Player Discussion Brett Howden
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will1066
Registered User
- Oct 12, 2008
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If he's big, then he needs to work on his balance. He gets throttled a lot. Or, he isn't and needs to pack on some muscle.
Machinehead
HFNYR MVP
- Jul 20, 2005
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DanielBrassard
It's all so tiresome
20 points his last 81 NHL games and in his career he has 106 shots on goal in 99 games. Surprised he even has that many points. But he should have been in the AHL since the middle of last season until now at some point and for some reason the Rangers don't seem to want to send him down.
offdacrossbar
misfit fanboy
john moore. he dumb.
i think you may be onto something.
another poster child for the "do less with more" crowd.
Probably an unpopular opinion, but I think the organization's handling of Howden has had a negative impact on Andersson. Howden has sucked ass for a long time now, and I was saying this time last year that he should go down and they should slot Lias up into his spot. It never happened, and when Lias went down, things went south. Andersson, we can debate his actual skill all day, but he always had a motor, was cocky, aggressive, tough to play against. That has seemingly disappeared since he was sent down last season. He's just not playing the game that he did when I watched him in the SHL and when he first came over. I wonder if they had not put such faith in Howden, and instead gave Lias a shot in Howden's role, if things would have ended up differently.
EDIT: Just to clarify--I don't blame Lias' struggles entirely on the organization. Much like with Kravtsov, you need to be mentally tough to succeed in the NHL and particularly to break through as a 19/20-year-old player. Lias' confidence seems to have disappeared, which is partially on him, but also largely on the organization.
EDIT: Just to clarify--I don't blame Lias' struggles entirely on the organization. Much like with Kravtsov, you need to be mentally tough to succeed in the NHL and particularly to break through as a 19/20-year-old player. Lias' confidence seems to have disappeared, which is partially on him, but also largely on the organization.
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Edge
Kris King's Ghost
The Lias I've seen for a while, showed up for this year's preseason.
He was promptly assassinated once the season started.
Once Quinn turned this into an Andersson vs. Howden thing, which it didn't need to be, the beginning of the end was near.
Once Quinn started to focus on battles more than the war, and started bullshitting about game flow and even acknowledged that better linemates and more time were probably part of the solution, was when we entered territory from which a return is incredibly unlikely.
Yeah I remember last year when I would bring this up, people would say, "Why does it have to be a Lias vs Howden thing?" And my response was, because it is. You had two young players, neither of whom were playing all that well, and one seemed to be given every opportunity to succeed while the other was relegated to repeatedly proving his worth on the fourth line. Like he'd look good in preseason--starts as 4C. Has a good game as 4C--plays less the next night. Struggles playing with a goon and Lettieri--"He needs to do better." Good game--no reward. Struggles for a while longer--sent down. Meanwhile Howden, who I have always been pretty high on, is ass, yet still gets his 15 minutes with actual players. For the whole season and now this season as well.
I'm good with holding players accountable. But at the end of the day, you eventually have to put your young, valuable assets in position to succeed, even if they haven't necessarily shown they deserved it. I said the same about DeAngelo, after generally defending how Quinn handled it. Eventually! Eventually you gotta try. Kakko will be a stud--right now he's not very good many nights, but he still gets his PP time and all that. Andersson should have been put in that position last year; not to the extent of Kakko, but in a position where you at least see what he can do in a substantial role. Instead you make him prove himself every night with crappy line mates, and he understandably fails and loses all confidence in his game.
offdacrossbar
misfit fanboy
if all it took to be a david quinn pro hockey player was to have "good intentions", to practice real hard and be "coachable", i would be centering the 2nd line for the blueshirts.
im not.
at some point, talent matters.
im not.
at some point, talent matters.
You're ahead of me as I don't have good intentions and am not coachable.
SA16
Sixstring
Howden was one of the worst players in the league last year and is even worse this year so I really have no idea why he is pretty much invulnerable from ever being scratched or demoted to the AHL. I think it is far more likely his long term future is not as an NHL player than it is as a reasonable 3C at this point.
Amazing Kreiderman
Registered User
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We get it, you hate Howden because of some North American and tenure bias over Andersson. It's tired.
---
What ever happened to "...he's only 21 years old...". Funny how that statement never comes up with this player, but does with everyone else.
Amazing Kreiderman
Registered User
- Apr 11, 2011
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It has nothing to do with that. Thinking Howden needs AHL time isn't some outlandish opinion nobody agrees with.
SA16
Sixstring
I think there is a bit of a difference saying "he's only 21 years old" to Howden than Andersson given Howden has been tried in bigger roles and failed and Andersson hasn't been given the chance so we don't know how he would do. We can only speculate.
Kaapo Cabana
Next name: Admiral Kakkbar
My hopes for Howden are not very high, but why not see what a demotion can do for him?
Chytil went down and clearly took that shit to heart, and is currently establishing himself in the NHL right now.
There is also this notion that its a binary choice between Lias and Howden, and that cannot be further from the truth. Lias was rightfully sent down, and Howden should have gone too. Niether have lived up to expectations thus far, but only Howden has not had to answer for his shortcomings.
I am not ready to give up on Howden just yet, but if I was a betting man, I'd say Howden isn't part of the future plans
Chytil went down and clearly took that shit to heart, and is currently establishing himself in the NHL right now.
There is also this notion that its a binary choice between Lias and Howden, and that cannot be further from the truth. Lias was rightfully sent down, and Howden should have gone too. Niether have lived up to expectations thus far, but only Howden has not had to answer for his shortcomings.
I am not ready to give up on Howden just yet, but if I was a betting man, I'd say Howden isn't part of the future plans
007
You 'Orns!
Who is ofdacrossbar?
DB Cooper - ?
Carmen San Diego - ?
Ryan Strome - No
Batman - ?
offdacrossbar
misfit fanboy
can you imagine if howden, kravtsov and Lias andersson all flame out or are moved. not saying its going to happen so don't freak.
our forward prospect depth is pretty weak either way
our forward prospect depth is pretty weak either way
Edge
Kris King's Ghost
I would say that if we look at our top 10 young talents in any given year, be it prospects, or players aged 22 or younger or whatever cutoff we establish, we'll be lucky if six of those names become full-time, productive NHL players.
Of those six, we'd probably be doing well if four became full-time, productive NHL players for us.
And this is the heart of understanding and accepting the risk of a rebuild. Because people are going produce a very emotional reaction to those percentages when they play out, but I'm not sure there's a clear understanding of the odds going in.
That's not something people want to hear on the front-end, and they're often even more upset about it on the back-end of things.
And I feel like as we enter into the 24-36 month phase of rebuilding, we're going to see successes --- but we're also going to see failures as well. So we need to start preparing for the uncomfortable realities that are starting to take shape, and that will continue to take shape.
Fair warning.
Whoot Whoot
Biased Rangers Fan
Howden hater here - but that was his best game of the season. Maybe moving him to the wing gives him a more manageable responsibility for the time being. Hope his hand is ok.
Ghost of jas
Unsatisfied
The Nordiques drafted Sakic, Sundin, Nolan and Dore and Lindros in their run of top 5 picks. One of those players ended up lifting the Cup for them as the Avs. Horrible job.
can anyone provide how howden's fancy stats look since moving to wing? still a small sample size but just curious since i know they weren't very good at center
