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NYR Chris Drury fumbled with Niko Mikkola

OysterForever

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Feb 18, 2021
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Not in Philly
Not even a Rangers fan, but man... what was Chris Drury thinking letting Niko Mikkola walk out the door as a free agent?

Guy’s been a total monster for the Panthers in these playoffs, laying bodies out, blocking shots like his life depends on it. He’s playing top-4 shutdown minutes on a team going to finals. And he’s not just a passenger either - he’s been making real impact plays night in, night out.

Meanwhile, the Rangers just let him go for free? For nothing? Lmao. It’s not like Mikkola was some unknown quantity. He showed flashes in NY, they just didn’t bother to keep him. Like Kakko. BTW what is the obsession with letter K?

Drury really fumbled this one. Whatever “vision” he has for that D-core clearly doesn’t involve winning games when it matters. Massive L.
 
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It was a trade, so you only got to see 31 games, plus a quick bounce in the playoffs for Mikkola. Some fans didn't care for him because he wasn't flashy and we had players like Schneider playing who was expected to take the next level and he was already playing more physical. Clearly, they should have tried to find the money to keep him instead of going into the 2023-2024 as a team with very little cap to do anything, but they didn't...

I don't know if I would call this a big fumble in the sense that they didn't exactly have him long enough to showcase his value to the organization. He was perfectly acceptable but he's playing at a much higher level now. Swapping teams, Mikkola would again look perfectly acceptable, but just like the rest of the team when it comes to the man-on-man pathetic coverage.
 
He was always intriguing but not sure the Blues or Rangers saw this coming. The Condor is an absolute beast. You just don’t get a lot of 6-6 guys who can move like (and have some sneaky offensive traits) that and that’s why they are always smart bets even if it takes a while for everything to click into place.

Definitely was playing hurt last night and it showed a couple times but still put in 20+ in a clincher.
 
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You can find stories like this anywhere. Carolina repeatedly talks about missing on Forsling (and I'm sure Chicago fans do too), but even if they didn't expose Forsling to waivers to start the 20-21 season Carolina couldn't protect him from the Kraken like Florida did.

On the other side, Carolina found Chatfield who fits their style perfectly. His speed saves goals on some of these overaggressive plays by the D.

Mikkola wouldn't be the same player if he didn't end up in Florida. Same for Forsling; same for Chatfield with Carolina.
 
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Imagine it is 2017 and somebody from the future came to you and said “in 2025, the Panthers are going to be headed to the third Cup Finals in a row.”

You ask the visitor from the future who is on their team and they are like “on the blueline they have Aaron Ekblad and Seth Jones...”

You nod, agreeing a blueline led by those two sounds absolutely like a Cup dynasty core.

But then our visitor continues “…but their two most important defensemen are Gustav Forsling and Niko Mikkola.”

:D
 
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OysterForever said:
Not even a Rangers fan, but man... what was Chris Drury thinking letting Niko Mikkola walk out the door as a free agent?

Guy’s been a total monster for the Panthers in these playoffs, laying bodies out, blocking shots like his life depends on it. He’s playing top-4 shutdown minutes on a team going to finals. And he’s not just a passenger either - he’s been making real impact plays night in, night out.

Meanwhile, the Rangers just let him go for free? For nothing? Lmao. It’s not like Mikkola was some unknown quantity. He showed flashes in NY, they just didn’t bother to keep him. Like Kakko. BTW what is the obsession with letter K?

Drury really fumbled this one. Whatever “vision” he has for that D-core clearly doesn’t involve winning games when it matters. Massive L.
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Hindsight makes fortune tellers of us all
 
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TheYardMachine said:
Bill Zito deserves a lot of praise for finding these low key players who end up being a big part of their team now

Development seems to be pretty good in Florida as well
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Exactly. This thread is basically a rehash of the endless "why did Chicago fumble Forsling" threads from the past few years.

New York and Chicago likely do not get these versions of Mikkola and Forsling if they held onto them.
 
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Like others have said, he wasn't playing at the same level and in similar situations for the Rangers or Blues. Even with Florida, it took him a bit too trust his pinch and get comfortable in the system. He was basically a replacement for Marc F'N Staal when he signed.
 
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WarriorofTime said:
Did Mikkola want to re-sign with Rangers? He wasn’t there very long.
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The story, according to Stan Fischler and some other reports, was that he enjoyed NY and wanted to stay but didn't receive an offer. Again, NYR were tight on cap, and most likely needed to offer up more than what he signed for in Florida when you consider tax and cost of living. They didn't really have the cap for that when they viewed him as a 3rd pair, defensemen, one you can replace for a lot less. Though, Stan also took shots at every NYR defensemen calling Pionk and Mikkola better than Fox, etc. So...
 
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Tawnos said:
Mikkola is not the same player in Florida that he was for the Rangers or Blues. Good on Zito for identifying a player who could be molded, but it's hard to blame Drury here.
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You could replace "Mikkola" and "Rangers or Blues" with a lot of players and teams here. One of the biggest reasons for Florida's run over the last several years has been Bill Zito and his staff identifying undervalued talent, bringing them to Florida, and bringing out the best in them.

Bennett, Reinhart, Montour, Forsling, Verhaeghe all fit this description in one way or another.

There have been a few swings and misses with guys like Boqvist, but Zito's track record overall has been incredible.
 
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IceKitties said:
You could replace "Mikkola" and "Rangers or Blues" with a lot of players and teams here. One of the biggest reasons for Florida's run over the last several years has been Bill Zito and his staff identifying undervalued talent, bringing them to Florida, and bringing out the best in them.

Bennett, Reinhart, Montour, Forsling, Verhaeghe all fit this description in one way or another.

There have been a few swings and misses with guys like Boqvist, but Zito's track record overall has been incredible.
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Or perhaps shit luck?

Sather drafted Messier, Anderson, Moog, and Kurri within two years of each other- never found a hidden gem like any of them again
 
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I mean we've got like, what, three of our former players on the Panthers just killing it on the bottom lines? Boqvist and Greer were also former Bruins to boot. It happens with teams that know what they're doing more than everyone else.
 
Duder54 said:
The NYR front office isn’t very good. Florida’s is one of the best. Most fanbases would kill to have a front office like Florida’s.

- Oilers fan.
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It has never been good.

Almost 100 years of existence and a whopping 4 Stanley Cups to show for it.

Not a single Cup when there were only 6 teams. They lost Gordie Howe over a team jacket.
 
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Canovin said:
Good system usually will produce good players
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I think people underestimate how important a coach is to a player's success.

1. The coach believes in him. If they know their coach believes in them, that's the wings needed to fly.

2. A proper role. Many a top prospect even has been derailed because a team asked too much of them- much more than their capabilities warranted.
 
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Mikkola was known as a plug who was good for the PK and staying at home, and I'm not sure fans who felt that way were wrong. He really was playing that way, for the most part. He did show flashes, though. This was a game from early in the 2023-24 season:



This is when I started calling him McMikkola. He showed he had good speed and a deceptively nice shot, and then kind of went back to hitting guys hard, maintaining his gap, and being a stay at home guy while paired with Brandon Montour. He scored 2 of his 3 goals for the entire season in that one game, but I think the potential was readily obvious.

I mostly credit the coaching staff for making him comfortable doing this kind of stuff, and the team's commitment to 5-man defense for giving him the opportunities. Being a guy with poor pivot/recovery speed doesn't matter nearly as much when you have Barkov, Lundell, Bennett, and Nosek, etc. all playing 200ft first. Seth Jones and Aaron Ekblad are also benefiting greatly from this right now.

When you can play face forward, pinch, or be aggressive on the puck... and know that #9, #13, #15, #16, #27, etc. are already covering for you, it changes things.


Only thing I will add is that this guy is getting his tires pumped real hard right now by Canadian media who would love to see him get priced out of Florida.
 
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