the poster that you were responding to was a bit ambiguous, but i don't believe that i ever suggested that goals in a single playoffs are all that helpfulby themselves as a predictor of future success. i believe HOW a guy plays in playoffs matters in evaluating a prospect. is he able to effectively play the style of play that typically make him effective. that is why i was pushing back on your dismissal of playoff performance.
Majority. I don’t expect that you’re going to read every post I put down. I’ve made comments all year that Sennecke is a very good player. Burns and Mayich both are very good defensive prospects I saw a lot of. They played a lot with Sennecke on the ice. if they made a mistake when Sennecke was on the ice, then Sennecke made them pay for it. More than any other player this year, he capitalized on these guys assignment errors I noticed. He is a relentless player, which you need in the regular season and the playoffs. What I have noticed is that he’s even stepped up his game in the playoffs further and isn’t afraid of the compete or the heavier game. He seems to thrive on it. Like another poster said, he just shot up in size and looked a bit awkward out there. He also looks like he’s 12 years old when you see his face like Brad Thompson used to. Ha ha. I think you build a team to win the Stanley Cup not the regular season. When you have guys that can turn it up a notch in the playoffs, then that’s what you look for on your team not disappearing acts.
None of them have been drafted yet. U18 = Under 18 (although most have actually turned 18 by now).
I preached this all this past season. If we wanted a "retool" to be successful and didnt want to go into a full on 6-7 year rebuild, or get stuck in the murky middle where we perpetually attempt to add vets every offseason to fill gaping holes in our roster just to finish 18th overall every season, or barely make the playoffs and get eliminated 1st round. Then the answer was obvious, we really need(ed) to be picking top ten in all three of the 2023-2025 drafts. We had a massive draft in 2023, coupling that with two more top 10 picks, a few already developing prospects and Thomas/Kyrou moving forward would have made a great next core that you can then start adding external pieces in a year or two and build out from there. This past season was absolutely worst case scenario.
Which Norway game? I have the US-Norway game from Saturday on my DVR but haven’t watched it yet. If you’re talking about the relegation game this morning between Norway and Kazakhstan, that one was unfortunately not televised. Based on the box score, it looks like it was a good game. Back and forth game when Kazakhstan scored 2 in the 3rd to tie it 5-5. It went to an ELEVEN round shootout where Norway finally won it. Norway survives, Kazakhstan is relegated to Division 1A, to be replaced by Germany next year.
But how does Norway’s potassium stack up against Kazakhstan’s??
Worst case? I don't think it's necessarily worst case. Blues have said externally that they are trying to compete for playoffs, so the expectation as fans should be that they probably aren't going to be awful. From a retool standpoint? I guess it depends how you view a retool, but obviously a top 10 pick would be preferable in building a team for the future; also have to be cognizant that being competitive is good for the players in the NHL right now. However, whoever the Blues do pick this draft could be a trade chip in the future or they could be a core player on this team. We have a ton of forward depth and my guess is if we pick another forward, then we will absolutely see the Blues trade one of their younger forwards for a potential top pairing defenseman.
To be clear, I am not advocating tearing it to studs. I don't think that is advisable. I am just saying that if we have to have a step back year next year could be good one because we don't need to have 1oa to get impact player. so we can deal buchy and faulk, let some younger kids show what they can do (kessell, dean, bolduc, etc..) as we give them increasingly bigger roles. we have been hesitant to do much that will hinder our playoff chances and i think next year is the one to do that.
I don't see our future as the post - Tavares Islanders to be a particularly rosy outlook
He’s 3 days too old for this year’s U18s (Dec 29 birthday) but I looked for him at the U20s back in December. He seemed fine. Got walked a few times but it’s hard to evaluate guys on teams that just get smoked every game by the top teams. Beyond that, there’s some highlight videos of him out there but all in all, I’d say I don’t have a great read of him yet.
that tracks with my viewings. you watch him and think he has full package of tools and then somebody turnstiles him or he makes bad decision with puck and it goes other way. he will be playing in sweden next year i believe, which should aid his development as there is only so much he can grow his game in norway. he is bit of boom/bust but has intriguing potential.
That should have started last year IMO, but not sure it’s worth rehashing
He didn’t look bad in the tourney games I watched, but he played way too much. I think it affected his play. He logged a ridiculous amount of minutes.
I really liked his game at the WJC. He got over extended on a bad Norway team, but his physical play definitely stood out for me. Very intriguing prospect.
