Biggest thing with zellweger/Mintyukov is patience…. It’ll be their 3rd season in nhl, but they will still be 2 years younger than someone like Lacombe when he made his debut.
Hoping the coaching change/system change will yield good results from both young guys. another full offseason for both guys will hopefully help with strength/conditioning.
luneau will be tough to leave off the roster as soon as this year…. But we don’t exactly have room for him…. Curious to see what PV does regarding the right side.
Making the playoffs demand for next season and patience for Zell or Minty are mixed signals. This is where I disagree with the owners' ultimatum of making the playoffs next season because it's still year 4 of the reset rebuild.
The CHL isn't known for teaching defense like the NCAA. Zell, Minty, and Luneau are all Defensive Player of the Year (DPoY) recipients of their respective leagues due to their high-powered offensive productions. It isn't a mystery as to why all three are struggling to learn defense once they go pro, especially when learning to play defense as the NHL level - which is what Zell and Minty have been doing for the past two seasons. Both need all the experiences of what not to do because they have not been taught to play defense at a high level.
LaCombe, Helleson, and Moore are all NCAA products. Not surprisingly, all three play defense better than Zell, Minty, and Luneau. LaCombe was a high scoring prospect coming into the draft with 22g + 67a in only 54 games, but they were high school games. High school competition is lower than CHL competition, which is why LaCombe was rating for the 2nd round than the 1st round. Yet, going the NCAA route for LaCombe was one way to improve playing defense as well as show off his offense against a higher level of competition at the NCAA levels. The NCAA level is a higher level of competition than the CHL because the age range of CHL players are 16-20, whereas the NCAA has an age range of 17-26 year olds.
LaCombe's two-way game was so good after three seasons in college that Verbeek tried signing him, but LaCombe elected to stay another season. It was a great decision to stay in college another year for LaCombe as he took his offensive game up another notch. Four year of college produced a mostly refined two-way D in LaCombe. He just needed a season to adapt to the NHL and then took off the following season.
Zell and Minty finished their second season learning to play defense at the NHL level. They are two to three years behind LaCombe's defensive tutelage. Luneau is further away because he lost a whole season due to bodybuilding and an infection. Again, Defend the Nest and our own mightyquack shared that recently signed RD Moore surpassed Luneau at the AHL level because of his better defensive play. Moore was signed five years after being drafted, USHL + 4 years at NCAA.
A coaching change cannot make up for experience, but maybe make it less steep. I think Zell's skating gives him a better edge than Minty. Skating makes a world of difference in adapting. It's also why LaCombe and Zell were often the ones on the ice in OT situations, but Zell doesn't have to worry about defense much since it's essentially pond hockey. We are banking a lot on Zell and Minty to take big steps this year to make the playoffs, but I also think it's unfair to put that much pressure on either one.
