Around the League 2024-25 season

[Raccoon Jesus]

we all like to shit on blake's rebuild, but it at least it aint rangers bad haha

lot of schaudenfraude for the "rangers completed the fastest rebuild in history" main board thread lol

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Man wild night of hockey, every time i turn the channel something wild is happening

ducks come back at the end and nearly give it up before dostal pokes vilardi right at the end

Utah comes back on the canucks, down 2-0 win 3-2 with a few seconds in OT

the other few games were just high scoring, every time i flipped there was a goal

fun stuff, i know we complain a lot and I def. like physicality and want it but there's a lot of speed and skill in the game right now and on nights like tonight when that takes center stage over guys ratting it up and dodging consequences it's hard to say anything but the game is in a great state

 

[bouncesonly]

 

[tigermask48]

That's like 5 games of shots for QB... /s

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

The only thing I remember about Luke Schenn is him screening Quick like 50 times during the playoff series vs VGK.

 

[johnjm22]

Of course Luke's analytics look great for that game.

I guess you could use that as an example of how flawed the analytics can be in small sample sizes.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

There are like 5 players on that chart I've never heard of and I'm not proud of my ignorance but I'd like to think I follow a bit of hockey, that's crazy

but THE Kevin Gravel sighting

Edit: okay 2 but still

 

[Statto]

That's exactly why I'm so concerned with his performance this season. QB is in his fifth season and isn't proving his worth with his new contract.

His continuous struggles with consistency is worrying. The Rangers waited and waited with Kakko, and look what he goes for today.

Imagine trading Byfield next year for the equivalent of Ryan Lindgren and two middling picks.

My thoughts/belief/hope is that his offensive game has suffered because of his need to focus on the defensive side of the game having made the move back to C. He had a spell last season where he absolutely excelled offensively and at the moment his defensive game is at an equally high level. For QB this how he has always developed and it tracks that it takes him time to put it together. So I’m not worried yet. If he hasn’t started to show he’s beginning to bring it together by the TDL my concern will definitely begin to grow. He absolutely has the underlying ability but finding that complete game, consistently, is what he needs to start doing.

Using Kopitar as a stick to beat him with though is daft. It’s no different to me using Mario Lemieux as a measure for if Kopitar is any good. Kopitar is a legit HOF player and nobody should automatically hold any player to that standard. The measure for Byfield should be if he realises his own potential, nothing more or less. If he does that then everyone will be happy.

 

[bland]

I think the major issue with Byfield is that they ARE using Kopitar as a model. Byfield is being shaped from the offensive player he was when drafted into a Kopitar-likeness. He is in the part of the process where it isn't second nature and he is getting caught thinking about reads and positioning, which always costs you a step. He is reacting instead dictating, and it's clearly affecting his confidence.

But I think that there are a lot of folks that seem to be missing out on a lot of the quality play he has offered while being disappointed that he isn't a dominant force.

 

[Brodeur]

How was this guy drafted 2 OA? The scouting reports all whiffed on their projections.

Kakko looked fantastic as an 18 year old, he capped off that draft year with (a team leading) 6 goals in 10 games at the World Championships. Granted WC stats can be a bit skewed, but Kakko had a great regular season too (22 goals in 45 games). Mikko Rantanen had 9 goals in 56 games and Patrik Laine had 17 goals in 46 games in their respective draft years.

There was a small minority of Devils fans who thought Kakko was the better fit since we had drafted 1st round centers in 2015-17.

I didn't really follow him after that draft, but I do recall one detailed main board post about Kakko refusing to change his stick length at the suggestion of the coaching staff. Who knows if that was the tip of the iceberg in terms of coachability. Different player, but I do recall Danny Briere admitting how uncoachable he was early in his career. It was a shock to him when he got waived and cleared since he thought his skill alone would keep him in the NHL. That led to him making changes.