News From Around the League - Part XL

[Bleedred]

If I was a Ranger fan, I wouldn't want him to coach either. Just like I don't want Stevens to be our head coach. Because, even if they're good, odds are they'll eventually be fired, just like all coaches. And that will tarnish the legacy of beloved players. And if they're bad, like Johnny Mac.....

I agree completely, and no Stevens or Marty as head coach for me. Assistants or goalie coach fine. I don't even like what I'm hearing about Marty becoming GM much either.

Messier has no experience coaching anything from what I know. What qualifies him to be a coach? Because he was a good ''Leader'' as player?

 

[Richer's Ghost]

I agree completely, and no Stevens or Marty as head coach for me. Assistants or goalie coach fine. I don't even like what I'm hearing about Marty becoming GM much either.

Messier has no experience coaching anything from what I know. What qualifies him to be a coach? Because he was a good ''Leader'' as player?

He will win .333% of all games he coaches then - so long as he guarantees a win each time.

(I'll take it!)

 

[NJDevs26]

Have any of the former star players made good GM's yet? We know Nieuwy was a washout, and Yzerman keeps trading for unproven mattress goalies.

 

[DEVILS ALL THE WAY*]

I just went through that thread and a majority of people said it was fair value but weren't sure if either team would do it.

Once again, you're creating a woe is me argument that everyone is against you which isn't true. People are against your stupid ideas, not all of your ideas. A Weber/Parise swap was not a stupid idea, it was just a proposal that people weren't sure if they would do. Larsson for Drouin is a stupid idea.

I remember a select few was on board, including CG, but to say that everyone was "ok" with it is nothing short of comical. If that's the case, why did I have to "fight" my way threw 20+ pages?

The idea of Larsson for Drouin might be stupid for you and other posters but I still haven't heard a legit reason why outside of "we spent 2 years grooming Larsson, so why move him for a unproven prospect?".

To me, that's not a reason that we'd get screwed in giving away the best possible talent moving forward, it sounds more like a excuse that we should stick with what we're trying to mold cause we don't want to start all over again.

Between you and I, the 2 years Larsson got at the NHL level didn't really improve his game from the 1st time he played for us when coming out of the draft and I'll take it one step further... he looks less impressive now then he did in his rookie year. Is it the loss of Big Bird, who knows, but I can't say that Larsson has taken a couple of steps forward when looking at his game prior to the Subban hit.

Again, you don't have to agree with my post, but that's just how I see things when talking about Larsson and I hope he proves me wrong in the worst way.

 

[CerebralGenesis]

I thought Stevey Y was doing alright until he made that trade for Bishop.

 

[apice3*]

You probably had to fight through 20 pages because you felt the need to echo your original post to anyone who responded to it like you usually do.

 

[billingtons ghost]

Looking back at my proposal ...
.

I think that is problem #1 - everything you are saying requires hindsight to which the people involved at the time weren't privy. If Shea Weber left us and signed with Philly and then your whole plan went up in flames, we could have an entirely different discussion - so I don't know why trading Parise for Weber would have ever made sense.

When I throw out ideas, I don't have that same sentiment alot of posters have around here and that sentiment is almost on the same level of "losing one of your own kids".

I'm not talking sentiment - I'm talking common sense and the negative impacts of trading your captain for another guy who was going to be a free agent anyway and setting a bad precedent and sending a bad message.

Volchenkov has been brutal for the past couple of years and the majority is catching on based on his brutal play.

This is simply untrue and a false statement. The first inkling anyone had of anything wrong with Volch was the Florida series in last years playoffs. The guy had been very good for us up until he got exposed by Versteeg and their speed one game. Has he ever been $4.5m worth of defensive goodness? No, but we overpaid (and gave too many years) for the UFA Dman who was most desired by the market as a whole. Same as overpaying winky.

And to finish this off, I know Larsson is only 20 years of age but we have a solid prospect pool in regards to blueliners, we can probably walk away with the 2nd or 3rd best blueliner in this draft class (Ristolainen looks to be the left handed Finish version of Larsson) and land one of the most dynamic forward in a draft class that is being compared to the 2003 crop.

I agreed that Larsson straight up would be ok with me, but I'm not a big Larsson fan. Throw in the 9 pick and we are overpaying.

I'm not saying he'll be the next version of Crosby/Malkin but the kid has the track record that can be compared with the ELITE of the NHL, prior to cracking the big league.

Admittedly, I only saw one QMJL game with him, and four games of the Memorial Cup - in which he was overshadowed by MacK's speed, at least by what I saw. He might be everything you say.

 

[DEVILS ALL THE WAY*]

You probably had to fight through 20 pages because you felt the need to echo your original post to anyone who responded to it like you usually do.

It's called backing up your pov, nothing else but you view it differently. I have my POV and if I feel yours isn't "logic", for whatever reason, I'll defend mine 24/7.

That's what you get when you go against the mass but I'm cool with it.

 

[MartyOwns]

I’d move larsson for drouin. it’d never happen, but I’d do it. no slight against larsson, but we have pretty solid depth at that position. a few of our prospects are bound to be top-4’s, with maybe 1 top pairing

 

[CerebralGenesis]

I’d move larsson for drouin. it’d never happen, but I’d do it. no slight against larsson, but we have pretty solid depth at that position. a few of our prospects are bound to be top-4’s, with maybe 1 top pairing

We probably have him already and you want to trade him though.

I don't see Urbom or Gelinas becoming that top dman and i'm very skeptical of Merrill. Severson is my boy but who knows if something will happen in the next 2-3 years and potentially derail him.

Potential is not created equal and Larsson is far ahead of the other 3/4/5 whatever amount of dman you think could crack the NHL.

 

[DEVILS ALL THE WAY*]

We probably have him already and you want to trade him though.

I don't see Urbom or Gelinas becoming that top dman and i'm very skeptical of Merrill. Severson is my boy but who knows if something will happen in the next 2-3 years and potentially derail him.

Potential is not created equal and Larsson is far ahead of the other 3/4/5 whatever amount of dman you think could crack the NHL.

Larsson has the potential to be a top pairing d-men but isn't there yet and we don't know if he'll ever get there, so the argument you're making for our other prospects are just as valid for Larsson as well... wouldn't you say so?

Another thing people seem to brush off is that we'd still have our 9th overall pick and that means we'd have a solid shot at Ristolainen, who looks to be a carbon copy of Larsson, or one of Nurse, Zadorov or Pulock.

Any of those d-men would help us restock our blueline prospect pool and sort of compensate for the loss of Larsson.

I honestly think that we'd be better off with Drouin + Ristolainen/Zadorov/Nurse/Pulock over Larsson + Shinkaruk/Domi/Horvat

The only reason I would kind of hesitate in doing such a move is if someone in that elite class does drop to #9 but I just don't see it happening. The talent level is just too good to pass up, regardless of the Russian factor.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Larsson has the potential to be a top pairing d-men but isn't there yet and we don't know if he'll ever get there, so the argument you're making for our other prospects are just as valid for Larsson as well... wouldn't you say so?

Larsson has more potential than anyone we have AND has 100 games of experience under his belt.

so no, I wouldnt say so.

 

[CerebralGenesis]

Larsson has more potential than anyone we have AND has 100 games of experience under his belt.

so no, I wouldnt say so.

Ya but apparently we can just use 2 more seasons to develop our #1 dman while complaining about how our d is young and mistake-prone before unloading him too.

So we want to:

win games
not have young players make young mistakes
not wait for young players to mature if they make mistakes

Can't please everyone.

 

[DEVILS ALL THE WAY*]

Larsson has more potential than anyone we have AND has 100 games of experience under his belt.

so no, I wouldnt say so.

There's no denying that Larsson has the highest ceilling out of anyone in our prospect pool but the fact that he's played 100 games already doesn't mean much to me when taking a look at our blueline when he got drafted.

If we would've taken Hamilton, for example, he would've had the same type of path instead of how he's being utilised in Boston, cause our blueline wasn't all that impressive when we did pick Larsson so he automaticly became our 3rd or 4th best d-man right off the bat.

Give Boston Larsson and I'm pretty certain he'd have something like 30 to 45 games under his belt cause they didn't need him right out of the draft.

 

[MartyOwns]

Ya but apparently we can just use 2 more seasons to develop our #1 dman while complaining about how our d is young and mistake-prone before unloading him too.

So we want to:

win games
not have young players make young mistakes
not wait for young players to mature if they make mistakes

Can't please everyone.

we need drouin more than we need larsson. thats all im saying. i've fully acknowledged before that this could mean a few poor years, so be it

 

[CerebralGenesis]

Lol I wouldn't even take Drouin first out of the halifax boys

 

[DEVILS ALL THE WAY*]

Lol I wouldn't even take Drouin first out of the halifax boys

You can't go wrong with either MacKinnon or Drouin, it's basically a toss up between wich type of player you value the most.

Do you want someone like Taylor Hall/Alex Ovechkin or someone like Patrick Kane/Pavel Datsyuk.

MacKinnon is a beast going north/south has a real low center of gravity and goes to the net with one reason and that's to put the puck behind the netminder. Drouin is more of a playmaker who can put it on your stick 11 times out of 10 and can finish as well.

Two different types of players who'll be studs in the making but won't play the same type of game. Since we have Kovalchuk locked up for life, I would just cream my pants if we can give him a left winger with the vision, the hands and the skillset of a Jonathan Drouin.

That's no knock on MacKinnon at all, I just prefer Drouin's game

 

[CerebralGenesis]

Drouin will be nothing like Datsyuk

 

[DEVILS ALL THE WAY*]

Drouin will be nothing like Datsyuk

Playing style... the hands, the vision, the fact that he can score when he has a grade-A opportunity, etc.

 

[CerebralGenesis]

lol goodluck with that.

How's Murphy doin?

 

[NJDevs26]

we need drouin more than we need larsson. thats all im saying. i've fully acknowledged before that this could mean a few poor years, so be it

And what if Merrill/Gelinas/etc never pan out? This is where you guys lose me with the Larsson is expendable meme...it's okay to assume people who've played no NHL games will pan out but already we know Larsson won't pan out after having legitimate playing time with moderate success at 19 and 20 in the NHL?

 

[billingtons ghost]

Playing style... the hands, the vision, the fact that he can score when he has a grade-A opportunity, etc.

I haven't seen him as much as you - but I agree - I don't think he'll be anything like Datsyuk.

Edit: He looks a lot like Huberdeau to me. MacKinnon looks more like Parise.

 

[DEVILS ALL THE WAY*]

lol goodluck with that.

How's Murphy doin?

Pretty well actually.

Almost a PPG for the Kitchener Rangers for the 3rd straight year, despite not having as strong a team as they were a couple of years ago, got a emergency call up from the Canes where he played 4 games and was on the ice for just over 21 minutes per game and actually got some PP time to boot.

But I hear yeah, he's probably a bust cause he doesn't have 100 games under his belt like Larsson as a 20 year old

 

[Unknown Caller]

I'm a Drouin fan and he is nothing like Datsyuk. I think he'll be a great player at the NHL level but comparing him to Datsyuk is crazy.

 

[DEVILS ALL THE WAY*]

I haven't seen him as much as you - but I agree - I don't think he'll be anything like Datsyuk.

No one is going to be like Datsyuk, Kovy, Ovy, Sid, etc, etc, etc... when comparing players you go with their best assets and try to find someone with those same skillset at the NHL level.

I made the comparision for MacKinnon and threw out the name of Ovechkin but CerebralGenesis and yourself didn't bother to say a peep about it, does that mean that CG and yourself are "ok" with that comparision and that MacKinnon is the next Ovi?

If I had to adjust my comparision, I'd say he's a mix between Kane and Datsyuk. He doesn't have that 2 way game that Datsyuk has but he's not as bad as Kane either. He does utilise his body to throw his weight around and isn't shy about going in the dirty areas to fight for loose pucks.

Let's put it this way, he has Kane/Datstyuk upside... will he turn out like them, only time will tell, just like everyone was saying that Larsson is comparable to Lidstrom