Confirmed with Link: Blues acquire Nikita Soshnikov for 2019 4th round pick

[Linkens Mastery]

Love Dangle. Always so animated.

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

That’s pretty much my thoughts on it too.

Low risk, with the potential for it to be pretty good for us. Leafs get something instead of nothing. Pretty evensies, imo

 

[AjaxManifesto]

That guy is entertaining...wish we had a crazy Blues YouTuber like that...

 

[mw2noobbuster]

That guy is entertaining...wish we had a crazy Blues YouTuber like that...

Whelp, looks like it's time to get my camera.

 

[pylon17]

I like Sosh quite a bit. He has a lot of Komarov in him but certainly much faster. Excellent on the PK too. He's been ready for quite a while.

 

[mw2noobbuster]

So is he gonna play Tuesday?

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

So is he gonna play Tuesday?

Depends on his visa

 

[AjaxManifesto]

Depends on his visa

There must be a lawyer (or subcontracted law firm) on each team responsible to handle this. European players I guess need two visa...one from the US and another from Canada.

 

[MissouriMook]

There must be a lawyer (or subcontracted law firm) on each team responsible to handle this. European players I guess need two visa...one from the US and another from Canada.

I don’t understand why all players aren’t able to handle this through their agents prior to each season in the event they are traded from a Canadian based team to a US based team and vice versa.

 

[Mike Liut]

I think he’s going to be a fixture on our 3rd line for a long time. He brings a hell of lot more than the slugs we have currently on the 3rd line.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

I think he’s going to be a fixture on our 3rd line for a long time. He brings a hell of lot more than the slugs we have currently on the 3rd line.

The slugs you refer to I call passengers. Guys just riding the bus, not driving, content to sit and let somebody else do the work.

 

[mw2noobbuster]

Pietrangelo, Dunn, Eddy, Parayko, Schwartz, Steen, Schenn, Brodziak, and I wanna say Tarasenko. Are whom I consider drivers on this team. Toooooo many floaters out there.

 

[Majorityof1]

Too many people are throwing terms like "floater" and "passenger" out there far too easily. Upshall is a floater? He takes too many bad penalties and wears down over the season, but he tries hard. Jaskin is a floater? He is one of the hardest forecheckers we have and engages in board battles. Stastny is a floater? He is more a complimentary offensive piece, but is one of the strongest defensive players on the team.

Maybe the problem isn't with the players, but with the GM who assembled a team of too many complimentary players and a coaching staff who can't utilize them properly. Sure, there are several players who need to step up their games at times, but that's sports. If you put Sobotka, Berglund and Jaskin on a line, it should be self-explanatory why they are endlessly cycling and nobody is driving the play.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

Too many people are throwing terms like "floater" and "passenger" out there far too easily. Upshall is a floater? He takes too many bad penalties and wears down over the season, but he tries hard. Jaskin is a floater? He is one of the hardest forecheckers we have and engages in board battles. Stastny is a floater? He is more a complimentary offensive piece, but is one of the strongest defensive players on the team.

Maybe the problem isn't with the players, but with the GM who assembled a team of too many complimentary players and a coaching staff who can't utilize them properly. Sure, there are several players who need to step up their games at times, but that's sports. If you put Sobotka, Berglund and Jaskin on a line, it should be self-explanatory why they are endlessly cycling and nobody is driving the play.

How about "independent contractors"?

DA's name for unnamed players not pulling their weight last year around the time they fired Hitch.

 

[carter333167]

I'm really excited to see this kid release a few of his wristers with the Blues.

 

[SneakerPimp82]

Pietrangelo, Dunn, Eddy, Parayko, Schwartz, Steen, Schenn, Brodziak, and I wanna say Tarasenko. Are whom I consider drivers on this team. Toooooo many floaters out there.

you make it sound like Tarasenko's barely a core part of the offense. odd.

anyway, back to Sosh, that wrister is deadly, but taking a look at his shooting percentage it seems that it needs to be more accurate. maybe that's due to usage as mainly a defensive specialist and being mainly on the 4th line, but i'm cautiously optimistic.

 

[mw2noobbuster]

you make it sound like Tarasenko's barely a core part of the offense. odd.

anyway, back to Sosh, that wrister is deadly, but taking a look at his shooting percentage it seems that it needs to be more accurate. maybe that's due to usage as mainly a defensive specialist and being mainly on the 4th line, but i'm cautiously optimistic.

I didn't say pure offense. But Tarasenko has been coasting a bit, you can't deny that.

 

[67Blues]

I don’t understand why all players aren’t able to handle this through their agents prior to each season in the event they are traded from a Canadian based team to a US based team and vice versa.

I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on tv I'm betting that he has visa for residency in Canada and a work visa in the US. Since his primary team is now US, they probably have to apply to get those flipped around. Unless you are Bob Probert and get banned from entering the entire country

 

[zeke]

Kid has NHL skillset and effort, the question is whether he has the hockey sense, on either end of the ice.

could be a good 3rd liner, could be a career ahler.... I wish the leafs could have given him more of a shot.

 

[BleedBlue14]

Too many people are throwing terms like "floater" and "passenger" out there far too easily. Upshall is a floater? He takes too many bad penalties and wears down over the season, but he tries hard. Jaskin is a floater? He is one of the hardest forecheckers we have and engages in board battles. Stastny is a floater? He is more a complimentary offensive piece, but is one of the strongest defensive players on the team.

Maybe the problem isn't with the players, but with the GM who assembled a team of too many complimentary players and a coaching staff who can't utilize them properly. Sure, there are several players who need to step up their games at times, but that's sports. If you put Sobotka, Berglund and Jaskin on a line, it should be self-explanatory why they are endlessly cycling and nobody is driving the play.

I mean I don't disagree with what you are saying but the thing is what are you expecting him to do? The only poor poor thing I can see that Army has done is the return on the Oshie trade. Call the Miller and OTT trade bad if you want but I mean he at least threw all of his chips on the table to try and win the pot, it just didn't work out as planned.

We have been a pretty good team for years we haven't really gotten a first rounder under 15 since the Schwartz Tank draft. To go along with that, we pretty much lost our entire core for scraps ( you could fault him there, but then again I believe the plan was to bring Backes back) which we pretty much had to unless we were going to trade off pieces during playoff runs pushing us further into mediocrity and all but throwing legitimate chances at the cup out the window.

If this team is what the aftermath of those two outcomes look like in an era where a lot of teams are tanking for years acquiring these young phenomenal players in happy with that.

Now you could say well why aren't we tanking and doing the same? I don't think this fan base is large enough or devoted enough to successfully undergo a rebuild and keep putting asses in the seats. The Cardinals could do it because of the great tradition behind them. The Rams couldn't do it granted that wasn't the city or the fans faults that was just that p.o.s antichrist loser Kroenke. Regardless if you ever went to a lot of the Rams games under the tank it wasn't exactly a great vibe around the city and team along with the turnouts being sup par so on and so forth (St Louis Lambs etc). Although Stillman has been a fantastic owner and has shown phenomenal support and dedication to the city, team and fan base I don't believe the vision for the team is to ever undergo a rebuild completely, especially with the fact that we have not won a championship of any kind. I do believe though with the youth hockey programs and success as wel as the Blues success the fan base is growing much much more widespread as well as devotion level increasing. I just still don't think that a rebuild is a good idea for the state of the franchise or ownership.

 

[Seedling]

I was really hoping the Oilers would get him. He's a very good player. All the positive reviews from Leaf fans are very accurate. Good at everything and can play on any line if need be but best on the third for the full season. Fast, hits, bullet of a shot and goes to the dirty areas. He's basically a clone of Zach Hyman.

 

[mw2noobbuster]

I was really hoping the Oilers would get him. He's a very good player. All the positive reviews from Leaf fans are very accurate. Good at everything and can play on any line if need be but best on the third for the full season. Fast, hits, bullet of a shot and goes to the dirty areas. He's basically a clone of Zach Hyman.

Do the Blues want a clone of Zach Hyman, though?

 

[Linkens Mastery]

Do the Blues want a clone of Zach Hyman, though?

Getting a 30 point player for a 4th would be a steal.

 

[mw2noobbuster]

Getting a 30 point player for a 4th would be a steal.

He wouldn't be stapled to Matthews and Nylander here though lol. But, I think Soshnikov can be that player.

 

[Reality Czech]

The slugs you refer to I call passengers. Guys just riding the bus, not driving, content to sit and let somebody else do the work.

I'll go with slugs. I don't think it's a lack of effort, those guys just aren't very good. They could give 150% effort and they still wouldn't be that great.

Regarding the visa, dunno about Canada but the US is pretty strict about those aren't they? I doubt they would be willing to grant work visas that would only take effect in the event a guy is traded. Especially for a Russian guy. I mean, can anyone say for sure Soshnikov isn't a Russian sleeper agent?