Confirmed with Link: 2017-18 roster talk, part 7; July 11: Scott Laughton, 2-yrs, $962.5k per

[Adam Warlock]

Lindblom-Giroux-Konecny
Weal-Couturier-Voracek
Filpulla-Patrick-Simmonds
Raffl-Laughton-Weise

Let G get some fresh new young linemates to maybe help spark him early. Filp can mentor patrick and Simmonds can protect him.

 

[The Madrigal]

Replaced one idiot with another.

He is getting slaughtered on twitter for not knowing that:

A. Filppula has played a fair amount of LW during his career.
B. Nolan Patrick isn't an option at wing at all.

 

[Rebels57]

He is getting slaughtered on twitter for not knowing that:

A. Filppula has played a fair amount of LW during his career.
B. Nolan Patrick isn't an option at wing at all.

Yeah he got annihilated for that comment. Hopefully he learns from it and does more research before spewing stupidity.

 

[deadhead]

He's getting paid to write this stuff and he doesn't spend ten minutes learning about the players he's writing about?

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

Yeah he got annihilated for that comment. Hopefully he learns from it and does more research before spewing stupidity.

You can't fix stupid. Boruk has been a moron for years now.

 

[Tripod]

He's getting paid to write this stuff and he doesn't spend ten minutes learning about the players he's writing about?

It's ok for him to say this stuff and get things wrong. Just ask DFF, he will explain it.

 

[bobbythebrain]

Patrick is an option at wing. There is nothing wrong with him learning the system as a winger. His skating is also a step behind imo.

There is nothing wrong with him playing wing to get acclimated. I'm ready to take some lumps here but Coots is a player who I believe was a casualty this.

I have no probs with anybody playing D, Coots is world class imo, but a year at wing imo would have developed his O game

Patrick is not in the tier of McD, Matthews or Crosby. Look at other C's a tier below. Most played wing at some point

Playing Patrick at C primarily would be limiting his development imho.

Even Draisaitl spent a good portion at wing in his short career, with McD and RNH

If Patrick makes the NHL early, wing would be a better spot. If he develops in the minors, C is just fine

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

They even tried to put him on wing in juniors and put him back to center immediately. With his size and what he does, there is no reason not to keep him at center. Lehtera and Flip all have experience playing wing in the NHL and they were fine there. There is literally nothing pointing to wing being a better spot for him. He was drafted as a center and he's going to be played as one. Why make him a wing when there is literally no reason to force him to do so? He's also not going back to the minors. His skating isn't a problem, but he's not lightning on his feet. The way he plays is not suited to be a winger.

McDavid never played wing at the NHL level. Matthews didn't either and Crosby has pretty much always been a center. Crosby has one of the best faceoff percentages in the league as well. Let Patrick play C because he has wingers he can work with. Keeping him at center definitely won't stunt his development, especially since center is his preferred position, he would actually thrive there. You don't thrive when you're put in a spot that you've never been used to or have much experience in. You don't grow that way.

 

[BackToTheBrierePatch]

put Filppula at wing. problem solved. Patrick was drafted to be a center on this team. he wasnt drafted to be forced into a position he never played. I disagree it will hurt his development if you put him on the 3rd line. This team has been looking to draft a center like this for years. he will play center.

Giroux
Couturier
Patrick
Lehtera

that is a really good group down the middle. Sure that is an expensive 4th line center, but it does make the most sense.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

Yep, but it also makes the team much better from top to bottom in terms of forwards.

Lindblom-Giroux-Simmonds
Konecny-Couturier-Voracek
Flip-Patrick-Weal
Laughton-Lehtera-Raffl

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

Couturier scores at a good rate at 5v5. However he's not a good PP scorer. So that hurts his numbers on the surface. Couturier isn't a dynamic player. He's not a space player. He's at best creating offense off the cycle which doesn't come into play on the PP. He's also not someone who's going to wow you with his shot. His goal scoring ability is of the in close dirty variety. Playing center in the NHL at 18 didn't make Couturier less dynamic.

Patrick's closer to Monahan when it comes to traits than he is Couturier.

 

[Magua]

Yeah, playing center at 18 wasn't the issue. Coaches pigeonholing him, not letting him grow, so his offensive confidence wasn't there is what hurt him for a few years. Attaching him to the hips of Rinaldo, Talbot, Downie, Umberger and so on didn't help one bit either.

Couturier wishes he could have come into the league as a teenage center in an easy scoring role on a deep team, with top 6/9 caliber linemates, like Patrick will. And indeed, he has more skill.

 

[bobbythebrain]

They even tried to put him on wing in juniors and put him back to center immediately. With his size and what he does, there is no reason not to keep him at center. Lehtera and Flip all have experience playing wing in the NHL and they were fine there. There is literally nothing pointing to wing being a better spot for him. He was drafted as a center and he's going to be played as one. Why make him a wing when there is literally no reason to force him to do so? He's also not going back to the minors. His skating isn't a problem, but he's not lightning on his feet. The way he plays is not suited to be a winger.

McDavid never played wing at the NHL level. Matthews didn't either and Crosby has pretty much always been a center. Crosby has one of the best faceoff percentages in the league as well. Let Patrick play C because he has wingers he can work with. Keeping him at center definitely won't stunt his development, especially since center is his preferred position, he would actually thrive there. You don't thrive when you're put in a spot that you've never been used to or have much experience in. You don't grow that way.

You see the game different at wing and the pressure is also eased off. There are things you can learn early at wing that mold you

I'm not saying Patrick 100% should play wing first, but it seems many on this board are saying he shouldn't...despite many examples to the contrary. Playing wing for a stint isn't going to hurt him imo

ps: His skating seems slowerish. My bet that is an issue this year. Look for it to be an issue imo

 

[BackToTheBrierePatch]

You see the game different at wing and the pressure is also eased off. There are things you can learn early at wing that mold you

I'm not saying Patrick 100% should play wing first, but it seems many on this board are saying he shouldn't...despite many examples to the contrary. Playing wing for a stint isn't going to hurt him imo

But also the thinking is putting him at 3C to start is going to take a lot of pressure of him and he will get some easier minutes and get him away from some tougher match up that he will face. especially in this division.

 

[bobbythebrain]

But also the thinking is putting him at 3C to start is going to take a lot of pressure of him and he will get some easier minutes and get him away from some tougher match up that he will face. especially in this division.

I get that. But there is something to be said for playing beside ultra skilled players like Vora and G.

There is way more examples of skilled players like Patrick spending time at wing than there there is being pigeon holed at C.

Why is that? I don't see Patrick as some special case.

Very few players get developed in one role only. He's not generational imo

If he is going to be molded as a #1 C, the offense must be developed also imo. If he is looked at being second fiddle at 2C, then i can see that

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

Yeah, playing center at 18 wasn't the issue. Coaches pigeonholing him, not letting him grow, so his offensive confidence wasn't there is what hurt him for a few years. Attaching him to the hips of Rinaldo, Talbot, Downie, Umberger and so on didn't help one bit either.

Couturier wishes he could have come into the league as a teenage center in an easy scoring role on a deep team, with top 6/9 caliber linemates, like Patrick will. And indeed, he has more skill.

When Couturier was a rookie the top two centers were Giroux & Briere. The latter obviously couldn't really matchup up well defensively against other teams top lines.

Giroux & Couturier should take the tough assignments primarily next year leaving Patrick going up against 3/4 options. He should also be flanked by better players on his wings than those mentioned above. His situation should be a lot better than what Couturier went through.

 

[bobbythebrain]

When Couturier was a rookie the top two centers were Giroux & Briere. The latter obviously couldn't really matchup up well defensively against other teams top lines.

Giroux & Couturier should take the tough assignments primarily next year leaving Patrick going up against 3/4 options. He should also be flanked by better players on his wings than those mentioned above. His situation should be a lot better than what Couturier went through.

Playing 13min a night with less skilled players? If he's being molded as a #1C, at some point he needs to play with the best on the team?

 

[BackWithaVengeance]

Sry but if Hakstol starts Patrick on the wing or the 4c position he should be canned immediately, as far as I am concerned.

With Couts, who will take on the defensive burden again, there is not a single reason for me, why Patrick can't handle top-9 minutes.

Furthermore I want Konecny on his natural RW. We have quality down the roster. He can easily play on one of three RW positions along with Simmonds and Voracek.

Let Lindblom, Filppula and Weal take care of the left side. If it doesn'T work, use some of our wealth and deal for a quality LW. It's about time we become a regular play-off visitor again.

 

[Magua]

Playing 13min a night with less skilled players? If he's being molded as a #1C, at some point he needs to play with the best on the team?

Besides Jake, our top 9 wingers are mostly interchangeable. If he plays with Flip and Simmonds instead of Weal and Lindblom, is that a difference? He'll play with wingers as talented as Giroux and Coots will. I'm sure he'll get minutes with everyone as Hakstol's wheel spins throughout the year.

Bellemare got 13 minutes last year. Patrick will play PP2 minutes, potentially PK as the year goes on, get 3v3/4v4 shifts, and I bet sooner rather than later his ES minutes aren't far behind our top 2 centers. Hakstol actually likes to roll lines. When we got Flip, all the centers were between 19-17 minutes.

 

[bobbythebrain]

Besides Jake, our top 9 wingers are mostly interchangeable. He'll play with wingers as talented as Giroux and Coots will. I'm sure he'll get minutes with everyone as Hakstol's wheel spins throughout the year.

Bellemare got 13 minutes last year. Patrick will play PP2 minutes, potentially PK as the year goes on, and I bet sooner rather than later his ES minutes aren't far behind our top 2 centers. Hakstol actually likes to roll lines. When we got Flip, all the centers were between 19-17 minutes.

If Patrick breaks into the league this year at his age, he will be playing wing for a good chunk imo, in the top 6 to also

 

[Magua]

If Patrick breaks into the league this year at his age, he will be playing wing for a good chunk imo, in the top 6 to also

Bet your soul on it. Raise the stakes!

 

[bobbythebrain]

Bet your soul on it. Raise the stakes!

Nah. Just not going with him being destined as a C early in his career..when most players his caliber don't. Call me crazy

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

The league isn't a top six/bottom six league anymore. That's a more newer change in mindset around the league. Teams want to be deep down the middle & have at least three really strong lines with their talent spread around to make matchup's harder. Before it was just load up the top six with the best players you have. That's not the case as much anymore with teams that have the depth to spread out it out amongst their top three lines.

 

[NYCFlyer]

You see the game different at wing and the pressure is also eased off. There are things you can learn early at wing that mold you

I'm not saying Patrick 100% should play wing first, but it seems many on this board are saying he shouldn't...despite many examples to the contrary. Playing wing for a stint isn't going to hurt him imo

ps: His skating seems slowerish. My bet that is an issue this year. Look for it to be an issue imo

I think it is totally predicated on how they evaluate him in camp. Wing is definitely an easier transition but if they think physically and mentally to be 3C with easier assignments thats where he will start and they will eval from there. Although he is supposedly ready physically, maybe he is only 85%. Maybe he has trouble picking up what they want him to do. I don't think it is a big deal at all for him to start at wing.

 

[Hiesenberg]

You are wasting miles on him at wing. Stupid idea, stupid plan. A complete waste of time.