Some of you keep saying he hasn’t played any games. He’s played enough NHL preseason games, against enough NHL player’s, to understand what type of player he is and how he matches up against NHL players. He looked completely different than Jiricek, and BETTER than Provorov. He was arguably one of our best (and most impactful) players in all the games he played in besides maybe 1.
Please elaborate on “too much pressure” means? I don’t really want him playing on the top pair with Werenski right now, but, he’s a better option than any other defenseman we have. I think some of you simply just haven’t seen him play recently enough.
This is ridiculous. Not even mentioning Mateychuk as being part of “the core” within 5 years….??
He isn’t just one of “the kids”. He’s arguably the most “ready” prospect the CBJ has had that hasn’t gotten extended looks in the NHL, in recent memory.
Mateychuk deserves the opportunity to play in the NHL and can easily match what Provorov brings to the ice, while taking up less cap space for at least the foreseeable future. It makes ZERO sense to look to re-sign Provorov for the simple fact that he and Mateychuk play the same exact way, and will be looked at to fill the same exact roles on the ice. Provorov isn’t a top pairing defenseman, and Mateychuk isn’t a bottom pairing defenseman.
Bro did you just skip like every other line of my post? First off, if your proof he can hang with NHLers is shit preseason hockey that should tell you something. I think he's ready, but come on.
Too much pressure is having him immediately take over Provorovs spot. That's 23 minutes a night, second powerplay, and penalty kill. As a 20 year old rookie defenseman yeah that's pressure.
What better option do we have than him next to Werenski? How about anybody else? You now want him to play with the guy leading the league in TOI on his off hand? Again as a 20 year old rookie? Come on. Some of us have seen him play on a loaded ahl team against AHL competition. Different world than the big leagues.
The core comment was really obvious but you stopped reading the sentence halfway through. Those 3 are our core vets. We add obviously Mateychuk, maybe a hunt, maybe a Svozil, or maybe Christensen takes over a bigger role. Obviously Mateychuk is a massive part of our future. There's no reason to immediately thrust him into 23 mins a night and PK. He'll get there soon enough.
Also, you're really gonna bring up cap space? We have more than anybody's ever had in the history of the cap im pretty sure.
You want him to take a bigger role than Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes did as rookies. Let that sink in.
Please, don't take any of this as disparaging Mateychuk in any way. He's the real deal. I don't recall ever being as excited for a prospect as I am #5. His development should come before the teams short term success. Especially when we're not going to be a playoff contender for a year or two at best.
