Which Coyote takes the biggest step in 17/18?

[CC96]

Our last starter was a backup before we picked him up at 27. This is inane.

Smith was actually 29.

 

[Kyle003p]

Perlini for the win

Also think fisher has a good year

 

[WrinkledPossum]

I think Dvorak will impress the most. I'm expecting him to play like he did in the last half of last season all of this year. I think he'll put up 50+ and fans all around the league will take notice.

Perlini would be my #2, similar to Dvorak I think his production from a limited season will be replicated over 82 games. He'll score 20+ and just like Dvorak he'll gain a tonne of respect around the league as a top 6 player.

 

[Gwyddbwyll]

Dvorak had a +7 over 78 games last year - even more impressive when you see the next best player is -3 (Doan) then a bunch of players on -8 or worse. Not counting stats like Michalek's +1 in 3 games. It's going to be interesting watching him learn from playing behind Stepan.

 

[Hinterland]

I'm not as high on Raanta as some, but the arguments regarding his age and height are silly. He's not old, he's 28. He's entering the prime of his career. Now that makes for a not-so ideal fit with our very young team but he is not old. He is the same age as Talbot was when he moved from being NY's backup to being EDM's starter. That backup to starter transition has worked amazingly for Edmonton, and it's what we're hoping to repeat.

And calling Raanta small at 6'0 is a bit silly. There are plenty of goalies who are around that height who are starters, there's only an inch or two difference between Raanta and like half the starters in the NHL.

Why are you lying?



6'0: -
6'1: Pickard, Ward, Greiss, Quick
6'2: Bobrovksy, Allen, Mrazek, Crawford, Elliott, Miller, Holtby
6'3: Rask, Vasilevksiy, Gibson, Price, Schneider, Talbot
6'4: Jones, Lehtonen, Hellebuyck, Murray, Andersen, Smith, Mason
6'5: Rinne
6'6: Dubnyk
6'7: Bishop

 

[cactus shake]

Why are you lying?
6'0: -
6'1: Pickard, Ward, Greiss, Quick
6'2: Bobrovksy, Allen, Mrazek, Crawford, Elliott, Miller, Holtby
6'3: Rask, Vasilevksiy, Gibson, Price, Schneider, Talbot
6'4: Jones, Lehtonen, Hellebuyck, Murray, Andersen, Smith, Mason
6'5: Rinne
6'6: Dubnyk
6'7: Bishop

Players who got into at least 20 NHL games last year. Bolded are who I think will be starters next season.

5'11 Halak, Saros
6'00 Raanta, Bernier, Fasth, Dell
6'01 Grubhauer, Griess, Howard, Hutton, Lundqvist, Pickard, Ward, Neuvirth, Budaj, (Quick)
6'02 Bobrovsky, C. Anderson, Allen, Crawford, Elliott, Fleury, Holtby, Miller, Reimer, Mrazek, Varlamov, Niemi, Condon
6'03 Rask, Schneider, Gibson, Price, Talbot, Johnson, Luongo, McElhinney, Vasilevskiy, Kincaid, Domingue, Hutchinson
6'04 Jones, Mason, Smith, F. Andersen, Lehtonen, Lack, Murray, Hellebuyck
6'05 Lehner, Rinne
6'06 Dubnyk, Darling, Nilsson, Markstrom
6'07 Bishop

…there's only an inch or two difference between Raanta and like half the starters in the NHL.

Starters within 2 inches of Raanta's 6'00 = 13 out of 30. 12 if you take Luongo over Reimer next year.

I know nothing about goaltending, but would have thought that the eye / puck tracking ability is much more important than incredible athletic ability (beyond reflexes) and size. Does Lundqvist not count as a 'shorter' goalie who's found incredible success without a highly mobile playing style.

It seems fair enough being skeptical of a sudden increase in workload for a goalie as they transition from backup to starter. In addition to all the examples given, Raanta has those few seasons in the Finnish league over others in a similar position, like Darling.

'Smaller elite goalies are more often injured' seems counterintuitive. Groin problems for highly mobile goalies / butterfly style makes sense, but I think that's more than countered by the knee problems suffered by larger goalies. More weight = more strain & long term damage. Despite playing so deep in his crease, injury concerns are a large part of what made it so good to get out of Smith's contract, no matter matter how good (surprisingly so to me) he was last couple of years.

It was the perfect opportunity to get out of Smith's contract & take a more long term view. I have no idea how Raanta will do, but there seems no way to write him off based purely on his physique and style.

edited: got Rask's height wrong. And Schneider's. And Andersen's. I originally went off this article: http://www.tsn.ca/mclennan-size-does-matter-at-least-with-today-s-nhl-goalies-1.119242

 

[hbk]

I hope everyone realizes that their is some fabrication to the heights that are listed by NHL.

Max Domi for example is closer to 5'8" for example than 5'10". Some heights are listed wearing skates. Some not.

 

[Foggy1097]

OEL - going to post huge numbers. This is his team now and he's going to respond accordingly.

22G 40A - 62 points with a +12 rating.

 

[cactus shake]

I hope everyone realizes that their is some fabrication to the heights that are listed by NHL.

Max Domi for example is closer to 5'8" for example than 5'10". Some heights are listed wearing skates. Some not.

For sure, but I think the only way to compare players is to take the figures at face value. Otherwise there'd be reason to believe that Raanta is shorter than 6 foot. But I agree that it makes quibbling over a couple of inches (oo er) all the more pointless.

Forgot to write I mirror Sinurgy's thoughts/hopes for Domi. He should mesh well with Stepan. I think I saw some stats (maybe taken from Ryan Stimson's passing project) that suggested Stepan was mediocre in transition, but when setup in the offensive zone his line was elite at cycling and generating scoring chances. Domi should match Zuccarello's creativity & with what will hopefully be a legit first pairing of OEL & Hjalmarsson behind them a lot of each game, with any luck we'll have a top line that can act as a catalyst for a big jump in team offensive zone time next year. Fingers crossed Fischer turns into Kreider!

 

[PerpetualTankYear]

Attacking Raanta's games played and blaming him for having a small work load is ridiculous. He was backing up Henrik ****ing Lundqvist.

If you had Lundqvist, why would you ever play someone else unless you had to?

Chayka should have just traded for Lundqvist instead, right?

 

[rt]

I hope everyone realizes that their is some fabrication to the heights that are listed by NHL.

Max Domi for example is closer to 5'8" for example than 5'10". Some heights are listed wearing skates. Some not.

Disagree. There USED to be a lot of this. There are plenty of combine photos of draft eligibles against the height chart. This includes Domi who was already taller than 5'9 at his combine and is easily his listed 5'10 now. Back in the day, this was true. It's changed. Too much combine coverage.