2018 Offseason Grade The Player: Nick Bjugstad

[StrangeVision]

I'd also give him a C right now, but it can easily become a B.

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

Voted B, he's a 50 point player in extremely limited minutes that's spoonfed. He's also the #6 forward. He's fine. For a team that was very recently led in goals by Tomas Kopecky, having a player like Bjugs as your 6th best guy is a luxury.

Just frustrating as I know that as we go into another season watching #CaptainCharacter suck up the 4th line, and (potentially) another year of Pysyk vomiting on himself against strong competition in the defensive zone, I already know all complaints are gonna be about him.

 

[I am not exposed]

Whoever voted F for me, needs to get the F*** out!

 

[Gentle Man]

Whoever voted F for me, needs to get the F*** out!

F for Fenomenal

 

[CHGoalie27]

Props to Jameson n Harv for giving the benefit of the doubt toward a healthy Nick-A.

 

[CHGoalie27]

@flapanthersfan essplain yo self

 

[coopdaloop123]

Nick's a solid player and his cap hit reflects the type of player he is. He has 50-point potential in a top-six role and just wrapped up the first full season of his career on the wing. It's obvious the injuries set him back, so it's just a matter of whether or not he can stay healthy. He discovered last summer that staying on the ice during the offseason -- aka playing in Da Beauty League -- really helped him find his groove. He's doing that same routine again this offseason. Overall, he's a guy that scored 19 goals w/ only 1 coming on the PP. If Florida's 2nd unit has a better season and he's in the top-6, you can pencil him in for 20-plus goals. He's also huge in the locker room. That's just my 2 cents on Bjugy.

 

[Gentle Man]

Nick's a solid player and his cap hit reflects the type of player he is. He has 50-point potential in a top-six role and just wrapped up the first full season of his career on the wing. It's obvious the injuries set him back, so it's just a matter of whether or not he can stay healthy. He discovered last summer that staying on the ice during the offseason -- aka playing in Da Beauty League -- really helped him find his groove. He's doing that same routine again this offseason. Overall, he's a guy that scored 19 goals w/ only 1 coming on the PP. If Florida's 2nd unit has a better season and he's in the top-6, you can pencil him in for 20-plus goals. He's also huge in the locker room. That's just my 2 cents on Bjugy.

At 6'6, I am sure he is huge everywhere he goes

 

[letsgrowcactus]

Just curious - how exactly are we grading these guys?
Do we consider what role they played? Experience? Or are we simply making tiers of how good they were this year?
Say, Malgin is a young promising prospect and he's made progress this season, but he's not there yet.
Or, Sceviour is a fantastic fourth liner... but still a fourth liner. How do you reflect that if at all?
What grades do Ekblad and Weegar get?

 

[flapanthersfan]

@flapanthersfan essplain yo self

i don't think he's a useful NHL player. he's not good enough to play in the top 6, and he's too soft/bad defensively to be an asset in the bottom 6.

he's kind of that "tweener" player that bad teams always have on their rosters. he has enough offensive skill to play on a 3rd line, but you need third liners to be defensively responsible. bjugstad isn't.

he rid barkov's coattails to a useful statistical season, but when he doesn't play with sasha he doesn't contribute at all.

unless he SIGNIFICANTLY improves his defensive game, he's not the type of player i want on my team.

 

[I am not exposed]

i don't think he's a useful NHL player. he's not good enough to play in the top 6, and he's too soft/bad defensively to be an asset in the bottom 6.

he's kind of that "tweener" player that bad teams always have on their rosters. he has enough offensive skill to play on a 3rd line, but you need third liners to be defensively responsible. bjugstad isn't.

he rid barkov's coattails to a useful statistical season, but when he doesn't play with sasha he doesn't contribute at all.

unless he SIGNIFICANTLY improves his defensive game, he's not the type of player i want on my team.

Yeah, you can just the F out of here!

Did you miss last season? His defensive game improved significantly. As in he was very defensively responsible. It was a big improvement in his game.

 

[flapanthersfan]

Yeah, you can just the F out of here!

Did you miss last season? His defensive game improved significantly. As in he was very defensively responsible. It was a big improvement in his game.

he's still terrible defensively. playing next to barkov can make anyone look competent.

DeFranks wrote an article last week that showed the Dadonov-Barkov-Bjugstad line was the worst defensive line Barkov has ever centered in his career. hmmmm?

Dadonov is also a poor defensive player - but unlike Bjugstad, he is a very good offensive player. So you can deal with his shortcomings.

when he wasn't next to barkov, he was exposed in both ends. you stat watchers can get blinded rather easily. he's still not a very good player.

was kinda hoping we could trade him in a package as the "mikkel boedker" salary dump type of piece in a trade for an upgrade.

speaking of "tweener players" that bad teams have...mikkel boedker. good example. (and yes, i realize SJ is a good team.... but there's a reason they desperately wanted to dump him)

 

[CHGoalie27]

i don't think he's a useful NHL player. he's not good enough to play in the top 6, and he's too soft/bad defensively to be an asset in the bottom 6.

he's kind of that "tweener" player that bad teams always have on their rosters. he has enough offensive skill to play on a 3rd line, but you need third liners to be defensively responsible. bjugstad isn't.

he rid barkov's coattails to a useful statistical season, but when he doesn't play with sasha he doesn't contribute at all.

unless he SIGNIFICANTLY improves his defensive game, he's not the type of player i want on my team.

Well I mean I have to ask, do you acknowledge what is an obvious difference to many here between when he's playing hurt and when he's playing healthy?

Because you're describing the Bjugstad that's been playing like he's hurt, like I said in OP, the one that is always lurking in the shadows enough to make me not feel comfortable giving him an A.

All the while we were catching up to the fine line of missing the playoffs by a point, and he didn't look like his back was stopping him from giving the extra push, what you say above sure doesn't apply to Nick Bjugstad! I mean you're def. entitled to your opinion, but an F is past the mark of unreasonable to me. Even if the nagging injuries thing is enough for you to just want him to go as too much a risk...an F is like...Bouw in his last year...Bertuzzi...Not Bryan Allen. Bryan Allen was another Bjugstad, fantastic when healthy, but it was rare for him to play more than a handful of games with the bum knee not being an obvious issue.

 

[Chaos2k7]

Health has nothing to do with Nicks defensive game. Or is it the primary reason he was forced to the wing. He was only productive with Barky last season. While Huby and Trocheck are no slouches, and they could have used a defensively responsible third winger. However the three were a fire lit in a trash can together.

I love the twisting. He was passable, no more no less. If he improves its good for the Panthers, but one good season does not make his limitations or his risk go away.

The only place he has looked competent in the last four years is for a 3 game stretch replacing Trocheck in the playoffs, and on Barkov's wing. He is not long for the team.

 

[FlaPanthers11]

Bjugstad certainly didn't bring his line down this year in any way.

 

[TheImpatientPanther]

Bjugstad certainly didn't bring his line down this year in any way.

That's quite the Bjeastly constellation there.

 

[DrMom9900]

Giving Bjugturd a B definitely doesnt make any sense, considering everyone gave barkov an A. Really? Bjug is only 1 grade lower than Barkov. k, looks like the spin wagon has come full circle. Least i stick to my guns.

 

[Ghoste]

Well, the guy had a crappy first half and a good second half. Played all 82 games and set a career high in points of 48. All in all, you want players to improve which he did. I personally don't see him as a 30/30/60 guy but maybe if he doesn't have such a weak first half and can just be consistent throughout the season, he just might. I honestly wish he could perform well as our 3rd line RW and have a more skilled guy on Sasha's line.

If you want to give him a C, D, or F go ahead. I mean it's not like this goes into a report that sits on Bob's desk or anything.

-ghoste

 

[GermanPanther]

I couldn´t understand the A amd the F voting. I mean i been for bring the boy back to Minnesota, like Rau.
But from B-E its everything okay. B maybe a bit overrated or see it in the better Way.

But only for the Mention i like this Thread i hope we bring it up now every Year.

 

[KW]

Well, the guy had a crappy first half and a good second half. Played all 82 games and set a career high in points of 48. All in all, you want players to improve which he did. I personally don't see him as a 30/30/60 guy but maybe if he doesn't have such a weak first half and can just be consistent throughout the season, he just might. I honestly wish he could perform well as our 3rd line RW and have a more skilled guy on Sasha's line.

If you want to give him a C, D, or F go ahead. I mean it's not like this goes into a report that sits on Bob's desk or anything.

-ghoste

The season started off not so great for Nick but also not so great for the team. Nick personally was coming back healthy for the first time in 2-3 years and needed time to get stronger.

What his detractors are totally dismissing, and commit a grave error of judgment in, is his improvement throughout the season. Nick was maybe the one player who got better every week.

His improvement wasn’t lightning fast but it was undeniable. His detractors cannot have watched the games or if they did they have an irrational personal vendetta against him. Nick is well set up to continue his improvement this coming season, which will increase the calls to “trade him while he’s got any value at all”. It’s a comical emotional response from these fans.

 

[I am not exposed]

Giving Bjugturd a B definitely doesnt make any sense, considering everyone gave barkov an A. Really? Bjug is only 1 grade lower than Barkov. k, looks like the spin wagon has come full circle. Least i stick to my guns.

A lot of grading is done on the actual expectations of players. Not the talent level.

For example, I'm sure Sceviour will get a B grade, but he's obviously nowhere close to Barkov. Because one is a 1st liner, and the other is a 4th liner. I'm just most base the grade on how well they performed to their abilities that season.

 

[Ryuji Yamazaki]

The season started off not so great for Nick but also not so great for the team. Nick personally was coming back healthy for the first time in 2-3 years and needed time to get stronger.

What his detractors are totally dismissing, and commit a grave error of judgment in, is his improvement throughout the season. Nick was maybe the one player who got better every week.

His improvement wasn’t lightning fast but it was undeniable. His detractors cannot have watched the games or if they did they have an irrational personal vendetta against him. Nick is well set up to continue his improvement this coming season, which will increase the calls to “trade him while he’s got any value at all”. It’s a comical emotional response from these fans.

His "improvement" stemmed from playing with Barkov and Dadonov.

Just like @flapanthersfan mentioned, he's not good enough offensively for the top 6 and not good enough defensively/gritty enough for bottom six duties. Which is why zero PP and PK time.

Sceviour is a much better player and would probably put up similar numbers playing on the top line without hindering them.

 

[BeezKnees]

For the Bjugstad haters: you should love him playing on Barkov's line. It's the easiest way to boost his stats and trade value around the league. Best case scenario he has chemistry with Barkov and is serviceable on the top line (like kunitz for Crosby or okposo to Tavares). Worst case scenario is his trade value is inflated from playing with Barkov and he looks better on paper.

 

[DrMom9900]

Yea but thats with the expectation that Tallon would actually trade him, which seems more and more unlikely as each season progresses. Bjug just does not excel at anything particularly. He's not fast, he's okay defensively but seems stuck in molasses at times, his vision is sub par for a high draftpick center, his passing is mostly miss (hit or miss), his shot can be lethal, but that only seems like 5 games out of the season when he's on.

He does not maintain offense. He can not protect the puck well and I see most of barkovs offense ending on bjugstad's stick when he turns it over or does nothing to extend a play. Purely a beneficiary of a top tier 1C. Maybe i've let my anti-bjugstad bias just veil my perspective but I can't stand this guy the past 3 seasons.

 

[Ryuji Yamazaki]

Yea but thats with the expectation that Tallon would actually trade him, which seems more and more unlikely as each season progresses. Bjug just does not excel at anything particularly. He's not fast, he's okay defensively but seems stuck in molasses at times, his vision is sub par for a high draftpick center, his passing is mostly miss (hit or miss), his shot can be lethal, but that only seems like 5 games out of the season when he's on.

He does not maintain offense. He can not protect the puck well and I see most of barkovs offense ending on bjugstad's stick when he turns it over or does nothing to extend a play. Purely a beneficiary of a top tier 1C. Maybe i've let my anti-bjugstad bias just veil my perspective but I can't stand this guy the past 3 seasons.

And this was being generous imo.