Abbotsford Canucks Talk

[MS]

Gatcomb just doesn't have much skill with the puck and although his speed is fine for the AHL his agility is mediocre at that level. He's the winger version of Chase Wouters, with a step more of speed. Can do a solid job in the bottom six in the AHL and that's about it.

He's a much better skater than Wouters and significantly bigger. Wouters is just too small and too average a skater to be anything more than what he is.

To be clear, I'm not saying Gatcomb is an NHL player. But he's a very reliable player at this level and there's a very specific short-term role in the NHL where I think he'd actually be an option.

I also think his production would be a lot better if he was playing with better players. It's hard playing 8 minutes with Loewens and the like and he suddenly looks hugely better when he's with Raty, both this year and last year.

 

[sting101]

I actually thought Johnson had received kudos for doing a pretty serviceable job of digging up guys to give PTOs and ATOs to to flesh out the Comets roster because the Canucks were rushing every prospect to the NHL, and did Benning did f*** all to stock the Comets up with depth.

Johnson has certainly been given a lot more to work with in Abbotsford, and I think the teams have been really good. Both from a prospect perspective and a free agent acquisition one.

But I think one area he has needed to address and fail is some toughness in the lineup. As MS said, moving Arsenault rather than adding guys to help him was a head scratcher.

Arseneau is 31 now so they had to start thinking of moving on soon. But yes they should have targeted a player or 2 that could manage 10-15 minutes and be able to stand up to the BS that has been dished out rather than AKL and Loewen who are not good players at the AHL level so certainly some criticism warranted.

The fact remains they are a top team with good layers of development as nobody seems to be flailing (quite the contrary given Hoglander PDG Aman Juulsen Bains Raty Podkolzin etc) even with some of the injuries.

Other than Josh Bloom who rightly was sent to Kalamazoo and being surprised at how poorly Hirose has done given the hype from many here it seems like everything is trending well

Cicek is a really underrated acquisition. Guy can play big minutes and has no issues taking care of business which is huge given the D is lined with players like Wolanin Hirose Brisebois (who never is healthy) Johansson McWard Woo that are not tough. Asking 35yr old Matt Irwin to enforce is not fair at this stage either.

 

[Blue and Green]

He's a much better skater than Wouters and significantly bigger. Wouters is just too small and too average a skater to be anything more than what he is.

To be clear, I'm not saying Gatcomb is an NHL player. But he's a very reliable player at this level and there's a very specific short-term role in the NHL where I think he'd actually be an option.

I also think his production would be a lot better if he was playing with better players. It's hard playing 8 minutes with Loewens and the like and he suddenly looks hugely better when he's with Raty, both this year and last year.

He tries hard and he has some defensive acumen but his skills are strictly bottom-six AHL. I don't think he's much better than Wouters as a skater; faster, yes, but not any better in the agility department and perhaps worse balance. The probability of him ever getting a contract from a club in the NHL is close to nil.

 

[Aqualung]

RD also said Johnson played a role in bringing in Dakota Joshua initially as an AHL call up player or depth 13th fwd— obviously who’s morphed into more than that.

 

[orcatown]

I've followed the Canuck farm teams for years - pre AHLlive on pay sites and even used to listen to radio broadcasts stretching back to Manitoba Moose days. That gives me some good insight on what the AHl is about. It's tough League. Every team keeps around a couple of bruisers to keep the younger players safe. Most also have some harden vets to supply leadership and necessary secondary push back. Even now teams all have an enforcer like Doty in Ontario, Greetsten in Henderson, Douglas in Tuscan, etc... and, if you look through their lineups, they have others to provide additional toughness. In many cases, younger hard nosed players are brought if you you're having trouble with the vet rule.

Most teams recognize that the purpose of farm teams is to develop a couple of your main prospects in a safe environment. Teams recognize that most of the prospects are not going to make so concentrate on those good prospects you have to protect. Filling up your lineup with young prospects is simply asking for trouble. And certainly Abbotsford this year has demonstrated that.

If you look at Abby and ask who is going to make to the NHL you have very few that will. Even a player like Podkolzin is not sure fire and others, like Bains or Hirose, are longshots. I know people like to envison every youngster becoming an NHL player but very few, in any meaningful way, will move up to the NHL. So your real need is to make sure any legit prospect can develop in a safe environment.

Johnson must have see lineup was potentially full of younger players - many just out of university or with little pro experience. Any seasoned or decent AHL GM would (or should) have seen the need to get toughness was a priority. That didn't happen. He got Loewen but the player had already established elsewhere he was a joke. He'd played in the Abbotsford divsion (if you can call what he does playing) against us and that was enough to see he was just terrible as player and effective in protecting others. And when it became obvious he was unplayable the team had nothing to stop the way our players were being run. Give someone like Neilson credit for trying to fight but he was simply too undersized and quickly lost to a concussion.

Nor is this the first time , Johnson has failed to protect younger players. Often in Utica the team was decimated by injuries because they had no real toughness. I watched near all the games in Utica and and watched our prospects (especially our Swedish ones) get constantly banged around. Finally he stumbled upon Arseneau and he became something of deterrent. But he never had any back up and was often missing with injury or, in some cases, just pulled out of the lineup.

More recently we ave seen how Rathbone was hammered out of a chance to develop. He was one of the top defensemen in the AHL a couple of years ago and point a game player. He had trouble covering size around his net but he was a top tier offensive player in that League. The next season he was continually run and eventually carted off on the stretcher. The hellicous hits that player took killed any chance for Rathbone to build on his previous season. And for all you who think the Johnson inability to provide a safe environment for younger players is ok or not a big deal, I ask you to consider how Lekkerimaki or Willander will do given the Johnson's incompetency in providing a protective atmosphere for younger players. Are you fine with watching them get what Rathbone got??? Is it out of line to want a GM at the AHL level that makes sure he is about providing that safe environment for players like Willander or Lekkeirmaki? Or is that just ranting?

Far as Stevens goes he is good example of the Johnson approach. Stevens is a mediocre minor pro player. He is a dime a dozen PKer and checker, who provides very little offense at even the AHL level. But the important point is that he soft as butter. This is exactly the type of player that should have been replaced by some true toughness. If Stevens was a leading offensive player then you could maybe justify having him around. But he isn't and is easily replaceable. And when you have such an obvious need for toughness you need to replace this type of mediocre player with a vet who brings that toughness.

Johnson knew what the players he had coming to the team and if he had any smarts or forsight would have priorized gettng some seasoned, tough vet players (like many of other teams in our division did) Instead he signs Stevens to a two year contract. And much of that seems a result of Johnson close friendship with Stevens. In other words, he put his own interests ahead of the team needs. Better to have his buddy around than provide protection for the younger players. And this was after the ugly way other young players like Rathbone had been virtually run out of hockey.

To me, the situation in Abbotsford has been a disgrace - bringing in Loewen, watching the players be continually run, consistently cross checked in the face, and deliberately hurt. Watching youngster bravely trying to fight back against players older, bigger and stronger players than them. Watching prospects like Silvos be driven over backwards into his net. And this has not only been a problem this year but a continual problem under Johnson.

I know there some here who dismiss all this as a rant. However, it is lot of these same people that go on about our prospects and how important our development system is. They disregard a problem that is right in front of their faces because it might go against the narrative that Johnson is doing a great job. But if you are concerned about the huge amount of injuries (8 concussions and counting) and the past history of injuries to our prospects maybe you can tell me why this problem should be ignored.

 

[THRILLHOIAF]

The underlying and most important story coming out of Abby this year has been the way the young players have been thrown to the Wolves. The announcer mentioned tonite that no player other than Raty has played every game. There have been 14 injuries (that might br some kind of record) on the team and many of them have been major and the long term effect of all the concussions is yet to be seen. Certainly they have not helped players like Sassons, Podkolzin, Neilsen and others to have chance to develop.

Johnson has been entrusted to do very little in terms of the roster. The team has basically been assembled by the Vancouver mangement and their scouting staff. One of the few duties Johnson has is to make sure the younger players had some vet help. Instead Johnson hires a useless crony like Stevens. And this was little different than when he was in Utica where the team was racked. year after year, with injuries and useless replacements. Indeed, fans in Utica hated the man if the accounts by Comet posters like Bad goalie are to be believed. There were times apparently when he was simply AWOL when the going got tough.

Respectfully, good!

What the hell's the point of slow-rolling a prospect on his ELC until they're waiver eligible, expensive, or on two-way deals and you have no idea if they can hack important minutes for an NHL team, let alone an AHL one?

Throwing prospects to the wolves is how the LA Kings knew what they had in their rebuild draft stock. Sold all the guys who weren't quite helping now (Durzi, Grans, Vilardi) for pieces that did, kept the ones that they knew could play big minutes and contribute down the short-term road (Kaliyev, Spence, Bjornfot, Turcotte) all of them were thrown into the top six or top pair in Ontario, and they were dogshit for one or two years, then were one of the best teams in the West.

Johnson's actually got a development crew on hand now and it's resulted in his youth playing big roles and show actual improvement. Can't be stressed enough that the Benning era did not have a single development coach in Utica during it's entire run. Just the coaching staff and that's it.

Before, if guys like Palmu, Lind, Jasek, and Gadjovich didn't get minutes, you knew they were f***ed immediately because there was clearly no plan, no development staff on hand to try and turn them into pieces that can contribute on their ELCs. Zero ambition or long-term plan from that management group soiled all draft stock.

NOW, I see guys like Fil Johansson play 20 minutes a night on the PK, PP2, and 5-on-5 and give up a crapton of 5v5 goals and score a bunch at 5-on-5, too and I don't worry as much as I would have in the past. There's reason to have hope that they can shepherd these guys along to provide credible NHL minutes in depth roles while they're cost-efficient.

Johnson's done a good job. He was on a literal island in Utica. Scouting and finding ECHL players on his own last minute because guys were constantly injured (as you said). Hard to fault the guy for everything that went wrong during the Utica era, when there was zero support system in place.

And John Stevens is perfectly credible AHL depth, who can play up and down the lineup.

 

[Vector]

 

[Vector]

 

[Vector]

 

[Vector]

Dries and Stevens also have scored. 6-0

 

[orcatown]

Respectfully, good!

What the hell's the point of slow-rolling a prospect on his ELC until they're waiver eligible, expensive, or on two-way deals and you have no idea if they can hack important minutes for an NHL team, let alone an AHL one?

Throwing prospects to the wolves is how the LA Kings knew what they had in their rebuild draft stock. Sold all the guys who weren't quite helping now (Durzi, Grans, Vilardi) for pieces that did, kept the ones that they knew could play big minutes and contribute down the short-term road (Kaliyev, Spence, Bjornfot, Turcotte) all of them were thrown into the top six or top pair in Ontario, and they were dogshit for one or two years, then were one of the best teams in the West.

Johnson's actually got a development crew on hand now and it's resulted in his youth playing big roles and show actual improvement. Can't be stressed enough that the Benning era did not have a single development coach in Utica during it's entire run. Just the coaching staff and that's it.

Before, if guys like Palmu, Lind, Jasek, and Gadjovich didn't get minutes, you knew they were f***ed immediately because there was clearly no plan, no development staff on hand to try and turn them into pieces that can contribute on their ELCs. Zero ambition or long-term plan from that management group soiled all draft stock.

NOW, I see guys like Fil Johansson play 20 minutes a night on the PK, PP2, and 5-on-5 and give up a crapton of 5v5 goals and score a bunch at 5-on-5, too and I don't worry as much as I would have in the past. There's reason to have hope that they can shepherd these guys along to provide credible NHL minutes in depth roles while they're cost-efficient.

Johnson's done a good job. He was on a literal island in Utica. Scouting and finding ECHL players on his own last minute because guys were constantly injured (as you said). Hard to fault the guy for everything that went wrong during the Utica era, when there was zero support system in place.

And John Stevens is perfectly credible AHL depth, who can play up and down the lineup.

Don't get a lot of this.

When LA was bringing the younger players they kept around players like Essyimont and Imana to protect them. They also had a number of vets like Sutter and Stanton to provide toughness. I'm not saying you don't play the younger players or don't use them in your top 6 - what I am saying is you also provide them with some toughness in other areas of your lineup to safeguard them. You don't throw your prospects to the Wolves to see if they can play and LA did nothing like this at all. So I don't understand what you're getting at.

You're saying there was no plan of development in Utica but somehow Johnson is not at fault for this even though he was the GM???? Instead the blame falls on the coach and others. Well if the coach was no good at developing players why didn't Johnson (considering he was the GM) fire him and replace him. Fact the team was no good at developing players during the time Johnson was GM of the team is not an argument that he was a good development person.

Also, I watched those games involving Gadojovich and the others . Gadjovich, when he wasn't injured, played plenty and got on a hot streak and became one of Utica's leading scorers. Also, Lind got plenty of time and Jasek was out on the PP, was killing penalties and playing on the top line during his last season in Utica. Saying these players were not getting a full look is nonsense. They were. Far as Palmu is concerned, he quickly established he was no where good enough for the AHL and then he whined and wanted to go back to Finland.

Like you said, Johnson was in constant search for dregs from the ECHL to replace the many injured players he had on his Utica team. Kind of proves my point that he never did much to protect his players, then or now. And you would have thought he would have learned from his experiences in Utica. I agree he had abysmal support from the Benning and Canuck management but he has to take some of the blame for the awful situation in Utica.

As far as Johansson goes, it is good that he is playing well but he is now out with (you guessed it) an injury. More evidence that, in fact, that we need to protect our players.

And with Stevens. He might be an adequate AHL player. But IMO he is not what Abby needs. He is not critical to the success of the team and the team needed to consider bringing a player that was hard nosed enough to deter other teams from running our younger players

You're overall argument seems to be that the younger players must play to give them a chance to develop and to determine if they are good enough to be seen as decent prospects. I agree and have said nothing to suggest that this is my argument. What I amn saying is that Johnson had (and has) the responsibility to provide a safe environement for this to happen in. Many of young prospects have been badly hurt this year and IMO that has been, in a major way, due to the lack of deterance, Johnson provided.

In the end, I see this as problem in developing our prospect (hard to develop when you aren't playing or our constantly hurt) and the injury situation in Abby has been serious enough to demand Johnson and others do something about it.

 

[krutovsdonut]

Respectfully, good!

What the hell's the point of slow-rolling a prospect on his ELC until they're waiver eligible, expensive, or on two-way deals and you have no idea if they can hack important minutes for an NHL team, let alone an AHL one?

Throwing prospects to the wolves is how the LA Kings knew what they had in their rebuild draft stock. Sold all the guys who weren't quite helping now (Durzi, Grans, Vilardi) for pieces that did, kept the ones that they knew could play big minutes and contribute down the short-term road (Kaliyev, Spence, Bjornfot, Turcotte) all of them were thrown into the top six or top pair in Ontario, and they were dogshit for one or two years, then were one of the best teams in the West.

Johnson's actually got a development crew on hand now and it's resulted in his youth playing big roles and show actual improvement. Can't be stressed enough that the Benning era did not have a single development coach in Utica during it's entire run. Just the coaching staff and that's it.

Before, if guys like Palmu, Lind, Jasek, and Gadjovich didn't get minutes, you knew they were f***ed immediately because there was clearly no plan, no development staff on hand to try and turn them into pieces that can contribute on their ELCs. Zero ambition or long-term plan from that management group soiled all draft stock.

NOW, I see guys like Fil Johansson play 20 minutes a night on the PK, PP2, and 5-on-5 and give up a crapton of 5v5 goals and score a bunch at 5-on-5, too and I don't worry as much as I would have in the past. There's reason to have hope that they can shepherd these guys along to provide credible NHL minutes in depth roles while they're cost-efficient.

Johnson's done a good job. He was on a literal island in Utica. Scouting and finding ECHL players on his own last minute because guys were constantly injured (as you said). Hard to fault the guy for everything that went wrong during the Utica era, when there was zero support system in place.

And John Stevens is perfectly credible AHL depth, who can play up and down the lineup.

solid post

 

[sting101]

What the hell is going on here?

 

[vanuck]

Sure it's a great developmental circuit, but there's no pretending the AHL isn't a bit behind the times when it comes to certain things like goonery (hell, just look at how outdated their stat-keeping is). Teams probably realize they can't rely on their star prospects being available all the time due to callups and graduating, so there's a need to draw in fans by other means. And unfortunately violence sells. Maybe even more so in nontraditional markets where hockey is relatively less established compared to football/baseball/basketball etc.
orcatown's not alone in his views. Bad Goalie used to go off on Johnson too on how he handled the Comets back then. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least somewhat concerned about our young guns getting injured whenever they play a team like the Wranglers for instance.

 

[CherryToke]

Call up Arshdeep before he gets gooned

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Abbotsford shitmixed Ontario tonight. Wow.

McWard with 3 assists, Bains with a goal and an assist, Nielsen with a goal and an assist, Cicek with his first goal in Abby, Silovs with a shutout, Karlsson with an goal - very nice.

 

[ChilliBilly]

Am i wrong to think that organizational depth is actually decent right now?

forwards that could be called up and not look horribly out of place:

Podkolzin
Raty
Sasson
Bains
Karlsson

Defenders:
Wolanin
Woo
Cicek
Irwin
McWard

Hirose?

 

[Hit the post]

Don't get a lot of this.

When LA was bringing the younger players they kept around players like Essyimont and Imana to protect them. They also had a number of vets like Sutter and Stanton to provide toughness. I'm not saying you don't play the younger players or don't use them in your top 6 - what I am saying is you also provide them with some toughness in other areas of your lineup to safeguard them. You don't throw your prospects to the Wolves to see if they can play and LA did nothing like this at all. So I don't understand what you're getting at.

You're saying there was no plan of development in Utica but somehow Johnson is not at fault for this even though he was the GM???? Instead the blame falls on the coach and others. Well if the coach was no good at developing players why didn't Johnson (considering he was the GM) fire him and replace him. Fact the team was no good at developing players during the time Johnson was GM of the team is not an argument that he was a good development person.

Also, I watched those games involving Gadojovich and the others . Gadjovich, when he wasn't injured, played plenty and got on a hot streak and became one of Utica's leading scorers. Also, Lind got plenty of time and Jasek was out on the PP, was killing penalties and playing on the top line during his last season in Utica. Saying these players were not getting a full look is nonsense. They were. Far as Palmu is concerned, he quickly established he was no where good enough for the AHL and then he whined and wanted to go back to Finland.

Like you said, Johnson was in constant search for dregs from the ECHL to replace the many injured players he had on his Utica team. Kind of proves my point that he never did much to protect his players, then or now. And you would have thought he would have learned from his experiences in Utica. I agree he had abysmal support from the Benning and Canuck management but he has to take some of the blame for the awful situation in Utica.

As far as Johansson goes, it is good that he is playing well but he is now out with (you guessed it) an injury. More evidence that, in fact, that we need to protect our players.

And with Stevens. He might be an adequate AHL player. But IMO he is not what Abby needs. He is not critical to the success of the team and the team needed to consider bringing a player that was hard nosed enough to deter other teams from running our younger players

You're overall argument seems to be that the younger players must play to give them a chance to develop and to determine if they are good enough to be seen as decent prospects. I agree and have said nothing to suggest that this is my argument. What I amn saying is that Johnson had (and has) the responsibility to provide a safe environement for this to happen in. Many of young prospects have been badly hurt this year and IMO that has been, in a major way, due to the lack of deterance, Johnson provided.

In the end, I see this as problem in developing our prospect (hard to develop when you aren't playing or our constantly hurt) and the injury situation in Abby has been serious enough to demand Johnson and others do something about it.

Drafting gurus don't need to worry about such things as player development.

 

[THRILLHOIAF]

What I amn saying is that Johnson had (and has) the responsibility to provide a safe environement for this to happen in. Many of young prospects have been badly hurt this year and IMO that has been, in a major way, due to the lack of deterance, Johnson provided.

Fair, maybe I'm missing your point. I respectfully disagree with "deterrents" being the issue for Abbotsford's injury woes.

More, the worst outcome on physical every-day plays in the AHL against an undersized team
Less, it's open season on Canucks prospects because Ryan Johnson didn't replace Vinny Arseneau

 

[MS]

Last night's game was just an absolute shitkicking. Shots were 32-11 when we went up 6-0 midway through the 2nd period. Both teams basically just coasted the rest of the way in the 2nd half of a B2B but that was probably the most dominant performance in the history of the Abbotsford franchise. Just destroyed them.

My 1st star in the game would have been ... Quinn Schmiemann. Basically created 3 of the 6 goals himself. Two primary assists (one very steezy one on the Bains goal) and on another goal made a great read in the neutral zone to break up a rush and send play the other direction. I've said for awhile that he's the unluckiest player in Abbotsford because he always plays well but is down the pecking order behind anyone with an NHL contract, and this really showed again here. Looked like a legitimate NHL prospect in this game.

All 6 defenders were excellent, really. McWard was playing with Schmiemann and had maybe his best AHL game as well, and the Irwin-Cicek pairing has been terrific - Cicek now a +5 in 3 games and scored his first goal. Looks like a legitimate depth option.

Podkolzin wasn't quite as good as the previous night but skated well again and was involved in several quality chances. Bains looks to be getting back on track after a poor couple weeks - nice to see him get a couple goals. Nielsen also had his best game in quite a while.

 

[Lindgren]

Abbotsford now begins a seven day break. There isn't a team that couldn't use a rest at this point. It'll be interesting to see if any of the injured guys come back when games resume.

I'm predicting a big second half from Wolanin.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Last night's game was just an absolute shitkicking. Shots were 32-11 when we went up 6-0 midway through the 2nd period. Both teams basically just coasted the rest of the way in the 2nd half of a B2B but that was probably the most dominant performance in the history of the Abbotsford franchise. Just destroyed them.

My 1st star in the game would have been ... Quinn Schmiemann. Basically created 3 of the 6 goals himself. Two primary assists (one very steezy one on the Bains goal) and on another goal made a great read in the neutral zone to break up a rush and send play the other direction. I've said for awhile that he's the unluckiest player in Abbotsford because he always plays well but is down the pecking order behind anyone with an NHL contract, and this really showed again here. Looked like a legitimate NHL prospect in this game.

All 6 defenders were excellent, really. McWard was playing with Schmiemann and had maybe his best AHL game as well, and the Irwin-Cicek pairing has been terrific - Cicek now a +5 in 3 games and scored his first goal. Looks like a legitimate depth option.

Podkolzin wasn't quite as good as the previous night but skated well again and was involved in several quality chances. Bains looks to be getting back on track after a poor couple weeks - nice to see him get a couple goals. Nielsen also had his best game in quite a while.

Schmiemann strikes me as a potential Aman-type signing. Was allowed to walk by his draft team in free agency, Canucks pluck him, and find some currency there. Schmiemann is on an AHL deal, but I hope the Canucks think long and hard about inking him to an NHL contract.

 

[MS]

Schmiemann strikes me as a potential Aman-type signing. Was allowed to walk by his draft team in free agency, Canucks pluck him, and find some currency there. Schmiemann is on an AHL deal, but I hope the Canucks think long and hard about inking him to an NHL contract.

I find his situation really frustrating.

Right from the prospects camp in 2022 he's looked like a legitimate prospect and performed at the sort of levels where if we'd taken him in the 3rd round or if we'd signed him as a hyped NCAA UFA we'd be really happy with him. But he's typecast as 'the filler guy' on an AHL contract and when the guys on NHL contracts are healthy, he's just automatically out of the lineup even if he's playing ahead of them when they're all in the lineup together.

But he's younger than Hirose/Woo/McWard and is basically on the same level as McWard/ahead of Hirose/a bit behind Woo right now. He should get getting top-4 minutes every game but instead he only plays like 40% of the time.

If Hirose or Johansson is back in a week ... Schmiemann is coming right out again for the next game even though he was maybe the best player on the ice yesterday.

__________

As an aside, I can't believe what a vanilla nothing Hirose has looked like this year. I feel like an idiot for hyping him up during the summer. Right now he's the 8th best defender option in the AHL and I legit thought he had a chance to stick in the NHL based on how he looked to close out last year. Oops.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

I find his situation really frustrating.

Right from the prospects camp in 2022 he's looked like a legitimate prospect and performed at the sort of levels where if we'd taken him in the 3rd round or if we'd signed him as a hyped NCAA UFA we'd be really happy with him. But he's typecast as 'the filler guy' on an AHL contract and when the guys on NHL contracts are healthy, he's just automatically out of the lineup even if he's playing ahead of them when they're all in the lineup together.

But he's younger than Hirose/Woo/McWard and is basically on the same level as McWard/ahead of Hirose/a bit behind Woo right now. He should get getting top-4 minutes every game but instead he only plays like 40% of the time.

If Hirose or Johansson is back in a week ... Schmiemann is coming right out again for the next game even though he was maybe the best player on the ice yesterday.

__________

As an aside, I can't believe what a vanilla nothing Hirose has looked like this year. I feel like an idiot for hyping him up during the summer. Right now he's the 8th best defender option in the AHL and I legit thought he had a chance to stick in the NHL based on how he looked to close out last year. Oops.

Yeah, I think a lot of us are shocked at how Hirose’s season has gone. He looked so smooth, composed and ready last year. Totally different player this season.

 

[MS]

Yeah, I think a lot of us are shocked at how Hirose’s season has gone. He looked so smooth, composed and ready last year. Totally different player this season.

Yeah, it's crazy.

And he's 25 before the season is out, so he's finished as a prospect. I think I had him 6th or so on my prospects list at the start of the season and now he's out of my top 20.

Weird situation in Abbotsford right now with *WAY* too many bodies under team control for 24-25. And Hirose is on a 1-way deal, which looks like an awful decision.