Speculation: Roster Building Thread: Part LXXIII

[Oscar Lindberg]

This team desperately needs another left defenseman if they want to do anything this season.

Like I said in the game thread last night, I can’t watch Johnson play every night because we have no one better. And K’Andre may be a good defenseman for us down the line but he’s not ready. Putting him with Trouba and giving him tough minutes is just a recipe for disaster this early on

 

[cwede]

This team desperately needs another left defenseman if they want to do anything this season.
Like I said in the game thread last night, I can’t watch Johnson play every night because we have no one better. And K’Andre may be a good defenseman for us down the line but he’s not ready. Putting him with Trouba and giving him tough minutes is just a recipe for disaster this early on

Bitetto and Reunanen time

 

[Edge]

This team desperately needs another left defenseman if they want to do anything this season.

Like I said in the game thread last night, I can’t watch Johnson play every night because we have no one better. And K’Andre may be a good defenseman for us down the line but he’s not ready. Putting him with Trouba and giving him tough minutes is just a recipe for disaster this early on

I think there's a decent chance they take a look at Robertson before he heads back to the WHL.

 

[DutchShamrock]

Not to put all the blame in any one place, but this team started poorly at the start of last season, in the bubble, and last night. Kind of tired of hearing Quinn tell the media that the team wasn't ready to compete. It's one game, it's early, it's on the players. Just an observation. Not a fan of Quinn juggling lines in an abbreviated camp and then in the first game. Not a fan of benching the 4th liner for poor play when you could barely find a satisfactory performance. Scape goats and lines-in-a-blender scream desperation and incompetence.

 

[Oscar Lindberg]

I think there's a decent chance they take a look at Robertson before he heads back to the WHL.

Not sure adding another rookie to the mix is going to help but maybe he’s ready

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

I think Dropping the "not ready" tag on K'Andre is a bit premature.

I mean if we're going to make generalizations based off of one game, Panarin has the worst contract in the league.

 

[Edge]

Not sure adding another rookie to the mix is going to help but maybe he’s ready

I don't know if it's so much adding a rookie, but finding a dynamic.

The reality is that neither Johnson or Smith are going to hold the answers this year or beyond, and barring a trade for a veteran defender, sometimes you're better off with the rookies.

We saw that last year with Fox and Lindgren, along with all of the 120 games ADA brought with him to that point.

 

[Raspewtin]

tbh I'm willing to live with KAMs growing pains.

he was really jittery in the 1st but he started to get it. I think there's value in letting him work it out.

 

[HatTrick Swayze]

I’m fine with giving Miller more looks because clearly they must have seen something different in practice, and he improved marginally as the game went on.

But if I were making a call based on last night it would be that he isn’t ready. And I think he’s close...it’s a shame the AHL isn’t an option right now.

 

[Avery16]

I think Hank is out of surgery.

 

[E-Train]

I think Miller was better as the game went on. Can’t teach that size and skating. Want to see Robertson with ADA at some point.

The lack of offense last night was aggravating but it’s one game for the youngest team in the league. They’re not going 46-10. I don’t mind some rough outings with this lineup.

 

[Edge]

Truthfully, Miller could be a kid who sticks for the season, or a kid who stays for now and then goes to finishing school in the AHL. It's way too early to tell.

The thing we have to try to avoid is snap judgements.

Scrimmages are exactly that --- a step above a regular practice, but not even quite a preseason game.

Likewise, bad games are exactly that. Sometimes they do reveal a larger pattern, sometimes they're isolated incidents, and sometimes they are something in-between those two concepts.

I think everyone is really excited about seeing hockey again, and I think we can see the "future" of this team and that makes us a little antsy.

But the challenge has always been riding the waves and not getting too up or too down. And frankly, sometimes not getting caught up in some of the over the top reaction when things are going well or not so well.

Boards over a great opportunity to bond over a shared interest. But they can also work us up into frenzy in short order.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

I’m fine with giving Miller more looks because clearly they must have seen something different in practice, and he improved marginally as the game went on.

But if I were making a call based on last night it would be that he isn’t ready. And I think he’s close...it’s a shame the AHL isn’t an option right now.

I thought he gave the Isles forwards TOO much respect early on.

There was a sequence where he was defending a rush against Nelson and he got his stick on the puck (it ended up bouncing in Nelson's favor) and he kind of just let him skate by and it led to a dangerous pass that Buchnevich saved the day on.

In the 3rd, the same thing happened with Cizikas in the 3rd and he sealed him off instead of doing the above.

Hes gotta realize that even in the NHL, he is still bigger and stronger than most of his competition. Use that size.

 

[Oscar Lindberg]

I’m fine with letting Miller ride it out but I think he’d be better served on that third pairing

Again I just don’t like him being thrust into tough minutes with Trouba out the gate

Ideally they would make a short term move for someone who isn’t going to look out of place taking the tough minutes with Trouba, and let Miller work into things on the 3rd pairing. And work in Robertson a bit before he gets sent back to the WHL

 

[Bacon Artemi Bravo]

I don't know if it's so much adding a rookie, but finding a dynamic.

The reality is that neither Johnson or Smith are going to hold the answers this year or beyond, and barring a trade for a veteran defender, sometimes you're better off with the rookies.

We saw that last year with Fox and Lindgren, along with all of the 120 games ADA brought with him to that point.

Agree with this. We know there's an issue on the backend regardless, might as well get the young guys reps and see them against NHL talent to gain a better understanding of what you have going forward.

 

[HatTrick Swayze]

I thought he gave the Isles forwards TOO much respect early on.

There was a sequence where he was defending a rush against Nelson and he got his stick on the puck (it ended up bouncing in Nelson's favor) and he kind of just let him skate by and it led to a dangerous pass that Buchnevich saved the day on.

In the 3rd, the same thing happened with Cizikas in the 3rd and he sealed him off instead of doing the above.

Hes gotta realize that even in the NHL, he is still bigger and stronger than most of his competition. Use that size.

That’s a good example. And kind of fits what I saw as well, he was just giving too much time and space away to start. That works Ok in college where the average skill level is much lower. In the NHL defensemen need to be aggressively taking away time and space because the skill level is so high that most/many players can burn you just by giving them too much opportunity. The good news is, that should be a very correctable issue...just indicates a need to adjust to the current level.

 

[Edge]

That’s a good example. And kind of fits what I saw as well, he was just giving too much time and space away to start. That works Ok in college where the average skill level is much lower. In the NHL defensemen need to be aggressively taking away time and space because the skill level is so high that most/many players can burn you just by giving them too much opportunity. The good news is, that should be a very correctable issue...just indicates a need to adjust to the current level.

I think one of the things we might see is that Miller tends to struggle against teams who play a north-south style and close the gap quickly. That was honestly where some of his toughest games in college came from.

I kind of compare it to an outfielder who plays deep because they're unsure of how to read the ball coming off the bat. So in some ways, it's easier for them to "come in" to make the catch, rather than having to run down a fly ball.

In Miller's case, when that gap closes, teams take away his decision time and that's usually where you start seeing Miller have to use his stick to stand in the play (he got away with high sticking on Lee during one of those attempts).

A lot of that could be solved with training and experience. But it's going to take some time. That all points back to my questions about the physical attributes of Miller potentially being ahead of the mental aspects. Physically, I think Miller is close to NHL ready. I do still wonder if this is a kid who's going to need to some polishing at the AHL level though.

 

[LokiDog]

It’s almost impossible with his NMC and unlikely anyway due to how recently we gave him his contract but we’re probably going to have to think about Trouba’s actual future here sooner than later. Fox is going to be the #1. We have ADA, Nils and Schneider. Realistically we’re looking at moving two of them, but Trouba at 8M to be a very average looking second pair guy will really hurt us. Pietrangelo was like the most sought after UFA dman in years and got 8.8M. Trouba wanted to be here specifically and was an RFA and got 8M. I think we’re stuck with it, and I actually like Trouba, but 8M is a tough pill.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

Miller needs to be eased into this, the Isles were a bad team to start with as they rely heavy on the forecheck. Keep playing him, he's a good player, he'll get it but try and put him out there in situations that help build his confidence.

 

[Fitzy]

If Quinn's goal is playoffs he wont have time to be mucking around with playing kids unfortunately.

If Smith and Johnson show that they are both more prepared to be NHL defensemen TODAY regardless of Miller's development curve, they're gonna play.

But we do need to do a better job of mixing our older and younger players for support. I don't think Laf-Chytil-Gaut or Laf-Chytil-Kakko are good ideas.

 

[bleedblue94]

This isnt a miller or kakko or laf, or insert kid issue, this was a teamwide issue of unpreparedness. The vets are the ones that should lead the kids, and when they fail it is ridiculous to blame the kids for the struggles. The vets not doing THEIR jobs makes things much harder on the kids. This was a preparedness issue from the top (coaches) down. Blame should be accordingly, not rash reactions to if these kids are ready after 60 mins of hockey...

 

[Blue Blooded]

It’s almost impossible with his NMC and unlikely anyway due to how recently we gave him his contract but we’re probably going to have to think about Trouba’s actual future here sooner than later. Fox is going to be the #1. We have ADA, Nils and Schneider. Realistically we’re looking at moving two of them, but Trouba at 8M to be a very average looking second pair guy will really hurt us. Pietrangelo was like the most sought after UFA dman in years and got 8.8M. Trouba wanted to be here specifically and was an RFA and got 8M. I think we’re stuck with it, and I actually like Trouba, but 8M is a tough pill.

The time to do that would've been this offseason before his NMC kicked in, we're pretty much stuck with him at this point.

 

[Kovalev27]

Miller was fine after the first period. His veteran teammates not so much

 

[FultonReed]

 

[Blue Blooded]

I'm already done with Quinn, but scratching DeAngelo is about as smart as scratching Panarin. Hell, Panarin even committed more scratchable offenses last night.