Around the League Part 9: The Post-Tavareslyptic Hellscape

[Boom Boom Apathy]

I'm having a hard time predicting what will happen in Calgary next year.

On one hand Carolina actually outscored Calgary last year....funnily Calgary fans think their forward core is much >>> ours. I don't see anything that special after Gadreau and we are much deeper on the wings.

I think the higher end of their core was/is a bit better but not as much as some like to think. Going forward, a lot depends on our rookies. In addition to Gaudreau they have Monahan, who was injured a lot next year and is probably better than everyone not named Aho on our team, and some would argue including Aho. We also don't have a power forward like Tkachuk on our team either. Now they've added James Neal on top of that. I also think their defense was a little better than ours last year and definitely more experienced for sure. Maybe it balances out now with the addition of Hamilton and CDH on the Canes.

 

[Joe McGrath]

I'm having a hard time predicting what will happen in Calgary next year.

On one hand Carolina actually outscored Calgary last year....funnily Calgary fans think their forward core is much >>> ours. I don't see anything that special after Gadreau and we are much deeper on the wings. Some might guess that their scoring will go down under Peters. Them swapping Dougie for Hanny will make them weaker offensively and defensively on the back end for a couple of years. I think that Smith will have his worst year as Peters system will leave him out to dry on 2 on 1s repeatedly and I would be surprised if he breaks .910 next season.

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess Calgary finishes with 80 points next year. This year they scored 218 goals I think next year roughly 208. Their 248 ga goes up to 260.

I just want to see how soon into the season Ryan is centering James Neal.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

A Calgary poster said he could see a line of: Bennett(LW)-Lindholm(C)-Ryan (RW).

 

[Stickpucker]

Neal 20g 19a - Ryan 14g 21a - Lindholm 14g 23a

 

[emptyNedder]

And you know what, we need a guy like that who can chip in that kind of stat line from the 3rd/4th line while playing that kind of nasty physical game that the team (outside of McGinn) simply lacks. If anything I think McGinn truly shows himself to be our new Scott Walker this year, a guy that can consistently put up a 20/20 type stat line that's good for a handful of fights per season and has no qualms about just laying a physical beating on someone cleanly and entirely within the rules of the game.

Agree. McGinn seems to be the possible winger for Necas/Svech more so than Ferland. McGinn could easily score 20+ goals if they would just make the posts a little thinner.

 

[raynman]

Agree. McGinn seems to be the possible winger for Necas/Svech more so than Ferland. McGinn could easily score 20+ goals if they would just make the posts a little thinner.

And if goalies shorten their sticks Calgary just got a 30 goal scorer in Lindholm.

 

[bleedgreen]

Or put less tape on the knob.

Or Lindy could get the memo about high blocker being a low percentage shot as righty in the right side.

 

[Canes]

I pretty much like almost everything about Lindy's game but the one thing that drove me crazy about him was his muffin of a shot. It's like some of these kids are so well coached at every part of the game that they barely spent any time practicing as kids or teenagers just wearing out some sort of target around the house (a dryer, an old door, makeshift net, etc). I may skate like a beer leaguer and be even worse at almost every aspect of the game but at least I don't have a limp wrister. It's like literally one of the easier parts of hockey skills to develop, IMO. My slap shot is horrible though unless I'm given basically an eternity to set it up.

 

[My Special Purpose]

Over/under on # of teams Elias plays for during this contract?

I'd take the over on 2.5.

Do Swedish teams count? Or AHL?

I don't know if I would have loved that length, but for buying out several UFA years, it's fair even if he's roughly what we've seen.

Totally fair. I just don't think Lindholm has the killer-instinct necessary to be an elite player, or even the skills necessary to be better than average. So I'm glad it's not us paying him fairly.

I hope you're right, I just don't see us getting another 20+ goal season out of Ferland now that he's away from Gadreau and Monahan. I think his production will suffer a lot

Are Gaudreau/Monahan that much more talented than Aho/Teravainen? Or Svechnikov/Necas? I think we can find a couple guys to play with Ferland that will feed him enough to match last season's numbers.

I am a little concerned that Peters becomes a lesser hockey version of Belichick. They both assisted under a well-respected head coach. Both are really committed to their system. Both had less than successful first runs as a head coach.

I don't wish BP any failure, though I also don't want him to win multiple Stanley Cups. But I do have a suspicion that he will find more success in Calgary. With that success, I expect Lindholm to be better such that this contract looks like a great deal in 2-3 years.

I have no such fear. Belichick used his time away from head coaching to re-evaluate how he did things. I don't think Peters thinks he did anything wrong, and with literally no time between jobs, I doubt seriously he has changed a thing. I'm basically certain that everything that went wrong in Carolina will also go wrong in Calgary.

 

[DaveG]

Well, almost everything. I have no doubt that Mike Smith is going to be a better goaltender for him than either Darling or Lack was, and the Pacific is a hell of a lot easier of a division then the Metro was the past 3 years.

 

[RibFrabcus]

I pretty much like almost everything about Lindy's game but the one thing that drove me crazy about him was his muffin of a shot. It's like some of these kids are so well coached at every part of the game that they barely spent any time practicing as kids or teenagers just wearing out some sort of target around the house (a dryer, an old door, makeshift net, etc). I may skate like a beer leaguer and be even worse at almost every aspect of the game but at least I don't have a limp wrister. It's like literally one of the easier parts of hockey skills to develop, IMO. My slap shot is horrible though unless I'm given basically an eternity to set it up.

That's funny. My wrister is absolute trash and I have no idea how to make it better. I skate pretty okay, one of the faster players in my league and I have good hands and decent vision. But my shot is trash. Luckily i can get to good places to score and not really rely on sniping corners.

 

[Canes]

That's funny. My wrister is absolute trash and I have no idea how to make it better. I skate pretty okay, one of the faster players in my league and I have good hands and decent vision. But my shot is trash. Luckily i can get too good places to score and not really in sniping corners.

Yeah on second thought I probably made it seem like developing a NHL wrister is easy or something (not that mine is NHL quality either, just beer league elite especially for someone who mostly plays goalie these days), but like anything your wrister can be improved with thousands upon thousands of repetitions. Kids growing up playing organized hockey get plenty of reps doing skating drills, line rushes, etc but I've noticed a lot of them don't really practice outside of the rink which is basically all I did when I got bored as a kid.

 

[RodTheBawd]

How are we defining muffin here? Lindholm had one of the best releases on the team, he just failed to ever use it effectively. I consider whatever the f*** Hanifin did with moving the puck in the direction of the opposing goal a muffin (sans that OT winner late in '17).

 

[Canes]

How are we defining muffin here? Lindholm had one of the best releases on the team, he just failed to ever use it effectively. I consider whatever the **** Hanifin did with moving the puck in the direction of the opposing goal a muffin (sans that OT winner late in '17).

Basically very little velocity behind his shot and/or telegraphing his spot.

Lindholm was pretty good around the net, but anytime he shot off the rush he looked anywhere from mediocre to awful most of the time.

 

[My Special Purpose]

Basically very little velocity behind his shot and/or telegraphing his spot.

Lindholm was pretty good around the net, but anytime he shot off the rush he looked anywhere from mediocre to awful most of the time.

Isn't Hanifin sorta famous for his lousy shot, too? It's almost as though having players with poor shots and a team with a league-worst shooting percentage are somehow related.

 

[Ole Gil]

Lindholm's problem was accuracy, not velocity, I thought. And Hanifin had a nice accurate low slapper. He wasn't roofing point shots like Faulk is capable of, but it seemed effective to me.

Unlike Slavin, who really floats it in their from the blue line. Or Pesce, who's not really a threat from anywhere on the ice offensively.

 

[Canes]

Isn't Hanifin sorta famous for his lousy shot, too? It's almost as though having players with poor shots and a team with a league-worst shooting percentage are somehow related.

Yes, Hanifin had been criticized for his shot even as a top prospect before being drafted. Craig Button in particular was always really skeptical of his shot, IIRC. And I don't think Hanifin has really done anything to prove people wrong about it either. For someone who was thought of as an offensive d-man, his shot has definitely been pretty underwhelming.

As for Lindholm's shot, we can probably debate all day about whether it's his velocity or accuracy, but the main takeaway is that he wasn't ever really sniping home goals with any sort of regularity, and a lot of that has to do with his somewhat weak shooting ability. Most of his goals seemed to be close to the net, be it wristers, tap ins, or deflections. Hardly any snipes from the top of the circle or off the rush.

 

[bleedgreen]

Lindy is not an outside threat generally, though around the net he can finish. If he plays with the top two in Calgary, he’ll only have to finish rebounds and tap ins.

Hanifin has a pretty soft shot, though he can probably improve it to be more of a threat. He’s not very poised with the puck yet.

 

[w e l o s t b o y s]

Trouba's arbitration date is today, how much do you think he'll get

 

[MinJaBen]

Trouba's arbitration date is today, how much do you think he'll get

$5.85M AAV

 

[Stickpucker]

@w e l o s t b o y s I'll guess 5.35m x6. He's kind of a poor man's oft injured Vlasic with even less offense.

 

[Lempo]

*imagining Trouba on a date to an arboretum, getting nothing*

 

[Joe McGrath]

@w e l o s t b o y s I'll guess 5.35m x6. He's kind of a poor man's oft injured Vlasic with even less offense.

You only get 1 year in arbitration.

 

[tarheelhockey]

. He's kind of a poor man's oft injured Vlasic with [B]even less offense.[/B]

Man, I had no idea he had 3 goals last year. That’s what Pesce had.

 

[Lempo]

You only get 1 year in arbitration.

One or two. The party that didn't initiate the Salary Arbitration gets to choose; expect if the Player is eligible for UFA in less than one year in which case only the one year option is available.

If the Player gets awarded more than $3.85M AAV in Player-initiated Salary Arbitration, the Club is allowed to walk away from the awarded SPC (in case of Club having chosen the one year option) or the latter year of it (in case of the two years option) and the player becomes UFA immediately or after the one year, respectively.