I am going to beg to differ with you about Liiga versus OHL. You yourself state that it is like playing in the AHL. In the AHL very few rookies play full minutes starting the season. Just as very few second-round choice D in the OHL start on the top pairings. They are given time to learn about the difference in speed of the game as well as the size of the players. If he is still getting the minutes you are talking about at the WJC break and shines in the WJC then I think the Penguins may think about it. The one thing to remember though is that if they send him to Kingston they could be giving up the right to play in the AHL next year.
AZs to a good team with a good management sorry the jury is still out on that. Springer is still the owner adn Cooper is his cheap GM with a coaching staff that is even more unknown. Again that may change and we may see a Caputi that all of a sudden has an epiphany and Hallelujah learns to coach.
If that is the case, then Kingstn might be an answer or Dumb ass might agree to send him to the OHL if he is traded, ala Wright.
Ther are a lot of maybe if and the bottom line is who knows right now he is playing in Liiga and getting ready for the WJC.
I think tht instead of hoping that he comes the team and fans should be looking at what you have and what can be done with what you have. You guys went through this same crap last year wondering about Wright and what will happen when he comes back. Do you really want to do it again?
I think it’s evident that if he doesn’t end up as an ahler by the end of the year he likely will be the following season. That’s fine. Kingston didn’t draft him for the following season they drafted him for this season.
Springer is cheap yes but he did want to host the mem cup so he’s cheap until it involves making a lot of money in the long run and if he has a really good team this year that ends up going all the way to the ohl finals he’s going to have sold out crowds finally and build a stronger fan base leading to him generating more money over time for instance nobody wants to see a team in last place every year you always hear it around here that’s the reason why people don’t go is because they always are towards the bottom of the league and nobody wants to see a team lose.
Cooper is a smart gm if you think otherwise that’s fine everyone is entitled to their own opinion but if they went for it in 2021-2022 for instance and lost and sent away all assets they’d stink even now. Hamilton and north bay loading up that year not to mention the west was stacked. If they went for it that year it would be extremely stupid. They’d still end up facing north bay second round and they’d still end up losing in the second round to them.
Last year he traded away guys like wright, arcuri and hache as it was obvious kingston wasn’t going to be a contender losing guys like Edmonds Chromiak frasca and meralainen to name a few.
They’ve drafted pretty well obviously missed the Covid season which I think really hurt the team especially wright. There’s a bunch of what ifs surrounding that season but that’s hockey and that’s in the past.
Trading wright last year for meidema McCarthy and some picks was a great idea. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like McCarthy will be coming here but you never know it’s still a possibility. Meidema will be in the league in 2 years anyways and if all goes to shit they can trade him away and who else and do a quick retool always.
Bottom line he’s a great gm. I used to hate when they’d go all in and then lose in round 1 or 2 or 3 and then suck which I believe gilmour and keily were all about. This guy copper sees things several years down the line and that’s import.
Look at London and why they’ve been so successful minus luring players away from other teams. They build up from the draft usually and if they don’t have the right team they do a quick retool and before you know it they’re back in the hunt again.
If pienemi comes GREAT. If not that’s perfectly fine too. But I wouldn’t compare him to Shane wright lol.
Wrong. European players can play in the American League at 19 whether they played in North America or not.
100%. Chromiak was a 19 year old last year and was eligible for the ahl. The same would happen for Pieniniemi.