q, then a good season in the ECHL, last year with the Phantoms primarily defense and PK.
Seemed alright in the one game I've seen so far.
Still only 23, probably a SSS heater, but never know, could be the 1 in a 1000 late bloomer.

Why do I separate ES from PP?
Tuomaala is a good example
8g, 8 points. Sounds good. But 8g 0-1 1 -5 at ES - that sucks.

Younger brother was #22 OA in 2022

 

[Deadpool8812]

Yeah, but does he play the right way?

 

[deadhead]

Matteo Mann watch, now 13g 3-3 6.
Watch out Magua, he's on his way!

 

[FLYguy3911]

Gaucher will be their next Hodgson.

 

[BringBackHakstol]

Deady will get the hype train going for a few weeks, then act like it wasn't a thing

 

[BernieParent]

Matteo Mann watch, now 13g 3-3 6.
Watch out Magua, he's on his way!

Too much Mann!

 

[mja]

Deady will get the hype train going for a few weeks, then act like it wasn't a thing

This is his Schrödinger's sarcasm bit, where he both suggests something earnestly and at the same time acts like he's just joking around.

By the way, why are any of you giving him the time of day? If he can't look at this particular roster of despair in 2024 and acknowledge that all of his faith in the hockey guy culture that guides this organization is misplaced, he never will.

 

[deadhead]

This is his Schrödinger's sarcasm bit, where he both suggests something earnestly and at the same time acts like he's just joking around.

By the way, why are any of you giving him the time of day? If he can't look at this particular roster of despair in 2024 and acknowledge that all of his faith in the hockey guy culture that guides this organization is misplaced, he never will.

Why should I despair?
Either they turn it around and the young guys are back on track or they pick high.
It's win-win.

 

[JojoTheWhale]

Why should I despair?
Either they turn it around and the young guys are back on track or they pick high.
It's win-win.

I'm sorry. I can't resist a polite oppurtinity this snarky.

Exactly. This is why the Sabres are in great shape.

 

[deadhead]

I'm sorry. I can't resist a polite oppurtinity this snarky.

Exactly. This is why the Sabres are in great shape.

Buffalo is sui generis, I think they've traded away more good players than the rest of the league combined.

The hardest part during a rebuild is being patient, NJ traded Zacha (#6) b/c they got tired of waiting, and he's doing fine in Boston. It's easy to get frustrated with players when you start slowly, but they're not trying to win anything, so there's no excuse to panic (the big part of announcing a rebuild is to take the pressure off your GM to do "something, anything" when you start losing).

Now there are times when it makes sense to trade my headache for your headache, I could see a Frost and Laughton for Cozens type deal, for example.

 

[mja]

Why should I despair?
Either they turn it around and the young guys are back on track or they pick high.
It's win-win.

Yay, more Cutter Gauthiers and Jett Lunchankos!

By the time this team figures it out, you'll be long dead and I'll be getting damned close to it.

 

[deadhead]

Yay, more Cutter Gauthiers and Jett Lunchankos!

By the time this team figures it out, you'll be long dead and I'll be getting damned close to it.

I'd love to land a few more Jetts, give me a high IQ, really fast forward group and all I need are a couple guys like Michkov and TK.

Even if you're incredibly lucky like NJ (#1 twice), you have to build a team, most of their key players are from trades (Meier, Markstrom, Haula, Cotter, Kovacevic) and older free agents (Hamilton (31), Palat (33), Noeson (31), Tatar (34), Dillon (34), Seigenthaler, Pesce. That's because they've missed on a number of top ten picks (Zacha #6, Holtz #7, McLeod #12, Smith #17).

If the Flyers were to tank, what are the odds they'd end up with the next Bedard v the next Kakko?

Anaheim is now in their 7th year of their playoff drought:
Zegras (#9), Drysdale (#6)/Gauthier, McTavish #3, Mintyukov #10, Carlsson #2, Sennecke #3.

So of course their best players are Terry #148, and Dostal G #85.

They also added a lot of veterans, Strome (31), Killorn (35), Vatrano (30), McGinn (30), Fabbri (29), Fowler (33), Dumoulin (33), Gudas (34).

Silly me, I thought rebuilding teams traded all their veterans, instead of adding them?

 

[mja]

I'd love to land a few more Jetts, give me a high IQ, really fast forward group and all I need are a couple guys like Michkov and TK.

Even if you're incredibly lucky like NJ (#1 twice), you have to build a team, most of their key players are from trades (Meier, Markstrom, Haula, Cotter, Kovacevic) and older free agents (Hamilton (31), Palat (33), Noeson (31), Tatar (34), Dillon (34), Seigenthaler, Pesce. That's because they've missed on a number of top ten picks (Zacha #6, Holtz #7, McLeod #12, Smith #17).

If the Flyers were to tank, what are the odds they'd end up with the next Bedard v the next Kakko?

Anaheim is now in their 7th year of their playoff drought:
Zegras (#9), Drysdale (#6)/Gauthier, McTavish #3, Mintyukov #10, Carlsson #2, Sennecke #3.

So of course their best players are Terry #148, and Dostal G #85.

They also added a lot of veterans, Strome (31), Killorn (35), Vatrano (30), McGinn (30), Fabbri (29), Fowler (33), Dumoulin (33), Gudas (34).

Silly me, I thought rebuilding teams traded all their veterans, instead of adding them?

Nope, not falling for this, I have better things to do with my time.

 

[FLYguy3911]

Jett. High IQ. Low PPG.

 

[freakydallas13]

I don't see him as a 1C, more of a two way 2C, a 40 point ES scorer who's above average defensively.
But we'll see, he's got raw tools, he can pass, needs to work on his shot.

It would help his development to play on a team with skilled wingers, and even better, a team that can go deep into the CHL playoffs.

I legitimately cannot reconcile how you say Zavragin is comparable to the best goalie in the world because of his KHL stats at a similar age, but not be worried about what Luchanko's lack of production projects him as. How many centers in their D+1 go back to the CHL with poor offensive results like Jeff's, and end up as second like centers? Give me the numbers on centers below a ppg in their D+1, and how often they turn into second line NHL centers. I would love to see them.

I know it's early, but if he doesn't produce (and produce a lot), it's folly to project him as anything more than a bottom 6 center at the NHL level based on his stats.