Player Discussion Jayden Struble Part 2

[26Mats]

I'd rather have Wifi than Romanov actually.

It was more about perception. Romanov was perceived to maybe have some offensive upside.

Even if the consensus among GM's now is they'd rather have Romanov, I don't think Xhekaj gets you the 13th pick, should Hughes decide he's one of the LD's that get traded, and we go with Guhle - Matheson - Hutson - Engstrom on the left side.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

Arber also possesses a much better shot.

Struble has a good shot as well but Arber definitely has a great shot. Xhekaj has a better knack of shooting the puck through traffic as well.

Struble can absolutely shoot the puck hard but needs to work on his release and his deception as he can be a little too easy to block.

I'd rather have Wifi than Romanov actually.

Agreed, Romanov is a very low IQ player and Arber has much better vision and creativity.

 

[jfm133]

Struble is much better defensively than Xhekaj.

 

[26Mats]

Struble is much better defensively than Xhekaj.

It's early. I suspect we'll see some warts in Struble's game with more time.

But so far so good. And Xhekaj has disappointed me sometimes with his reads when he collects the puck, and I'm less impressed with his stick handling this year than last year. Whereas Struble likes to move the puck up really quickly without stickhandling much at all.

 

[McGees]

Stud.
That is all.

 

[Max2]

Struble................go find an Airbnb..............you're sticking around for awhile!

 

[MasterD]

I'd rather have Wifi than Romanov actually.

Obviously.

Xhakej is flawed, but unique. Romanov is a dime a dozen.

 

[Habs13]

Really impressed with Struble but thought he would bring a more physical presence

 

[Frankenheimer]

Obviously.

Xhakej is flawed, but unique. Romanov is a dime a dozen.

Romanov is not a dime a dozen. You dont have to put him down just to elevate Xhekaj.

 

[McGees]

Really impressed with Struble but thought he would bring a more physical presence

It takes time for them to adjust. Guhle was a beast in junior but we have only seen him try to line up guys a handful of times...it will come.

 

[HuGort]

Obviously.

Xhakej is flawed, but unique. Romanov is a dime a dozen.

Still take a lot to move him. But for core young player like Dach I would trade Wifi.

 

[Michoulicious]

Obviously.

Xhakej is flawed, but unique. Romanov is a dime a dozen.

No, Romanov is not dime a dozen.

He plays admirably 21+ mins a night as 23 y old, mobile and physical defenseman.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Lol... why would anyone want Harris?

He’s a young serviceable player now. He’ll improve a lot and serve as a good mid to bottom pair in the future. And he’s affordable. Lots of teams would love that.

Struble has looked good in his first two games. It is with noting though that our opponents have been among the weakest in the league for those games.

 

[MasterD]

Romanov is not a dime a dozen. You dont have to put him down just to elevate Xhekaj.

Agree to disagree, but I'm not trying to elevate Xhekaj at all. I'm not a huge fan of his.

In fact I think he'll get bounced off of this roster sooner rather than later. What he brings to the team is interesting, but his play is erratic, and he fights too much. We already saw him get a major injury because of it in his first year.

 

[Habssince89]

Agree to disagree, but I'm not trying to elevate Xhekaj at all. I'm not a huge fan of his.

In fact I think he'll get bounced off of this roster sooner rather than later. What he brings to the team is interesting, but his play is erratic, and he fights too much. We already saw him get a major injury because of it in his first year.

We have a unique player in Xhekaj and he would probably just sink to being #6D. The fact that a guy his size has mobility and hands makes him valuable than just a goon. His play isnt that erratic at least compared to the vast majority of players in the NHL. He's a good role player IMO. What they should do is park him in front of the net on the PP Byfuglien style

 

[WeThreeKings]

Lol... why would anyone want Harris?

Because he's a good young defenseman?

I feel like a lot of people really have no idea how to assess defenseman and certainly have very little clue as to what the majority of NHL teams are throwing out there to complete their bottom 2-3 defenseman.

 

[Rapala]

We have a unique player in Xhekaj and he would probably just sink to being #6D. The fact that a guy his size has mobility and hands makes him valuable than just a goon. His play isnt that erratic at least compared to the vast majority of players in the NHL. He's a good role player IMO. What they should do is park him in front of the net on the PP Byfuglien style

Struble is more than capable of playing a third pairing role IMO
I wouldn't hesitate to convert Xhekaj to the wing at this point. It's not like we can't use his attributes up front.
At the very least he's a huge upgrade on Pezzetta but I think he could play a far more important role.
I feel this is the best way to fill some huge voids near term.
I also don't think Xhekaj would whine about it either.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Struble is more than capable of playing a third pairing role IMO
I wouldn't hesitate to convert Xhekaj to the wing at this point. It's not like we can't use his attributes up front.
At the very least he's a huge upgrade on Pezzetta but I think he could play a far more important role.
I feel this is the best way to fill some huge voids near term.
I also don't think Xhekaj would whine about it either.

We aren't converting any of our defenseman into forwards.

 

[DAChampion]

We aren't converting any of our defenseman into forwards.

That's what trades are for.

 

[Sam de Mtl]

We aren't converting any of our defenseman into forwards.

Lol yeah.

I don't know what the obsession is with converting all our defensemen into forwards as if skills were to translate flawlessly.

 

[Deebs]

Lol yeah.

I don't know what the obsession is with converting all our defensemen into forwards as if skills were to translate flawlessly.

But I've heard our boy Lane is going to be the next Patty Kane lol

 

[26Mats]

But I've heard our boy Lane is going to be the next Patty Kane lol

1. It's not an obsession. It's jus facing reality that we have more than 6 or even 7 good dmen in the system and we don't want to keep 8 or 9.

2. Lane may not be able to defend at the NHL level. We'll see. But even if he can't I'm willing to bet he'll be a great forward and pp qb.

3. Xhekaj is going to have some stiff competition for that bottom pair d spot from the likes of Struble, Engstrom, and even one of Hutson amd Matheson if it turns out we want to keep both. Guhle is the #1 LD. We don't want to lose Xhekaj's physical presence and protection he provides for our young forwards. Maybe we keep those aspects if he plays 4th line if he can't beat out Struble, Engstrom, etc... for the last LD spot.

 

[Mrb1p]

Obviously.

Xhakej is flawed, but unique. Romanov is a dime a dozen.

Romanov is not dime a dozen, thats ridiculous. He's a 2nd pairing D that can deliver bone crushing hits. There's not a lot of those in the NHL.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Lol yeah.

I don't know what the obsession is with converting all our defensemen into forwards as if skills were to translate flawlessly.

EHM brain or something.

It's happened successfully like 2 times in NHL history.

 

[Tyson]

If we took a poll between who you would want between Struble or Harris...who would you choose?
I would say it would be at least 90% would pick Struble.