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PTO: [TOR] Nikita Gusev signs PTO with the Maple Leafs

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vorky

vorky

@vorkywh24
Jan 23, 2010
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goonybird said:
He just needs a system that suits him!!!

Preferably one that is in a league that plays on ice the size of a football field against slower competition with no defencemen to speak of.
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I do not think he wants to play in Sweden, Czech rep or Germany.
 

zbornaja36

Registered User
Feb 17, 2014
45
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teddygmr said:
withg Crosby, Malkin hurt and Guentzel out with Covid I think the Pens should give him a chance.
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This is a very good idea. I still think Gusev can give something, but obviously he is very specific player. If Malkin will bring his A game this year, they will have great chemistry, i assure you!
 
Brodeur

Brodeur

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Feb 27, 2002
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Anomie2029 said:
What happened to this guy? He had 44 points in 66 games his first NHL season, and then just couldn't seem to crack the lineup on two teams
last season
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Kinda discussed earlier in the thread before it got derailed into other topics. Bit of a tale of three phases:

Under John Hynes: Disaster defensively, turnover prone on offensive zone entries. Being a smaller guy, he wasn't particularly strong along the boards.

Under Alain Nasreddine: Still rough defensively and turnover prone, but got increased PP time after the Taylor Hall trade. Had a nice stretch late in the season on a line with Pavel Zacha and Jesper Bratt. But maybe put this under classic "somebody has to score on a bad team."

Under Lindy Ruff: Reverted back to his earlier form. The line with Zacha/Bratt was never reunited and Gusev got lost in the shuffle. Yegor Sharangovich was more useful and Janne Kuokkanen was more reliable. Can't say I watched any of Gusev's games in Florida, but it sounds like the coaches didn't trust him there either.

In a nutshell, Gusev is skilled/creative but his offense gets negated by his turnovers. He has a tendency to try to carry the puck through defenders but doesn't have the speed to pull it off consistently against NHL D.
 

Jerkbait

Registered User
Dec 12, 2019
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zbornaja36 said:
This is a very good idea. I still think Gusev can give something, but obviously he is very specific player. If Malkin will bring his A game this year, they will have great chemistry, i assure you!
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This A game you speak of is at best a Bplus game now. I agree Gusev would have been a decent fit a while ago and is a very specific type.
 
96

96

toronto money leafs
Sep 29, 2017
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He looked good to me. Gusev at 750k or Marner at 10.9M? Easy f***in choice for me.
 

hullsy47

Registered User
Dec 7, 2005
6,546
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zbornaja36 said:
This is a very good idea. I still think Gusev can give something, but obviously he is very specific player. If Malkin will bring his A game this year, they will have great chemistry, i assure you!
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Maybe he can play I Arizona or Ottawa
 
BruinsBtn

BruinsBtn

Registered User
Dec 24, 2006
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This is why guys who are mediocre skaters slip in the draft. It doesn't matter how skilled you are, if you can't skate, you can't play in the NHL. It would be nice if some of the 'prospect gurus' figured this out.
 
TGWL

TGWL

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Jul 28, 2011
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BruinsBtn said:
This is why guys who are mediocre skaters slip in the draft. It doesn't matter how skilled you are, if you can't skate, you can't play in the NHL. It would be nice if some of the 'prospect gurus' figured this out.
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Completely agree. I hate when teams reach on players who aren't great skaters, just like I hate when teams reach on players who are exceptional skaters but lack much else. I'll never understand how any player makes it to the draft being such a slug on the ice. That's something you should be working on during your entire playing time prior to the draft. Are you just so much better than the rest of the competition that you've gotten by without skating? Granted we're not on the ice with him so maybe compared to non-NHL players his skating is much quicker than the competition, but I've played at some decent levels and couldn't imagine competition with them if I didn't have skating as an attribute.
 
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Hanji

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Oct 14, 2009
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TGWL said:
Completely agree. I hate when teams reach on players who aren't great skaters, just like I hate when teams reach on players who are exceptional skaters but lack much else. I'll never understand how any player makes it to the draft being such a slug on the ice. That's something you should be working on during your entire playing time prior to the draft. Are you just so much better than the rest of the competition that you've gotten by without skating? Granted we're not on the ice with him so maybe compared to non-NHL players his skating is much quicker than the competition, but I've played at some decent levels and couldn't imagine competition with them if I didn't have skating as an attribute.
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It's likely a byproduct of growing up on the big ice. He seems like he'd be a really good player when given space. And it's not like awful skaters haven't thrived in the NHL before. You can be a crap skater yet still create time/space for yourself with size and physicality.
However, small + poor skater is usually a death sentence in the league.
 
inthe6ix

inthe6ix

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Oct 3, 2008
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He wasn't horrible in the pre-season here, and his skating wasn't as atrocious as some were making it out to be, but he didn't exactly stand out and that's a death knell for guys on a PTO looking to showcase.

He's likely headed back to the K.
 
Big Empty

Big Empty

He's a big horse
Jan 27, 2020
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96 said:
He looked good to me. Gusev at 750k or Marner at 10.9M? Easy f***in choice for me.
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What. If you mean Gusev you are way off and that’s coming from a diehard Habs fan.

Marner is a stud. Slightly overpaid but a stud.
 
McDuffz88

McDuffz88

HIRE BERUBE!!!
Sep 18, 2019
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What no one mentions here is that I think Gusevs biggest problem is his motivation to train harder. I think he can be a good player but he's the type that needs to be in good NHL shape at all times because his skating is slow. If he's not in his prime shape then his skating becomes much worse. My viewings of him was he started off terrible in Jersey his first 10 games. He got scratched & was forced to train with Elias. When he returned he looked like a different player & found chemistry on the Zacha line where he went on a near ppg pace for the rest of the season. During the off-season however he had a child. I would bet anything that off-season his mind was on his newborn so he didn't train much. So when season started he was in awful shape where he never got a chance to play with the Zacha line & eventually got kicked off the team because NJs system was too quick for him. I think he could be good again but a system has to cater to him. He needs PP minutes & O zone starts. 3 on 3? That's the best time to use him cause of the ability to create space.
 
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