Has Provorov been that bad?
For the first couple months it was the best Provorov had played in years. One of the Jackets best players. Lately it looks like he's mentally checked out on a bottom dweller. It makes me think they should trade him.
He's a center now ! The issue with Laine is do you want an 8 mill or whatever dollar player that is hurt 80 percent of the time
If healthy he is worth his contract
Hard to say that Laine is a center.
He looked good at it in two games last year, and then got a concussion to start this season, and then they put him back at wing while he was recovering. He hasn't been healthy yet this year.
Somewhat similar to Tage Thompson, Laine is more efficient in open ice and away from the boards. He's fast as long as you don't make him stop and start too much. He's also a great backchecker so there are some nice center attributes there. But we haven't seen him play the position much yet.
Fair but Columbus isn’t just giving him away
I think we are, and we should be.
Laine brings the same attributes the young scorers do (mercurial explosive scorer) and not the complementary attributes we need to surround Fantilli, KJ, and the Troika with (consistency, puck management).
Trading for Provorov and Severson was a move to bolster team defense and attempt to contend for a play off spot.
Now that the plan has failed, it might be worth trading Provorov giving his contract and the fact that Kings retained a solid bit of his salary
I think the plan was to insulate the kids with some decent veterans to start competing for a playoff spot. Something Buffalo needs to do. It just hasn't worked out for a myriad of reasons. The kids have been their best players.
Yeah I think it was so obvious that the club needed veteran help so that the kids could learn in a better environment. The general idea was justifiable whether they made the playoffs or not, I don't believe that the FO thought this club was making the playoffs. They thought it would be better to try.
I'd assume Voronkov is close to untouchable as well? I really like his and Marchenko's game. Probably two guys you'd continue to build around.
Zero chance.
Would a player like Chinakov be available? I know he asked for a trade earlier this year but I don’t know what became of that. With his 12th of the year it’s looking like he’s finding a spot in Columbus
Zero chance. The three young Russians have been carrying the team, to the extent that they've gotten anywhere.
Would also be interested in Peeke for the Jets. Seems like the r/h version of Samberg.
Wait a few months and you can sign him, he's almost certainly getting the U26 buyout this summer.
Jenner is especially unlikely because we badly need his mentoring experience. About the only way it could be rationalized is if we could get something similar going on the backend - and in such a scenario, y'all would also be taking on someone like Provorov or Severson as well as part of it on the assumption that they're not doing well. I recommend giving up on the idea.
That doesn't rationalize moving Jenner and it seems to imply that Provorov would require assets to move, which is exactly backwards. Severson's* contract is a problem, Provorov's is big value right now.
*Severson has actually been pretty solid lately, overpaid but good.
Because Boone Jenner is slow as f***. He'd look terrible in Tocchet's system. Especially at the cost it'd take to acquire him.
Now...if they were able to swindle the Jackets out of Kent Johnson while Keke is still in charge of crashing the ship...i'd be willing to pay through the nose for that. But i don't get the impression they have any desire whatsoever to move the younger guys like that, even with Jarmo being halfway clueless.
That's funny because Boone Jenner is much faster than Kent Johnson.
Boone is a powerful skater but ungraceful, and it makes him looks slower than he is. Kent meanwhile is graceful but lacks speed.
I don't know that Laine strikes me as strictly "disinterested" in the way that someone like say, PLD can be. It feels like Laine does at least actually really love playing hockey and scoring goals. He's just got a bit of an unusual personality for a star hockey player. He seems to sort of march to the beat of his own drum. Has a very different sort of intensity than your typical "rah rah 110%" players...which can certainly come across as "lazy" or "disinterested" as a casual glance. Can also be a real enigma for coaches who aren't used to players whose attitude seems to exist outside the typical "elite athlete" mindset.
Laine has gotten more and more intense over the years. He's passionate and trains hard. But he's 6'5 and not built very strong which will tend to make guys look lazy.