Around The League Thread | Let the Games Begin

[Bourne Endeavor]

It's the thing I was most cautious about. Every time I watched him play, he was like a 4th forward when it came to zone reads. Dynamic and creative with the puck on his stick but has a lot to learn about defending and transitioning at the NHL level.

I've only seen a few highlights but he reminds of rookie/sophomore Hughes, albeit with less overall skill. The kid seems to have genuine talent and while I like MSL giving him a long leash to figure things out, they definitely need to calm the kid down.

Montreal's top priority by next season should be finding a Tanev type and gluing him to Hutson.

I think the Oilers completely cooked their chances at a cup with an offseason that saw them get rid of a strength (speed in general, but hard on the forecheck) and turn it into a weakness. They really screwed up that Blues offersheet and destroyed their defence and middle/bottom six.

Why their fans are hating the stars when it's their management that did them dirty.

I love how much Oiler fans instantly turned on Broberg when he's exactly what they need. Even losing Holloway wasn't great but you can forgive that. He's not a hard player to replace. And yet they still messed that up thinking Pod would do the job.

I had a feeling the Cup loss would hang over them. It did for us in 2012. I didn't think they'd be this bad though.

 

[Diversification]

Lane Hutson is getting absolutely cooked defensively. -8 in his last 3 games.

Who could have foreseen...

 

[strattonius]

I know Hyman will level out here a bit he's a good player but it's just funny watching his unsustainable sh% and PDO, blah blah blah from last year completely crater to start the season when a bunch of those insufferable idiots kept telling us our entire team would regress this year.

 

[Diversification]

It's the thing I was most cautious about. Every time I watched him play, he was like a 4th forward when it came to zone reads. Dynamic and creative with the puck on his stick but has a lot to learn about defending and transitioning at the NHL level.

He clearly has outstanding hockey sense and there's the hope that he can channel it towards at least treading water defensively. But sometimes it just doesn't work out that way for some players. Doesn't help that he's undersized and just a so-so skater.

 

[Ernie]

Montréal needs to shelter the kid a bit more like Vancouver did with Tanev, so he can learn the game the right way and not get giga punished for his deficiencies.

I don't know how a Tanev type player is going to teach Hutson not to make massive turnovers and blow coverage

I get that Montreal is a high profile team and any prospect is going to get a lot of press, but this guy thinks he's a star already and is acting like it on the ice. Martin St Louis is doing him no favours by playing him 23 minutes a night. Maybe the guy figures it out but he's going to have to learn that the stuff he could pull off in college isnt going to work in the NHL and he needs to go back to basics.

 

[Jerry the great]

I've only seen a few highlights but he reminds of rookie/sophomore Hughes, albeit with less overall skill. The kid seems to have genuine talent and while I like MSL giving him a long leash to figure things out, they definitely need to calm the kid down.

In his rookie season, Hughes had a massively positive shot differential (+151), good for 21st league wide (defensemen). sophomore was another story and Hughes' only negative season (-37) which was still best on the team (excluding low GP guys) . Hutson this season is already at -52 which is good for 2nd worst in the league....only Chiarot is worse. I'm not sure there is a bigger liability on the ice than he is right now.

 

[NailsHoglander]

The Oilers have 8 regulars with 0 points and two of them in the top 6 playing with the best Duo in the NHL. Not sure how that is even possible lol

 

[SeawaterOnIce]

The Oilers have 8 regulars with 0 points and two of them in the top 6 playing with the best Duo in the NHL. Not sure how that is even possible lol

Unknown if this is some terrible slow start or a regression due to a loss of good two-way depth over the off-season.

There's also the element of a post-cup run hangover which can lead to an underwhelming start. Guys like Perry, Ryan, Ekholm, Hyman, and Henrique aren't really young, and have played an insane amount of hockey over the years.

 

[StreetHawk]

I've only seen a few highlights but he reminds of rookie/sophomore Hughes, albeit with less overall skill. The kid seems to have genuine talent and while I like MSL giving him a long leash to figure things out, they definitely need to calm the kid down.

Montreal's top priority by next season should be finding a Tanev type and gluing him to Hutson.

Habs only Vets were Matheson and Savard then it drops off experience wise to Guhle's 114 games going into this season. Did Gorton and Hughes really believe that was good enough with a raw rookie Hutson, plus 3 others with between 34-94 NHL games under their belt in Barron, X, and Struble on the roster as well? Needed to sacrifice one of that final trio to add a veteran in that spot. Just too young on the backend.

 

[Vector]