London Knights 2023 - 24 Season Thread (Part 4)

[Fastpace]

I will take the match up of us playing Kitchener in the 2nd round vs the Sault. Both are tough teams, but have more confidence in playing them. Let's get the # 1 seed!

No preference, may it be by Knights or other teams, they all needs to be ousted at one time or another to move on and be champions

 

[Knightsfan90]

Was hoping Medvedev would get a start but with first on the line I not sure he gets a start.
Tram looks confident and driven Gazizov looks like a man on a mission I hope someone in the NHL notice him too

 

[Fastpace]

For the second time this season, Gazizov is named Player of the Week ;

Knights’ Ruslan Gazizov named Cogeco OHL Player of the Week - Ontario Hockey League

Ruslan Gazizov of the London Knights is the Cogeco OHL Player of the Week, recording nine points over three contests.

chl.ca

 

[LDN]

Playoff lines:

Scoring - Gaz, Cowan and Barkey
Shutdown/Cycle/Physical - Lawrence, SIM, McCue
Scoring 2 Julien, O’Reilly and Halttunnen
Physical 4th mix of Boultons, BRZ, Van Gorp and Nicholl

 

[StormWatcher]

I will take the match up of us playing Kitchener in the 2nd round vs the Sault. Both are tough teams, but have more confidence in playing them. Let's get the # 1 seed!

Who says Kitchener makes it to the 2nd round?

 

[HockeyPops]

Who says Kitchener makes it to the 2nd round?

Lol it's easier predicting second round opponents than first round opponents!

 

[nelli27]

Sam Dickinson is a +55.
Not too shabby.

 

[Otto]

x.com

x.com

 

[crowncarrier]

Yes, he's a liability on the ice. You should check out his plus/minus as a member of a powerhouse team! Most of us don't want him in the lineup. We can ice a much better 4th line with him watching from the pressbox.

I don't think Dale can hear you with his two Memorial Cup rings plugging his ears.

 

[LDN]

Sam Dickinson is a +55.
Not too shabby.

Best Knights D ever?

x.com

x.com

Awesome!!!

 

[nelli27]

I don't think Dale can hear you with his two Memorial Cup rings plugging his ears.

I didn't realize that a coach's successes make him immune to any criticism. A more intelligent response would have been to address the points that I made. Did I err in noting that the 4th line with SB has proven to be a liability or in noting his plus minus? If you would like to make an argument defending the 4th line's positive contributions, I'm all ears. I have seen the 4th line get absolutely dominated by the opposition especially when the opposition coach can get his top line out there. One of my concerns is that the 4th line will ice the puck on the road in the playoffs, and the other team's top line hops over the boards leading to a goal. Maybe I just think too much.

 

[crowncarrier]

I didn't realize that a coach's successes make him immune to any criticism. A more intelligent response would have been to address the points that I made. Did I err in noting that the 4th line with SB has proven to be a liability or in noting his plus minus? If you would like to make an argument defending the 4th line's positive contributions, I'm all ears. I have seen the 4th line get absolutely dominated by the opposition especially when the opposition coach can get his top line out there. One of my concerns is that the 4th line will ice the puck on the road in the playoffs, and the other team's top line hops over the boards leading to a goal. Maybe I just think too much.

Take a breath my friend...no need to get all huffy. All I'm saying is Dale knows what he is doing that's why he's there and why we are not. Sure there are better players that Dale can suit up over Sawyer and one of them is his brother. But Dale has played him over those players because he brings something they don't. Do I agree with everything the kid does out there...no....do I think he brings something to the team that adds value....yes. It has been discussed to death how some of us belive he adds value and the others that don't so I'm not going to get into that again...and again....and again. But feel free to bring up the same complaint about him and I will continue to steal lines from Patrick Roy. Have a wonderful evening.

 

[rve24]

I didn't realize that a coach's successes make him immune to any criticism. A more intelligent response would have been to address the points that I made. Did I err in noting that the 4th line with SB has proven to be a liability or in noting his plus minus? If you would like to make an argument defending the 4th line's positive contributions, I'm all ears. I have seen the 4th line get absolutely dominated by the opposition especially when the opposition coach can get his top line out there. One of my concerns is that the 4th line will ice the puck on the road in the playoffs, and the other team's top line hops over the boards leading to a goal. Maybe I just think too much.

The players rotated in on the 4th line have produced some positives, and a lot of frustration lol.. Some ya can quantify, some you can't.
This isn't a 4th line of a pair rooks in Anderson/Horvat centered by a 2nd yr Tierney ( Damm that was a deep squad )
I agree it's mostly been a net loss ( mostly mostly mostly I'll say lol) with the 4th line out there. From a pure #s POV.
From a NON numbers perspective. ( development of youngings getting PT (VanGorp, the other Boulton lol) intimidation....whatever non qualitative stuff......maybe or maybe not there has been a few positives to go with the obvious negatives) And they still won games at a rate only a couple teams did this year. Kept winning in spite of a weak stats 4th line. The Hunters have always adjusted, and this year its to a squad that ain't 12 deep up front.
Kids got needed acclimation to the O, PT, meathead ran around.......I can take both those over some of the bodies that have burned a card over the last 3/4 years easy as far as a roster spot.

And come POs #s will be what drives the decisions made most of the time. This team isn't 12 Fs deep you can roll. They will be more protected/sheltered than during reg. season and "someone" won't dress every game, but whoever dresses, the minutes/role will shrink and so will road usage. JMO.
Just hoping the top 9 Fs take care between games lol cause they won't be getting a ton of help in close games.

And agreed if the 4th line can't get in a quick forecheck on the attack the play dies, gets turned back the other way and defending is a big challenge.

 

[purple pharrt]

Regarding Sawyer Bolton.....allow me to play Devil's Advocate here. My argument is distilled down to simple mathematics.
Let's assume that SB gets engaged in a fight 2-5-10 for a total of 17 minutes, 5 of which have to be killed off.
It's almost a given, that ANY player who got the 5 for fighting is numerically more important to their team, than is Sawyer.
Trade-off with virtually ANY opponent favours the Knights.
Trade-off is significantly enhanced, if his opponent happened to be key player in their offense.

His reputation does proceed him, and his on-ice presence does influence how those opposing players adapt. They tend to "keep their heads up" and are more concerned with avoiding hits, than creating offensive plays.

Now, what other player in the league with similar scoring stats, brings as much to a game ???

 

[rve24]

Regarding Sawyer Bolton.....allow me to play Devil's Advocate here. My argument is distilled down to simple mathematics.
Let's assume that SB gets engaged in a fight 2-5-10 for a total of 17 minutes, 5 of which have to be killed off.
It's almost a given, that ANY player who got the 5 for fighting is numerically more important to their team, than is Sawyer.
Trade-off with virtually ANY opponent favours the Knights.
Trade-off is significantly enhanced, if his opponent happened to be key player in their offense.

His reputation does proceed him, and his on-ice presence does influence how those opposing players adapt. They tend to "keep their heads up" and are more concerned with avoiding hits, than creating offensive plays.

Now, what other player in the league with similar scoring stats, brings as much to a game ???

Just responding to the bolded part........I think the original point was that the numbers actually do suggest teams are more offensive when he is on the ice. And I agree, the numbers are there. The eye test and stats sheet are there.
Now I can get behind maybe there are other things he can add to a room, team PR individual teammates I'm all good. Creating offense isn't hard when he is on the ice for the opponents

 

[ohloutsider]

Regarding Sawyer Bolton.....allow me to play Devil's Advocate here. My argument is distilled down to simple mathematics.
Let's assume that SB gets engaged in a fight 2-5-10 for a total of 17 minutes, 5 of which have to be killed off.
It's almost a given, that ANY player who got the 5 for fighting is numerically more important to their team, than is Sawyer.
Trade-off with virtually ANY opponent favours the Knights.
Trade-off is significantly enhanced, if his opponent happened to be key player in their offense.

His reputation does proceed him, and his on-ice presence does influence how those opposing players adapt. They tend to "keep their heads up" and are more concerned with avoiding hits, than creating offensive plays.

Now, what other player in the league with similar scoring stats, brings as much to a game ???

Sawyer Bolton- his value is far more important outside the the boards than inside the boards. What he does for the team has little consequence compared to what his father brings to the team. The boys playing for the team will have long term value going into the future.

 

[TheOrangePylon]

Sawyer Bolton- his value is far more important outside the the boards than inside the boards. What he does for the team has little consequence compared to what his father brings to the team. The boys playing for the team will have long term value going into the future.

Players like the Boulton's also do a ton for a team morale wise, these type of players are glue to a team. Teammates love them, because they know they have their back. Listening to some of the Knights social media videos they do, talking to players. The players are always saying the Boulton's names answering the questions, because they are well liked teammates.

Anyway, just my two cents on how they bring more to the table then just having a father with some influence.

 

[Fastpace]

I didn't realize that a coach's successes make him immune to any criticism. A more intelligent response would have been to address the points that I made. Did I err in noting that the 4th line with SB has proven to be a liability or in noting his plus minus? If you would like to make an argument defending the 4th line's positive contributions, I'm all ears. I have seen the 4th line get absolutely dominated by the opposition especially when the opposition coach can get his top line out there. One of my concerns is that the 4th line will ice the puck on the road in the playoffs, and the other team's top line hops over the boards leading to a goal. Maybe I just think too much.

All players regardless of position, line or talent are members of the London Knights hockey team, as they are, they will win believing or lose not believing. Win or lose, they are all for one and one for all as they are, if you want a winning team, better hope their fourth line will do their part on the team in a coach provided team system that includes all members

 

[imarriedawitch]

Noticed this on the TB - VGK game sheet.

VENUE
T-Mobile Arena
CITY
Las Vegas, NV
REFEREES
Chris Schlenker, Kyle Rehman
LINESMEN
Tommy Hughes, Julien Fournier
ATTENDANCE
17,789

 

[Fastpace]

The players rotated in on the 4th line have produced some positives, and a lot of frustration lol.. Some ya can quantify, some you can't.
This isn't a 4th line of a pair rooks in Anderson/Horvat centered by a 2nd yr Tierney ( Damm that was a deep squad )
I agree it's mostly been a net loss ( mostly mostly mostly I'll say lol) with the 4th line out there. From a pure #s POV.
From a NON numbers perspective. ( development of youngings getting PT (VanGorp, the other Boulton lol) intimidation....whatever non qualitative stuff......maybe or maybe not there has been a few positives to go with the obvious negatives) And they still won games at a rate only a couple teams did this year. Kept winning in spite of a weak stats 4th line. The Hunters have always adjusted, and this year its to a squad that ain't 12 deep up front.
Kids got needed acclimation to the O, PT, meathead ran around.......I can take both those over some of the bodies that have burned a card over the last 3/4 years easy as far as a roster spot.

And come POs #s will be what drives the decisions made most of the time. This team isn't 12 Fs deep you can roll. They will be more protected/sheltered than during reg. season and "someone" won't dress every game, but whoever dresses, the minutes/role will shrink and so will road usage. JMO.
Just hoping the top 9 Fs take care between games lol cause they won't be getting a ton of help in close games.

And agreed if the 4th line can't get in a quick forecheck on the attack the play dies, gets turned back the other way and defending is a big challenge.

The fourth line has a purpose on the team, it's messing with other team's minds, how well they do, according to Dale, he's enjoying putting them out there, that's how valuable they are to this team composition

 

[Fastpace]

All this fourthline talks, kind of makes you miss the Hanson brother days, don't it

 

[LDN]

I am in agreement that SB may be a slight statistical liability, but that DOES NOT MATTER as he brings a level of toughness that not many other players in this league bring. He is one of the best hitters in the league, he has a PRESENCE

Noticed this on the TB - VGK game sheet.

VENUE
T-Mobile Arena
CITY
Las Vegas, NV
REFEREES
Chris Schlenker, Kyle Rehman
LINESMEN
Tommy Hughes, Julien Fournier
ATTENDANCE
17,789

Very cool!

Btw first place matters (imagine if Guelph could beat Kitchener?) we are getting ahead of ourselves now

 

[Otto]

I didn't realize that a coach's successes make him immune to any criticism. A more intelligent response would have been to address the points that I made. Did I err in noting that the 4th line with SB has proven to be a liability or in noting his plus minus? If you would like to make an argument defending the 4th line's positive contributions, I'm all ears. I have seen the 4th line get absolutely dominated by the opposition especially when the opposition coach can get his top line out there. One of my concerns is that the 4th line will ice the puck on the road in the playoffs, and the other team's top line hops over the boards leading to a goal. Maybe I just think too much.

Knight's traded for Chad Hefferman in 15/16 in order to fill a need. The same need being met by Sawyer Boulton. Even Kelly Thomson was only a +6 in 04/05 when every other player who played more than 50 games except Steve Ferry was over 20 (+16) Looking at one stat is never a good thing.

Boulton also isn't going to get the chance to play with scorers to improve his +/- nor is he going to play the PK which has padded the +/- stats of some players. When you look at his worst game -3 in Sudbury , Cowan, O'Reilly, & Bonk were all -3 . .McCue was -5

In fact, other than the Sudbury game , Boulton was only lower than -1 one other time, that was against the Soo. Nothing to be concerned about. Dale900 has two Memorial Cups ringing in his ears, I'm sure he will know how best to utilize him in the playoffs

 

[Knightsfan90]

Went to the Nats game was excited to see Arrowsmith..... till he got in a fight in the first lol
PJ Fagan looks strong hits like a truck

 

[hockeylegend11]

Went to the Nats game was excited to see Arrowsmith..... till he got in a fight in the first lol
PJ Fagan looks strong hits like a truck

Yes Arrowsmith tangled with Spits prospect forward Nathame Gaymes,has played in 3 games with Windsor has 2 goals and 1 fight ,was a 15th round pick in 2022.
Both players Arrowsmith and Gaymes have bright futures imo