Around the league part 2

[SettlementRichie10]

Jeff Veillette looks like the kind of guy who would say that.

 

[kingsfan28]

Really like the way NJ is built. They hit on their big picks, slowly supplemented with a a mix of youth and character vets, and once the team broke out, they started spending assets in ancillary players.

Getting two #1 picks, then finding a few guys like Mercer in the later rounds really helped. Not sure giving up 2 first for Mier was smart for a team thats not reached contender status as measured around here.

 

[kingsfan28]

lol Those responses are great. Hockey is a contact sport. This is well within the rules. Great hit. Need more of it in the game. The hits we don't need are the flyby chin music hits. Through the body is how it's supposed to be done. Meier will remember to keep his head up next time when he tries to cut through defenders.

Clean hit or not, man was that violent. Hated seeing his head hit the ice.

 

[King'sPawn]

2012 was terrible no doubt but 1996 might just take the cake as the worst draft of all time.

Agreed. I forgive older drafts though due to technology disparity. 2012 doesn't have that excuse.

 

[Brodeur]

You can check out 2012 for a collection of disappointments by and large. Not your exact question, but that one's pretty brutal.

https://thehockeynews.com/news/a-scouts-life-2012-draft-looking-weak

I always found it interesting that scouts thought the 2012 Draft was weaker three years ahead of time. Still was a head scratcher that the Devils didn't forfeit the first rounder that year (the Kovalchuk cap penalty). Bettman would eventually lessen the penalty, but that seemed like an easy year to give it up. Although the tinfoil hat theory is that Lou forgot to inform the league within 48 hours of the Cup ending since the Devils had been involved.

Also a goofy top ten that year with Alex Galchenyuk (two regular season games, six playoff games), Morgan Rielly (14 regular season games + 5 playoff games), and Slater Koekkoek (26 regular season games) missing considerable time due to injury. I still like to bump a Facebook post that my Habs buddy made. He was convinced that Galchenyuk was their answer at center and scoffed when I suggested that Filip Forsberg might be the safer bet. When the Habs took Galchenyuk and Forsberg dropped, my buddy felt like he was "right."

 

[ru4reals]

Agreed. I forgive older drafts though due to technology disparity. 2012 doesn't have that excuse.

Yeah that's true. 2012 was bad.

 

[Herby]

Getting two #1 picks, then finding a few guys like Mercer in the later rounds really helped. Not sure giving up 2 first for Mier was smart for a team thats not reached contender status as measured around here.

The Devils U-25 players vs the Kings U-25 is the reason it's more acceptable. Much like when the Kings traded for MR back in the day, their young players had shown enough to warrant trading youth and/or picks because they had ended the accumulate talent stage. The Kings youth has simply not. The Devils two best players were drafted in 2017 and 2019, the Kings two best players were drafted in 2005 and 2008.

Devils

Jack Hughes
Nico Hischier
Dawson Mercer
Jesper Bratt
Yegor Sharangovich
Akiri Schmid
Alex Holtz
Luke Hughes
Simon Nemec
Seamus Casey

Kings

Mikey Anderson
Gabe Vilardi
Quinton Byfield
Brandt Clarke
Alex Turcotte
Arthur Kaliyev
Jordan Spence
Sean Durzi
Tobyias Bjornfot

The Devils you have multiple players who are already star players and a couple of more you can project as potential stars. For the Kings you have none who are already there, so it's all projection, and really you are down to 1, maybe 2 guys who you could make a case for.

The Kings still needed to add a couple of more Top 10 caliber talents to their prospect pool to have a realistic chance of constructing a long-term contender. But they chose the black hole "just get in and anything can happen" strategy they had under DT.

 

[DyslexicTom]

The Devils U-25 players vs the Kings U-25 is the reason it's more acceptable. Much like when the Kings traded for MR back in the day, their young players had shown enough to warrant trading youth and/or picks because they had ended the accumulate talent stage. The Kings youth has simply not. The Devils two best players were drafted in 2017 and 2019, the Kings two best players were drafted in 2005 and 2008.

Devils

Jack Hughes
Nico Hischier
Dawson Mercer
Jesper Bratt
Yegor Sharangovich
Akiri Schmid
Alex Holtz
Luke Hughes
Simon Nemec
Seamus Casey

Kings

Mikey Anderson
Gabe Vilardi
Quinton Byfield
Brandt Clarke
Alex Turcotte
Arthur Kaliyev
Jordan Spence
Sean Durzi
Tobyias Bjornfot

The Devils you have multiple players who are already star players and a couple of more you can project as potential stars. For the Kings you have none who are already there, so it's all projection, and really you are down to 1, maybe 2 guys who you could make a case for.

The Kings still needed to add a couple of more Top 10 caliber talents to their prospect pool to have a realistic chance of constructing a long-term contender. But they chose the black hole "just get in and anything can happen" strategy they had under DT.

That’s actually not a bad mix of potential for the Kings. If only they’d had played them all season to see what they really had. Instead, they made them play limited minutes, if any at all. Missed the forest for the trees.

 

[chris kontos]

on the trouba hit on timo meier- anybody that complains about this or somehow runs down trouba's actions needs to get real. hockey is a contact sport and everybody thats ever played it realizes this. there is a thing called accepted risk.

id rather not see the nhl turn into the ice capades like what happened to the nfl. nfl football now is more closely related to a grade 3 intramural game of tag than it is real football.

 

[Mats26]

damn pansies, go watch curling then. This had all the makings of a hard clean hit to wake up a dying team down 2-0 in the 3rd. Need more plays like this, it's the playoffs where's all the hitting?

 

[tny760]

damn pansies, go watch curling then. This had all the makings of a hard clean hit to wake up a dying team down 2-0 in the 3rd. Need more plays like this, it's the playoffs where's all the hitting?

too busy diving to hit. see: boston vs florida

 

[KingsFan7824]

A good hit has to have a point?

You don't want those former Cup winning Avs as your GM. Even Sakic didn't know what he was doing, and lucked into Makar.

 

[Brodeur]

A good hit has to have a point?

You don't want those former Cup winning Avs as your GM. Even Sakic didn't know what he was doing, and lucked into Makar.

I went to the 2017 Draft and accidentally found the back entrance where teams were being dropped off. Since they had to go through security there were occasional bottlenecks and some teams chatted with fans to kill time. I was there with a blank Devils jersey and nameplates for Hischier/Patrick. One of the Avs contingent asked me who I preferred and I said Patrick (good thing I'm not in charge). The guy then said something like "that's who we got too." Several Avs posters also mentioned that Patrick was atop their board after that draft.

There was an interesting rumor that Dreger/McKenzie mentioned on the broadcast. Vegas wanted to make a splash and tried to move up to #1 for Patrick. Their plan was to trade up from #6 to #3, then #3 to #1 and that New Jersey was open to the idea. Presumably the Devils knew either Hischier or Makar would still be there at #3. But in the end Dallas had no intention on trading down from #3 to #6.

 

[BigKing]

Biggest hit I can remember since the one on the little guy in the Jets/Habs playoff series a couple of years ago. This one has less of an argument RE: clean or not yet you've still got people that don't understand hockey mucking up the works.

Dear lord what a hit though.

 

[lumbergh]

damn pansies, go watch curling then. This had all the makings of a hard clean hit to wake up a dying team down 2-0 in the 3rd. Need more plays like this, it's the playoffs where's all the hitting?

It's a clear hit to the head. Initial contact is shoulder directly to the head. The onus is on the hitter to avoid targeting the head and Trouba didn't do that. Obviously the hit caused a concussion.

Trouba is a bit of a head hunter. Dustin Brown was too early in his career, but he changed his technique.

If you're okay with players regularly getting concussions, this is fine. Player safety has to be a priority at some point; it's just not for Trouba.

If you just take a look at Trouba's highlight video, you can see a clear pattern of using his shoulder up high. Sometimes he hits a guy in the upper chest, sometimes he hits a guy square in the head.

 

[johnjm22]

I like seeing people get concussions. I want to see more of it.

 

[Brodeur]

Edit: Oops, me no read good

 

[Fripp]

I feel like the point of any hit is to separate the puck carrier from the puck and gain possession.

 

[Bandit]

I feel like the point of any hit is to separate the puck carrier from the puck and gain possession.

The point of hitting was always to f*** guys up. You’re not trying to tickle them.

The problem is that as we moved from the 90’s into today and started realizing that it’s not a video game and that people getting their brains scrambled for our entertainment is actually pretty shitty, we as a species can’t reconcile that fact.

 

[BringTheReign]

it's just so crazy being at the place where one of a team's leading scorers gets laid out and 2 guys wearing letters just skate past him to passively forecheck like nothing ever happened

Some people scream and cry that "in the old days" guys didn't have to fight right away for clean hits as it was just "part of the game." You just took their number and tried to put them through the boards next chance you got. If it's a cheap shot, sure, drop the gloves, but a clean hit?

Then there's folks who want the exact opposite like you just said above. I don't get the disconnect.

 

[Brodeur]

Some people scream and cry that "in the old days" guys didn't have to fight right away for clean hits as it was just "part of the game." You just took their number and tried to put them through the boards next chance you got. If it's a cheap shot, sure, drop the gloves, but a clean hit?

Then there's folks who want the exact opposite like you just said above. I don't get the disconnect.

I remember Subban nailing Larsson with a textbook check. Nobody tried to fight Subban, but the rest of the game they were forechecking him extra hard.

Always stinks to see one of your guys get obliterated but I thought the Trouba hit was okay. I could only imagine the Devils players didn't want to retaliate and give the Rangers a PP. I wouldn't be surprised if there's some fireworks in the first meeting next year.

 

[tny760]

Some people scream and cry that "in the old days" guys didn't have to fight right away for clean hits as it was just "part of the game." You just took their number and tried to put them through the boards next chance you got. If it's a cheap shot, sure, drop the gloves, but a clean hit?

Then there's folks who want the exact opposite like you just said above. I don't get the disconnect.

i think there's something inbetween. obviously all those guys are gonna get manhandled if they try and fight trouba but i don't even see any anger, severson peels back and hughes skates by him to go do some circle drills

just "oh damn, that sucks" like it's a wreck on the freeway isn't exactly impressive to me, did he even get a facewash?

 

[YAYSAY]

Insane goal from Knies, a rookie, playing with Matthews in the playoffs

 

[kingsfan28]

The Devils U-25 players vs the Kings U-25 is the reason it's more acceptable. Much like when the Kings traded for MR back in the day, their young players had shown enough to warrant trading youth and/or picks because they had ended the accumulate talent stage. The Kings youth has simply not. The Devils two best players were drafted in 2017 and 2019, the Kings two best players were drafted in 2005 and 2008.

Devils

Jack Hughes
Nico Hischier
Dawson Mercer
Jesper Bratt
Yegor Sharangovich
Akiri Schmid
Alex Holtz
Luke Hughes
Simon Nemec
Seamus Casey

Kings

Mikey Anderson
Gabe Vilardi
Quinton Byfield
Brandt Clarke
Alex Turcotte
Arthur Kaliyev
Jordan Spence
Sean Durzi
Tobyias Bjornfot

The Devils you have multiple players who are already star players and a couple of more you can project as potential stars. For the Kings you have none who are already there, so it's all projection, and really you are down to 1, maybe 2 guys who you could make a case for.

The Kings still needed to add a couple of more Top 10 caliber talents to their prospect pool to have a realistic chance of constructing a long-term contender. But they chose the black hole "just get in and anything can happen" strategy they had under DT.

But you got to admit, getting two top picks who have excelled and will only get better has helped put their team where they are.

 

[kingsfan28]

I went to the 2017 Draft and accidentally found the back entrance where teams were being dropped off. Since they had to go through security there were occasional bottlenecks and some teams chatted with fans to kill time. I was there with a blank Devils jersey and nameplates for Hischier/Patrick. One of the Avs contingent asked me who I preferred and I said Patrick (good thing I'm not in charge). The guy then said something like "that's who we got too." Several Avs posters also mentioned that Patrick was atop their board after that draft.

There was an interesting rumor that Dreger/McKenzie mentioned on the broadcast. Vegas wanted to make a splash and tried to move up to #1 for Patrick. Their plan was to trade up from #6 to #3, then #3 to #1 and that New Jersey was open to the idea. Presumably the Devils knew either Hischier or Makar would still be there at #3. But in the end Dallas had no intention on trading down from #3 to #6.

Eventually they got Patrick via trade, will he ever play again, who knows. You couldn't predict his migraine issues when he was drafted at #2. Some things are out of your control.