voyageur
Hockey fanatic
- Jul 10, 2011
- 10,754
- 10,391
All fair. It's good to have players you can count on and you seem to think O'Reilly could be one of those guys. I won't dispute that. I personally like the way the Jets are at center, two heavy centers in Scheif and Lowry. Both decent skaters. But by no means top end. Their physicality often makes up for their lack of speed. I like the speed that Namestnikov and Kupari bring to give another angle of attack from the middle of the ice.The only changes we made from last year are
Gustafsson to Kupari
Schmidt to Miller
Monahan and Toffoli leaving you may be referring to as well which is fair. I agree rentals of that play style that range shouldn't be in our plans. Snipers that don't drive play and are suspect defensively.
ROR is really good defensively and makes life easier for the other 4 guys on the ice with him. He is also a better playmaker than either by far. It's not repeating past mistakes, it's learning from the mistake of acquiring guys that dont have a good two way game
They only had a center of ROR calibre once and they went to the conference finals. It's crazy to me to be looking at JAGs with size like Dach and saying no thanks to an actual top line calibre guy because of foot speed. He still gets the job done at a high level even with his foot speed.
Dach has pretty much the worst pts/60 mins, goals %, and X goals % on the Habs...
Like traits matter but at certain point a way better player will always fit your system better. If ROR wasn't under contract for multiple more seasons I wouldn't be as interested. It's a deal like Nino's for a underrated center who has grit and tons of playoff experience as a go to guy
Right now ROR is behind all 3 of our top centers in scoring, doesn't mean he can't add anything. Or exceed their production in the right opportunity. My suggestion of Dach is hoping to find another Vilardi, who can play behind Vilardi in the lineup. Maybe replace him at an injury level which I believe the Toffoli acquisition was meant to do. He too has underachieving stats. He's been in the league 5+ years now. Injury prone. Vilardi's breakout season was at 23 with the Kings, which is where Dach is at but probably in the wrong position in my mind.
I can see advantages in ROR. While he couldn't replace a Vilardi, he could centre a top line and give Scheif a chance to or centre a smaller 2nd line. He can also kill penalties which is a need for the Jets. He's not my guy, but I can understand why he'd be a choice for you and others. If you think he's the next Stastny instead of Monahan.