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Training Camp and Preseason thread 2023

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eco's bones said:
.....and luck is also an ingredient that has to happen to win. Playoffs---winning 16 games in 4 series from other playoff caliber teams....mostly playing every other night and everybody on every team is all ramped up. Staying healthy is a big deal---even the Cup finals last year Matthew Tkachuk was so banged up in the last game that he should have been in the hospital. A lot of things have to go your way---lucky instead of unlucky bounces, officiating decisions that turn on a moment that can absolutely influence outcomes of games or series. It's best to call the winning team the best team but sometimes the second team gets jobbed. It is what it is and whatever you have the accept the final result.
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Its so strange its an actual thing. In 2014 we had the worst luck in the Finals. We hit so many posts it was insane. Somehow lost that series while never not having the lead. So frustrating. A couple of those pucks don't hit the post and go in we had a Cup.
 
RGY said:
They have to stick with Laf in the top 6 longer here. Cannot rush to give up. They have enough talent to win games still while force feeding Laf the top 6 RW minutes
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Cuylle and Othmann deserve it more want it more and way more noticeable. I wonder why. Lafy relies on his skill and doesn't do the little things like Cuylle and Othmann does
 
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It is no surprise Will Cuylle has looked really good. His development and a very good year Hartford last year has helped him big time as opposed to rushing him up and just playing him on the 4th line. I still would like to see Othmann and Cuylle continue to get big minutes on what should be a decent Hartford team this year. If Cuylle makes the team I hope he gets top 9 time and not 6 minutes on the 4th line.

WhereO Is Kakko said:
Hmmm. I thought Jones was one of the better players for the Rangers tonite.
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He was decent and I know it's a small sample size so far but Gus has looked pretty darn good.
 
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Zibanejad played like he hadn't played in a while. Lafreniere and Schneider weren't bad but they weren't very noticeable. I think both Gustafsson and Jones have played well in both their outings though the Boston game wasn't a particularly strong Boston lineup. So far both have played pretty good D. Emberson was shaky early but once he played Jack Hughes to a standstill on a 1 on 1 he was noticeably more confident afterwards. I thought Cuylle and Othmann both had very strong games. Belzile and Brodzinski also played pretty well. Can't really fault Domingue on the Bratt goal.....that was Kreider losing his guy. Kakko was noticeable in a good way. Igor, Miller, Fox were all very good.
 
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I wonder if Van would do Garland and a first for Laf, Goodrow and Jones.

All kidding aside I still think Laf can be a good player. Hope he settles down. He is starting to look tense.

Cuylle is not a 4th line plug. He can and should get a shot up the lineup if this play continues.
 
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MrAlmost said:
I wonder if Van would do Garland and a first for Laf, Goodrow and Jones.

All kidding aside I still think Laf can be a good player. Hope he settles down. He is starting to look tense.

Cuylle is not a 4th line plug. He can and should get a shot up the lineup if this play continues.
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Canucks want to shed salary, not add to it.
 
bl02 said:
Thought Wheeler was pretty good to. He is a big boy and hard to get the puck from. Hopefully with the patience he shows it will lead to some good offense.


Actually it's two games ;)
Not giving up on him at RW I just think at this point it should be Kakko at 1RW.
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Watching Wheeler protecting and moving the puck in the o-zone I thought Kakko can pick up a thing or two, especially about simplifying things. It's so early under the new coaching staff but the coaches need to help a lot of our young guys, both the forwards and kids on d, with details.

And I'm still not sure what to feel about Kakko with with The Duo. Kreider and Zibs are great but they will always be a bro duo with a third wheel thrown in. Might as well play Brodzinski there as a puck hound... (almost). Kakko actually has some chemistry with Othmann and even Cuylle going, what a concept, lines with chemistry.
 
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mas0764 said:
I don't advocate us tanking this season, for example.

I bemoan the fact that we did not properly complete our rebuild and I'm against foolish expenditures of more futures for minimally increasing our odds this year (renting).

And I would judiciously continue to find opportunities to win long term value transactions even if it meant short term losses this season; because being all in on the short term is very clearly the worst approach to team building and winning.



I want us to win the Cup in 2023-24. I don't have a ton of faith that we will unless Laviolette revolutionizes our 5v5 play and a lot of our players, both young and old, look a lot better than they have under the past 2 admins. If they do not radically improve especially at 5v5 under a third coach, I would say it essentially settles the matter that we are not talented enough (or improperly developed the prospects), which I suspect, and I will call scoreboard on the fact that our rebuild was cut off too early and we need to start considering when to start again.

If we do look tons better and Laf, Kakko, and Chytil all look great and Othmann, Cuylle, etc, all look like middle sixers of the future, if Perrault is tearing it up and looking like he will be joining in two years, etc, and it's all because Muse and Peca and company are developing our kids into stars, then the rebuild did in fact work and we will likely win a Cup or Cups.

I suspect the former option is by far the most likely though.
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Exactly how I feel. However, I'm already at the point where this core doesn't have what it takes, and I can see Dolan pressure Drury to make stupid moves at some point this season that will move young players for another one-off chance.
 
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What I'd say about Othmann and Cuylle so far is they're both making strong attempts to make the team. Their skating is good, pace and balance, strength on blades. They're very much involved in the action. They look strong enough physically and are more than willing to engage physically. They each had a point last night and are getting chances.

Some of our kids so far have looked pretty good or better than I expected.

What's not that apparent so much yet is their play away from the puck and if they do make the Rangers they're probably going to be on the 4th line at least as the season starts. Both though look like they could be possibilities to move up to the 3rd. Both have made a strong impression.

Also when we're talking the forwards now a lot happens after coaches put players with other players and they begin to build chemistry. It's like Wheeler looks a bit lost playing with Bonino who has almost no chance of being his center when the season starts. Brodzinski not very likely to be Kakko's center......though so far Brodzinski has played better than Bonino. Some of this still has to be sorted out and we shouldn't get too bent out of shape until it does.
 
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Despite the usual comically over the top negativity, I really think this team is ready to take a leap based on how a lot of the new faces and young kids look. The defenseman jumping into the play with more frequency is going to give the roster a new dimension 5v5. We spoke about it last season, particularly with K'Andre, but Gallant clearly was harping on the D to stay back and give up the blue line, which didn't fit our personnel at all. Clearly Laviolette and his staff have made it an emphasis.

It's so tempting to keep Cuylle and Othmann around with the big club. As I mentioned yesterday, the staff is clearly grooming Cuylle to be our Wilson. And Othmann's game is similar to Marchand's. The defensive play he made leading to a couple chances early on set the tone. Daneyko (who is great) was fawning over him.

Wheeler, Gustafsson and Bonino look like great finds for the roles theyll have here. Wheeler can protect the puck and break up and make passes. He will look good playing against 3rd liners if the plan is too play him with Trocheck and a Kid(which i like). Gustafsson is primed to be a guy who earns himself a big contract somewhere else, the offense is great but he made Schneider look much more comfortable today when they were paired together. It's a bit of a shame it's not gonna work out with Zac Jones here barring injury. I thought he improved as the game went on. Bonino is just the veteran 4th line center we've needed forever. Great defensive instincts and the coaches had him shadowing Hughes with good success.

Thought Lafreniere wasnt bad on the right side. I think the bigger issue was that Mika is clearly not 100% healthy ( he was falling down a lot) and Kreider is on auto-pilot at this stage of the preseason (which is allowed). His long term future here is no longer certain with how Cuylle and Othmann have developed, but they need to stick to their plan and keep getting him reps on the right side with good players.
 
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While cuylle and othmann both look like they should make the club. I would still start them in the AHL.

We are going to have injuries and they will be up sooner than later anyway so why waive someone unnecessarily and lose depth.

Ita not like ahl time would hurt them anyway
 
Would be best to have those two kids in Hartford developing and on standby for call ups as opposed to waiving a pitlick or a Bonino who is a very solid center. Have to be smart with your depth and those two are waiver exempt and should be playing big mins in Hartford. Going to need them this year not necessarily just next week
 
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RGY said:
Thats awesome. Glad he was all over the ice only to do the same thing he always does, which is not putting the puck in the net. Guy loves sniping glass.


Smh. Thanks for not overreacting.

Par for the course for you though.
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The guy was putting pucks on net and creating turnovers. That's literally the job of a 4C though isn't it? Eventually some of those chances will go in and if they don't who cares, he is keeping the puck in the offensive zone and being tenacious on the puck
 
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