Aladyyn
they praying for the death of a rockstar
Also ranks highly on the wants to be here/locker room presence/might take a discount to stay scales
Player Discussion Casey Mittelstadt (2017, 8th) #37 - Part III
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old kummelweck
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Mittlestat can obviously drive line production when he has offensive wingers. Now that more scoring is pushing up from Roch and other places, Casey may end up with a rookie or two to start. I could see Kulich landing there as they try and figure out the final two lines.
WhereAreTheCookies
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Imagine the haul you could get for him if you play him at center all year though. Former Sabres centers win cups, it's now proven.
truthbluth
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I fuggin love Casey Mittelstadt, and though he probably won't ever be the superstar he looked like at the u-18s and the WJC, there's no reason to think he can't be our Marchessault. If he isn't saddled with Olofsson this year, I could see him hitting 70 points while being a decent defensive forward.
Bendium
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Um....Marchessault IS a superstar. He was the 2023 Conn Smythe winner. Casey is not even half of what Marchessault is, even with rose colored goggles. Lets lower our expectation of him a bit.
truthbluth
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Two months ago not a soul would have called Marchessault a superstar. Not a soul. He had an amazing playoff run, and won the Conn Smythe. That doesn't suddenly make a 2 time 30 goal scorer, one time 70 point player a superstar.
He is a great player, far from a superstar. Casey has yet to put in a consistent full season. We should temper expectations of him being any more than a 50pt 3C/W.
BowieSabresFan
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Except he proved he was more than that last year. I mean, 59 points for one. Also, he wasn't out of place centering the first line at the end of the season. He helped drive that line, and was not being carried.
I don't think there's any doubt that Mitts is capable of being at least a solid 2nd line player who can bump up to the first line if need be.
Doug Prishpreed
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Personally, I still have a hard time telling if he's better utilized at wing or C.
I think he can be our Chandler Stephenson (who the Caps gave away prematurely). Can play both C/W, move up the lineup as needed, can ride on a line or help drive. Very valuable piece.
He did not prove that. He was meh all season and had two good weeks being carried by Skinner and Tuch. He is at MOST a second line player.
I'm glad that Cozens didn't have to play with Asplund and Olofsson for much of the season, and then get bumped up so that fans could say he was carried by Quinn and Peterka.
BowieSabresFan
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If you think the rest of his season was "meh," or that he was carried by Skinner and Tuch the last 2 weeks, then I don't know what to tell you.
Bendium
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Fair enough, from a stats standpoint he is not a superstar. Playoffs caliber players though are much more than just stat producers. Since Vegas came into being, Marchessault has been a dominant difference maker, especially when things are on the line. He is a good example of the kind of player that has a huge positive effect on winning, beyond just points. The opposite example of it is Olofsson, who in spite of his point production hade a huge negative effect on winning.
Mitts has had a few spurts of solid play, seemingly at least once a year flashes enough to make you want to buy in, then the next year he is back to making you want to trade him. Until he becomes a consistent producer on both ends of the ice, he will not even be in the same zip code as Marchessault.
Bendium
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Wing. Minimize his responsibilities and his processing speed, thus quickness increases. He is most effective when he can play fast and just go get it. His game slows down to much in the center.
BowieSabresFan
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And yet that wasn't the case when he was filling in for Thompson at the end of the season...
Though I think it's a fair question on where he would play best.
By month:
Games played/Points
9/7
14/6
11/6
15/9
10/9
15/9
8/13
Looks pretty meh outside of April and Feb.
Yeah let's pretend he only got 6 pts in April. 52 pts instead of 59. That's not "meh". Either way he was actually very consistent (consistently restricted by lesser line mates) all season long. It just kills me how much people want to dunk on a guy who was the 5th most productive FW, while being maybe the best defensive FW on a team that greatly lacked that.
Bendium
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I am in the camp that those last two weeks are a bit of a outlier, in that Tuch drives that line and he and Skinner were already playing in top form. I think they told him to just play loose and not overthink it. I would bet it becomes more problematic if you tried to put him for a longer period and asked him to take on the normal responsibilities of center.
My only other issue here, is how much people are relying on the last couple weeks as an indicator of his future, vs most of his previous 5 years of data.
Bendium
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Why does it always have to be love or hate on this board. Why can't it be something in the middle? Why can't someone appreciate how well Mitts played the last few weeks, while also acknowledging most of his year was lack luster? Thats the truth of his career so far. Identifying week spots does not mean your hating on a player, just like acknowledging a strong period of play shouldn't illicit unconditional love for the player.
BowieSabresFan
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Watching those last couple of weeks with Skinner and Tuch, it was obvious, at least to me, that he was not a passenger on that line, and was in fact helping to drive it. He played pretty well the rest of the season too.
But, like some others, I would like to see a bigger sample size. I was just pointing out that I disagreed with your take on why you don't think of him as a future C. He seems to have no problem processing the game at a high speed.
As for your last comment, I don't think you can put much stock in the early part of his career, particularly the time with Kreuger as a coach. I'm more interested in if he can build on this past season next year.
truthbluth
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He spent most of the season carrying a line of dead weight and still ended up productive in both counting and possession stats. He was 5th if the f***ing league in primary assists/60 at even strength while carrying around two boat anchors for much of the season.
Bendium
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Sample size is my issue here. That last few weeks is the only really successful period with him playing at center. There is alot of time spent at center where he did not play well. The improvement in his game is associated with him being moved to the wing, where he played the majority of the year, simplifying his game.
I'm not propping him up to be anything more than a good secondary scoring FW with a quality defensive game. You see that as "love", while I see posters minimizing everything about him (lack luster?). He had a good season that a whole bunch of other FWs around the league would love to be able to have. He had that season while playing with the worst FWs on the roster for most of the season. People not recognizing that he's about to help Buffalo be a three line scoring team are just stuck in his early Krueger tainted years and too stubborn to accept he's turning a corner. Sounds almost like hate to me.
For me, in a bottom six role, definitely wing. Defending around the crease he had the tendency to lock on to a single player and take himself out of position, which opened up too many passing lanes.
In the top six, I like him as a center. Playing with talented players that he has chemistry with, his playmaking is just better suited to the center role and it allows him to be in a better position to facilitate offense than when he is playing on the wing.
