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Player Discussion Joel Eriksson Ek: The 2nd Act

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2Pair said:
Sure makes a ton of sense to take a guy who can't handle the 3rd line and just hand him the 2nd line
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he was already gifted it by injury and as I stated before looked just fine in it. in your eyes he did not. do you want me to ramble on again about why I think so or should we just agree to disagree as a copy and paste would be pointless.
 
DeagleJenkins said:
he was already gifted it by injury and as I stated before looked just fine in it. in your eyes he did not. do you want me to ramble on again about why I think so or should we just agree to disagree as a copy and paste would be pointless.
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Show me the list of quality 2nd line centers that score 26 points a season
 
DeagleJenkins said:
i already stated his point total is not high enough. again do we really need to copy and paste the last time we discussed this? we disagree on him. that is fine.
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So, just to clarify.
Ek has already proven twice that he isn't good enough to be the 3rd line center.
And, when given 2nd line minutes he failed in that position as well.
Yet, you have come to the conclusion that he should just be given the 2nd line role to start the season despite the fact that there could be as many as 5 centers on the roster that are better than him?
Is that really the stance you're going with?
 
2Pair said:
So, just to clarify.
Ek has already proven twice that he isn't good enough to be the 3rd line center.
And, when given 2nd line minutes he failed in that position as well.
Yet, you have come to the conclusion that he should just be given the 2nd line role to start the season despite the fact that there could be as many as 5 centers on the roster that are better than him?
Is that really the stance you're going with?
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you can spin it whatever way you want. I have already stated we see him differently, obviously. I don't think he failed, you do.
 
DeagleJenkins said:
you can spin it whatever way you want. I have already stated we see him differently, obviously. I don't think he failed, you do.
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I'm not the one spinning here. Unless you think a 26 point pace is successful, then he did in fact fail when given increased icetime.

It's one thing to discuss what you believe he is capable of in the future, but you can't keep making things up about his past. I honestly hope that you are right in thinking that Ek can be a #2, but your optimism does nothing to change the fact that to this point, he has been nothing more than an average 4th liner. To imply that he has done anything even close to deserving top 6 minutes to start the season, is beyond ridiculous.
 
I'd like to see a list of who played wing with Ek last season: too damn lazy to do it myself. I don't recall him having a lot of firepower on his line though - lots of Foligno, Greenway, AHL call-ups, etc.
 
2Pair said:
I'm not the one spinning here. Unless you think a 26 point pace is successful, then he did in fact fail when given increased icetime.

It's one thing to discuss what you believe he is capable of in the future, but you can't keep making things up about his past. I honestly hope that you are right in thinking that Ek can be a #2, but your optimism does nothing to change the fact that to this point, he has been nothing more than an average 4th liner. To imply that he has done anything even close to deserving top 6 minutes to start the season, is beyond ridiculous.
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making things up about his past? please inform me what was made up. me seeing him as a better player than you do does not make anything made up.
 
A good step for him would be earning and maintain a grip on the #3C spot for the entire season. Signing Zuccarello and not trading Zucker is going to push talented players to his line, so the linemates BS should stop. Play well and he should have the first opportunity at Koivu's (likely) vacated spot for the 2020-21 season.
 
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Dr Jan Itor said:
A good step for him would be earning and maintain a grip on the #3C spot for the entire season. Signing Zuccarello and not trading Zucker is going to push talented players to his line, so the linemates BS should stop. Play well and he should have the first opportunity at Koivu's (likely) vacated spot for the 2020-21 season.
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Who are these talented wings, of which you speak?
 
2Pair said:
The list of players that are better than Eriksson Ek? That's just called the roster at this point.
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No, we were talking about wings being pushed down the lineup by the Zucc signing. Best case scenario for JEE is playing with Kunin and Greenway or Donato, unproven NHL players at best.

Your lack of objectivity in regards to JEE is quite obvious in all your posts. The result is you end up sounding like a jilted lover, rather than an informed poster.
 
chchelse said:
No, we were talking about wings being pushed down the lineup by the Zucc signing. Best case scenario for JEE is playing with Kunin and Greenway or Donato, unproven NHL players at best.

Your lack of objectivity in regards to JEE is quite obvious in all your posts. The result is you end up sounding like a jilted lover, rather than an informed poster.
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Now take Zucker and Zuccarello out of the lineup and see which wingers would be on the 3rd line. That was pretty much my point.

People are "excusing" his offensive performance by saying he's playing with plugs (Foligno, Brown, AHL callups, whoever). Guys like Kunin, Greenway and Donato, while unproven, are markedly better than those guys, and it's not entirely impossible that a guy like Fiala might end up with him, based on how the lines best shake out.
 
chchelse said:
No, we were talking about wings being pushed down the lineup by the Zucc signing. Best case scenario for JEE is playing with Kunin and Greenway or Donato, unproven NHL players at best.

Your lack of objectivity in regards to JEE is quite obvious in all your posts. The result is you end up sounding like a jilted lover, rather than an informed poster.
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Name the linemate that Ek played with last season that Ek is/was better than? The better linemates excuse doesn't fly when you're the worst player on your line. How much more proven might Greenway and/or Kunin look if they got to play last season with an actual NHL center?
 
2Pair said:
Name the linemate that Ek played with last season that Ek is/was better than? The better linemates excuse doesn't fly when you're the worst player on your line. How much more proven might Greenway and/or Kunin look if they got to play last season with an actual NHL center?
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Imo he looked better all 3 of his linemates at times (kunin, greenway, foligno)
 
after adding Hartman you've got kunin ; JEE; rask & sturm all fighting for #3C & #4C spots. i'd make kunin #3C with greenway & donato which only leaves one spot open for rask , sturm or JEE. (assuming koivu is back)
 
Monkeypox said:
Gracias.

Hard to say any of those guys were playing more than 3rd line hockey with the Wild last season.

Ek certainly had games where he was the best player on his line.
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Kunin was coming back from a serious injury and Greenway was well Green. He did play with Coyle and Niederreiter, but both of them struggle offensively here. I don't know why Minnesota ends up being an offensive blackhole half the time for the young guys.
 
thestonedkoala said:
Kunin was coming back from a serious injury and Greenway was well Green. He did play with Coyle and Niederreiter, but both of them struggle offensively here. I don't know why Minnesota ends up being an offensive blackhole half the time for the young guys.
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And maybe some of the reason they "struggled" was playing with a center that wasn't ready for prime time.
 
thestonedkoala said:
Then why the hell was he up here? That was a bad call on Fletcher/Bourdeau
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Fletcher?

I thought you said that Ek dominated the AHL? Why would they send him there if he's already playing above that level? I can't figure out if you think he belongs in the top 6 with better linemates or if he should be in Iowa?
 
The only FWD JEE was better than for the entire season was the 12/13 FWD combo of Brown/Hendricks. Even as far as centers go he was low on the list: Staal, Koivu, Coyle, Granny (who I hate as a center), Fehr were all better than him. Kunin (imo) looked better than him too as the season ended, but it could be a coin flip between them. JEE was better than Rask, but that's not saying a whole lot.

You can blame his linemates, but he played his best hockey when he was on a line with Foligno. Straight north/south hockey without a lot of thinking involved. He doesn't process the game fast enough mentally to play more than the grind game in the NHL. He's young so there is still time for everything to "click" for him, the learning curve is different for all players.

I do think he needs more stability in his linemates. A season, or a chuck of it, on the 4th line with Foligno and Hartman might do a lot for his game. Let him get good at the simple things before adding another layer to the game. He'll still get his scoring chances on the 4th line, but he needs to pot them. He's had like a 5.5 s% over the last 2 seasons; that's not good enough to be more than an 11/12/13 FWD in the NHL.
 
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