Is this the player discussion thread? Put these thoughts to the trade thread already but here's some more elaboration:
Watched my share of Coyotes games last season and have to say Domi was extremely frustrating to watch. He struggled most of the season and these things were very apparent in his game: can't score to save his life, tunnelvisions so hard by forcing plays that aren't there and by constantly skating into traffic, and in general just looks like a headless chicken running around. Tries to do so much at such high speed and is simply not skilled/strong/smart enough to pull it off. The amount of times he turns the puck over, gives it away or just the play dies in his stick is astronomical. Can be described as turnover machine on many nights. He's a definition of a "waterbug" whose hands and brain can't keep up with his quick feet. It's actually very reminiscent of Yakupov, if you just replace the mindless shooting with mindless passing (and better skating).
When he's on though (like he was at the very end of last season), when he plays more calm and controlled and is not forcing things, going 100 miles an hour or being too fancy, he can be a good playmaker. He does have skill, quickness, vision and compete. He can gain the zone and make nice east-west plays, finding the second wave or a defender on the blueline. But even when he's on and playing well, he is not a threat to score. In his first 106 games in the NHL, he scored 20 non-EN goals. Then he broke his hand and had a major surgery. After that he has 9 non-EN goals in 115 games. That's AWFUL and a big concern, because it's a lot easier to defend you if you are not a threat at all in terms of shooting the puck, but only a pint-sized playmaker. It's a big reason why his PP numbers are so poor.
He does have snarl and compete, and he plays bigger than he is, but he is SO freaking tiny. Ultimately he ends up getting pushed around, losing a lot of battles and in general being softer on the puck than you would like to see.
The thing I don't understand is that, assuming the best case scenario of Bergevin finding centers somehow and can start putting players in their proper positions, the Habs now have two 23 year old LWers in Drouin and Domi. This is the top 6 left side future. This is extremely one dimensional. Two small, soft and weak playmakers. Add in Gallgher and the winger position is just smurf-sized. It's going to get overwhelmed by bigger players even if two of those guys are hard competitors.
Even if you argue that this trade itself isn't bad, because Galchenyuk clearly had some issues too, how does this trade make any sense from a team building perspective? Not to mention that the assets used for Drouin and Domi could've and should've been used to something more crucial than a couple of small playmaking wingers with a lot of flaws in their games. And lastly, if (when?) these guys will actually be the go-to options to play center in the near future, it could easily be the 31st place offense in the league.
Watched my share of Coyotes games last season and have to say Domi was extremely frustrating to watch. He struggled most of the season and these things were very apparent in his game: can't score to save his life, tunnelvisions so hard by forcing plays that aren't there and by constantly skating into traffic, and in general just looks like a headless chicken running around. Tries to do so much at such high speed and is simply not skilled/strong/smart enough to pull it off. The amount of times he turns the puck over, gives it away or just the play dies in his stick is astronomical. Can be described as turnover machine on many nights. He's a definition of a "waterbug" whose hands and brain can't keep up with his quick feet. It's actually very reminiscent of Yakupov, if you just replace the mindless shooting with mindless passing (and better skating).
When he's on though (like he was at the very end of last season), when he plays more calm and controlled and is not forcing things, going 100 miles an hour or being too fancy, he can be a good playmaker. He does have skill, quickness, vision and compete. He can gain the zone and make nice east-west plays, finding the second wave or a defender on the blueline. But even when he's on and playing well, he is not a threat to score. In his first 106 games in the NHL, he scored 20 non-EN goals. Then he broke his hand and had a major surgery. After that he has 9 non-EN goals in 115 games. That's AWFUL and a big concern, because it's a lot easier to defend you if you are not a threat at all in terms of shooting the puck, but only a pint-sized playmaker. It's a big reason why his PP numbers are so poor.
He does have snarl and compete, and he plays bigger than he is, but he is SO freaking tiny. Ultimately he ends up getting pushed around, losing a lot of battles and in general being softer on the puck than you would like to see.
The thing I don't understand is that, assuming the best case scenario of Bergevin finding centers somehow and can start putting players in their proper positions, the Habs now have two 23 year old LWers in Drouin and Domi. This is the top 6 left side future. This is extremely one dimensional. Two small, soft and weak playmakers. Add in Gallgher and the winger position is just smurf-sized. It's going to get overwhelmed by bigger players even if two of those guys are hard competitors.
Even if you argue that this trade itself isn't bad, because Galchenyuk clearly had some issues too, how does this trade make any sense from a team building perspective? Not to mention that the assets used for Drouin and Domi could've and should've been used to something more crucial than a couple of small playmaking wingers with a lot of flaws in their games. And lastly, if (when?) these guys will actually be the go-to options to play center in the near future, it could easily be the 31st place offense in the league.
