Is this a full rebuild or what?

[Armourboy]

Just a couple of questions/observations:
1. Aren’t Forsberg and Josi members of the “Country Club”? Only difference being is they personally exhibit star level skills, especially Josi. My concern is their acceptance of the “new culture”. That concern is secondary to my concern of their injury status. Neither(apparently) was close to playing in the playoffs; Josi having career concussion fears and Forsberg taking a terrible looking blow.Till they show up and play in camp, I’ll remain converned.
2. Will Trotzy let AB be the coach? He’s never had to deal with that. I’m concerned he’ll forget his role; he has always been very hands on. AB is THE coach and BT is THE GM. Different jobs!

1. It's definitely a concern, but maybe its the case that not so much that they were a part of it but rather they couldn't or didn't do anything about it. That's a problem itself, but sometimes guys just aren't the natural leaders you want them to be.

2. Trotz has said its something he is definitely concerned about himself. Gotta wonder if its part of the reason he went with Brunette, he knows Trotz and won't bother him as much.

 

[adsfan]

The "rebuild" has been underway for a few years. Evangalista, Tomasino, Parssinen, Afanasyev, L'Hereaux, Svechkov, Kemmel ... bringing in Glass ... with the old man Novak in the mix up front; Askarov and Jatkola between the pipes. That's without factoring last week's draft picks.

The "old man Novak" is pretty funny about a player who just turned 26 at the end of April.

 

[triggrman]

who did St. Louis tank for?

A cup team doesn't have to bottom out just to get "that" player. It also doesn't always work out. What luck has AZ, NYR, NJ, and Buffalo had with their bottoming out. Intentionally tanking for the sole purpose of an early draft pick doesn't always work out. Ask Edmonton who after a decade finally made it to a conference final and that was after 6+ years of the best player in the world. And what about Toronto with their main 4? For every team that tanks and has cup wins not long after, there's also the Buffalo's, Edmonton's, Toronto's and Arizona's that either can't get out of the basement despite years of high draft picks or manage to have excellent regular seasons and get into the playoffs only to get stopped in round 1 most of the time leaving them in no different place than an 8th seed who barely gets in.

I will also add that St Louis won with a coaching change that changed the culture. That culture change is what Trotz is aiming for here.

Perfecto

 

[101st_fan]

The "old man Novak" is pretty funny about a player who just turned 26 at the end of April.

Compared to the 20-22 year olds he is old. Just like Livingstone at prospect camp at a whopping 24 years old ... skating with the kids just drafted last week.

 

[Olderfan]

26 wow! Sure sounds incredibly young to me. As I recall when I was 26 I had just learned to tie my shoelaces.
But I get both points made. Fact is that 26 is “prime time” for a hockey player. Go Novak!

 

[101st_fan]

26 wow! Sure sounds incredibly young to me. As I recall when I was 26 I had just learned to tie my shoelaces.
But I get both points made. Fact is that 26 is “prime time” for a hockey player. Go Novak!

26 isn't young for a "rebuild" guy coming his first time even playing half of a regular season. It's 120% of Tomasino's age. He's over 8 years older than Bedard.

 

[Seth Lake]

26 wow! Sure sounds incredibly young to me. As I recall when I was 26 I had just learned to tie my shoelaces.
But I get both points made. Fact is that 26 is “prime time” for a hockey player. Go Novak!

Remember, Novak was drafted as a freshman in college, played through his senior season before joining Milwaukee. Wasn’t offered a contract after his ELC expired, signed in Milwaukee on an AHL deal, and earned his way to a two-way contract and a consistent NHL role.

I remember watching him in prospect camp just after he was drafted and describing him as someone with great hands and playmaking skill, but could be knocked down by a strong breeze.

Novak came into the pros around the same weight he played at in college. Learned it wouldn’t cut in and put in the work to earn his way into the League.

 

[PredsV82]

Good to hear from you Seth. I didn't realize Novak had that path. He's really earned it. Hoping he plays his way to a multi year deal

 

[adsfan]

26 isn't young for a "rebuild" guy coming his first time even playing half of a regular season. It's 120% of Tomasino's age. He's over 8 years older than Bedard.

He has 17 more NHL goals than Bedard. He could have more, but he had Hynes stopping him. That obstacle has been removed.

 

[Olderfan]

Just felt the urge to say something more about Novak. Preds have all these prospects. It’s very encouraging. They’ve poured a lot if time and money into the continued development of these players. Tomasino, Evangelista, Kemmel, Parssinen, Afanasyev, Carrier, Askarov and others. Even the departed like Tolvanen. Some have thus far been recognized with promotions, raises, ice time, etc. And some look like future stars.
But where did this Novak guy come from? Never heard his name as a future player. When he was called up I thought “Who?”.
Well, he deserves much credit. In the midst of all these future superstars it is he who has taken hold of opportunities he earned mostly unrecognized.
He’s probably not as talented as some others in the pipeline but he’s the one who has done the work to get to the NHL and perform and I like hard workers.
Will it continue? I sure hope so; he deserves it.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Just felt the urge to say something more about Novak. Preds have all these prospects. It’s very encouraging. They’ve poured a lot if time and money into the continued development of these players. Tomasino, Evangelista, Kemmel, Parssinen, Afanasyev, Carrier, Askarov and others. Even the departed like Tolvanen. Some have thus far been recognized with promotions, raises, ice time, etc. And some look like future stars.
But where did this Novak guy come from? Never heard his name as a future player. When he was called up I thought “Who?”.
Well, he deserves much credit. In the midst of all these future superstars it is he who has taken hold of opportunities he earned mostly unrecognized.
He’s probably not as talented as some others in the pipeline but he’s the one who has done the work to get to the NHL and perform and I like hard workers.
Will it continue? I sure hope so; he deserves it.

He was actually somewhat highly-touted as a draft prospect, I think several places had him ranked as a 2nd-rounder anyway. Getting him in the 3rd round seemed like a bit of a mini-steal at the time. Just his NCAA performance kind of plateaued for a little while, especially his senior year, leading to the AHL-only contract.

 

[triggrman]

Just felt the urge to say something more about Novak. Preds have all these prospects. It’s very encouraging. They’ve poured a lot if time and money into the continued development of these players. Tomasino, Evangelista, Kemmel, Parssinen, Afanasyev, Carrier, Askarov and others. Even the departed like Tolvanen. Some have thus far been recognized with promotions, raises, ice time, etc. And some look like future stars.
But where did this Novak guy come from? Never heard his name as a future player. When he was called up I thought “Who?”.
Well, he deserves much credit. In the midst of all these future superstars it is he who has taken hold of opportunities he earned mostly unrecognized.
He’s probably not as talented as some others in the pipeline but he’s the one who has done the work to get to the NHL and perform and I like hard workers.
Will it continue? I sure hope so; he deserves it.

He was drafted same year as Trenin, just took the longer college route. He's talented for sure. I don't know if he's as good as his numbers but I hope he is. His defense was lacking, which would probably keep him from being a center full time.

 

[Flgatorguy87]

I assume Novaks shooting percentage will come down, but I could also see him maybe holding his production level if he plays wing with an offensive mind center. Maybe a Nyquist, Glass, Novak line would look solid?

 

[triggrman]

I assume Novaks shooting percentage will come down, but I could also see him maybe holding his production level if he plays wing with an offensive mind center. Maybe a Nyquist, Glass, Novak line would look solid?

I mean, we've iced worse lines.....

 

[BigFatCat999]

I mean, we've iced worse lines.....

OMG, yes the Preds have.

 

[maplepred]

I mean, we've iced worse lines.....

How about this for next season:

Forsberg Parssinen Evangelista

Novak Glass Tomasino

Nyquist ROR Sherwood

Trenin Sissons Afanasyev

Jankowski/Smith



Josi Fabbro

McDonagh Barrie

Lauzon Schenn

Carrier



Saros

Lankinen

 

[wmupreds]

I like the idea of Glass centering Novak as Glass is one of our most responsible defensive forwards, just wish we had a better shoot-first option to put with them on the other wing.

 

[nine_inch_fang]

I like the idea of Glass centering Novak as Glass is one of our most responsible defensive forwards, just wish we had a better shoot-first option to put with them on the other wing.

Kemell, since passing the puck to him is like passing it off a cliff. You'll never get it back.

 

[maplepred]

Kemell, since passing the puck to him is like passing it off a cliff. You'll never get it back.

But how does kemell fit in?
Should have probably not signed nyquist….

 

[Armourboy]

There will always be injuries.

 

[nine_inch_fang]

But how does kemell fit in?
Should have probably not signed nyquist….

He can take Sherwood's spot about 20 games into the season. Or, right away, but I would expect Kemell to start the season in Milwaukee.

 

[Flgatorguy87]

Nyquist was signed for Glass according to Trotz, now he's not the coach but I'd be surprised if they don't start together. Novak on the other wing makes sense.

 

[herzausstein]

Nyquist was signed for Glass according to Trotz, now he's not the ciach but I'd be surprised if they don't start together. Novak on the other wing makes sense.

I wonder if RoR can teach Novak a couple things about faceoffs

 

[Flgatorguy87]

I wonder if RoR can teach Novak a couple things about faceoffs

Sure can't hurt. All our young guys have a lot to learn in the dot.

 

[Kat Predator]

I wonder if RoR can teach Novak a couple things about faceoffs

Novak was paper thin when we drafted him. He's been hitting the weights the last couple seasons and is wafer thin now.

Without core and upper body strength, he's going to be overpowered on faceoffs often. Hopefully he's at the gym right now and pounding protein shakes by the Amazon savings size.