11/15/13 Danaheim Aucks @ Harolina Curricanes 4:00 pm PST

[The Midnight Burrito]

Apparently saying a player is going to "get a good look" means roster spot for entire year.

Bm said he wanted to force the issue on vatanen and get a good look, was never said by anyone how long he would stay, just wanted more then 5 games to decide on.

And Vatanen played well enough to earn a spot, in a vacuum. But in the context of this roster, he's the odd man out. Obviously that won't be the case forever.

Although he can leave for Russia's AHL if he wants to, I guess.

 

[Exit Dose]

That comment was also made before Lindholm forced his way onto the roster, so I don't see why people think that it's relevant to the current situation.

 

[KaseMeOutside]

Vatanen is better than atleast 3 players on our current blueline and not coincidentally our defense is having a harder time moving the puck(gee having fistric, lovejoy and allen out there might have something to do with it)

 

[mightyquack]

If Vatanen was playing at a decent level, I think it would be a safe bet that Fistric would of been waived and sent down to the AHL instead of Vatanen being demoted.

Rookies don't get a spot handed to them, he didn't play well enough in the eyes of management, and hence AHL for him.

 

[SirQuacksALot]

Just got back from work. Did we wi.....



Oh.

 

[DavidBL]

If Vatanen was playing at a decent level, I think it would be a safe bet that Fistric would of been waived and sent down to the AHL instead of Vatanen being demoted.

Rookies don't get a spot handed to them, he didn't play well enough in the eyes of management, and hence AHL for him.

I think with Staubitz already eating 600k of cap space we can bury in the AHL and that we would have to pay a full 900k for Fistric over 70k for Vatanen I wouldn't be surprised if this was largely just a money situation.

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

I don't think the cap hit matters regardless of who is in the A. As long as no single contract exceeds 900K there is no cap impact.

 

[The Mighty Duck Man]

If Vatanen was playing at a decent level, I think it would be a safe bet that Fistric would of been waived and sent down to the AHL instead of Vatanen being demoted.

Rookies don't get a spot handed to them, he didn't play well enough in the eyes of management, and hence AHL for him.

Fistric's barely played this season, despite the injuries there have been. They would not keep Vatanen up here to fill that role. Fistric could retire tomorrow, they still wouldn't recall Vatanen. Not until a top-six spot opens up.

 

[DavidBL]

I don't think the cap hit matters regardless of who is in the A. As long as no single contract exceeds 900K there is no cap impact.

I was under the impression that only 900k worth of contracts could be buried. IE a single contract worth 2 mill would still impact cap by 1.1 and since we would have 2 contracts equaling 1.5k ish we would have a 600k impact on our cap. Generally I think its the actual money. 1.5 mill to pay players to play in the AHL isn't smart if you don't have to.

 

[mightyquack]

Fistric's barely played this season, despite the injuries there have been. They would not keep Vatanen up here to fill that role. Fistric could retire tomorrow, they still wouldn't recall Vatanen. Not until a top-six spot opens up.

Well with how Sbisa has been playing, I would see it as Vatanen/Sbisa rotatating and if Vatanen picked his play up he'd probably take that #6 spot with Sbisa ending up in the Fistric-esque role.

Either way Vatanen had a pretty great opportunity to get that regular 3rd pairing spot with Sbisa out of the line up so long then playing pretty average since coming back, but he didn't grab it. Obviously the waiver exemption played a part in it, but it didn't stop a younger and more inexperienced Lindholm jumping above him and making himself indispensable right now.

I like Vatanen, and yes he probably has more talent then 3 defencemen on the roster, but he hasn't played good enough to be in the top 6 defencemen on the roster right now, right decision for him to go down to the AHL and find his game again for me.

 

[The Mighty Duck Man]

Well with how Sbisa has been playing, I would see it as Vatanen/Sbisa rotatating and if Vatanen picked his play up he'd probably take that #6 spot with Sbisa ending up in the Fistric-esque role.

Either way Vatanen had a pretty great opportunity to get that regular 3rd pairing spot with Sbisa out of the line up so long then playing pretty average since coming back, but he didn't grab it. Obviously the waiver exemption played a part in it, but it didn't stop a younger and more inexperienced Lindholm jumping above him and making himself indispensable right now.

I like Vatanen, and yes he probably has more talent then 3 defencemen on the roster, but he hasn't played good enough to be in the top 6 defencemen on the roster right now, right decision for him to go down to the AHL and find his game again for me.

I don't think they want him in any significant rotation role, they want him playing as much as possible. At that stage of development, no real need to be sitting a lot. Given his contract, and those of Sbisa and Fistric, it makes sense.

I completely agree he didn't force the issue like Hampus did, but I do think he played well enough to be a top six defenseman on the roster. He was in a pretty ideal role for where he's at, and there will be growing pains that you just have to endure, you can't send a guy down to the AHL every time he has a bad few games. However, we have six defensemen on one-way deals(including Souray) and a rookie who is too important to send back down, he's caught up in the numbers game. I'll put it this way, if Sbisa was traded tomorrow, he's back up here and Fistric's the one riding pine, and I don't think BB would have a problem with that at all.

 

[rollingdux]

Ducks played much better and I'm happy with a point. Lose some games, still on top of the NHL...don't hate.

Getzlaf is in pain but said it was first time he felt good enough to go. "It wasn't too bad. As long as I kept moving and stuff."
https://twitter.com/icemancometh/status/401554046885957632

Found the Penner gif.

 

[Paul4587]

Hiller, Sbisa and Winnik suck, they're the reason we lost.

In all seriousness I thought we were unlucky to lose the game. This is a different team with Getzlaf in it, if the season ended today he would have to be a hart finalist. Winnik was also an absolute beast - IMO he's the best shut down forward we've had since Pahlsson.

 

[Paul4587]

Selanne sucks in shootouts he does same thing every single time and shoots it in the middle of the goalies chest....Bonino should have been in. Vatanen is easily better than both Lovejoy and Fristic

Selanne shoots 36% in the shootout. Rip him all you want for being average but he's more than competent in the shootout.

 

[mightyquack]

I don't think they want him in any significant rotation role, they want him playing as much as possible. At that stage of development, no real need to be sitting a lot. Given his contract, and those of Sbisa and Fistric, it makes sense.

I completely agree he didn't force the issue like Hampus did, but I do think he played well enough to be a top six defenseman on the roster. He was in a pretty ideal role for where he's at, and there will be growing pains that you just have to endure, you can't send a guy down to the AHL every time he has a bad few games. However, we have six defensemen on one-way deals(including Souray) and a rookie who is too important to send back down, he's caught up in the numbers game. I'll put it this way, if Sbisa was traded tomorrow, he's back up here and Fistric's the one riding pine, and I don't think BB would have a problem with that at all.

I agree in terms of the contract (admitted as much already).

However if Vatanen played at the level he is capable of, he could of forced BM into potentially trading Sbisa I think, while Sbisa has a unique skillset that we may need down the road with the age of our defence, he's just too much of a bonehead to be useful in an expanded role.

For whatever reason Vatanen wasn't playing at his best so far this season, hopefully he finds his game and come back and contribute for the NHL team again. I do think he'll play himself into the team at some point this season.

Hiller, Sbisa and Winnik suck, they're the reason we lost.

In all seriousness I thought we were unlucky to lose the game. This is a different team with Getzlaf in it, if the season ended today he would have to be a hart finalist. Winnik was also an absolute beast - IMO he's the best shut down forward we've had since Pahlsson.

You just had to go and start this, didn't ya Paul?

 

[Paul4587]

You just had to go and start this, didn't ya Paul?

Yeah I did, I'm in one of those moods haha. It helps that since Pahlsson we haven't had anyone that good so he doesn't have much competition - Koivu is the only guy I see an argument for but Koivu can't handle the bigger guys like Winnik can.

 

[DigitalSea]

Just finished watching the game. It sucks we lost, but we are at least looking better. I'm not looking forward to Pittsburgh. Winnik and Penner both had very solid games. Winnik was definitely overdue for a good game.

 

[Exit Dose]

I really hope that Penner stays in Anaheim.

 

[PuqTalk]

I really hope that Penner stays in Anaheim.

I have to believe that, like Beauchemin, it makes too much sense to stick around in a place where you've had success.

 

[mightyquack]

Yeah I did, I'm in one of those moods haha. It helps that since Pahlsson we haven't had anyone that good so he doesn't have much competition - Koivu is the only guy I see an argument for but Koivu can't handle the bigger guys like Winnik can.

I agree with you, he's a great defensive forward, and really cops it way too much around here given the role he plays IMO.

Was pretty obvious last night as well, Staal's line really dominated after Winnik took the puck to the face, spent basically all of their ice time before that hemmed up in their own zone, but then dominated offensively after Winnik went off.

Despite his crappy faceoff's I like him in the middle as well, can really nullify the opposite big offensive centermen. I hope we re-sign him.

 

[rollingdux]

More gifs I found this morning. Credit to supereader over on tumblr:

 

[Mr Rogers]

Penner literally has to try to be not funny. The guy is just inherently funny.

 

[rollingdux]

Penner's having a full on q&a session on twitter right now.

Oh and this Perry steal...

 

[snarktacular]

Haha that was Perry. That's why I asked, but I guess most other people were watching the Ducks feed and couldn't answer.

I want that gif'ed.

 

[gratefulyours]

I agree with you, he's a great defensive forward, and really cops it way too much around here given the role he plays IMO.

Was pretty obvious last night as well, Staal's line really dominated after Winnik took the puck to the face, spent basically all of their ice time before that hemmed up in their own zone, but then dominated offensively after Winnik went off.

Despite his crappy faceoff's I like him in the middle as well, can really nullify the opposite big offensive centermen. I hope we re-sign him.

he made the mistake of going on an offensive tear when he first got here. people seem to think he needs to keep scoring to be effective and good now.