Rumor: Rantanen Extension is Close???

[ABasin]

I like Mitts a lot, and did he have a better game than hes had in awhile. I won’t even pretend to understand fancy stats but personally from the eye test his game didn’t look perfect. He was still losing a lot of puck battles and still looked off early on. He’s hopefully snapping out of his funk some though, there were good things he did later in the game.

He's not physically engaged, and he keeps making the same mistake over and over and over.

He enters the offensive zone, gets 10 feet inside the blue line, and turns himself into the boards. Not only is he not far enough into the zone to back the defense up and have his teammates offer him puck support, he's a crappy player along the boards to boot. He loses the puck in this situation over and over, yet he keeps doing it over and over.

In that Montreal game, Armia just sat along the wall waiting for him again and again, taking the puck away each time. And Mittelstadt changed nothing.

 

[cinchronicity]

I like Mitts a lot, and did he have a better game than hes had in awhile. I won’t even pretend to understand fancy stats but personally from the eye test his game didn’t look perfect. He was still losing a lot of puck battles and still looked off early on. He’s hopefully snapping out of his funk some though, there were good things he did later in the game.

More than any other recent import - even Drouin - Mitts has been screwed by the Bednar 'blender' and 'system'. A player like Mitts benefits from continuity in linemates. His brain is capable of making absolutely elite passes, but it sure helps to understand your linemates' tendencies, speed, hands, etc. That goes two ways, though. If Mitts had the same two linemates for 20 games or so, they would start to see / envision what was in Mitts' brain. I'm not sure that Mitts has seen the same pair of wings more than 4 consecutive games.

I don't want to stray from the ice too long but the Nuggets have a similar situation with Jokic. Until guys from the bench truly understand where to cut to guarantee they get a pass and easy bucket, Jokic will lead the team in turnovers. A significant number of Mitts' so-called terrible passes are actually smart passes to a place where a player damn well should be (but weren't.) I would love to see - for 20 games straight:

Drouin - Mac - Nuke
Lehky - Mitts - Mikko
Colton - Parsnips - LOC
Kivi - Kelly - Wood

If the rest of Mitts' year is like December - even with continuity of excellence at Wing- then perhaps he does belong on The Island of Misfit Toys with the rest of the 2Cs that flamed out. But give the guy 20 games with decent linemates ( plus talented goalies for that matter) before the Avs kick him to the curb.

 

[forsbergavs32]

More than any other recent import - even Drouin - Mitts has been screwed by the Bednar 'blender' and 'system'. A player like Mitts benefits from continuity in linemates. His brain is capable of making absolutely elite passes, but it sure helps to understand your linemates' tendencies, speed, hands, etc. That goes two ways, though. If Mitts had the same two linemates for 20 games or so, they would start to see / envision what was in Mitts' brain. I'm not sure that Mitts has seen the same pair of wings more than 4 consecutive games.

I don't want to stray from the ice too long but the Nuggets have a similar situation with Jokic. Until guys from the bench truly understand where to cut to guarantee they get a pass and easy bucket, Jokic will lead the team in turnovers. A significant number of Mitts' so-called terrible passes are actually smart passes to a place where a player damn well should be (but weren't.) I would love to see - for 20 games straight:

Drouin - Mac - Nuke
Lehky - Mitts - Mikko
Colton - Parsnips - LOC
Kivi - Kelly - Wood

If the rest of Mitts' year is like December - even with continuity of excellence at Wing- then perhaps he does belong on The Island of Misfit Toys with the rest of the 2Cs that flamed out. But give the guy 20 games with decent linemates ( plus talented goalies for that matter) before the Avs kick him to the curb.

I do agree consistent linemates would probably help, but in Bednar's defense he really hasn't had much of a choice with Drouin being out 90% of the season so far, Wood injured, Nuke injured, etc..