2024-25 Roster…too soon?

[Mrfenn92]

Phillips will likely be traded for another stalled mediocre prospect - there's not enough ice time in Rockford for him & he looks stale.

He’s on the top pair in Rockford
Ice time is no issue

 

[WarriorofTime]

Phillips probably not qualified and he signs a 2-way deal somewhere else and ends up walking into someone's camp as an 8th defenseman with a potential roster shot if a space opens up. I don't see why he'd be someone that can turn a 3rd into a 2nd or whatever, he was on waivers earlier and went unclaimed. All he's done since then is be a low offensive output AHL player.

If the Hawks acquire a pure cap dump for nothing sort of deal, he can be a contract that goes the other way for balancing, but no standalone value.

 

[x Tame Impala]

Eh, I don't think that's the main reason Matthews and Toronto haven't won a Cup.

If Bedard wants to go down the road of 4-5 year deals to maximize his earnings, who am I to judge?

Too much cap space allocated to four forwards who don’t elevate their games in the playoffs is a huge reason they haven’t won a Cup.

 

[GIADF]

Too much cap space allocated to four forwards who don’t elevate their games in the playoffs is a huge reason they haven’t won a Cup.

That, but what might be even more of an issue is I don't think they've had the right coach with this core. Babcock was a lunatic and overrated as a coach. Keefe reminds me of a guy like McLellan who won't be able to get a great team over the hump. I'd imagine NJ has the same issue with him and their core while he's there, but we'll see.

Really interested to see what Toronto and this core can do with Berube. I think he's a really underrated coach.

 

[x Tame Impala]

That, but what might be even more of an issue is I don't think they've had the right coach with this core. Babcock was a lunatic and overrated as a coach. Keefe reminds me of a guy like McLellan who won't be able to get a great team over the hump. I'd imagine NJ has the same issue with him and their core while he's there, but we'll see.

Really interested to see what Toronto and this core can do with Berube. I think he's a really underrated coach.

Their star players don’t play like stars and take over series. They take up too much cap space so the Leafs have always had to fill in their lack of depth with crappy players like a 41 year old Joe Thornton.

 

[ColbyChaos]

Eh, I don't think that's the main reason Matthews and Toronto haven't won a Cup.

If Bedard wants to go down the road of 4-5 year deals to maximize his earnings, who am I to judge?

Literally never been able to add to their defense group, and have been stuck bargain bin shopping for goalies and using retreads like Samsinov, Campbell, Murray, in hopes they turn it around while they are signed for cheap.

The contract shenangins cuts away at their depth everytime he needs a new contract and then that greed spreads to the rest of the team resulting in the rest of their big 3 also not leaving anything on the table. Its hard to convince Marner, Nylander, and the rest of the team to sign for anything short of an overpayment when they all know Matthews will demand something stupid like 18 million per year 3 years from now. Hawks win zero cups if Toews, Kane, and Keith pulled that bullshit every 3-4 years

They havent made it out of round 1 for a reason meanwhile the Oilers made it to the 3rd round numerous times now.

 

[Castle8130]

Question for everybody;

Do you think it is feasible to roster all 3 of Bedard, Nazar, and Kantserov in the top 6 of our lineup?

I ask this because there has not been a single team in the history of the NHL that has had success rostering more than 2 under 5'10" players in their top 9 and none of these 3 are 3rd line players. Nazar and Bedard are top 6 or bust types. Kantserov is too talented for the 3rd line.

Then you factor in the size of the Hawks other top forwards sizes and you might realize the Hawks have a size issue in their roster construction. Building your team around small forwards can be dangerous

I really hope Dach becomes a top 6 guy or else this rebuild will heavily rely on free agents/trades for talented players with size that don't come around often

 

[u2wojo]

Question for everybody;

Do you think it is feasible to roster all 3 of Bedard, Nazar, and Kantserov in the top 6 of our lineup?

I ask this because there has not been a single team in the history of the NHL that has had success rostering more than 2 under 5'10" players in their top 9 and none of these 3 are 3rd line players. Nazar and Bedard are top 6 or bust types. Kantserov is too talented for the 3rd line.

Then you factor in the size of the Hawks other top forwards sizes and you might realize the Hawks have a size issue in their roster construction. Building your team around small forwards can be dangerous

I really hope Dach becomes a top 6 guy or else this rebuild will heavily rely on free agents/trades for talented players with size that don't come around often

Kucherov, Point, Gourde, & Tyler Johnson of the multi Cup winning Lightning say hello. But yes we will need to surround them with some diversity in size and shape when filling out the lineup.

 

[GIADF]

Question for everybody;

Do you think it is feasible to roster all 3 of Bedard, Nazar, and Kantserov in the top 6 of our lineup?

I ask this because there has not been a single team in the history of the NHL that has had success rostering more than 2 under 5'10" players in their top 9 and none of these 3 are 3rd line players. Nazar and Bedard are top 6 or bust types. Kantserov is too talented for the 3rd line.

Then you factor in the size of the Hawks other top forwards sizes and you might realize the Hawks have a size issue in their roster construction. Building your team around small forwards can be dangerous

I really hope Dach becomes a top 6 guy or else this rebuild will heavily rely on free agents/trades for talented players with size that don't come around often

This team right now just needs talent period. Figure out the rest later when you see who did and didn't pan out. Some of these guys are going to bust and have nothing to do with this team so it's just too early to worry about size.

 

[Castle8130]

Kucherov, Point, Gourde, & Tyler Johnson of the multi Cup winning Lightning say hello. But yes we will need to surround them with some diversity in size and shape when filling out the lineup.

Kucherov and point are taller than 5'10". Gourde and Johnson played depth roles in the bottom 6

 

[statswatcher]

Kucherov and point are taller than 5'10". Gourde and Johnson played depth roles in the bottom 6

gourde played more 5v5 minutes than any other lightning forward in the 2021 playoffs. andrej palat was right behind him. he's listed at 5'11, i guess the arbitrary extra inch is what made all the difference. in fact, of their six most played forwards at 5v5 that playoffs, only one is listed as 6'0" or taller, that being anthony cirelli at exactly 6 feet tall. the next year when they repeat they also got taller with only stamkos and palat in the top six at less than 6 feet tall.

that's not to say size isn't a consideration at all. i think it's much more important on defense, but you still have to have big bodies up front. i'm just not worried about it until it becomes a problem reflected in on ice results. then you can address it knowing what you have and what exactly needs addressing in the first place.

 

[u2wojo]

Kucherov and point are taller than 5'10". Gourde and Johnson played depth roles in the bottom 6

Just like Paddy Kane is 5'10" or are we talking about with skates on?

 

[Hawkaholic]

Kucherov and point are taller than 5'10". Gourde and Johnson played depth roles in the bottom 6

By 1", Do you really think 1 or 2 inches makes a difference? How tall someone is, is meaningless. If they have a bite to their game, they can be as effective as a 6-2" player who doesn't.

 

[Ace Card Bedard]

Kurashev is 6ft.

Not exactly a bruiser out there.

 

[Kevin Musto]

 

[statswatcher]

it's like the paradox of the heap. you start with a heap of sand. remove one grain from it. is it still a heap? if yes, how many grains of sand do you have to remove before there ceases to be a heap? by the same token, start with an nhl sized hockey player. remove one inch. is he still "nhl size"? if yes, how many inches do you have to remove before he becomes a smurf? in either case, the line that you draw winds up looking arbitrary, e.g. "100 grains of sand is a heap but 99 is not", or "5'11" is nhl height but 5'10" is a smurf", etc.

 

[clydesdale line]

By 1", Do you really think 1 or 2 inches makes a difference?

She would say yes.

 

[x Tame Impala]

Dylan Strome is 6'3" fellas

 

[ello]

Kucherov is 6ft. Point is 5'11 and skates better than Nazar. They were flanked by Cirelli, Killorn, Stamkos, guys all over 6ft. Tampa is not the poster child for small forwards.

And yes, as you get further and further away from the NHL average height every inch of height is compounded and has an impact your reach, weight, range, etc. There's a reason why there are virtually no 5'8 star forwards yet 5'10 is fairly common despite the "lolol 2 inch difference"

 

[WarriorofTime]

It's not nothing, but hockey is also not Basketball and you gotta figure out who all can even play before you start overly fretting on an ideal Stanley Cup winning configuration.

 

[Hawkaholic]

It's not nothing, but hockey is also not Basketball and you gotta figure out who all can even play before you start overly fretting on an ideal Stanley Cup winning configuration.

Exactly. We don't even know if Nazar is going to be an NHLer, or if he is, how effective he will be. I don't see why he can't be a bottom 6 player if the offense doesn't come.

 

[ploppsdman]

He’s on the top pair in Rockford
Ice time is no issue

Not what I saw in Rockford. Fits/Lev and Korch/EDM were top 4 and when Kaiser was there instead of Korch, it was Kaiser in the top 4. I don't think Issak saw a second of PP time, either. I welcome someone finding TOI for the last few games but Phillips was invisible.

 

[Beukeboom Fan]

Eh, I don't think that's the main reason Matthews and Toronto haven't won a Cup.

If Bedard wants to go down the road of 4-5 year deals to maximize his earnings, who am I to judge?

Did you notice that Matthew's production falls by like 40% come playoffs? If you're making 11+M AAV you have to be a difference maker, and he hasn't.

And for the Leafs, it's been a goals scorwd issue. There goaltending and GA has actually been pretty good.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Big disappointment this season. Oh well, onward and upward. Good luck on his next team. Wouldn't be shocked to see him back in NLA in two or three years.

 

[BobbyJet]

Question for everybody;

Do you think it is feasible to roster all 3 of Bedard, Nazar, and Kantserov in the top 6 of our lineup?

I ask this because there has not been a single team in the history of the NHL that has had success rostering more than 2 under 5'10" players in their top 9 and none of these 3 are 3rd line players. Nazar and Bedard are top 6 or bust types. Kantserov is too talented for the 3rd line.

Then you factor in the size of the Hawks other top forwards sizes and you might realize the Hawks have a size issue in their roster construction. Building your team around small forwards can be dangerous

I really hope Dach becomes a top 6 guy or else this rebuild will heavily rely on free agents/trades for talented players with size that don't come around often

One thing is certain in my mind: the Hawks need to add some toughness to the lineup. They could be the easiest NHL team to play against. Some will dismiss that as irrelevant but it certainly isn't.