WC: 2016 Team Latvia

[RobertR]

Yeap, at this point I don't even want Gudlevskis to come. That will probably force us to play him if he does.

Elvis and Edza both had an amazing season, so we should just run with them.

Really excited to see what Elvis can do.

 

[Namejs]

Yeap, at this point I don't even want Gudlevskis to come. That will probably force us to play him if he does.

Elvis and Edza both had an amazing season, so we should just run with them.

Really excited to see what Elvis can do.

On a somewhat related note, one of the most annoying things about casual national team fans is that they judge players based on a very limited sample size and their showing exclusively with the national team. Which is why it's particularly painful for me to hear Kalnins being lauded as our #2 goalie by a bunch of people despite the fact that he's had a worse SVS% than Merzlikins had in NLA, while basically playing in an amateur league.

Unfortunately, I also don't put a lot of trust in the abilities of our coaches to use analytics to their advantage, so I have this weird, ominous feeling that they're going to play Kalnins at some point in the WCH because of his flukey wins in exhibition games, especially if either Masalskis or Merzlikins are going to have a rough day a couple of games in a row. I pray to all that's holy that it doesn't happen.

 

[ozo]

Unfortunately, I also don't put a lot of trust in the abilities of our coaches to use analytics to their advantage, so I have this weird, ominous feeling that they're going to play Kalnins at some point in the WCH because of his flukey wins in exhibition games, especially if either Masalskis or Merzlikins are going to have a rough day a couple of games in a row. I pray to all that's holy that it doesn't happen.

Meh, same story as with Mustukovs last year. One game and we never will ice him again for good.

 

[Namejs]

Meh, same story as with Mustukovs last year. One game and we never will ice him again for good.

I don't think there are going to be any games this year that you could just write off as losses already beforehand. Russia is probably going to miss most of their leading players, same with Sweden (as per usual).

Mustukovs was thrown under the bus against Canada, on purpose. Also, he's a better goalie than Kalnins.

 

[Namejs]

I didn't get to see the second half of the game vs. Germany, but the first half was absolutely horrendous defensively. Our U18 national team had better defensive zone coverage.

It reminded me of this little nugget:

The experiment with defensive pairings failed miserably (inexperienced, mediocre Ds were paired up with good ones thus creating completely random pairings that didn't make any sense from the get go).

Also I think M. Sirokovs should definitely be cut from the roster. Upitis continues to get suffocated physically.

On the plus side, Rubins with his first ever point for the national team today. I'm thinking he's going to get drafted this year.

 

[duga]

I've been watching swiss hockey for over 30 years and goaltending has for a very long time been the position Switzerland developed the best talent. Switzerland's most NHL milestones were achieved by goaltenders.
Punnenovs is a nice talent and will be a very good NLA player for years IMO.

Merzlikins on the other hand, sorry for riding the hype train, is simply the most talented GK beside Hiller coming out of the swiss league ever. He's more talented than Gerber, Äbischer, Stephan, Genoni or Tosio and better all around than Berra.
Unlike Hiller who was hiding in the shades until he took over in Davos (short stint in Lausanne before) and never looked back, Merzlikins' talent was well known and was thrown into action at younger age, delivered, but lost Nr.1 again, accepted the challenge and took over again even stronger. Very good POs.
Big, mobile, quick, loves to challenge forwards, loves to play the puck and is very good in doing so, better rebound control than Hiller. Very passionate, a bit crazy in a positive way, very entertaining. Still a bit consistency issues from time to time and does exaggerates it with his contribution to the constructive side of the games, which results in stupid goal against once in a while... but overall I can't see this talent miss. IMO he'll be not only a NHL GK sooner or later, but has all the potential to grow into a Top 10 GK world wide.
I know to rank young goalies is pretty problematic, but as sure as I was that Hiller would deliver once crossing the pond as sure am I considering Merzlikins.

 

[RobertR]

Wow, nice to hear that.

Thanks, duga.

 

[Namejs]

I've been watching swiss hockey for over 30 years and goaltending has for a very long time been the position Switzerland developed the best talent. Switzerland's most NHL milestones were achieved by goaltenders.
Punnenovs is a nice talent and will be a very good NLA player for years IMO.

Merzlikins on the other hand, sorry for riding the hype train, is simply the most talented GK beside Hiller coming out of the swiss league ever. He's more talented than Gerber, Äbischer, Stephan, Genoni or Tosio and better all around than Berra.
Unlike Hiller who was hiding in the shades until he took over in Davos (short stint in Lausanne before) and never looked back, Merzlikins' talent was well known and was thrown into action at younger age, delivered, but lost Nr.1 again, accepted the challenge and took over again even stronger. Very good POs.
Big, mobile, quick, loves to challenge forwards, loves to play the puck and is very good in doing so, better rebound control than Hiller. Very passionate, a bit crazy in a positive way, very entertaining. Still a bit consistency issues from time to time and does exaggerates it with his contribution to the constructive side of the games, which results in stupid goal against once in a while... but overall I can't see this talent miss. IMO he'll be not only a NHL GK sooner or later, but has all the potential to grow into a Top 10 GK world wide.
I know to rank young goalies is pretty problematic, but as sure as I was that Hiller would deliver once crossing the pond as sure am I considering Merzlikins.

That's exactly why I made that post earlier about how annoying I find the people in Latvia who think Merzlikins should be competing with Hungarian league goalies for a place in the national team.

I've been calling Elvis the best current and the most talented Latvian goalie since Irbe for 1.5-2 years now and I've got so much flak for it in Latvia you have no clue. I've repeated word for word a lot of what you said for quite some time and some people think I'm either an agent or a buddy of his or something.

He's such a natural talent that I have no doubt in my mind that he's going to make it to the NHL. Not sure about top 10 worldwide, that's almost impossible to project with goalies, but he is going to play in the NHL one day, no doubt.

 

[duga]

That's exactly why I made that post earlier about how annoying I find the people in Latvia who think Merzlikins should be competing with Hungarian league goalies for a place in the national team.

I've been calling Elvis the best current and the most talented Latvian goalie since Irbe for 1.5-2 years now and I've got so much flak for it in Latvia you have no clue. I've repeated word for word a lot of what you said for quite some time and some people think I'm either an agent or a buddy of his or something.

He's such a natural talent that I have no doubt in my mind that he's going to make it to the NHL. Not sure about top 10 worldwide, that's almost impossible to project with goalies, but he is going to play in the NHL one day, no doubt.

Well to be honest, it's rather difficult to judge a player with limitided viewving cause he plays in a foreign league, even more so if it's a GK. That might make the doubts of your fellow countrymen a bit more understandable.

Look, Im not a Francois Allaire, Im just a regular hockeyfan. But watching a league like NLA, that has produced a few NHL-players over the last decade gives you an impression what kind of dominating the league is required to be a proper NHL talent. I just had this guts feeling when Streit dominated, even moreso with Hiller, who was very consistent, Josi was a clear case as well and Brunner despite his weak constitution gave you that certain impression. Altough Brunner has finaly failed but thats an other story.
With Elvis it's the same, his potential ceiling is very high.

I know he has to repeat this season and show a consistent effort. But Im very optimistic. He has matured alot over the last 2 season, showed that he doesn't run off when things get a bit more complicate. He's learnt and is still learning to better balance out beetween spectacular, entertaining hockey and where he's due to show some solid, basic hockey.

And as I've written before, he is so positively passionate, sometimes even abit too much, when he got so much tension in his body, that he has to be consistently involved in the game to be able to release some of that energy. This electrifying personality can easily catch the audience and will be if he delivers a fan favorite whereever he will play in the future.
After Bern won the titel this year they weren't showing the winners celebraiting n national tv for a long time but instead showing the losing goalkeeper, fighting the tears, and trying to stay composed in this moment of relentless disappointment. Elvis is not only a good puck catcher ...he is obviously a proper camera catcher as well.

He does indeed rock as his name suggest.

 

[Namejs]

Well to be honest, it's rather difficult to judge a player with limitided viewving cause he plays in a foreign league, even more so if it's a GK. That might make the doubts of your fellow countrymen a bit more understandable.

So you just made the assumption that I haven't seen any games of his and that I'm basing my opinion on the fact that he's got a funny name? That's pretty insulting and patronizing, to be honest.

I must've seen about 25-30 games of his, give or take, and I first saw him live exactly five years ago in the U18 WJC D1A tournament in Riga. He was still playing in the Swiss U17 league at that point. I've also been to Switzerland 6 or 7 times, heck, I've even been to a pre-season game of his once. It's as if traveling to another country is possible! NLA games are also televised sometimes, by the way. And, yes, a lot of people in Latvia followed Merzlikins play-off run in NLA this season.

Also, I'm an analytics geek, not a goalie coach, which means I'd discard the 'limited viewing' argument even if I didn't know how his face looks like or what style of game he plays. His stats (even when being too aggressive and not very pragmatic in his decision-making) is the main reason why I'm convinced he's been the leading Latvian goalie for a while.

The fact that he's becoming more mature, that he's getting rid of all the unnecessary antics and that he's trying to become as effective as possible only makes him even more exciting as an NHL prospect. I don't care about his superman dives, I care about his SVS% going up even higher.

(For reference: an overwhelming majority of Latvian fans consider the 36 yo Masalskis the leading Latvian goalie despite the fact he's been consistently below average in the KHL over the long term, or any other decent league he's played in, including NLA last season).

 

[kabidjan18]

So you just made the assumption that I haven't seen any games of his and that I'm basing my opinion on the fact that he's got a funny name? That's pretty insulting and patronizing, to be honest.

I must've seen about 25-30 games of his, give or take, and I first saw him live exactly five years ago in the U18 WJC D1A tournament in Riga. He was still playing in the Swiss U17 league at that point. I've also been to Switzerland 6 or 7 times, heck, I've even been to a pre-season game of his once. It's as if traveling to another country is possible! NLA games are also televised sometimes, by the way. And, yes, a lot of people in Latvia followed Merzlikins play-off run in NLA this season.

Also, I'm an analytics geek, not a goalie coach, which means I'd discard the 'limited viewing' argument even if I didn't know how his face looks like or what style of game he plays. His stats (even when being too aggressive and not very pragmatic in his decision-making) is the main reason why I'm convinced he's been the leading Latvian goalie for a while.

The fact that he's becoming more mature, that he's getting rid of all the unnecessary antics and that he's trying to become as effective as possible only makes him even more exciting as an NHL prospect. I don't care about his superman dives, I care about his SVS% going up even higher.

(For reference: an overwhelming majority of Latvian fans consider the 36 yo Masalskis the leading Latvian goalie despite the fact he's been consistently below average in the KHL over the long term, or any other decent league he's played in, including NLA last season).

My gosh Namejs really? He was saying "please excuse your country-mates who doubt him, they probably have just never seen him"...reading comp please...

 

[Namejs]

My gosh Namejs really? He was saying "please excuse your country-mates who doubt him, they probably have just never seen him"...reading comp please...

I might be on a sub-conscious mental defensive mode because of how much I've argued against people regarding Merzlikins on Latvian sites, but it doesn't make sense to me either way, as I wasn't referring to people who are on the fence about him or who are doubting him because they haven't seen him, but to the responses that I've received to my own analysis of him. They have seen even less of Janis Kalnins or even Punnenovs in action.

Most Latvian prospects play abroad. It's completely unusual to be critical of someone successful just because they're playing abroad in a foreign league. That's not how it works in Latvian hockey, it actually works the other way round for the most part. Which is why "they probably have never seen him" argument simply doesn't register with me. Most hockey fans haven't seen a single game of Jevpalovs, but they're saying he should join the national team.

Now, I understand most Swiss people don't know that and are missing out on a lot of context here, so I might've misinterpreted duga's words. If that's the case, my apologies, but it's got nothing to do with reading comprehension, though.

Putting petty squabbles aside for a second, Merzlikins had a great game against Germany today, making 37 saves on 38 shots and you can see that the tide is starting to turn. This exhibition game (we won 4-1, btw) was huge for him mentally. He got the player of the game award, got some TV interviews in and you could just see that it was a huge confidence booster for the kid. We're going to play Switzerland at their home ice next, which is also great for Elvis, as he's going to be playing at home and against players that he knows very well.

In other news, Kenins is going to join the national team once Utica drops out of the play-offs (0-2 down at the moment), which is also a huge boost to our team.

It looks like Jerofejevs is going to heal his bruised ribs in time, and J. Redlihs is going to join the camp after his season in Extraliga ends. Which is great news for our D depth.

Overall, things are shaping up pretty well, considering everything.

 

[duga]

Holy moly!
I know posting on a foreign board brings its fair share of difficulties. Especially when doing so not in your mother tongue. That's why I was thinking twice before posting in here. Thought I circumvented the most obvious traps.
That wasn't the echo I was expecting to be honest...

So you just made the assumption that I haven't seen any games of his and that I'm basing my opinion on the fact that he's got a funny name? That's pretty insulting and patronizing, to be honest.

No... Not at all. How do you come up with that?

I must've seen about 25-30 games of his, give or take, and I first saw him live exactly five years ago in the U18 WJC D1A tournament in Riga. He was still playing in the Swiss U17 league at that point. I've also been to Switzerland 6 or 7 times, heck, I've even been to a pre-season game of his once. It's as if traveling to another country is possible! NLA games are also televised sometimes, by the way. And, yes, a lot of people in Latvia followed Merzlikins play-off run in NLA this season.

I thought so when I read your 1st replay, that you might have followed his path closelier than others and thus have a similar opinion on him as I have. And Im well aware of modern transportation and technology in Europe. Even if I haven't been to Latvia yet. but it's definitely on my bucket list as part of abig Northeastern trip.

Also, I'm an analytics geek, not a goalie coach, which means I'd discard the 'limited viewing' argument if I didn't know how his face looks like or what style of game he plays. His stats (even when being too aggressive and not very pragmatic in his decision-making) is the main reason why I'm convinced he's been the leading Latvian goalie for a while.

The fact that he's becoming more mature, that he's getting rid of all the unnecessary antics and that he's trying to become as effective as possible only makes him even more exciting as an NHL prospect. I don't care about his superman dives, I care about his SVS% going up even higher.

(For reference: an overwhelming majority of Latvian fans consider the 36 yo Masalskis the leading Latvian goalie despite the fact he's been consistently below average in the KHL over the long term, or any other decent league he's played in, including NLA last season).

What I meant with the Allaire reference is, that Im just an ordinary hockeyfan with some routine in watching games. So don't take my opinion as serious as a scouting report.
Totally agree about the rest, his stats are indeed very good. And as I've written before, he seems to get his game together and mature just very nicely. The personality is just the topping.

Look, I wouldn't have made the effort and would risk to look like a fool with my bold prediction, if i wasn't convinced. We are pretty much on the same boat.

Masalskis had some strong games in the past against Switzerland, but in the few games I've seen him play for Ambri, he wasn't very convincing. Can't say more about him. Punnenovs is a very solid GK but talentwise a tad below Merzlikins IMO. Quite similar situation we had in Switzerland with Berra and Genoni, same age, even same team. One is more solid , the other more talented. Although the Berra-Genoni situation has no real winner, I think Merzlikins will outplay Punnenovs eventually.

 

[duga]

I might be on a sub-conscious mental defensive mode because of how much I've argued against people regarding Merzlikins on Latvian sites, but it doesn't make sense to me either way, as I wasn't referring to people who are on the fence about him or who are doubting him because they haven't seen him, but to the responses that I've received to my own analysis of him. They have seen even less of Janis Kalnins or even Punnenovs in action.

Most Latvian prospects play abroad. It's completely unusual to be critical of someone successful just because they're playing abroad in a foreign league. That's not how it works in Latvian hockey, it actually works the other way round for the most part. Which is why "they probably have never seen him" argument simply doesn't register with me. Most hockey fans haven't seen a single game of Jevpalovs, but they're saying he should join the national team.

Now, I understand most Swiss people don't know that and are missing out on a lot of context here, so I might've misinterpreted duga's words. If that's the case, my apologies, but it's got nothing to do with reading comprehension, though.

I just couldn't think of somebody actually watching him play and not being excited, thats why I supposed they were sceptical to the unknown.

You got a point there though. Im certainly not an expert on inner-latvian relations: who knows what and what not... and so on. And I surely don't want to get involved in it either. Though Im not so sure this lack of knowledge is a specific swiss thing. The French, Italians or Austrians wouldn't do any better I guess. Maybe the Dutch?

But i know pretty well how it feels to run against a wall of ignorance when it comes to discussing the future of hockeyprospects. So im with you there, it can be quite exhausting.

Putting petty squabbles aside for a second, Merzlikins had a great game against Germany today, making 37 saves on 38 shots and you can see that the tide is starting to turn. This exhibition game (we won 4-1, btw) was huge for him mentally. He got the player of the game award, got some TV interviews in and you could just see that it was a huge confidence booster for the kid. We're going to play Switzerland at their home ice next, which is also great for Elvis, as he's going to be playing at home and against players that he knows very well.

That's very nice. It seems he has conserved his form. Looking forward to the Game vs. Switzerland, hopefully he plays.

In other news, Kenins is going to join the national team once Utica drops out of the play-offs (0-2 down at the moment), which is also a huge boost to our team.

Had the pleasure to watch him for several years, as he played for my home team. We surely miss him over here. The score sheets hardly gave justice to the influence he took. Great charakter too. Not surprised he went overseas. Would be nice to see him at the WHC.

 

[Namejs]

Masalskis had some strong games in the past against Switzerland, but in the few games I've seen him play for Ambri, he wasn't very convincing. Can't say more about him. Punnenovs is a very solid GK but talentwise a tad below Merzlikins IMO. Quite similar situation we had in Switzerland with Berra and Genoni, same age, even same team. One is more solid , the other more talented. Although the Berra-Genoni situation has no real winner, I think Merzlikins will outplay Punnenovs eventually.

Masalskis just had one of his best seasons of his life, but the fact of the matter is that if it wasn't for Riga Dinamo, he probably would be playing in European minor leagues right now. Masalskis is a pretty good goalie, but he's way overrated in Latvia. I guess that's the point I wanted to make.

As for Merzlikins-Punnenovs, Punnenovs was more stable and reliable at the junior level, but that has already changed a couple of years ago, the way I see it. Merzlikins has been consistently better in NLA, while Punnenovs is posting pretty mediocre numbers in terms of SVS%.

Had the pleasure to watch him for several years, as he played for my home team. We surely miss him over here. The score sheets hardly gave justice to the influence he took. Great charakter too. Not surprised he went overseas. Would be nice to see him at the WHC.

Yup, every team needs a guy like him and we're all out of guys like Kenins. Hopefully Utica drops out of the AHL play-offs sooner rather than later.

 

[Namejs]

Also, a couple of news from the Latvian camp:
Upitis has been released from the team, while A. Sirokovs (or as kabidjan would put it, an ancient relic playing in a useless league) has joined the training camp.

Girgensons has joined the team, J. Redlihs will be added later this week.

Our depth right now:

Daugavins - Girgensons - Indrasis
Bukarts - Dzerins - Redlihs
Kenins* - Meija - Skvorcovs
Kulda - Pavlovs - Abols
Saulietis, [open spot for one of A. Ozolins/Sirokovs/Bicevskis/Jelisejevs]

Galvins - Sotnieks
Freibergs - Jerofejevs
Cibulskis - J. Redlihs
Rubins, J. Andersons

Merzlikins
Masalskis
Kalnins (due to an injury to Punnenovs)

 

[kabidjan18]

Also, a couple of news from the Latvian camp:
Upitis has been released from the team, while A. Sirokovs (or as kabidjan would put it, an ancient relic playing in a useless league) has joined the training camp.

Girgensons has joined the team, J. Redlihs will be added later this week.

Our depth right now:

Daugavins - Girgensons - Indrasis
Bukarts - Dzerins - Redlihs
Kenins* - Meija - Skvorcovs
Kulda - Pavlovs - Abols
Saulietis, [open spot for one of A. Ozolins/Sirokovs/Bicevskis/Jelisejevs]

Galvins - Sotnieks
Freibergs - Jerofejevs
Cibulskis - J. Redlihs
Rubins, J. Andersons

Merzlikins
Masalskis
Kalnins (due to an injury to Punnenovs)

Thanks for the SO homie. I recall this conversation happened when I said that the bolded, Dzerins, Meija, and Kulda (and exchangeable with Pavlovs to be exact) were Latvia A-teamers and you corrected me mentioning Sirokovs who you yourself have lower on your own depth chart than the 4 forwards I mentioned. Also mentioned Galvins, Cibulskis, and Sotnieks on defense, and I see even the lowest Cibulskis hanging above your home boy Andersons. Might want to avoid releasing depth charts that just prove my point smh come on bro...

How about this, he scores a goal he's a new relic playing in an amazing league ok? I see you there don't be shy

 

[Namejs]

Thanks for the SO homie. I recall this conversation happened when I said that the bolded, Dzerins, Meija, and Kulda (and exchangeable with Pavlovs to be exact) were Latvia A-teamers and you corrected me mentioning Sirokovs who you yourself have lower on your own depth chart than the 4 forwards I mentioned. Also mentioned Galvins, Cibulskis, and Sotnieks on defense, and I see even the lowest Cibulskis hanging above your home boy Andersons. Might want to avoid releasing depth charts that just prove my point smh come on bro...

How about this, he scores a goal he's a new relic playing in an amazing league ok? I see you there don't be shy

What absolute *********.

Your interpretation of our discussion seems to have gone through a very selective filter of yours. The entire discussion was about how many national team-level players we're missing from the Denmark exhibition games.

I listed 20+ players and you went on to say that most of them are a bunch of bums and ancient relics that would never make the team, yet ALL OF THEM (the ones who were available - Masalskis, Punnenovs, Merzlikins, Siksna, Demiters, Rubins, J. Andersons, Zile, J. Redlihs, Sirokovs, Daugavins, Redlihs, Kenins) were invited to our training camp and/or played in the next exhibition games.

I never said that all of those 20-25 players were better than every single player on the roster vs. Denmark, that's some ridiculous, hardcore casuistry you're engaging in right now to save your face.

Just admit you were wrong and move on, and next time don't discuss things you know nothing about.

 

[kabidjan18]

What absolute *********.

Your interpretation of our discussion seems to have gone through a very selective filter of yours. The entire discussion was about how many national team-level players we're missing from the Denmark exhibition games.

I listed 20+ players and you went on to say that most of them are a bunch of bums and ancient relics that would never make the team, yet ALL OF THEM (the ones who were available - Masalskis, Punnenovs, Merzlikins, Siksna, Demiters, Rubins, J. Andersons, Zile, J. Redlihs, Sirokovs, Daugavins, Redlihs, Kenins) were invited to our training camp and/or played in the next exhibition games.

I never said that all of those 20-25 players were better than every single player on the roster vs. Denmark, that's some ridiculous, hardcore casuistry you're engaging in right now to save your face.

Just admit you were wrong and move on, and next time don't discuss things you know nothing about.

Cibulskis, Bukarts, Meija and Mustukovs (lol) would make our A team, holy smokes

(Team Denmark, Page 2)
That's your quote, and somehow all those guys (minus Mustukovs who I already conceded because I'm a man not a child behind his dad's desktop) ended up on your own little depth chart above those guys you mentioned. Funny of you to accuse others of discussing things you know nothing about and just trying to save your face, you go to every board on HF and tell people why their team sucks despite knowing maybe half what they know about their own team. I will admit you got right who's gonna be on the roster but I was never arguing that, I was arguing that those guys aren't better than the guys I mentioned who were at the friendly game and from your little depth chart it seems you agree. The discussion if you recall was which team was missing more, and you can't "miss" a player who's worse than one you already are playing, even if they get a roster call if it's not an upgrade it wouldn't have made the Denmark-Latvia game more slanted towards Denmark.

That's some hardcore exaggeration in the bold there since I mentioned only Meija, Mustukovs, Cibulskis, and Bukarts.

Just admit you were making up stuff to save face, if you're saying the Denmark game was Denmark skewed because Latvia was missing more downgrades then...hopefully they have public schooling in Latvia that you can sign up for...

 

[GX]

Kenins season has ended. So that's an addition to the team.

 

[QuietContrarian]

(Team Denmark, Page 2)
That's your quote, and somehow all those guys (minus Mustukovs who I already conceded because I'm a man not a child behind his dad's desktop) ended up on your own little depth chart above those guys you mentioned. Funny of you to accuse others of discussing things you know nothing about and just trying to save your face, you go to every board on HF and tell people why their team sucks despite knowing maybe half what they know about their own team. I will admit you got right who's gonna be on the roster but I was never arguing that, I was arguing that those guys aren't better than the guys I mentioned who were at the friendly game and from your little depth chart it seems you agree. The discussion if you recall was which team was missing more, and you can't "miss" a player who's worse than one you already are playing, even if they get a roster call if it's not an upgrade it wouldn't have made the Denmark-Latvia game more slanted towards Denmark.

That's some hardcore exaggeration in the bold there since I mentioned only Meija, Mustukovs, Cibulskis, and Bukarts.

Just admit you were making up stuff to save face, if you're saying the Denmark game was Denmark skewed because Latvia was missing more downgrades then...hopefully they have public schooling in Latvia that you can sign up for...

someone just got schooled

Kabidjan ftw

 

[kabidjan18]

someone just got schooled

Kabidjan ftw

Lol, I know he's not out of things to say, slightly worried he got a hammer for flaming...nice guy just always has to be right, I was about to drop it after his next reply for the sake of keeping the forum civil.

And yes, Kenins is joining, and he may be looking to play in europe next year too as well.

 

[QuietContrarian]

Lol, I know he's not out of things to say, slightly worried he got a hammer for flaming...nice guy just always has to be right, I was about to drop it after his next reply for the sake of keeping the forum civil.

And yes, Kenins is joining, and he may be looking to play in europe next year too as well.

he is never out of things to say.

Id like Kenins to stay in NA, but I guess there are better contracts in europe.

 

[kabidjan18]

he is never out of things to say.

Id like Kenins to stay in NA, but I guess there are better contracts in europe.

It's not so much that. He's not performed up to standard for his current NHL contract, and rumor has it that the GM doesn't like him enough to keep him. Then one diverges into AHL contracts, and those are significantly less than NLA or KHL contracts. For reference his NHL contract is 600k, but if that isn't renewed he'd be between choices of the AHL salary, average 85k, or a NLA salary, where he might get 300k, or the KHL where the average import is paid 300-500k. People have a misconception that European leagues can match NHL salaries but this is untrue even for an entry level NHL contract. When a player isn't re-signed by his NHL team however the saga begins.

 

[QuietContrarian]

It's not so much that. He's not performed up to standard for his current NHL contract, and rumor has it that the GM doesn't like him enough to keep him. Then one diverges into AHL contracts, and those are significantly less than NLA or KHL contracts. For reference his NHL contract is 600k, but if that isn't renewed he'd be between choices of the AHL salary, average 85k, or a NLA salary, where he might get 300k, or the KHL where the average import is paid 300-500k. People have a misconception that European leagues can match NHL salaries but this is untrue even for an entry level NHL contract. When a player isn't re-signed by his NHL team however the saga begins.

Oh no, I was implying the contracts would better than in the AHL, not in the NHL, I agree he was not up for the NHL, but id like to see what more he ca do in the AHL, although im almost sure he is not up for that.

He went through a period where he did really well, id like to see if thast was just a fluke.