News and Notes XXII: Now With More Finnish!

[What the Faulk]

Rask was the 4C after Staal returned from his absence in March; I think he'd probably end up back down there, if not dealt.

Ferland/Zykov - Aho - Teravainen
McGinn - Staal - Williams
Skinner - Necas - Svechnikov
Martinook - Rask - Ferland/Zykov
PDG

Aho and Necas both playing in the middle next season seems like a stretch, however.

You're probably right. I just think if Rask is relegated to 4th line duties, they may as well call up Montreal and take that 2nd round pick. Seems like a waste to have him play there.

 

[Big Daddy Cane]

I would agree with you if Lindholm was still on the roster. The team has gone from being somewhat deep, in terms of potential of options, to thin at that position. If Necas isn't ready or Aho can't cut it, they'll need someone capable of playing Top 9 minutes to slide up. Perhaps that's why they were still talking to Ryan.

EDIT: Or in the case of injury.

 

[Joe McGrath]

You're probably right. I just think if Rask is relegated to 4th line duties, they may as well call up Montreal and take that 2nd round pick. Seems like a waste to have him play there.

I think it depends on how they use the 4th line. If it has players like Martinook and McLovin on it, probably not the best place for Rask. If it’s an offensive 4th line with say Zykov and PDG (or Saarela, or IDK) it could be interesting. 10-12 minutes a night against crap competition.

 

[What the Faulk]

I think it depends on how they use the 4th line. If it has players like Martinook and McLovin on it, probably not the best place for Rask. If it’s an offensive 4th line with say Zykov and PDG (or Saarela, or IDK) it could be interesting. 10-12 minutes a night against crap competition.

That's fair. New coach, new philosophy. It'd be nice to have a 4th line that's capable of eating minutes and being a threat.

 

[Negan4Coach]

Unfortunately we know there definitely was a plan to get Grubauer and the Canes made the best offer. Really hoping they worked out a Plan B and Plan C once that failed. Dundon being super frustrated about asset values in his recent interview doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. Feels like all the Metro teams told him to **** off and now they are sorting through the bargain bin options.

Then why wouldn't they turn around and make the Avs an offer tbey couldnt refuse for him and give the big middle finger to DC?

 

[Negan4Coach]

So does Aho slide to the middle this season?
As of now the roster looks something like this?
Ferland/Aho/TT
McGinn/Staal/Williams
Skinner/Rask/Svechnikov
PDG/Martinook/Manalananenemen

Why arent Fogele or Zykov part of this after the way they played at the end of this year?

 

[AeroFishOne]

just listened to Ferland's interview. he was explicitly asked how he would fit with Aho and Teravainen and said "yeah, sure, that could work" in essence. just to get ahead of any runaway storylines.

Was going to second this as well. He didn’t just come out of the blue and say he should play with them.

 

[FlyingSquirrels]

I love how Gold badgers Ferland about "how crazy" his bachelor party got.. definitely leading me to believe that he has no clue about Ferland's past.
Made even me slightly uncomfortable.

 

[raynman]

Why arent Fogele or Zykov part of this after the way they played at the end of this year?

Wouldn’t the only place for them be on the 4th line? I admit I didn’t watch the end of the season due to a hectic schedule. I’m in the camp that’d rather play guys who project as “higher” up in the lineup play meaningful minutes and then get the call rather than play less than 10 minutes a night. But as others mentioned it probably will depend upon how Brind’Amour deploys his 4th line.

 

[DougieSmash]

As of now:
Aho/ Staal/ Teravainen
Skinner/ Rask/ Williams
Ferland/ Necas/ Svechnikov
McGinn/ Martinook/ Zykov
Foegele, Wallmark, Maenalanen, Kuokkonen, Saarela

 

[FlyingSquirrels]

As of now:
Aho/ Staal/ Teravainen
Skinner/ Rask/ Williams
Ferland/ Necas/ Svechnikov
McGinn/ Martinook/ Zykov
Foegele, Wallmark, Maenalanen, Kuokkonen, Saarela

If Rask and Staal are BOTH in 2 of the top 3C spots, we are f***ed beyond f***ed.

 

[AeroFishOne]

I love how Gold badgers Ferland about "how crazy" his bachelor party got.. definitely leading me to believe that he has no clue about Ferland's past.
Made even me slightly uncomfortable.

The whole interview was pretty cringe worthy.

 

[emptyNedder]

I respectfully dissent.

Zykov/Aho/Teravainen

That has to be the top offensive-leaning line to begin the season. Zykov played 9 games with Aho and TT (remember the last game BP played him with Roy for some reason). In those 9 games he was 3g/4a and +4, Aho was 4g/4a +5, TT was 2g/3a +3.

Then the remaining lines are something like:

McGinn/Staal/Svechnikov
Ferland/Necas/Williams
Foegele/Rask/Martinook

Keep the rookies to one per line to start the season. If Necas starts well, flip him with Staal. The Rask line should be able to play 11-12 minutes of ES time both scoring and checking.

 

[FlyingSquirrels]

I respectfully dissent.

Zykov/Aho/Teravainen

That has to be the top offensive-leaning line to begin the season. Zykov played 9 games with Aho and TT (remember the last game BP played him with Roy for some reason). In those 9 games he was 3g/4a and +4, Aho was 4g/4a +5, TT was 2g/3a +3.

Then the remaining lines are something like:

McGinn/Staal/Svechnikov
Ferland/Necas/Williams
Foegele/Rask/Martinook

Keep the rookies to one per line to start the season. If Necas starts well, flip him with Staal. The Rask line should be able to play 11-12 minutes of ES time both scoring and checking.

I get the 1 rookie per line reasoning, but the ones to flip would be Williams and Svech.

 

[Lempo]

Zykov got a 10 game stint to end the year largely with Aho and TT. In his 10 games he put up 7 5v5 points good for 3.34 P/60 and 2.86 P1/60. The next highest player (>10 games) for each stat was Connor McDavid with 3.20 P/60 and Auston Matthews with 2.60 P1/60. Only a 10 game sample size, but Zykov was scoring at a significantly higher rate than McDavid and Matthews.

He definitely earned another look.

... and needs to be signed now for that to be able to happen. His ELC is up.

 

[What the Faulk]

Confirmation.

I respectfully dissent.

Zykov/Aho/Teravainen

That has to be the top offensive-leaning line to begin the season. Zykov played 9 games with Aho and TT (remember the last game BP played him with Roy for some reason). In those 9 games he was 3g/4a and +4, Aho was 4g/4a +5, TT was 2g/3a +3.

Then the remaining lines are something like:

McGinn/Staal/Svechnikov
Ferland/Necas/Williams
Foegele/Rask/Martinook

Keep the rookies to one per line to start the season. If Necas starts well, flip him with Staal. The Rask line should be able to play 11-12 minutes of ES time both scoring and checking.

Nine games. He looked good, but nine games.

 

[Novacane]

Lehner here we come

 

[FlyingSquirrels]

Brace yourselves for a Darling/Lehner Combo Platter.
I'll go into this with an open and hopeful mind, but God help us if this goes south in a hurry.

 

[What the Faulk]

Sounds like a formality at this point

 

[FlyingSquirrels]

Sounds like a formality at this point

Yep. Not even an obligatory "we expect Jeff to be with us next season" comment.

 

[What the Faulk]

I just hope the return is worth it.

 

[FlyingSquirrels]

I just hope the return is worth it.

Sounds like DW is making sure it is. At least that's what he wants us to think.

 

[Wolfpuck]

Lehner/Darling would be the largest tandem in the league at least, right?

We would have the most bipolar duo of anyone. Darling looks like someone ran over his dog whenever he gives up a goal. Lehner looks like he wants to eat someone's dog.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Return is likely going to be underwhelming for many because of Skinners ufa status.

 

[FlyingSquirrels]

Return is likely going to be underwhelming for many because of Skinners ufa status.

That and combined with a NTC, I fully expect to be underwhelmed.