Player Discussion: Jake Christiansen hype

[SirSamofHouseBennett]

Can I get some hype on this guy?

I don’t know much about him but seems he is the current #4? Sitting Jiricek over him?

What’s his style ?
Strengths?
Weekness?

Is he just a place holder or does the team see him as a key contributor?

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[Viqsi]

We don't do "hype" around here, unless it involves as yet undrafted prospects. At best we do "cautious optimism" with an extra heaping of caution.

Christiansen's been on the radar for a while now as Yet Another Depth Guy. He was always overall pretty good in the AHL (was an All-Star last year); it was just a question of whether or not that'd be meaningful in the NHL. So far he seems encouragingly legit. Meanwhile, Jiricek's development is a bit stalled. As the latter is four years younger than the former, this is not entirely unsurprising in general. There's some hope going around here that maybe Christiansen is for real but by and large I don't think we're all quite there yet. It's still a bit early, after all.

 

[SirSamofHouseBennett]

Ooooh. Thanks for the caution notes!

What is his style? I never seen him play, puck mover? Hard nosed? Skater?

 

[Viqsi]

Ooooh. Thanks for the caution notes!

What is his style? I never seen him play, puck mover? Hard nosed? Skater?

I haven't watched enough lately (I blame a combination of the Bally Sports f***ery and general malaise and despair) so take this with a grain of salt, but my impressions of him were that at first he struck me as a typical OFD and nowadays he seems much more two-way capable. I haven't taken any particular notice of what strengths he has; you'd need someone else to clarify. I certainly wouldn't characterize him as "hard nosed".

 

[SirSamofHouseBennett]

Thank you.

 

[majormajor]

Ooooh. Thanks for the caution notes!

What is his style? I never seen him play, puck mover? Hard nosed? Skater?

Christiansen is a good skater and a puck mover. Great shot, good vision, good passing.

When he was signed out of junior he had a great shot but that was about it. He's only 6'0 and was a bit on the weak side and not good defensively. But he's filled out well now and so far not bad defensively. He can still get outmuscled at times but not too often. He's very willing to throw a bodycheck.

Christiansen is a bit older than KJ and Bedard but I believe he's spent each summer for a long time (since they were kids?) playing with them in the BC group, and I think I can see it in some of his skilled play.

We're not rushing to label him a permanent top 4 guy yet. We all saw Jake Bean look like a top 4 D at times and then regress. Those two share some similar traits, although Christiansen is much stronger and doesn't get run over on the cycle, which was the big downside with Bean. I don't see much downside with having Christiansen out there.

 

[koteka]

Is he just a place holder or does the team see him as a key contributor?

Long term, the left side is

Werenski
Mateychuk
?

Provorov will be traded at the deadline. JMFJ is obviously not a long term solution.

The open position on the left side will be one of Christiansen, Harris, Svozil, or someone else. It is a wide open battle but Christiansen has a decent shot. I think the team would love for Svozil and Christiansen to really compete for the spot and make the choice difficult.

 

[NotWendell]

Long term, the left side is

Werenski
Mateychuk
?

Provorov will be traded at the deadline. JMFJ is obviously not a long term solution.

The open position on the left side will be one of Christiansen, Harris, Svozil, or someone else. It is a wide open battle but Christiansen has a decent shot. I think the team would love for Svozil and Christiansen to really compete for the spot and make the choice difficult.

It's a long season. They're WILL be injuries. We'll likely see both of them in the lineup at some point.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

The open position on the left side will be one of Christiansen, Harris, Svozil, or someone else.

Good post but this part I completely agree with.