timorous me
Gristled Veteran
- Apr 14, 2010
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To paraphrase Gertrude Stein, I'm afraid there's no there there. At least not at the start of the season.
Recalled/Assigned: 2024-25 Sharks/Barracuda/Thunder
- Thread starter LadyStanley
- Start date
I'd cut Givani Smith before I'd cut Gushchin.
Smith will not make the roster over Gushchin because he is a better hockey player. He will make the roster and play occasionally because he is willing to fight and stick up for his teammates.
- Jun 23, 2020
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So is Goodrow and Kunin so it seems redundant to have that many guys for such a role while leaving a lot of skill off the roster.
Gushchin is not competing with G Smith for a roster spot. He needs to play in a scoring role and it looks like the Sharks are loading their top 6 skill forwards into the top 6 and having a very defensive bottom 6. Gushchin is a clear tier below the top 6 skill players but is probably number 7 on the depth chart. His preseason will push him to be the first long term injury call up in the top 6. He will now need to keep that spot with his play with the Cuda.
There is no need to have Gushchin up with the Sharks just to scratch him. In my opinion if they do that it shows they don’t see a future for him.
He's not but Givani Smith is definitely expendable for the purposes of rewarding someone who would provide more skill in the top nine. I think it's way too early to say they're loading their top 6 and going defensive in the bottom six but doing so would be an unforced error on their part. A defensive 3rd line that the Sharks would employ would basically be forfeiting depth scoring that is needed to compete. Top that off with not insulating at least one of their rookies that looks like he will need it to start and you're asking for problems. Maybe you can get away with heaping all the responsibilities on Celebrini because of how special a talent he is but Smith is pretty clearly not ready for a 2C role to start the year. I also don't think he's ready to be a winger on the 2nd line if you asked Granlund to take most of the center responsibilities.
They should be giving Gushchin a lineup spot to start the season at this pace. They should at the very least insulate Will Smith to start the season as well. I'd much rather put Gushchin on Smith's wing with Zetterlund as the 3rd line and run Eklund-Celebrini-Toffoli and Wennberg-Granlund-Grundstrom or whoever to fill that gap over Smith on the 2nd line.
With 2 rookies in the top 6, one or the other will very likely miss some games after a lull in their performance due to the rigors of the NHL schedule. Very likely management will use him to slide into a top 6 slot when that happens.
What team’s top 6 would he make? He would clear waivers if he was t exempt.
Small scoring wingers are a dime a dozen within every organization.
LadyStanley
Registered User
Two more to Cuda (officially)
Hodge
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- Apr 27, 2021
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He’s not better than Eichel, Stone, Karlsson, Hertl, Barbashev, Roy, Dorofeyev or Olofsson. Even beyond those guys I’m sure the Knights would rather give Brisson a shot. Gushchin has no trade value. If he’s unhappy he’s welcome to go to the KHL.
Brisson, at this point, probably has less trade value than Guch.
Hodge
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And there's no room for him in the Vegas lineup which means there would be no room for Gushchin either.
I also forgot about Holtz who scored 16 goals in the NHL last year. He's better than Gushchin too.
Holtz, by all accounts, has looked awful for Vegas this preseason. Dorofeyev is consistently in the doghouse for being a poor worker. Team doesn't have a lot of goal scorers and if Olaffson can't reclaim his magic he once had with Eichel then the team is gonna be really struggling to score.
Brisson simply can't do anything. It's not like there's one particular thing that's keeping him from making the team.
Hodge
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Gushchin still wouldn't make their top six over any of those players as you claimed.
Brisson isn't part of the calculation. Vegas has 12 forwards better than him or Gushchin but even if one of those guys got injured they would obviously give their own 1st rounder a shot rather than trade for Gushchin.
Currently the Knights have 30 year old Zach Aston Reese, Keegan Kolesar and Brett Howden on the 4th line. Their biggest issue is depth. Brisson has had chances and has looked bad at every turn. I also doubt Vegas and SJ would make another trade again so soon after the Hertl deal.
Hodge
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You said Gushchin would make Vegas' top six. Now you're pivoting to Gushchin on the 4th line with Howden and Kolesar? That sounds like a great use of his talents.
Why does Gushchin need to make a team's top six? Teams deploy three scoring lines far more often than they go with a shutdown 3rd line these days.
You are correct. I got confused during the conversation. He probably would not make their top 6 (even though I'm not sold nor do I think the team is on guys like Doro, Holtz, even Olfasson while Karlsson is pencilled in (I assume) as the 3C. I think there will be a lot of movement to find scoring from their top 3 lines, which has always been a staple of what makes that team so successful. I personally think Daniil is a better player than Holtz, who was at least given opportunities to thrive on the big club (don't give me the 17 goal BS since he had 23 points in the first half of the season and then fell apart in the second half).
Vegas is going to struggle to score not to mention the guys they're relying on up front are both old,fragile or both. If they lose Stone or Hertl they'll ultimately end up a bottom 10 offense in the league.
Hodge
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So name a team where Gushchin would play on their 3rd scoring line.
I think we probably should have played Gushchin more often over Hoffman, Barabanov, Labanc, etc. last season but there's no amount of opportunity that would have resulted in him scoring 16 goals like Holtz. He barely hit that total in the AHL.
I think that’s incredibly misleading since he was a PPG player. He would have eclipse all marks significantly if he didn’t miss a month with an injury and then had a slow start upon his return with 1 point 5 games before ending the season on a tear with 16 points in 12 games (only being held off the scoresheet in a single one of those games).
Hodge
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...in the AHL. None of that means he would have outscored Holtz's 16 goals in the NHL even if he'd been up with the Sharks the entire season.
Right now, it should be the Sharks. There's not a good reason to not reward his performances thus far and, assuming he continues this through the preseason, they should slot him into one of the top three lines. If he fails to produce then you have options to fill his spot and can send him down. If he produces, you have a largely expendable winger to trade for value that wasn't Grier's guy.
