oilers9799
Registered User
- Mar 29, 2005
- 795
- 60
Judging by today's game I think he is the best defensive prospect in the NHL right now (yes including EJ). This is coming from a true blue team canada fan, but he is just that damn good.
Drawing blood is an auto double minor in the NHL, not IIHF hockey. How can anyone say Jack was hurt when he clearly was fine on the PP.
He is obviously a very talented player but it makes you wonder what's going on in his head if his NHL team traded him away.
He's a franchise player (moreso than Gleason will ever be at this point) and refused to join a teams Stanley Cup run in a year everyone knew they were favourites.
He will be worth the wait for the Kings but hopefully he's as hungry to win a Cup as he is to win the NCAA title.
Perhaps Johnson didn't feel he was NHL ready after one season in college. Perhaps Johnson has a goal of winning an NCAA championship before joining the NHL. The only people that really know what went on last year are Jack Johnson, his family, his representation, and Jim Rutherford.
Carolina had a great regular season last year but I don't think "everyone" looked at their team going into the playoffs and said "Yep, Carolina's the favorite for the cup this year." If Carolina was the Cup favorite going into the playoffs last year, why would they need to pressure a 19 year old kid to come out of school and join their lineup?
Did you think that the reason Carolina traded Johnson might have nothing to do with "what's going on in his head"? Johnson has stated he'd like to win a NCAA championship before turning pro and he might not leave school early, something he has every right to do. Carolina didn't want to wait around for potentially another 3 years for him. Carolina also had a ton of injuries on the blueline right before the season started. Gleason's not a bad player, he's not in Johnson's class, but Carolina needed someone ready to come in and play now. You can argue that Carolina didn't get enough value for Johnson but most experts said that it appeared Rutherford was not very patient with Johnson and decided to move him. I think the bigger question is, did Rutherford not realize Johnson might not turn pro after one year of college when he drafted him? If you draft a kid out of juniors, you might be able to pencil him into your lineup at 19 if you get him signed right away. Drafting kids from college, it's harder to figure out when they're going to join your lineup because some are ready to leave after 1 year, others want to stay all 4.
Quite a few are forgetting the rest of the tournament in which he pretty much stunk it up. Yes, he had a great game but he was expected along with Erik to dominate the tournament as a defensive pairing and it just never came together.
As a Hurricanes fan, I was a bit satiated by his performance in the tournament. It reminded me that we hadn't traded away a defenseman that was complete yet by any means. He turned the puck over like David Tanabe a few times and it gave me some pretty awful flashbacks.
I'm not saying he's not going to develop into a star player in the league, because every indication is that he will, but I certainly see a few question marks in his game after this tournament in terms of his mental approach to the game that were just whispers before.
He has a boat load of talent, that's for sure. I just wonder if he'll be able to get the mental aspects of the game together or if he'll go the way of a few other highly touted defensemen and develop into just an above average defenseman.
Quite a few are forgetting the rest of the tournament in which he pretty much stunk it up.
Yes I saw how very seriously injured Downie was. As soon as he got the call he jumped right up with a smirk on his face and prodeeded to go to work on the Power play.
The one and only for certain immediate indication of injury is the drawing of blood and that was present in the injury to Johnson and not in the supposed injury to Downie.
He is obviously a very talented player but it makes you wonder what's going on in his head if his NHL team traded him away.
He's a franchise player (moreso than Gleason will ever be at this point) and refused to join a teams Stanley Cup run in a year everyone knew they were favourites.
He will be worth the wait for the Kings but hopefully he's as hungry to win a Cup as he is to win the NCAA title.
i'm not sure what mental aspects he has problems with. Sounds like his main problems in this tourny were that he was trying to do too much, which won't be a problem in the NHL where he will fit in well with the competition.
I'm sure when he comes to the NHL he will be just as competitive for the cup as he is for an NCAA title.
he stepped up with the game winning goal in a shutdown win vs. Slovakia
GWG or not, he still played below par in that game.
Quite a few are forgetting the rest of the tournament in which he pretty much stunk it up. Yes, he had a great game but he was expected along with Erik to dominate the tournament as a defensive pairing and it just never came together.
As a Hurricanes fan, I was a bit satiated by his performance in the tournament. It reminded me that we hadn't traded away a defenseman that was complete yet by any means. He turned the puck over like David Tanabe a few times and it gave me some pretty awful flashbacks.
I'm not saying he's not going to develop into a star player in the league, because every indication is that he will, but I certainly see a few question marks in his game after this tournament in terms of his mental approach to the game that were just whispers before.
He has a boat load of talent, that's for sure. I just wonder if he'll be able to get the mental aspects of the game together or if he'll go the way of a few other highly touted defensemen and develop into just an above average defenseman.
By my count, he made 1 bad play the entire game until the game was out of reach, in a 6-1 victory in which he scored the GWG. That's "below par"? Is that the standard to which he is being held? Perfection?
By my count he made 3. Against a better team those mistakes would've cost him and his team.
Also, why not hold him to a high standard. He's the 3rd overall pick, who was supposed to be the 2nd overall pick. Highest pick from his draft in this tournament.
There are players picked 2-3 rounds after him that are being held to similar standards by certain fans.
By my count he made 3. Against a better team those mistakes would've cost him and his team.
Also, why not hold him to a high standard. He's the 3rd overall pick, who was supposed to be the 2nd overall pick. Highest pick from his draft in this tournament.
There are players picked 2-3 rounds after him that are being held to similar standards by certain fans.
Caniancforever, everything you have said in this thread has been wrong. I don't care if you're a "global moderator".
CapsWolverinesUSA said:1) No, Jack has not had a bad tournament except for 1 game. He has had a really good tournament except for 1 game--the 1st Canada game. But when his team absolutely needed him, he stepped up with the game winning goal in a shutdown win vs. Slovakia, the game winning OT goal in a do or die against a tough Sweden squad, an solid performance against Finland in which he scored, and a dominant showing against Canada when it really counted. Ripping on him at this point, you sound bitter, biased and, frankly, dumb.
CapsWolverinesUSA said:2) No, Jack would not have made Carolina's post-season roster last year. That is just a falsehood. If they suffered a bunch of injuries, he may have gotten a look for a game or two, but even that wasn't assured. They had 6 proven defensemen playing every night: Ward, Kaberle, Hedican, Comodore, Wesley and Wallin. For whom did you see Jack Johnson stealing a starting position from with no NHL experience? And do you actually think he was even the #7 defensemen had he signed? Over Oleg Tverdovsky who is a veteran with significant playoff experience? I sure don't. Fact is, Carolina wanted to sign him so they could secure him in their system and get him AHL seasoning this year. Everyone who isn't either ignorant or blatently re-writing history knows that. There is a good chance he could have made the big club at some point this season, but that's a very different thing than being a contributor for a cup contender in the playoffs last year.
CapsWolverinesUSA said:3) Can we cut it with the "I think he was intimidated" crap? You have zero basis for this. You don't know a damn thing about the player. All you know is that he chose not to sign with your team, and you're cranky that you got 50 cents on the dollar for him in trade value. If you knew ANYTHING about his personality or character, you would realize how stupid this intimidation talk is. If this kid has any problem, it's his OVER-confidence, not the opposite. He loves college. His parents love watching him in Ann Arbor. His family is well off and wasn't desperate for his signing bonus. He wanted to play 1 more season in college. Why rip the kid for this?
If you are going to ***** and moan about the only assessing a two minute penalty on the letang highstick, you need to question only assessing a two minute penalty on whoever it was that elbowed Downie in the head.
Downie was injured, you can't argue he wasn't as it was why the whistle was blown when Canada had the puck. So if you are going to argue that the referee should have given Letang a 4 or 5 when the highstick wasnt as malicious(he was trying to avoid the goalie stick, and his stick hit johnson in the lips, where as whoever it was that hit Downie(Geoffrion?) got away witha 2 minute minor for elbowing him directly in the grill. Refs are allowed to use their discretion, and he did in both situations. It may not have made it to OT if Canada gets a 5 minute powerplay.
Both subjective calls, both blown, get over it.
I'd like to know which plays you're talking about.
Three brainfarts when you're playing 35 minutes a game? I'll take that.