Cyclones Rock
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But what about someone who is optimistically realistic? Inquiring minds want to know.
Offseason Roster Moves, Rumors, and Discussion
- Thread starter CBJWerenski8
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Double-Shift Lasse
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The Canucks added a whole bevy of big shutdown D - Nikita Zadorov, Carson Soucy, Ian Cole. And a new partner for Quinn Hughes in Filip Hronek. That's a complete makeover of their D.
Coach Rick Tocchet had options for shutdown play. Who does Dean Evason put out there to play shutdown? We talked about our offseason priority being getting a shutdown D (or two) and we didn't get any. We didn't add any top 6 D (JJ is more like a #7).
And Horvat wasn't a shutdown center, he was more like a superfluous offensive center on a team that already had EP and JT Miller.
Cyclones Rock
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EspenK
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I think realistic is just pessimistic. A wise man often has espoused that theory.
Cyclones Rock
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I take it then, that you are also a member of the CBJ realist clubI think realistic is just pessimistic. A wise man often has espoused that theory.
i'm not saying that the blue jackets have the same ingredients that the canucks did.
what i'm saying is that it's august and there's no point (to me, anyway) in being a fan of a hockey team if you're not unreasonably optimistic about your team during this specific stretch of the hockey calendar.
over the last few years, this team has been less than the sum of its parts. dean evason is a legitimate NHL coach who has routinely gotten his teams to be more than the sums of their parts. it's not unreasonable to expect breakout seasons from a handful of their young players, or a resurgence from gaudreau. big turnarounds aren't unheard of in this sport, nor are teams punching above their weight.
the crux of hockey fandom is letting all of that stuff outweigh the bad stuff until the bad stuff actually starts happening.
I'm all for optimism and I'm not ruling out some moderate improvement. But the Canucks talk in particular highlights the ways in which we did not improve - they added three shutdown D and dropped their goals against by seventy five. We added zero shutdown D.
I don't see a case for us dropping our goals against by that much, maybe half of that if all goes well. Our personnel issues with team D are still there. It's not just less than the sum of it's parts, the parts aren't geared for the job of keeping the puck out of our net.
Instead my case for optimism comes from all the young guns starting to unload. We could maybe have a season where some of the young guys pop off and pot 75 pts. I've been most bullish on Chinakhov and Fantilli being the players to do that, but we have a lot of guys with room to take a step. We could be a young exciting team that scores a boatload of goals and stays in the playoff hunt until the Spring.
When I draw up our D group I don't have JJ in our top six group. I think Christiansen and Mateychuk will be better. And though I expect to prefer Jiricek in Cleveland, I don't think the club has the Yzerman type of confidence to keep a complainer in the AHL for his D+3.
That's two rookies, and rookies don't help teams defend.
I am really curious how Christiansen will look at the NHL level. I think he's developed really well, rounded out his game, and usually looks like the best player in Cleveland. But we haven't seen a long look of him at the NHL level, aside from times when we were icing AHL lineups and just failing across the board.
Call me crazy but I really want to see what a Werenski-Mateychuk pairing looks like. I think they might be the type to keep the puck in the offensive zone all shift, just cycling and making a mess of opponents.
That's two rookies, and rookies don't help teams defend.
I am really curious how Christiansen will look at the NHL level. I think he's developed really well, rounded out his game, and usually looks like the best player in Cleveland. But we haven't seen a long look of him at the NHL level, aside from times when we were icing AHL lineups and just failing across the board.
Call me crazy but I really want to see what a Werenski-Mateychuk pairing looks like. I think they might be the type to keep the puck in the offensive zone all shift, just cycling and making a mess of opponents.
I don't expect them to go from bottom 5 (in consecutive seasons) to the playoffs. Improved team play, growth from young players, and finishing 8th, 9th or 10th from the bottom would be a successful season. That would mean passing several teams in the standings. Then build on it the next year.
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I know you don’t do it to your ostensible top defender, but rather have a super-dependable top pair, but I like this a lot.
Werenski should be the type of player that you can give a rookie to. And Mateychuk profiles as the kind of guy who wouldn’t make his more/experienced partner have to do everything.
Xoggz22
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I'd like to see Mateychuk play for an extended period in Cleveland to prove he belongs in the NHL first. I'm high on him like the rest of you but let's take the next step first. If he blows the doors off... bring him up or keep him after camp. For now, I see the AHL as the next step.
Maybe I’m in the minority but I expect 35 wins at minimum. I really believe they’ll be in the 35-40 win range barring injuries. The forward group is deep, and adding an extremely solid coach will give a good bump. As I’ve said in other threads, they could’ve easily approached 35 wins last season with Vincent at the helm, if they held even half the leads they blew. With Evason, I expect to see the best on ice product we’ve seen in some time.
Let’s see how you feel after a few preseason games.
Who’s the best skating defenseman the CBJ have in the organization??
That aspect alone probably makes Mateychuk the best fit, even right now.
I'll be happy if Christiansen can be a solid Jake Bean replacement as a bottom pair D until Mateychuk/Svozil has improved his game enough to take the step to NHL. Christiansen might be capable of filling his shoes.
With Mateychuk I think we should be stricter in terms of granting a spot in NHL lineup since he's younger and has higher upside. I wouldn't put him in the top-6 unless he's better defensively than JC and JJ, and his overall play is significantly better than theirs. I don't expect that to be the case in October, in preseason there are so few opportunities to prove that. I want to see better puckhandling, defensive game and ability to endure pressure from NHL forwards.
Receiving an NHL defender from Laine trade could help us to prevent rushing Jiricek/Svozil/Mateychuk "unintentionally".
Werenski or Provorov? They look very smooth technically. Who is the smartest skater (making the most of their skating ability) could be a more interesting question in the near future.
Cyclones Rock
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The good news about young player placements (Mateychuk/Jiricek/etc) is that Waddell has extensive experience in these matters and has job security.
Evason has plenty of NHL and AHL coaching experience to be able to provide valuable input on these matters as well. Miwaukee was Nashville's affiliate and the Preds have a pretty solid record at developing young talent-especially defensemen. Evason and Ford were part of that system for a long time.
I have a high degree of confidence in this FO to properly place young talent.
Evason has plenty of NHL and AHL coaching experience to be able to provide valuable input on these matters as well. Miwaukee was Nashville's affiliate and the Preds have a pretty solid record at developing young talent-especially defensemen. Evason and Ford were part of that system for a long time.
I have a high degree of confidence in this FO to properly place young talent.
IMO it’s quite easily Mateychuk at this point, not Werenski.
Provorov is a pretty good skater, but, IMO a bit “clunky” and lacks agility. I’d also argue that both Werenski and Provorov are NOT good at skating backwards. Lots of forward skating and gliding going backwards.
people will disregard this because he unfortunately suffers from Ryan Johansen Disease where his body language makes it look like he's going at half speed all the time
The problems that both Werenski and Johansen have/had with things like acceleration and agility when it comes to their skating, AND overall energy/aggression issues altogether on the ice, is not just some faulty perception from their playing style or “body language”.
It IS their play style. The thing is, it’s clear as day that both guys can “ramp it up”, but, only do in very unique situations, and not very often.
Whatever, not important. Mateychuk is a better skater than Werenski is the point I wanted to make.
Johansen had that and also some real conditioning issues on top of it, so that makes the comparison murky.
With Werenski, we watch him blow past opponents every night. Just fly right around them, but he does it in so few strides that it doesn't look fast. Fans of other clubs show more respect to him than our fans do. They see their guys getting walked by a fast, dangerous player.
CBJWerenski8
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Lindstrom still not being 100% is now a concern for me. It wouldn’t be something I’d normally say but the fact Waddell confirmed he’s not 100% and would be playing if he was is an issue.
Possibly why they haven’t signed him??? When I had back issues they said it takes a full 18 months to heal (granted I am older than him) That was only a couple of years ago for me so fairly recent.
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Who are you? What have you done with CR?
Lol. I like your optimism.
