2019/20 Roster Thread XXXV

[CanadianFlyer88]

The roster talk for the never ending season continues here.

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[orangey]

Let there be hockey!

 

[CapnZin]

I wonder what the first hot take is going to be in this thread... can I make a guess in it being Frost isn’t ready for the rigors of the NHL playoffs or Hagg should be playing over Ghost

 

[deadhead]

It's not a matter of Frost being "ready for the rigors of the NHL," rather, whether Frost is ready and a good fit for the available roles.
He's not going to be the 4C, so at 3C he'd center JVR and ???
Would that line work as well as alternatives?
That's why they pay AV the big bucks.

As far as Hagg v Ghost, it's Ghost v Ghost, i.e., is his knee close to 100%.
A hobbled Ghost isn't as good as Hagg. At least Hagg can give you a big body on defense, a hobbled Ghost is meh at both ends.

 

[Deadpool8812]

Hagg gives you a big body? If the only positive that Hagg gives you is a "big body" then he shouldn't be dressing regularly over anyone

 

[orangey]

It's not a matter of Frost being "ready for the rigors of the NHL," rather, whether Frost is ready and a good fit for the available roles.
He's not going to be the 4C, so at 3C he'd center JVR and ???
Would that line work as well as alternatives?
That's why they pay AV the big bucks.

As far as Hagg v Ghost, it's Ghost v Ghost, i.e., is his knee close to 100%.
A hobbled Ghost isn't as good as Hagg. At least Hagg can give you a big body on defense, a hobbled Ghost is meh at both ends.

Frost could help the 3rd line if he looks good in camp. This is almost like a new season so I don't know if it matters much what was happening before the stoppage. Soon he will have a chance to show that he has learned what they want him to and is ready to get back into the lineup and contribute. As for linemates; JVR and NAK (or Pitlick) would be a fine line for him to center, and with favorable matchups likely in that 3rd line role.

Grant can center more of a checking 4th line with Laughton and one of Raffl/Pitlick (or NAK if not on 3rd) on RW. That's a good line to put out there when you need a D zone draw with a couple centers to give the big guys a break, and to use as specialists.

Gost if healthy absolutely should be in. He was only shutdown because he wasn't healthy and that was a long time ago. Again, what happened then doesn't really matter now if he looks good and healthy in camp. Plus with Braun you really need a guy who can move the puck better than Hagg on that pair. Braun and Hagg together is less than ideal and I'm not a Hagg hater. They are just too similar and limited in the same way if you have better and more complimentary options to use.

 

[Curufinwe]

Ghost and Frost can't possibly be involved with playoff hockey in August no matter how good they may look in camp or the play-in games because they weren't playing regularly in the NHL in February and March.

 

[BlackandOrange]

Shines the @Appleyard signal. How do you think Linus Sandin will adapt to the NA ice, and how much time do you think he will need with the Phantoms?

 

[deadhead]

Given that both Sandin (145 games) and Hogberg (200 games) have multiple SHL seasons, and the SHL overall is slightly above the AHL in terms of competition, the adjustment for both will be more about NA hockey than needing additional experience. Similar to Lindblom when he came over.

Sandin just turned 24 and Hogberg 22, so they're pretty close to physically mature at this point in their careers.

 

[Tripod]

"close to physically mature".....at age 22 and 24.

Yet Frost is done since he turned 21 3 weeks ago.

 

[Appleyard]

Shines the @Appleyard signal. How do you think Linus Sandin will adapt to the NA ice, and how much time do you think he will need with the Phantoms?

His game is well suited on paper. Loves to get to the net, good on the boards, solid defensively. Skates fine.

I imagine he could play right away tbh and not be a problem in a bottom six role.

Just depends on how comfortable feels on smaller ice really... could be makes team off the bat... could be that takes 20 games in AHL.

 

[FLYguy3911]

Frost needs until October 2020 to be NHL ready. August 2020 is too soon.

 

[Striiker]

Frost needs precisely until the all-knowing staff says he's ready, at which point suddenly the narrative will change from "he's not ready" to "look how they developed him".

 

[Curufinwe]

If Fletcher had fired AV like he should have, then we could have Ghost back on the top pairing with Provy for the playoffs instead of useless old Niskanen.

 

[BritainStix]

If Fletcher had fired AV like he should have, then we could have Ghost back on the top pairing with Provy for the playoffs instead of useless old Niskanen.

If only the season ending Stewart signing hadn't happened.

 

[Curufinwe]

GM is incompetent.

Coaches are dumb.

We knew this back in June, and we still know it in June II. Just like we knew this for sure:

Subban > Niskanen or Braun​

 

[Curufinwe]

7 out of 8 Metro teams made the extended playoffs. Every team but PK and the Devils. So much for the Summer of Shero.

New Jersey adds Hughes and Subban
Rangers adds Kakko and Trouba
Flyers add Niskanen, Braun, and Hayes

The 3 worst players of those 7 went to the Flyers.

Braun outscoring Subban in fewer games and without the benefit of PP time is hilarious.

Hughes 21P in 61 games
Subban 18P in 68 games

Kakko 23P in 66 games
Trouba 27P in 70 games

Niskanen 33P in 68 games
Braun 19P in 62 games
Hayes 41P in 69 games

 

[Rebels57]

7 out of 8 Metro teams made the extended playoffs. Every team but PK and the Devils. So much for the Summer of Shero.



Braun outscoring Subban in fewer games and without the benefit of PP time is hilarious.

Hughes 21P in 61 games
Subban 18P in 68 games

Kakko 23P in 66 games
Trouba 27P in 70 games

Niskanen 33P in 68 games
Braun 19P in 62 games
Hayes 41P in 69 games

 

[Curufinwe]

Bang for your buck: Ranking all 31 goalie tandems based on...

5. Philadelphia Flyers

Goaltending rank: 14th | Cap hit rank: 30th | Difference: plus-16

Oh, the beauty of entry-level contracts. The Flyers benefited greatly from it this season, as 21-year-old Carter Hart provided average goaltending for next to nothing. Hart’s cap hit of only $730,833 ranks 128th among goalies, but he was statistically a top-25 goalie. They aren’t spectacular numbers, but they’re very good for a goalie in his second NHL season and were much better than the cap hit justifies.

Backup Brian Elliott struggled with a sub-.900 save percentage and minus-8.02 GSAA. But even so, Philadelphia managed to sneak just above the league average in goaltending, while paying only $2,730,833 for the duo. That allowed the Flyers to spend cap space elsewhere, like their $25.9 million defensive core that is the second-most expensive in the NHL.

 

[Deadpool8812]

7 out of 8 Metro teams made the extended playoffs. Every team but PK and the Devils. So much for the Summer of Shero.



Braun outscoring Subban in fewer games and without the benefit of PP time is hilarious.

Hughes 21P in 61 games
Subban 18P in 68 games

Kakko 23P in 66 games
Trouba 27P in 70 games

Niskanen 33P in 68 games
Braun 19P in 62 games
Hayes 41P in 69 games

Remember last off-season when we were constantly told that both the Rangers and Devils would be better than us?

 

[Cootsfanclub]

Bang for your buck: Ranking all 31 goalie tandems based on...

5. Philadelphia Flyers

Goaltending rank: 14th | Cap hit rank: 30th | Difference: plus-16

Oh, the beauty of entry-level contracts. The Flyers benefited greatly from it this season, as 21-year-old Carter Hart provided average goaltending for next to nothing. Hart’s cap hit of only $730,833 ranks 128th among goalies, but he was statistically a top-25 goalie. They aren’t spectacular numbers, but they’re very good for a goalie in his second NHL season and were much better than the cap hit justifies.

Backup Brian Elliott struggled with a sub-.900 save percentage and minus-8.02 GSAA. But even so, Philadelphia managed to sneak just above the league average in goaltending, while paying only $2,730,833 for the duo. That allowed the Flyers to spend cap space elsewhere, like their $25.9 million defensive core that is the second-most expensive in the NHL.

I actually didn't expect that one, but I don't know how they got there. Coyotes, Sharks, and Canes all spend more to begin with.

 

[bennysflyers16]

Ghost and Frost can't possibly be involved with playoff hockey in August no matter how good they may look in camp or the play-in games because they weren't playing regularly in the NHL in February and March.

There was a discussion at the course yesterday having beers, Striker would of been proud of me, but he would of lost his shit . The topic of discussion was Ghost.

 

[Rich Nixon]

Remember last off-season when we were constantly told that both the Rangers and Devils would be better than us?

That talk KILLED me. I thought it was absolutely hilarious at the time, no verifiable reasoning for it. People are just really bad at evaluating what's wrong with teams, though. The Flyers sucked for basic reasons: Bad depth, bad coaching. Fixed 'em both, but no one noticed. The Rangers and Devils still had (/have) glaring holes after their big offseasons, but people saw a couple shiny objects and forgot how hockey works.

People will point to the Rangers' late-season hot streak as evidence that they did, in fact, turn into a good team, which...maybe they are. They didn't look very convincing to me when the Flyers ate them twice during that hot streak, they just looked like a mediocre team on a goalie-powered hot streak, didn't seem like a real threat to an actual good team. Better than I expected, for sure.

Fox is way better than he should be right out of the box, though, and Zibanajed is a much better player than I think anyone gave him credit for a year ago, so who knows. I'll hafta see them play this way over a full season before I give them total credit--the Hakstol Flyers also got white-hot for a couple months, finished with 98 points and made the playoffs only to get pasted. That team still sucked.

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

The Rangers definitely got better but they still have cap issues that’s going to make it harder to build off what they currently have going forward.

Kakko was horrendous this year which I don’t think many envisioned. As was Trouba. Panarin & Fox were very good though.

New Jersey is essentially starting over.

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

I still think New Jersey did the right thing though. They took some low cost gambles to see if they could improve the team with Hall still there & whether he’d be worthy of an extension.

It didn’t work but they ejected & stock piled some assets to build around Hischier, Hughes, & their top pick this year. They’re probably going to be irrelevant by default these next few years as the rebuild. So we’ll see but it probably was the best course of action.