Player Discussion Mason McTavish

[FlyingV09]

Big Mac is looking like a stud. His floor appears to be a solid 2nd line winger. Interesting to see how good he’ll be 3 years from nos

The one backcheck I saw in the first period was eye opening for me. I never thought he had those kinds of wheels.

 

[Frosted Tips]

If there are some positives in the first two games so far it's that McTavish doesn't look out of place in a top 6 role at all. I think he's been good so far. I wasn't really expecting that out of the gate this season but I'll take it. Really happy to have him.

 

[FiveHoleTickler]

One bold prediction for each NHL team in 2022-23: Trades, re-signings, breakouts — and a 70-goal scorer?

The Athletic's NHL staff makes one bold prediction for each team for the 2022-23 season.

theathletic.com

Iceman comin' in hot with the "bold" take:

 

[Hockey Duckie]

One bold prediction for each NHL team in 2022-23: Trades, re-signings, breakouts — and a 70-goal scorer?

The Athletic's NHL staff makes one bold prediction for each team for the 2022-23 season.

theathletic.com

Iceman comin' in hot with the "bold" take:

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I dunno if it's a bold take since McTavish has always been noted in the top-3 for the Calder. Now, if he said Regenda would win the Calder, then that is a bold take!

 

[FiveHoleTickler]

I dunno if it's a bold take since McTavish has always been noted in the top-3 for the Calder. Now, if he said Regenda would win the Calder, then that is a bold take!

That was my point. Stephens' writing is more conservative than most boomers.

 

[Mr Rogers]

four points in 5 games, i believe all were primary assists. I've been noticing lately that his confidence with the puck is growing each game. he's also good at sprinting into corners and leveraging his strength to win possession. he's honestly exceeded my expectations thus far.

 

[Kalv]

His ice time is on an upward trajectory, he's averaging 2 SOG, he will be scoring some goals soon.

Our website seems to have updated the size and new photos. He's listed as 6'0 which seems reasonable.

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

four points in 5 games, i believe all were primary assists. I've been noticing lately that his confidence with the puck is growing each game. he's also good at sprinting into corners and leveraging his strength to win possession. he's honestly exceeded my expectations thus far.

Happy to see him spending time at the net and he gets his stick on the puck fairly often. I do wish he'd keep himself in motion more often but hopefully that'll come with familiarity.

 

[bsu]

He's been impressive especially considering how shit of a team we are. His quick strike ability fits nicely with us barely having the puck ever.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

He's been impressive especially considering how shit of a team we are. His quick strike ability fits nicely with us barely having the puck ever.

Wasn't this your obsessive complaint about McTavish in juniors, especially during the playoffs? This trait goes from a pejorative to a positive.

 

[bsu]

Wasn't this your obsessive complaint about McTavish in juniors, especially during the playoffs? This trait goes from a pejorative to a positive.

It's not a complaint it's an observation. Scoring points is valuable. But everything spoke about McTavish is a complaint to you so makes sense.

 

[bsu]

Don't know what's best for him at this point. I want him to have more practice with the puck on his stick and that ain't going to happen on this team. His skating needs improvement he moves like Comtois out there. Quick strike ability is fun but we are doing our young players a disservice thus far.

 

[bsu]

-2 in 11 minutes... What do you guys think he best for him?

 

[ADHB]

If the only option is to send him back to juniors, then to me that’s kind of pointless. He’s already dominated that level. He won’t learn anything there, and if anything it’ll only reinforce the bad habits he has, a lot of which involve floating around and not moving his feet, because he can get away with against junior players. Noticed that a ton last year, even though he always produced.

It’s not ideal, but he needs to take his lumps here, and figure out that what he’s accustomed to doing doesn’t work in the NHL.

 

[Kalv]

If sent to juniors he could at least work on his skating, etc, so... I'm starting to not be against it

 

[Leonardo87]

-2 in 11 minutes... What do you guys think he best for him?

He needs to work it out on the NHL level. A healthy scratch can’t hurt him either. Worked for guys like Terry.

 

[Kalv]

He needs to work it out on the NHL level. A healthy scratch can’t hurt him either. Worked for guys like Terry.

McTavish sitting out a game? He will fight Verbeek with bare knuckles, to be on the ice, probably

 

[WhatTheDuck]

If sent to juniors he could at least work on his skating, etc, so... I'm starting to not be against it

I just think he's too far along in his development to benefit from a league where he'd be up against kids who have yet to turn 16 and are about 150lbs.

He's a perfect example of why the NHL/CHL agreement sucks, because an in between level like the AHL would probably be just about perfect right now.

 

[Leonardo87]

I just think he's too far along in his development to benefit from a league where he'd be up against kids who have yet to turn 16 and are about 150lbs.

He's a perfect example of why the NHL/CHL agreement sucks, because an in between level like the AHL would probably be just about perfect right now.

Zegras and Drysdale really benefited in the AHL, both showed they can dominate there and here they are now in the NHL looking very promising. Wish Mac could spend some time there but like you said the agreement sucks.

 

[Trojans86]

If the only option is to send him back to juniors, then to me that’s kind of pointless. He’s already dominated that level. He won’t learn anything there, and if anything it’ll only reinforce the bad habits he has, a lot of which involve floating around and not moving his feet, because he can get away with against junior players. Noticed that a ton last year, even though he always produced.

It’s not ideal, but he needs to take his lumps here, and figure out that what he’s accustomed to doing doesn’t work in the NHL.

I totally agree with this. For his game to be successful in the NHL it needs to be a little meat and potatoes where he forechecks/backchecks hard, plays in the dirty areas, has great board play etc. and he can get by in Juniors without that. The NHL will toughen him up and mold him into the player he needs to be to be successful long-term.

 

[Rybread86]

Ya he has to stay at this level. Juniors does him no good at this point. AHL would be the ideal place but without that option, NHL is where he belongs. Healthy scratches arent a bad idea, limiting his 5-on-5 time might be on the table too and already looks like it is.

Biggest thing for him, I believe, is finding his passion and not letting his age get into his own head. He looks tentative at times. Force him into a physical role or get the vets on the team to be encouraging him to get into scrums.

I dont know his living situation, but some time with the old captain wouldnt hurt either.

 

[Sean Garrity]

Ya he has to stay at this level. Juniors does him no good at this point. AHL would be the ideal place but without that option, NHL is where he belongs. Healthy scratches arent a bad idea, limiting his 5-on-5 time might be on the table too and already looks like it is.

Biggest thing for him, I believe, is finding his passion and not letting his age get into his own head. He looks tentative at times. Force him into a physical role or get the vets on the team to be encouraging him to get into scrums.

I dont know his living situation, but some time with the old captain wouldnt hurt either.

I don't know if it's age that is making him tentative as opposed to the speed of the game and not quite understanding what he's supposed to be doing within the "system". Just one example is that there are plenty of times per game where we have multiple forechecks chasing a defenseman behind their own net leading to an easy breakout and an inability to sustain a forecheck.

 

[Mr Rogers]

Things I've learned about him so far are that he has playmaking skills that i didn't know he had and is much more raw defensively than i had expected. Part of that could be because he's a C, but he's looked clueless a lot of the time. let's see if he can turn it around a bit against SJ and Van this week.

 

[Rybread86]

I don't know if it's age that is making him tentative as opposed to the speed of the game and not quite understanding what he's supposed to be doing within the "system". Just one example is that there are plenty of times per game where we have multiple forechecks chasing a defenseman behind their own net leading to an easy breakout and an inability to sustain a forecheck.

I dont know if age is part of it either but there are times where he just looks overwhelmed and its not a system issue, its just a player not looking comfortable issue. To me it looks like someone who is in their own head and a little lost.

At the same time, he can make plays and hes not getting bullied, so thats positive. I just think hes a guy everyone will have to be patient with.

 

[Sean Garrity]

I dont know if age is part of it either but there are times where he just looks overwhelmed and its not a system issue, its just a player not looking comfortable issue. To me it looks like someone who is in their own head and a little lost.

At the same time, he can make plays and hes not getting bullied, so thats positive. I just think hes a guy everyone will have to be patient with.

Oh I completely agree, as I touched on and probably should’ve emphasized more is that he’s clearly adjusting to the speed of the game and thinking as opposed to just fluidly playing. I think he’ll be fine, but I wouldn’t expect anything spectacular out of him this season.