Checkers III: The Age of Ulf

[Navin R Slavin]

Tarheel, how can you lock a thread for reaching 1000 without starting a new one? That ain't right, is it?

Anyway. Does anyone know if Kodi can pick up AHL streams?

Click to read more...

 

[HisIceness]

Let's try not to take 4 years to fill this one up guys.

 

[Wolfpuck]

Let's try not to take 4 years to fill this one up guys.

Maybe if the Checkers actually *do* something...

#MakeCheckersRelevantAgain

 

[Dishface]

So who is gonna be the next Boychuck who tears it up in the AHL for years, but sucks in the pros. I got money on either Zykov or McGinn.

 

[Wolfpuck]

So who is gonna be the next Boychuck who tears it up in the AHL for years, but sucks in the pros. I got money on either Zykov or McGinn.

Too early to give up on Zykov. McGinn definitely looks like he has no NHL future.

 

[HisIceness]

Maybe if the Checkers actually *do* something...

#MakeCheckersRelevantAgain

I'm triggered by this comment.

 

[HisIceness]

Brock McGinn scored a goal on his very first NHL shift. Sebastian Aho couldn't do that. Therefore McGinn is better than Aho. I am right and you are wrong.

 

[geehaad]

Does anyone know if Kodi can pick up AHL streams?

Seconded.

 

[Carolinas Identity*]

are we still in the western conference and moreover

does anybody care?

 

[RodTheBawd]

Tarheel, how can you lock a thread for reaching 1000 without starting a new one? That ain't right, is it?

Kill him.

 

[CandyCanes]

So who is gonna be the next Boychuck who tears it up in the AHL for years, but sucks in the pros. I got money on either Zykov or McGinn.

This is an obvious question! Ryan Murphy, aka defensive version of Boychuk.

 

[Unsustainable]

Lines:

McGinn - Ryan - Zykov
Brickley - Poturalski - Brown
Tolchinski - Wallmark - Dwyer
Woods - Heard - Bishop

Carrick - Tennyson
Chelios - McKeown
Fluery - Robertson

Ned
Leighton

 

[HisIceness]

are we still in the western conference and moreover

does anybody care?

Yes.

Sometimes I care.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Carrick - Tennyson
Chelios - McKeown
Fluery - Robertson

Fleury on the third pair, not bad for AHL depth.

 

[WreckingCrew]

Checkers lose 6-2 and 4-2 on the weekend to Texas...Needaspellcheck with 7 GA on 48 shots, .829 SV% puts him dead last in the league (28 goalies have played so far)

Really not sure I understand the reasoning behind sending Alternator to the ECHL after his decent (partially red-hot) showing with an abysmal Checkers team at the end of the year...but keeping a Ned with the Checkers. That start can't be good for his confidence, but another couple games like that I can only imagine a swap between the two.

No surprise, Checkers put up 81 shots and got only 4 goals, that's basically all we did last season, lots of worthless shots

 

[CandyCanes]

Checkers pick up their first win of the season with a 8-3 win.

Poturalski wants a call up. 3 goals, 3 assists, aka 6pts in 3 games.

 

[Identity404]

Checkers lose 6-2 and 4-2 on the weekend to Texas...Needaspellcheck with 7 GA on 48 shots, .829 SV% puts him dead last in the league (28 goalies have played so far)

Really not sure I understand the reasoning behind sending Alternator to the ECHL after his decent (partially red-hot) showing with an abysmal Checkers team at the end of the year...but keeping a Ned with the Checkers. That start can't be good for his confidence, but another couple games like that I can only imagine a swap between the two.

No surprise, Checkers put up 81 shots and got only 4 goals, that's basically all we did last season, lots of worthless shots

Bust! Need to trade for fleury asap.

 

[Anton Babchuk]

Checkers lose 6-2 and 4-2 on the weekend to Texas...Needaspellcheck with 7 GA on 48 shots, .829 SV% puts him dead last in the league (28 goalies have played so far)

Really not sure I understand the reasoning behind sending Alternator to the ECHL after his decent (partially red-hot) showing with an abysmal Checkers team at the end of the year...but keeping a Ned with the Checkers. That start can't be good for his confidence, but another couple games like that I can only imagine a swap between the two.

Altshuller was actually terrible for the last few months of the season to the point that they traded for John Muse to be the starter. He had a good 12 game stretch or so after his call-up from the ECHL and then completely fell apart.

http://theahl.com/player?playerId=5795&season=undefined

Funny that the complaint when we signed Leighton was that Nedeljkovic might get "ruined" by having to play in the ECHL...and now we have compaints that he's not in the ECHL.

If anyone is still wondering we signed Leighton, this is why. A 20-year old goaltender who had a .907sv% in the OHL during the regular season and .903sv% in the playoffs is probably going have his fair share of struggles at the AHL level. A lot of people got super hyped for him based on his WJC play and decided to completely disregard the much larger body of work. Even if he had lit up juniors, it still would have made sense to bring in a vet goalie given that Altshuller is unproven at the AHL level outside of a tiny hot streak.

That said, it's obviously way too early to write Nedeljkovic off. He's a 20-year old first year pro. Struggles are to be expected.

 

[Unsustainable]

Why hasn't one of our glorious leaders tacked this thread?

 

[GoldiFox]

Altshuller was actually terrible for the last few months of the season to the point that they traded for John Muse to be the starter. He had a good 12 game stretch or so after his call-up from the ECHL and then completely fell apart.

http://theahl.com/player?playerId=5795&season=undefined

Funny that the complaint when we signed Leighton was that Nedeljkovic might get "ruined" by having to play in the ECHL...and now we have compaints that he's not in the ECHL.

If anyone is still wondering we signed Leighton, this is why. A 20-year old goaltender who had a .907sv% in the OHL during the regular season and .903sv% in the playoffs is probably going have his fair share of struggles at the AHL level. A lot of people got super hyped for him based on his WJC play and decided to completely disregard the much larger body of work. Even if he had lit up juniors, it still would have made sense to bring in a vet goalie given that Altshuller is unproven at the AHL level outside of a tiny hot streak.

That said, it's obviously way too early to write Nedeljkovic off. He's a 20-year old first year pro. Struggles are to be expected.

Stating Nedeljkovic's OHL stats like they are remotely comparable to NHL or AHL stats is misleading. Nedeljkovic was incredible in his team's Playoff run last year. The narrative that he has only ever had one good WJC and that's where his hype comes from is just wrong. Any OHL scout will tell you that.

I don't think anyone is complaining that Nedeljkovic isn't in the ECHL outside of one person. The reasoning underlying why folks said Nedeljkovic shouldn't be in the ECHL is likely why he currently isn't in the ECHL. He proved to be the best option in camp and was the starter for the first two games over Leighton. He still doesn't belong in the ECHL and likely will not go there.

 

[Ole Gil]

If anyone is still wondering we signed Leighton, this is why. A 20-year old goaltender who had a .907sv% in the OHL during the regular season and .903sv% in the playoffs is probably going have his fair share of struggles at the AHL level. A lot of people got super hyped for him based on his WJC play and decided to completely disregard the much larger body of work. Even if he had lit up juniors, it still would have made sense to bring in a vet goalie given that Altshuller is unproven at the AHL level outside of a tiny hot streak.

That said, it's obviously way too early to write Nedeljkovic off. He's a 20-year old first year pro. Struggles are to be expected.

I'm with you on this one. Without a history of success, the likelihood of NHL starter seems like a real long shot. Even the mediocre NHL goalies tore up the minors in most cases.

 

[Anton Babchuk]

Stating Nedeljkovic's OHL stats like they are remotely comparable to NHL or AHL stats is misleading. Nedeljkovic was incredible in his team's Playoff run last year. The narrative that he has only ever had one good WJC and that's where his hype comes from is just wrong. Any OHL scout will tell you that.

You're right. They're not comparable. The AHL and NHL are much stronger.

I don't care what any constantly wrong OHL scout says. Were these the same guys who said Austin Levi was an elite defensive defensemen?

 

[GoldiFox]

You're right. They're not comparable. The AHL and NHL are much stronger.

I don't care what any constantly wrong OHL scout says. Were these the same guys who said Austin Levi was an elite defensive defensemen?

I'm saying your analysis is lazy and misleading. Just because you went on HockeyDB and said "wow, look at those low stats" doesn't make Nedeljkovic a bad goalie.

There were 2.71 goals scored per team per game in the NHL last year. In the OHL there were 3.40 goals scored per team per game. You don't have to be a math major to figure out that GAA will be higher and SV% lower if there is 25% more scoring. On top of that the OHL is more polarized when it comes to the top and bottom teams, which further distorts the validity of the raw numbers.

For example: You make the argument "Nedeljkovic had a .903 SV% in the OHL Playoffs which was bad". Without context and clearly without watching a single game he played, I can see why you would reach that conclusion. The reality is that over Nedeljkovic's 1st, 2nd, and 3rd series (13 games) he compiled a 2.38 GAA and a 0.919 SV%. Which (again given the higher scoring in the OHL) is pretty damn good. More importantly, if you actually watched the games you would have seen a goalie that was dominating some of the best Junior teams in the OHL. He stole those series for Niagara.

Nedeljkovic then ran into London who had an incredible team and dominated up through the Memorial Cup. He put up a 4.25 GAA and 0.853 SV% in four games which brought down his total. If you had watched the games you would have seen a Niagara team that was completely overmatched (as was every team that played London in the Playoffs and Memorial Cup). This flogging brought down Nedeljkovic's overall numbers.

For reference, Nedeljkovic's pre-London numbers would have been 2nd best in the entire OHL Playoffs by a significant margin. These numbers would be 2nd only to Tyler Parsons (London's goalie who was playing for a powerhouse).

This, on top of Nedeljkovic's previous "OHL Goalie of the Year" award, is why he is actually a pretty strong goalie prospect and not one that is simply riding one strong WJC performance. You just have to watch and dig in a little instead of relying on the armchair HockeyDB #analysis.

 

[SaskCanesFan]

Stating Nedeljkovic's OHL stats like they are remotely comparable to NHL or AHL stats is misleading. Nedeljkovic was incredible in his team's Playoff run last year. The narrative that he has only ever had one good WJC and that's where his hype comes from is just wrong. Any OHL scout will tell you that.

No, his hype didn't just come from the WJC. A lot of it came from two pre draft years of 920+ SV% and an Ohl goalie of the year award. The fact that he couldn't come close to replicating those numbers in the same league post draft is at least a little bit concerning to me though.

I agree that comparing stats in the OHL versus pro leagues is wrong, with the differences in style of play, talent, and G/GP. But Ned had been in the OHL already, he set a baseline. Falling by 20 points in SV% isn't something to be shrugged off, no matter the context. I'm not gonna call him a bust, but at the least it's a little concerning.

Maybe I'm just hard on the guy because we were one stupid comeback win against the flyers from away from having a chance at Demko who is the guy I really wanted

 

[GoldiFox]

No, his hype didn't just come from the WJC. A lot of it came from two pre draft years of 920+ SV% and an Ohl goalie of the year award. The fact that he couldn't come close to replicating those numbers in the same league post draft is at least a little bit concerning to me though.

I agree that comparing stats in the OHL versus pro leagues is wrong, with the differences in style of play, talent, and G/GP. But Ned had been in the OHL already, he set a baseline. Falling by 20 points in SV% isn't something to be shrugged off, no matter the context. I'm not gonna call him a bust, but at the least it's a little concerning.

Maybe I'm just hard on the guy because we were one stupid comeback win against the flyers from away from having a chance at Demko who is the guy I really wanted

I would have liked Demko as well and his numbers in the NCAA were by all means elite. But, let us recognize that Demko also gave up 5 Goals Against in his first AHL start. It will take time for these guys to adjust.