Archijerej
Registered User
I was thinking:
Guhle - New guy
Struble - Hutson
Xhekaj - Carrier
Reinbacher slots in when he's ready and replaces one of Struble/Xhekaj (Hutson goes back to the left side).
Player Discussion Jayden Struble Part 3 the Greek God Strouble Edition
- Thread starter ahmedou
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Guhle - New guy
Struble - Hutson
Xhekaj - Carrier
Reinbacher slots in when he's ready and replaces one of Struble/Xhekaj (Hutson goes back to the left side).
New guy would have to be hella good, but this would fit nicely for sure
Archijerej
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Guhle would be the protagonist on that pair. I think a complimentary type of veteran would do for now. A Carrier of sorts with a bit different profile and perhaps a bit more quality.
Lafleurs Guy
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10th worst CF% in the league. All players with 900+ minutes. He's not good.
All that being said, Xejac's numbers aren't good either. And he drags his teammates down as well. But he's a very young player learning the game. There's a big difference between a kid who's learning and a vet who's as good as he'll ever be.
Is the intent of that D group to secure a top-5 pick?
Who absorbs 25TOI per game Matheson is presently doing? Hutson cannot be counted on for PK, at least until his game matures w experience, and potentially may never.
Guhle also isn’t ready, and there’s the injury factor…
Struble & Redenbacher are nowhere near ready, and Xhekaj never will be
Asked this question on another thread, who exactly will absorb the 25TOI+ per game including the hard minutes (PK, late period / game) that Matheson is currently absorbing?
I get the sense fandom is just waiting to pounce on a Matheson error vs watching his entire game and comparing that to other teams 25TOI+ Dman being paid under $5M…
LaP
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I think everyone agree that we must acquire a top 4 RHD. I mean it's been discussed for a while now. That's kind of the problem with Matheson. Ideally you want to replace one of Hutson, Matheson and Guhle by a top 4 RHD and the obvious choice is Matheson.
LaP
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26Mats
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I could see them starting out:
Matheson Carrier
Struble Hutson
Guhle Savard
While Guhle gets his timing back. Msl goes with vet Savard over x. Then they sub in Xhekaj for savard and realize he is better. I'd feel more comfortable with balanced pairs. Guhle plays X if we keep winning.
Lafleurs Guy
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Le Barron de HF
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Habs
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I don’t know the answer but yeah we have to replace two vets shortly that bear a lot of time up out there
Leon Lucius Black
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I think Savard will still be around as the 7th D. Can't see him moving his family elsewhere when he's close to retirement so I'm sure he'd be happy to sign cheap and play sparingly/be a mentor.
As annoying Matheson can be with some of his mistakes, he has played better with Carrier who can cover for his defensive miscues. He has a $4.75M cap hit which is a bargain for someone whos been logging 25 minutes a game.
I'd guess we see something like this with one of Xhekaj/Struble traded given Engstrom isn't far away from being ready on the left side.
Guhle - Hutson
Matheson - Carrier
Xhekaj/Struble - Reinbacher
Savard
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I don't think Reinbacher should be here next year, let him cook in the AHL and see how he stands up to the grind for 25 games at least. He hasn't shown he can be durable enough to hang in the NHL at this point
Kobe Armstrong
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I think Xhekaj plays a little bit too confidently in the offensive zone for a player of his ability, but I also wouldn’t want to limit his instincts. Lately he’s been willing to join the rush and pinch when he sees on opportunity and honestly he has pretty solid IQ. Defensively he’s limited by his skating but I don’t know how much that can improve, I trust him on the bottom pair though.
Kobe Armstrong
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Same I hope we add a RHD this summer so we can let him simmer, even if he looks ready I want to see him spend the first couple months with Laval
A lot of rumors that Mailloux will be moved this summer so he can run 1D on a solid AHL team
JadedRandom
Registered User
He hasn't been especially good, indeed.
But the most worrying part about Andersson's season has definitely been how his skating has looked this year.
Andersson has never been an exceptional skater, he's never been a Mike Matheson out there that's for sure. But as a defenseman, the Andersson of old still got exactly where he needed to be as and when it was required he be there.
Kind of Gandalf and the "a wizard arrives precisely on time" schtick, or some other uselessly-geeky reference.
Anyways, having watched a couple recent Calgary games (mostly because I wanted to see how Wolf played), I've noticed that Rasmus Anderssson isn't as fast and agile as he once was on the ice. The spring chicken has definitely left the building on this one.
I mean, Anderssson still gets by and defends well, he compensates for his skating not being as strong as it once was by using his hockey IQ/experience. But that noticeable drop in Andersson's skating ability has me worried there might be some lingering injury issues/wear and tear that might inhibit his abilities as a defender going forward.
And when we consider that Rasmus Andersson has been a shot-blocking, defensive-matchup machine for the Flames for years, those worries start having a lot more ground and context.
I don't wish it on Andersson, but it very well could be that the slight decline we've seen from him this year might yet grow worse.
And the proverbial worst-case scenario to this would be the eventuality in which the regression Andersson's seen this year might be the prelude to a "Marc-Édouard Vlasic type" of fall from grace. That would suck for everyone concerned.
So yeah, all of those hypotheticals migh be (probably is) over-analysis on my part.
Maybe Andersson is nursing and playing through an injury of some kind that he'll recover from entirely during the offseason.
But at this point in time I'd say that we should NOT spend top-end assets to try and acquire Andersson if there's even the slightest risk he's started declining.
Now, if we manage to get Andersson for non-vital assets, go for it. But given Andersson's name-value and how important he is to Calgary, that seems unlikely that we'd be able to acquire him on the cheap.
But enough on that; back to the Struble at hand.
Struble's been good recently, and WAY more solid than he was at the start of the year. Which is admittedly not a very high bar to clear as he was a complete and utter trainwreck defensively to begin the season.
As a defender for us in thist last stage of the season, I feel that Struble manages to mesh well with Hutson, and helps shore-up some boardplay and netfront issues that Hutson has given his lack of size.
Overall, I think Struble is a good player to keep, with more potential to grow into a steady bottom-pairing D. But if we can upgrade on Struble without breaking the bank in the offseason, we should.
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I can see Savard retiring after this season. He looks tired out there. If he were looking to extend his career you figure he would have gotten into the best shape of his life and just gone for it. I think that he will stick around hockey in someway, but to me it looks like he is there to usher in the new generation.
Estimated_Prophet
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I could definitely see him signing another contract here but it would be very cheap and with the understanding that he would be a 6/7 at no more than 2 years.
