Blake hasn't shown even close to what Jarvis showed right away imo. He's being given the leeway because he showed commitment in the gym. The situation reminds me more of Drury except that Blake is being given an opportunity right away instead of playing in the AHL. Jarvis wasn't eligible to play in the AHL and was too good for junior.
Yeah I don’t think Blake blew the doors off. He did enough to make Rod change his original concept of adding a kid to the top six to putting one in the bottom six despite vets being there. Young legs help.
I'm sorry, I take exception to your assertion that my 5 minutes of watching Blake and FUS in the pre-season doesn't give me the same insight of a team's coach.
This is what I'm at. If I just want best player available to put on the roster as a winger this year, I take FUS. I truly think he could comfortably play in the NHL right now as a 1:1 replacement for Turbo. But they want to convert him to center, and it's going to be a lot better for him and for the team if he takes his lumps learning how to play C in the AHL. And if he bulks up a bit and learns to use his body in a way that Turbo never could, so much the better!
Keep in mind that Dater is a fookin moron.
yea i definitely don’t see Colorado trading him at the deadline unless somehow they were out of the playoff race. Could they have cut talks off for the season maybe? But if Colorado called and offered him 13 million a year tonight he’s probably signing it lol. We can all pray he makes it to UFA next year cause the Canes would be all over that I’d imagine
Said they could go a whole season without scoring, not that they have. Yes, it was an intentional exaggeration but my point about Rod playing favourites still stands. He's done amazing things for the team however it gets irritating at times when we need some skill players in skill roles and players like KK could be in the Staal role. Personally I hope that the whole offseason Necas situation has changed Rod's thinking a bit.
Sure Rod plays favorites, but every single coach in the NHL plays favorites. It's not unique to Rod. When players do what coaches want them to do, play the way coaches want them to play and get results, they get more ice time. It's not complicated. Even so, after the trade deadline, Staal and Martinook were 7th and 8th in ES TOI / GP, so they didn't get "favorites" ice time, they got bottom 6 ice time.
Rod challenged all of the rookies to an arm wrestling match for a roster spot. Blake said “hold my protein shake”
Keep the faith....by Saturday you will be engaged again.
I personally believe we will win the cup this year. Just like the caps in 2018 when they were supposed to take a step back.
Can't speak for the entire fan base or NHL fandom in general, but I've been hyped for both the NHL season and our upcoming start.
On X/Twitter, I get crucified because I have mentioned that KK (to me) seems to lack the effort needed to be on this Canes team. Its like he doesn't give a shit about 75% of the time. I love the kid, but unless he blows up this year, the Canes blew it on KK. This is year, 7? The major KK fans blame RBA and inconsistency of linemates and playing time to why KK hasn't flourished. I think it boils down to his sub par effort, which we know that playing for RBA is the most important.
BBA says it better than I am, I’m agreeing and saying those who think he’s a legit JStaal replacement are not being fair to Staal at all. Staal had how many shorties his rookie year? 7 or 9 plus 29 overall as an 18 year old plus three other 20 goal seasons while being a Selke level defensive player the whole time. Is Kk a threat to score any shorties ever? Will he pk? Will he ever reach the level of Staal before he could buy beer let alone what he became? Staal drives me nuts offensively but he’s been a very valuable player for a long time and most of my beef is about his usage over the years with us.
