Speculation: 2024-25 Roster thread

[ADHB]

It's possible (or maybe even slightly likely) that some of these guys aren't qualified, but still come back on a lesser deal, like Leason and Vaaks this season. If they are marginal players on a bottom 10 team, I highly doubt they're going to find permanent jobs elsewhere. At least here, they know they at least have a fighting chance at getting NHL playing time.

 

[ZegrassyKnoll]

Legitimately the only reason that’s the case is because they don’t have anyone else to take PK draws (and he’s not very good at them anyway). If they had a better faceoff man who could play the PK, Lundestrom’s PK time would be cut back substantially.

I don't think it's that simple... Harkins has the best FO% on the team and plays on the PK half as much as Lundestrom does.

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

Interesting there isn't much belief in Lundy's F/O ability. Last night I heard Hazy brag how Lundy was the guy helping Leo learn to take F/Os. Not that any of this surprises me.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

Lundy gets extremely undervalued around these boards. If anything, Leason is overrated!

I get that he’s essentially a net zero offensively at putting the puck in the net - BUT he does have a sneaky skill set once he has the ability to showcase it.

Problem is, he (at least to my knowledge) hasn’t had many chances to display anything in the top six. Most of his coaches have stapled him on the bottom half of the lineup.

 

[11Justin93]

I'd keep Lundy as the 4th line LW or 13th forward. He skates better than most of our other players and PKs well with his speed. He can be the 4th line C if Gaucher isn't up for it or we don't find anyone better.

 

[JAHV]

People are talking about Lundestrom and his PK ability as if it's a positive quality. The Ducks' PK is possibly the worst in the league. It gives up the most expected goals against per 60. Even by traditional stats it's bad.

Lundestrom is part of the problem.

 

[Hamilton Bulldogs]

Lundy gets extremely undervalued around these boards. If anything, Leason is overrated!

I get that he’s essentially a net zero offensively at putting the puck in the net - BUT he does have a sneaky skill set once he has the ability to showcase it.

Problem is, he (at least to my knowledge) hasn’t had many chances to display anything in the top six. Most of his coaches have stapled him on the bottom half of the lineup.

The years to put Lundy with top 6 talent were when Silf and Grant were using those spots. Everyone knew they would be out of the league once their contracts were up but for some reason we were still using them in prominent spots.

Now? I'm not sure theres a spot there.

 

[Dryish]

Putting Lundy in the top 6 would be like cooking a steak medium well and insisting that it's still just as good as medium or medium rare if you just pour enough sauce on top of it.

We should get actual top 6 production calibre players for the top 6 to improve, not try to cram whoever we have who, under the right laboratory circumstances, might sometimes show creativity and perhaps maybe potentially be a goal scorer into the mix.

 

[11Justin93]

People are talking about Lundestrom and his PK ability as if it's a positive quality. The Ducks' PK is possibly the worst in the league. It gives up the most expected goals against per 60. Even by traditional stats it's bad.

Lundestrom is part of the problem.

Lundestrom is one player. PKing is a system.

He skates better than most of the other players on the team and that's an important quality for a penalty killer to be able to close the gaps created by being short handed. As long as his contract demand is reasonable for a fourth liner / 13th forward, there's no reason not to bring him back.

 

[AngelDuck]

I want the following forwards to not return next year and be replaced by better players:

1) Leason
2) Lundestrom
3) Harkins
4) Johnston
5) Fabbri


There’s plenty of room to upgrade this team in the next 8 months. Even upgrading 2 of those guys would go a long way

 

[SmokeyDuck]

Lundestrom is underrated. If we werent using him as our faceoff ace I feel like his percentage would be better. I would qualify him. I just know he would blossom elsewhere if we let him go for nothing.

 

[12ozPapa]

Lundestrom is underrated. If we werent using him as our faceoff ace I feel like his percentage would be better. I would qualify him. I just know he would blossom elsewhere if we let him go for nothing.

Agreed. He is the perfect 3rd liner in my view

 

[JAHV]

Lundestrom is underrated. If we werent using him as our faceoff ace I feel like his percentage would be better. I would qualify him. I just know he would blossom elsewhere if we let him go for nothing.

He very well might blossom elsewhere, but he's had a lot of time here and is nowhere near blossoming.

As for the faceoff thing, why would his percentage be better if we used him more on it? A faceoff is a discrete event. If he were good at them, he would win more of the ones he actually takes.

Also, even if that were true, we would then have Lundestrom on the ice more often, which is not a good thing, seeing as he's bad at offense, and his defensive skills are questionable as well.

The only reason to keep Lundestrom around is if Verbeek is too busy dealing with bigger problems to replace him. But unless he suddenly figures everything out, he's someone who's going to need to be replaced when this team wants to be competitive.

 

[AngelDuck]

Agreed. He is the perfect 3rd liner in my view

He doesn’t produce enough to be a 3rd liner. Ryan Strome is a far better player than Lundestrom and should be seen as our 3C the next 2 years IMO

 

[cheesymc]

Lundestrom is underrated. If we werent using him as our faceoff ace I feel like his percentage would be better. I would qualify him. I just know he would blossom elsewhere if we let him go for nothing.

I agree he is talented and smart, we should definitely retain in hopes he breaks out. But I do think he should be traded if we got a decent offer for him now. It could get crowded next season and it would limit his opportunities. He's not really a bottom-line grinder type.

 

[Mr Rogers]

Lundestrom kind of comes off as a heady player but I’m not sure he really is, especially offensively. Certainly not lacking like a Max Jones but I’m not confident at this point in him finding an offensive game.

 

[DavidBL]

He doesn’t produce enough to be a 3rd liner. Ryan Strome is a far better player than Lundestrom and should be seen as our 3C the next 2 years IMO

And that's assuming 1 of Z, McT and Leo are moved to wing.

 

[ZegrassyKnoll]

It is funny to me that people pin our bad PK on Lundestrom/Harkins and not Vatrano (who can't pass in his own zone to save his life) or Killorn (who can't skate out of the zone with urgency to save his life)

Lundestrom, Harkins, and Leason are like the boilerplate PKers that at least 90% of the league has on their team.

 

[JAHV]

It is funny to me that people pin our bad PK on Lundestrom/Harkins and not Vatrano (who can't pass in his own zone to save his life) or Killorn (who can't skate out of the zone with urgency to save his life)

Lundestrom, Harkins, and Leason are like the boilerplate PKers that at least 90% of the league has on their team.

I don't know that any of those guys is good. But Lundestrom is a big part of it. This season, his xGA/60 on the PK is second worst to Vatrano. Over the last three seasons, there are 145 players who have spent more than 200 minutes on the PK. Lundestrom is 5th worst in xGA/60 (2nd worst in actual GA/60). Now, there are a lot of Ducks high on that list, which indicates that there's plenty of blame to go around (including to coaches), but he's above (below?) them all. I'm not sure why people go out of their way to defend him.

At best, the argument is that Lundestrom doesn't matter because he's just a 4th liner. And that's mostly true, particularly for a team that's still as bad as the Ducks. But it would be nice to have an actually good 4th line center who can win faceoffs and PK well.

 

[ZegrassyKnoll]

I don't know that any of those guys is good. But Lundestrom is a big part of it. This season, his xGA/60 on the PK is second worst to Vatrano. Over the last three seasons, there are 145 players who have spent more than 200 minutes on the PK. Lundestrom is 5th worst in xGA/60 (2nd worst in actual GA/60). Now, there are a lot of Ducks high on that list, which indicates that there's plenty of blame to go around (including to coaches), but he's above (below?) them all. I'm not sure why people go out of their way to defend him.

At best, the argument is that Lundestrom doesn't matter because he's just a 4th liner. And that's mostly true, particularly for a team that's still as bad as the Ducks. But it would be nice to have an actually good 4th line center who can win faceoffs and PK well.

This is kind of my point though... There are probably like 3 teams in the league with "good" 4th line centers. And if you put one of those on the Ducks, their numbers would probably be right next to everyone else on our team.

Lundestrom isn't a bad PKer, the DUCKS are bad PKers.

Swapping him out for another 4C isn't going to change anything. Call me sentimental, but I like to see players who we have drafted stick with the team instead of just replacing them with mercenaries that won't move the needle.