Player Discussion Hampus Lindholm III - the Return/Revenge of the Swede?

TheGoodShepard1

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Really taken a huge step forward this year. He is so good, right on the verge of breaking through to true 1D territory.
 

Zegs2sendhelp

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Does he bunk with Manson on the road? Has Josh been training him on aggression?
I love lindholms mean streak and physicality... Hes just such a smart player on both ends, very good at choosing when to jump into the play, smart about getting his shot through and defensively his stick work, positioning and angles on attacking players is maybe the best ive seen since Vlasic. The things that you could argue on lindholm in previous years was youd like to see more from him offensively, and hes pretty soft... but hes taken steps forward in both areas of his game.
 
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lwvs84

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I love lindholms mean streak and physicality... Hes just such a smart player on both ends, very good at choosing when to jump into the play, smart about getting his shot through and defensively his stick work, positioning and angles on attacking players is maybe the best ive seen since Vlasic. The things that you could argue on lindholm in previous years was youd like to see more from him offensively, and hes pretty soft... but hes taken steps forward in both areas of his game.

I was mostly joking about the Manson comment, but come to think of it, both players have improved their games a lot on offense this year on top of both players playing very physical. It's even more impressive since Lindholm didn't have an offseason to train/practice.
 

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I was mostly joking about the Manson comment, but come to think of it, both players have improved their games a lot on offense this year on top of both players playing very physical. It's even more impressive since Lindholm didn't have an offseason to train/practice.
He was a monster in the Edmonton series... from choking maroon, to being choked by lucic to giving McDavid a little jab to the face... I don't think people realize how big/strong lindholm is but hes got to be pushing 210-215 by now, at 6'2.
 
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bsu

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I think playing with beauchemin helped him a lot.
 

Paul4587

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He still has clumsy some games where he will have an absolute mare in terms of falling down, puck control and passing but they’re getting more and more rare. Now that his shoulder has healed up it looks like he has a lot more velocity on his shot which is good. Hopefully with a full offseason to train he can take another step forward next year. The only other complaint I have is that he hasn’t shown he’s capable of playing 25+ a night although that could be more a coaching decision. It does frustrate me some nights when he’s the best Dman out there and his ice time is around the 20 min mark.
 
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Paul4587

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He is by far our best dman the offense is starting to come, if he ever gets a chance at first PP time maybe he finally works his way up to the top tier of D in the league.

He was on the first PP for about 3 games a month ago. He proceeded to put up 2 PP points in those games before being demoted again.

He’s certainly got some flaws on the PP (the puck bouncing over his stick still happens too often) but I still think he’s good enough to be on the first unit. He’s the best on the team at getting his shot through and on net in traffic.
 

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He was on the first PP for about 3 games a month ago. He proceeded to put up 2 PP points in those games before being demoted again.

He’s certainly got some flaws on the PP (the puck bouncing over his stick still happens too often) but I still think he’s good enough to be on the first unit. He’s the best on the team at getting his shot through and on net in traffic.
I still think fowler/Montour is the right idea/decision... they just need to know their jobs... fowler needs to know hes not the shooter, and Montour needs to know he is. Fowler shouldn't be taking point shots unless its aiming for a stick/deflection... his shots should come closer to the net, and usualy because he made a play with the puck on his stick or because he found a soft spot in the defense to get into.
 
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Dr Johnny Fever

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I still think fowler/Montour is the right idea/decision... they just need to know their jobs... fowler needs to know hes not the shooter, and Montour needs to know he is. Fowler shouldn't be taking point shots unless its aiming for a stick/deflection... his shots should come closer to the net, and usualy because he made a play with the puck on his stick or because he found a soft spot in the defense to get into.
It seems to me that lately, that's how they have been doing it. Fowler, when he shoots, shoots toward congestion around the net from along the blueline, but Montour is the one sneaking down from the point looking for a pass and the quick one timer.
 

Paul4587

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I still think fowler/Montour is the right idea/decision... they just need to know their jobs... fowler needs to know hes not the shooter, and Montour needs to know he is. Fowler shouldn't be taking point shots unless its aiming for a stick/deflection... his shots should come closer to the net, and usualy because he made a play with the puck on his stick or because he found a soft spot in the defense to get into.

They might be accepting their roles more but that unit still isn’t producing enough. I would prefer Lindholm and Fowler, Montours ahoy has a lot of velocity but it’s sill wildly inaccurate and him being a RHS takes away a one timer option if Getz is on the left half wall.
 

Duck Off

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I still think fowler/Montour is the right idea/decision... they just need to know their jobs... fowler needs to know hes not the shooter, and Montour needs to know he is. Fowler shouldn't be taking point shots unless its aiming for a stick/deflection... his shots should come closer to the net, and usualy because he made a play with the puck on his stick or because he found a soft spot in the defense to get into.

Yeah I agree with this. I also think Fowler needs to keep moving on the PP. Fowler is on the top PP unit because he's the best on the team at transition and entering the zone. However, the second he becomes stapled to the blueline in the offensive zone, he immediately makes it worse as clearly the other teams don't fear his shot and basically beg him to shoot it from the point.
 
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Goose of Reason

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Yeah I agree with this. I also think Fowler needs to keep moving on the PP. Fowler is on the top PP unit because he's the best on the team at transition and entering the zone. However, the second he becomes stapled to the blueline in the offensive zone, he immediately makes it worse as clearly the other teams don't fear his shot and basically beg him to shoot it from the point.

Yeah it's tough to choose between them for this reason. When both Getzlaf and Fowler were injured earlier in the season we were God awful at gaining the zone and if Fowler comes off that top PP then teams will be well aware that Getzlaf will be the one to key in on. I would like to see Lindholm on the top pairing though, as Fowler hits way too many shin pads when he shoots and I really feel like with Lindholm's IQ he could become very good at gaining the zone with experience. Plus he hammered that one timer the other day and we never shoot those.
 
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ADHB

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Yeah I agree with this. I also think Fowler needs to keep moving on the PP. Fowler is on the top PP unit because he's the best on the team at transition and entering the zone. However, the second he becomes stapled to the blueline in the offensive zone, he immediately makes it worse as clearly the other teams don't fear his shot and basically beg him to shoot it from the point.
This is true, and also part of why our PP sucks at gaining full control most of the time. They design the entries so that Fowler carries the puck up to about center ice and then drops it back to a much slower skater (usually Getzlaf) who lumbers up the ice while all the other players are stationary at the opposing blue line. It’s not hard to see why it’s difficult entering the zone with control. I have no idea why they have things set up this way. The lack of success of the PP in entries and in general should have made them switch things up by now.
 
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The Duck Knight

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This is true, and also part of why our PP sucks at gaining full control most of the time. They design the entries so that Fowler carries the puck up to about center ice and then drops it back to a much slower skater (usually Getzlaf) who lumbers up the ice while all the other players are stationary at the opposing blue line. It’s not hard to see why it’s difficult entering the zone with control. I have no idea why they have things set up this way. The lack of success of the PP in entries and in general should have made them switch things up by now.

The "slingshot" is used by pretty much every team in the league and is probably the most effective way to enter the zone with possession. Problem is we don't have the personnel for it as the trailer ideally is the guy coming with the most speed and a full head of steam. In design it should back the defense off and allow the entire PP unit to move together into the zone. I think if we had a speedster like Ehlers/etc. our PP entries would be fantastic.
 

ADHB

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The "slingshot" is used by pretty much every team in the league and is probably the most effective way to enter the zone with possession. Problem is we don't have the personnel for it as the trailer ideally is the guy coming with the most speed and a full head of steam. In design it should back the defense off and allow the entire PP unit to move together into the zone. I think if we had a speedster like Ehlers/etc. our PP entries would be fantastic.
I know. Sorry I didn’t specify. What I meant was since Fowler is likely the best at zone entries on that unit, and the best skater on that unit, it should be him receiving the drop pass coming with speed from behind, not him giving the pass to a much slower player.
 

bsu

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I think Fowler is the one that drops it because if someone else did the other team would not back up as much since Fowler is such a good skater, but who knows.
 
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Dr Johnny Fever

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The "slingshot" is used by pretty much every team in the league and is probably the most effective way to enter the zone with possession. Problem is we don't have the personnel for it as the trailer ideally is the guy coming with the most speed and a full head of steam. In design it should back the defense off and allow the entire PP unit to move together into the zone. I think if we had a speedster like Ehlers/etc. our PP entries would be fantastic.

But this is a prime example of how RC refuses to use players strengths vs trying to force the square pegs into the round hole. It's beyond frustrating.

Oddly enough, the rope a dope against the Oil actually was designed not to try and do what we are not capable of doing. I'm still convinced an assistant came up with the idea.
 

Duck Off

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I think Fowler is the one that drops it because if someone else did the other team would not back up as much since Fowler is such a good skater, but who knows.

I agree with this. The other thing I'd mention is that in the neutral zone Fowler is easily the most superior skater we have with the puck. When there's pressure up high he's the best at avoiding it. IMO the ideal solution is Montour improves in this area which would allow Hampus to play on the PP unit. Right now, I prefer Fowler because of zone entry alone. When Fowler is the Niedermayer like "rover" I think our PP is at it's best. However, too often Fowler is stapled to the blueline and if that's the case, I'd rather Hampus be in that spot.
 

Magnus the Duck

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Hampus with a funny interview about Rakell, both representing Sweden in the World Championship in hockey. In Swedish.



Q: Speaking of Rakell, you know him better than most. What can he contribute to this national team?
A: He is really good at getting puck board-out, and dumping the puck. It's something of his speciality.
...
A: No really, he is one of the league most skilled players. In our team he is top-16.
...
 

Paul4587

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It’s somewhat interesting but mostly not relevant and ignores what’s actually happening on the ice. It doesn’t pick up on the fact that by the end of the season Lindholms shot was significantly harder than it’s ever been before which indicates he has improved it and was no longer feeling the effects of the shoulder surgery. He also got more shots through than ever this season. There were definitely some offensive steps but he still has a lot to work on in that area.

His puck control can be very hit or miss at times. Most of the time he handles the puck well and makes crisp on the tape passes but every now and then he seems to have a horrific game trying to handle the puck, it continually bounces over his stick and his passes bounce around and aren’t accurate. He also tends to fall down a lot in those games. If he can eliminate those games it would go a long way in terms of him taking the next step.

Edit: it also completely ignores that he was playing with a wrist injury the whole of 16-17 which clearly impacted his shooting ability.

Double edit: it’s also looking at raw and not relative numbers. Why would you not use relative numbers in an article that is trying to be as in depth as possible?
 
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branmuffin17

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Not trying to argue your points, but I will say that although Benny used raw numbers, he DID in fact mention the possibility of recovering from surgery being possible reasons for decline / weaker numbers in some areas multiple times in the article (I know it was long).

Point conceded about the wrist injury in 16-17. Was he in fact hurt the entire season? Or did it happen at a certain point of the season? I don't remember.

I would also point out that these are projection tools he's using. You said "Lindholm's shot was significantly harder than it's ever been before," but 1) I'm not sure you can verify this statement in literal value (speed clocks?), and 2) getting more shots through by the end of the year shouldn't be used as projection for how he might be in future years...in smaller sample sizes, it could be a bit of luck...or maybe he really has improved and his numbers will continue to trend in that direction. Hard to project that...he's just trying to just get a feel for where Lindholm is projecting based on historical data.

Just makes it interesting for me to read. In the dog days, I'm hungry for almost anything.
 

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