Who's having a comeback season: Drouin, Armia, Hoffman, Gallagher, Byron

[Spring in Fialta]

I don’t know what point this is supposed to prove? Lol who cares?
I think most of us care more about the on-ice product we’ve seen first hand, then some irrelevant articles about him asking Yzerman questions. Maybe he should go run a fantasy hockey team if he’s such a fan.

90 percent of this board has the perceptive ability of a wet towel so yes, I'll trust what a ton of people who know the guy + a other events to judge his character as opposed to douchebag93 whose hockey opinions are worthless 9 times out of 10.

Did you even read the article? The Yzerman thing is a miniscule part of it.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

I voted by wishful thinking, Gallagher's gotta have a huge comeback.


Gallagher-Hoffman-Drouin-Armia-Byron equals 23 million on the cap.

The real question is, how many goals and points will we squeeze out of those 23 mil?

50 goals/100points? 65g/150pts?

 

[MarioLeMoose]

90 percent of this board has the perceptive ability of a wet towel so yes, I'll trust what a ton of people who know the guy + a other events to judge his character as opposed to douchebag93 whose hockey opinions are worthless 9 times out of 10.

Did you even read the article? The Yzerman thing is a miniscule part of it.

No, I did not read the article. I’ve wasted enough time watching him play for the last half decade, I don’t care to read any articles about his character. Not here to bash who he is as a person, just him as a putrid hockey player.

 

[V13]

Drouin. Not exactly a prospect but still relatively young at 27. Contract year and if he has put all his problems aside he could at least have a 50ish pts season at worst. Maybe closer to 60 if he plays with Suzuki and Caufield

Armia : I don't think he can have a bounce back season. He is what he is. A 30ish pts bottom liner on his best days. Can he bounce back from 14 pts to 30 then yeah i guess but he is not gonna explode offensively overnight

Hoffman : The definition of a mercenary. Does his thing without much emotions nor drive. Will get his goals but will be mostly useless most of the time

Gallagher : He is damaged goods at this point imho and it won't get any better as he gets older and injuries pile up

So the answer is Drouin

 

[Sorinth]

All depends on what you consider a comeback.

I expect Gallagher to score more then 7 goals even if his play remains the same, but that's more because I think his shooting percentage won't be 4.9% again. But is that really a bounce back if his level of play is around where it was and it's just a question of luck/unluck.

I'm not even sure what a bounce back season is supposed to look like for Drouin as he's been fairly consistent in terms of ppg. Is a bounce back season for him just playing 60+ games?

 

[L4br3cqu3]

We've seen a lot of undersized warriors simply lose it with age. The mind and will are still there, but the body isn't.

I hope for the best for and fr him though. Not his fault.

Yeah, I see a Ryan Callahan trajectory for him, soon, Callahan had his last productive season when he was 32, then it dropped like a rock and injuries came back. Gallagher is 30 and has been injured a couple times in the last 3 years.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

No, I did not read the article. I’ve wasted enough time watching him play for the last half decade, I don’t care to read any articles about his character. Not here to bash who he is as a person, just him as a putrid hockey player.

So it sounds like you shouldn't be commenting, doesn't it? Whether he sucks as a player (which he does) has nothing to do with whether he has heart, puts in an effort or is committed to hockey.

 

[LaP]

Gallagher is signed for a stupid amount of money for many years. I don't expect any 30 goals comebacks season from him. If he ever comes back it will be in the last 2 years of his contract. Hope he proves me wrong on this.

 

[MarioLeMoose]

So it sounds like you shouldn't be commenting, doesn't it? Whether he sucks as a player (which he does) has nothing to do with whether he has heart, puts in an effort or is committed to hockey.

My comment was to say that he should be judged by his on-ice effort, not some irrelevant conversation he had with Stevie Y years ago. But cool article though, I’m sure the 10% of you that are more perceptive than a wet towel enjoyed the read. Thanks for posting.

 

[Weltschmerz]

So it sounds like you shouldn't be commenting, doesn't it? Whether he sucks as a player (which he does) has nothing to do with whether he has heart, puts in an effort or is committed to hockey.

Problem with him is it's all talk and when he hits the ice there is very little left of heart, effort and commitment.

 

[MarioLeMoose]

Problem with him is it's all talk and when he hits the ice there is very little left of heart, effort and commitment.

This is exactly it.

 

[JoelWarlord]

Wouldn't it just be a breakout season for Drouin if he was unexpectedly good? What would he be coming back from? He was about as productive last year as he's been every year with the Habs.

 

[Tetragrammaton]

Lol Gallagher, delusional.

 

[CHfan1]

I’m expecting some of these players to have better seasons than last but they won’t play up to their contracts.

I expect Byron will start the season on LTIR and who knows if he comes back.

I’m not expecting much out of Hoffman, he’ll get some goals but will still have lots of turnovers that lead to goals.

With Gallagher it will depend on who he plays with. If he plays on the 2nd line with Dvorak I could see him putting up 15-20 goals. I highly doubt we see him put up 30 anymore. He’ll come back healthy to start the season but he’ll be dealing with something that impacts his game 10 games in.

I think Armia will get 4th line minutes and put up 20-25 points total.

Drouin puts up 30 or so points but doesn’t play a full season. Hopefully he gets traded at the deadline for a mid round pick giving him a fresh start somewhere else.

Not so bold prediction, none of these players plays more than 70 games and at least two of them plays less than 50.

 

[GordonGraham]

Im going with the Hoff hitting 20 goals

 

[Spearmint Rhino]

Fun Fact: These 5 players make more per year ($23.3 MM) than McJesus & Drai combined ($20MM)

That’s f***ing incredible

 

[Theodore450]

Drouin has a David Perron breakout season.

 

[Mrb1p]

Have you guys seen Joe Dru at his ball game?

Drouin has a David Perron breakout season.

David Perron is a fitness freak, a hockey maniac and its basically all he does. Far cry from Drouin.

 

[Boardish]

Fun Fact: These 5 players make more per year ($23.3 MM) than McJesus & Drai combined ($20MM)

That’s f***ing incredible

Considering the NHL average salary and the fact that none of these players are on entry level contracts, I don’t find this surprising at all.

 

[Scriptor]

It's hard for forwards to rack up points when the D can't get the puck out or generate rushes. Its the same with Suzuki and Caufield.

I could see Gallagher having a moderately better year with some time to recover. All Drouin needs to do is play more games to "bounce back".

The D just looks so bad on paper that unless they exceed expectations I don't see any of those guys getting back to their prime.

This D absolutely requires a puck-moving option for the 1st pairing on RD, or a solid shutdown option that is mobile and can move the puck. It would allow for puck movement on each pairing;

Matheson (Puck-moving LD) - Shutdown RD
Edmundson (Shutdown LD) - Barron (Puck-moving, two-way RD)
Harris (Puck-moving, two-way LD) - Savard (Shutdown RD)

-OR-

Edmundson - Puck-moving RD
Matheson (Puck-moving LD) - Barron (Puck-moving two-way RD)
Harris (Puck-moving, two-way LD) - Savard (Shutdown RD)

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

Too bad Halak is not in the choices.
Remember when the letters HALAK replaced STOP on a red exagon sign?

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

I voted Drouin. I doubt Hoffman and Byron will do better. Gallagher might be done, but Drouin is in better shape and younger. Armia is a logical choice over the rest of the bunch but I felt I would like if a better season happen it's Drouin who deserve it. He said his wrist is healed now.

 

[Jabba11]

None of them. Period.

 

[MakeTheGoalsLarger]

Drouin : he confirmed what I've been saying for a long time which is that his wrist is shot and will never heal. So not him.

Byron :marginal player. Who cares.
Armia: see above
Hoffman: sigh.that guy. The only good thing about him is that save for threads like this one I find it quite easy to forget he even exists. Not him

Gallagher wins by default.

 

[MXD]

The likeliest is probably Gallagher, IF "comeback" is being defined as being a decent middle-6er who plays a very underrated 2-way game, and not a guy who can be a great support player.

Otherwise, Drouin, despite having only one fully functionnal wrist.

I think Byron is done as an NHL'er.