Miscellaneous NHL Discussion LXXXVIII: The Liaison of Doom

[renberg]

Hogberg was a Hextall pick.

Sorry. My mistake.

 

[Beef Invictus]

I agree with you but we'll have to give it a couple of years to see how it totally pans out. Foerster, Desnoyers, Hogberg and Wisdom may end up being contributors. Could be one or two from this year's draft.
Blowing the '21 draft completely is unforgivable. It may have been a down year but there we're players to be had in it. It struck me as lazy scouting because of Covid.

It was absolutely laziness. They just didn't bother. On top of that they've traded nearly an entire draft year worth of picks away.

Not drafting is bad drafting. Especially when the picks are spent on nonsense

 

[FLYguy3911]

On average, a draft will look worse the further you are removed from it. New car theory and all of that.

Just think about the general excitement from the Hextall classes on draft day and how they ultimately turned out.

Look at Fletcher classes. I think a lot of people liked the 2019 class because of the first two picks. Still looks like they got two NHL players and Attard could potentially swing the class in the team’s favor.

Personally in 2020 I rated all of those players but it felt like they left some meat on the bone as most 5 player classes will feel with one ultimately going unsigned already. The four remaining all seem like high floor guys which can ultimately be viewed two ways. I believe in Foerster’s offensive skillset but this org has not gotten the most out of these types recently.

2021 was garbage the moment they punted on 13th OV for one year of Ristolainen and early returns are the draft day sentiment was accurate. Maybe a local token 7th round picks bails them out (or a Belarusian goalie) but this looks like an awful class and that’s without hindsight.

2022 will be determined by Gauthier becoming anything close to what they think he is. He was way over drafted imo. We’ll see. I don’t think this class is as bad as 2021 but the process is still so obviously flawed. I think Kaplan is a player and maybe Bump is a prospect worth signing in 4-5 years, but this is a class that does not project favorably for where they were slotted.

Not giving away (early) second round picks helps too.

 

[Strawberry Fields]

I think we're trying to corner the market on Italian guys in Hershey. Milano, Nardella, Vecchione, Sgarbossa, Morelli...

 

[deadhead]

Who wanted to sign Milano?

 

[landsbergfan]

 

[Tripod]

I would take Milano over 4 forwards the Flyers are taking to Florida.

 

[Curufinwe]

Ruff start for the Devils.

 

[Strawberry Fields]

Good guy Frank.
(I explicitly mentioned he's one of my favorites from the last draft)

 

[Chinatown88]

I know I probably said it before but man they don't teach kids penmanship like the old days.

 

[FLYguy3911]

Good guy Frank.
(I explicitly mentioned he's one of my favorites from the last draft)
View attachment 595119

#3.

 

[Magua]

The Devils actually have the 2nd best xGF% through an admittedly whopping 2 games, with the worst all-strength save % and 2nd worst shooting %. Last year they were pretty league average besides goaltending. Maybe that continues, who knows. I don't really expect them to make any bubble noise until maybe next season.

They have the young elite talent, and will probably add one more this draft, even if I didn't love the Nemec pick. They'll probably can Ruff eventually. But without one second thought, I'd like to be the GM over that team's talent. I can't tell you if Real Life HockeyGuys™ get it right, but if they don't, it's because they f***ed up.

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

Their goalies have given up 9 goals on 4.11 expected (-4.9) according to moneypuck so far. They have to get their goalies figured out.

Toronto outscored sub par goaltending last year in the regular season (Campbell was good early but really bad in the second half driving his overall numbers down) but New Jersey doesn’t have that type of fire power at least not yet.

 

[FLYguy3911]

Leafs are -550 tonight lol.

 

[Magua]

Their goalies have given up 9 goals on 4.11 expected (-4.9) according to moneypuck so far. They have to get their goalies figured out.

Toronto outscored sub par goaltending last year in the regular season (Campbell was good early but really bad in the second half driving his overall numbers down) but New Jersey doesn’t have that type of fire power at least not yet.

I don’t understand that Vanecek trade and contract (although it may have helped NJ fall backwards onto Seamus Casey at the draft). He graded as a negative goalie with Washington. I think they panicked after last season, with Blackwood perhaps regressing. But the same day they traded for Vanecek, Detroit traded a 3rd for Husso in a similar RFA scenario. I can tell you which team got the better value.

It’s hard to get non-homegrown goalies though. And they take time to develop. One thing I philosophically liked was Hextall drafting a goalie almost every year with their large number of picks. Between Hart, Fedotov, Ersson, Sandstrom they drafted well in talent seemingly, but sheer volume in number has paid off so far for various reasons (Fletcher has drafted 2 in 4 seasons, one unsigned). I’m not saying expend high value picks given the ROI for goalies, but except for a few elite tier goalies, the competitive advantage is in not treating goalies as sacred and avoiding large 3rd/4th contracts.

 

[Striiker]

I’m still waiting for one of the people who dishonestly cry about the Hextall era drafting to show any shred of proof that they disagreed with the picks at the time they were made.

Instead they just want to scapegoat him to defend Chuck, based on hindsight and years of shit developing and misuse.

Meanwhile, Hextall picks are carrying this team through the first two games and are the only guys looking good. TK, Frost, Hart, Sanheim, Allison, Farabee, Laczynski…

Where’s the Fletcher picks? You know, the ones people questioned at the time the picks were made, no hindsight required.

 

[Strawberry Fields]

Where’s the Fletcher picks?

He traded them all

 

[Hollywood Cannon]

I know I probably said it before but man they don't teach kids penmanship like the old days.

*JohnTortorellaintensifies*

 

[Chinatown88]

*JohnTortorellaintensifies*

 

[TCTC]

These new virtual board ads are distracting.

 

[CanadianFlyer88]

Gabe Vilardi is on fire to start this season and I am here for it.

 

[Tripod]

No mention of Ghost point?

Somebody's slacking

 

[Striiker]

Another beautiful primary assist by Ghost.

Quick puck movement on the PP is absolutely everything.

I believe he leads all D in points right now? He was tied for 1st going into the game tonight.

 

[FLYguy3911]

I’m still waiting for one of the people who dishonestly cry about the Hextall era drafting to show any shred of proof that they disagreed with the picks at the time they were made.

Instead they just want to scapegoat him to defend Chuck, based on hindsight and years of shit developing and misuse.

Meanwhile, Hextall picks are carrying this team through the first two games and are the only guys looking good. TK, Frost, Hart, Sanheim, Allison, Farabee, Laczynski…

Where’s the Fletcher picks? You know, the ones people questioned at the time the picks were made, no hindsight required.

I know someone that defended Hextall's worst draft pick to the moon and back.

 

[BackToTheBrierePatch]

Toronto has 13 SOG after 2 periods against Arizona