Pre-Game Talk: Cats vs Bolts, Tuesday, Oct 18th @ 7:30pm

[Hoek]

Well who did he play with? Brown who isn't much of an offensive guy and Callahan who had a messed up shoulder. Boyle? Paquette?

Good point. He was mostly used as a warm body.

Some nice news for us #FreeKoekkoek folk:

[Tweet]788036274720542720[/MEDIA]

 

[Werewolf]

Good point. He was mostly used as a warm body.

Some nice news for us #FreeKoekkoek folk:

[Tweet]788036274720542720[/MEDIA]

Great news - #FreeKoekkoek

Panthers can match up with us - pretty much at every position:

#1C - Barkov vs Stamkos
#1D - Ekblad vs Hedman
#1G - Luongo vs Bishop
#1W - Hubeardou vs Drouin
#2C - Bjustad vs Johnson
High Performing Rookie Forward - Malgin vs Point
High Performing Rooke Defenseman - Matheson vs Koekkoek

I mean its pretty scary the way they have been their club ... we are faster they are bigger. We are a bit older and established. We have better team offense they have better team defense. And we have Kucherov ... they don't have anything equivalent. We should be able to put a smacking to them tomorrow ... I predict 3 - 1 Lightning win.

This lineup needs a Gudas on our end to stir things up. We are just too nice out there ... we'll drop them if we need to but we won't start the scrums just respond to them. I remember Gudas taking out a couple of Panthers players with devastating hits and one that was a bit dirty when he took out someone's knees. Then the Panthers bench squirted water on Gudas ... good times, good times. It was the start of a promising rivalry but we are too nice to hate right now.

 

[Brie]

A great test for the Bolts going up against a very good team.

I want to see Koekkoek get the chance and hopeflly the tweets from today means that he will get it tomorrow.

 

[Lundell4Prez]

Good luck guys, should be a fun one! We need a playoff series already.. so I can start not liking you guys ;-P

 

[MattM92]

Still something about the Panthers that I'm not convinced about. Maybe I need to see some postseason success first. This will no doubt be a tough game though. They are fast and skilled. We are faster and more skilled. Take advantage of that.

 

[Volodya Krutov]

We just reached a new low. If you believe Namestnikov and JAM are somehow comparable I don't know what to say about your hockey knowledge because I'm too polite. Namestnikov is a much better hockey player that can play a much responsible position (center) than JAM.

Don't take Tampa's monstrous center depth for Namestnikov's incompetence. The thing is that Namestnikov's firstly a center but he has massive competition to compete for a definite spot on this team, so he gets constantly bounced around. He would be a 3rd line lock at center on at least half the teams in the NHL squads and maybe a 2C on a handful of the other ones.

 

[Hoek]

Great news - #FreeKoekkoek

Panthers can match up with us - pretty much at every position:

#1C - Barkov vs Stamkos
#1D - Ekblad vs Hedman
#1G - Luongo vs Bishop
#1W - Hubeardou vs Drouin
#2C - Bjustad vs Johnson
High Performing Rookie Forward - Malgin vs Point
High Performing Rooke Defenseman - Matheson vs Koekkoek

I mean its pretty scary the way they have been their club ... we are faster they are bigger. We are a bit older and established. We have better team offense they have better team defense. And we have Kucherov ... they don't have anything equivalent. We should be able to put a smacking to them tomorrow ... I predict 3 - 1 Lightning win.

This lineup needs a Gudas on our end to stir things up. We are just too nice out there ... we'll drop them if we need to but we won't start the scrums just respond to them. I remember Gudas taking out a couple of Panthers players with devastating hits and one that was a bit dirty when he took out someone's knees. Then the Panthers bench squirted water on Gudas ... good times, good times. It was the start of a promising rivalry but we are too nice to hate right now.

It's good thing Huberdeau and Bjugstad are injured. Two more positions they can't match with.

 

[MattM92]

We just reached a new low. If you believe Namestnikov and JAM are somehow comparable I don't know what to say about your hockey knowledge because I'm too polite. Namestnikov is a much better hockey player that can play a much responsible position (center) than JAM.

Don't take Tampa's monstrous center depth for Namestnikov's incompetence. The thing is that Namestnikov's firstly a center but he has massive competition to compete for a definite spot on this team, so he gets constantly bounced around. He would be a 3rd line lock at center on at least half the teams in the NHL squads and maybe a 2C on a handful of the other ones.

They're pretty different players. JAM is a better shooter but that's pretty much the only advantage he has on Vladdy. Namestnikov may not be exceptional in any skills category, but you're right that he is better in pretty much every category than JAM.

 

[Volodya Krutov]

I just don't see the skillet. I mean, we've had two games with Point, and you can already see a tenacity that Vlad has never shown. He could go 20 games without a point, but I'd still feel like his ceiling is higher just based on the skills we're seeing. The only thing we've really seen from Vlad is good north-south speed. His hands, passing, etc etc etc, are pretty average. I'd argue his vision and creativity are below average. And he doesn't look like he's adding strength. Doesn't feel like a question of opportunity with him. He just doesn't show all that many more flashes of skill than the average player.

Didn't read your post before my previous reply and I'm kind of baffled with this. Off the top of my head, He made at least one great passing play that Flip couldn't finish last game, the Point comparison being just plain ridiculous, and I love that Point kid so far.
You've been one of the most vocal Drouin apologist because he didn't get a permanent spot, fair chance with good linemates but you seem to deliberately omit that Namesntikov's situation was and still is, even worse than Drouin ever was. I'm not saying they're comparable at all but you'll get my point, I believe.

Namestnikov's a very good puck possession center and his vision, passing abilities are fine for playing such position. When he's on, he also possesses that rare capacity to slow the pace down just for an instant and make things happen. Also, his front net is useful (biggest number of high danger scoring chances on the team last year). The real downside with him is the playoffs though, that's something he'll need to fix rather quickly.

 

[Volodya Krutov]

Good to see Koekkoek getting his chance. Even as a Nesterov fan, Koekkeok has the higher all-around ceiling for sure. I think that 11F/7D might be scary good come postseason time if used accordingly and I'm starting to trust Coop's judgment more and more.

 

[DFC]

Didn't read your post before my previous reply and I'm kind of baffled with this. Off the top of my head, He made at least one great passing play that Flip couldn't finish last game, the Point comparison being just plain ridiculous, and I love that Point kid so far.
You've been one of the most vocal Drouin apologist because he didn't get a permanent spot, fair chance with good linemates but you seem to deliberately omit that Namesntikov's situation was and still is, even worse than Drouin ever was. I'm not saying they're comparable at all but you'll get my point, I believe.

Namestnikov's a very good puck possession center and his vision, passing abilities are fine for playing such position. When he's on, he also possesses that rare capacity to slow the pace down just for an instant and make things happen. Also, his front net is useful (biggest number of high danger scoring chances on the team last year). The real downside with him is the playoffs though, that's something he'll need to fix rather quickly.

This is pretty much my point. I was a drouin apologist because the skills were obvious from game 1. I was a kucherov apologist too in his rookie year for the same reason. I'm not seeing that with namestnikov. I'm seeing about an average 3C. Yeah, every once in a while he makes a nice play, but so does every other 3C in the league.

I think he's a decent player, but I feel like many of us have projections for him that are way too high.

 

[CupsOverCash]

Didn't read your post before my previous reply and I'm kind of baffled with this. Off the top of my head, He made at least one great passing play that Flip couldn't finish last game, the Point comparison being just plain ridiculous, and I love that Point kid so far.
You've been one of the most vocal Drouin apologist because he didn't get a permanent spot, fair chance with good linemates but you seem to deliberately omit that Namesntikov's situation was and still is, even worse than Drouin ever was. I'm not saying they're comparable at all but you'll get my point, I believe.

Namestnikov's a very good puck possession center and his vision, passing abilities are fine for playing such position. When he's on, he also possesses that rare capacity to slow the pace down just for an instant and make things happen. Also, his front net is useful (biggest number of high danger scoring chances on the team last year). The real downside with him is the playoffs though, that's something he'll need to fix rather quickly.

I'm kind of in the middle with this but have to agree with you a bit more. Only because I think Names has another level to his game that I don't think has been on display as much as people would like to see. It's probably due to playing time and who he plays with. Like I said in a previous post. Who has he played with that has any kind of offensive strength to their game?? Brown, Filppula, Boyle, and Paquette are all guys who have play a more defensive game and don't necessarily bring a whole lot offensively besides the chip in goal once in a while. Good thing for us they have been doing it the past couple games. I think if they did it more often they would have won the cup last year. To DFC's defense Names hasn't chipped in a whole lot offensively either.

 

[Fro]

you guys keep using JAM...its J_M please...there is no more Audy...

 

[DFC]

I'm kind of in the middle with this but have to agree with you a bit more. Only because I think Names has another level to his game that I don't think has been on display as much as people would like to see. It's probably due to playing time and who he plays with. Like I said in a previous post. Who has he played with that has any kind of offensive strength to their game?? Brown, Filppula, Boyle, and Paquette are all guys who have play a more defensive game and don't necessarily bring a whole lot offensively besides the chip in goal once in a while. Good thing for us they have been doing it the past couple games. I think if they did it more often they would have won the cup last year. To DFC's defense Names hasn't chipped in a whole lot offensively either.

The thing is, it's not really about how much he's chipped in. It's just about the skills he displays. They're just okay. Drouin and kucherov (even TJ and Palat before Stamkos broke his leg) did things on the third line that made you wish they'd get a bigger opportunity. I don't see that with Namestnikov.

 

[Volodya Krutov]

This is pretty much my point. I was a drouin apologist because the skills were obvious from game 1. I was a kucherov apologist too in his rookie year for the same reason. I'm not seeing that with namestnikov. I'm seeing about an average 3C. Yeah, every once in a while he makes a nice play, but so does every other 3C in the league.

I think he's a decent player, but I feel like many of us have projections for him that are way too high.

Look, Tampa might the most skilled team in the whole league, anyone not having a great to elite skilset will suffer from a comparison with the likes of Drouin, Kuch, Johnson and even Palat. Hell, we even consider Stamkos as one our least gifted players on the top 6 (outside of his shooting of course) and the rest of HF wonders whether we're joking. Namestnikov's nowhere near the elite skillset but it's more than ok league-wise. I mean they're not a weakness at all.

Regarding expectations, I really like his game and I'm also having trouble picturing Russian Bieber as a permanent 2C, so I don't believe the majority here have too high hopes, we're just saying that he'll only flourish once he'll finally get the keys to drive that 3rd line bus, hopefully.

 

[Werewolf]

Well you saw it with Drouin and Kucherov because they are first liner talents and very special players with ceilings near top of the league. Don't think anyone thinks Vladdy's game is in that category. But March was a floundering AHL player until we developed him. Vladdy is a 2C in this league and would do more than fine between Killorn and Kuch. Should anything happen to TJ it's nice insurance policy. He needs the break to prove it just like all our players before him.

 

[Sky04]

Look, Tampa might the most skilled team in the whole league, anyone not having a great to elite skilset will suffer from a comparison with the likes of Drouin, Kuch, Johnson and even Palat. Hell, we even consider Stamkos as one our least gifted players on the top 6 (outside of his shooting of course) and the rest of HF wonders whether we're joking. Namestnikov's nowhere near the elite skillset but it's more than ok league-wise. I mean they're not a weakness at all.

Regarding expectations, I really like his game and I'm also having trouble picturing Russian Bieber as a permanent 2C, so I don't believe the majority here have too high hopes, we're just saying that he'll only flourish once he'll finally get the keys to drive that 3rd line bus, hopefully.

Mostly on the same page with DCF but I think you hit some good points, I see him as a tweener right now, not good enough to be a top 6 guy but not an ideal bottom 6 guy either.

If we were matching up against another team and Vlad was their 2nd line center, wouldn't exactly be too worried, first thought is that it'd be an easy line to shut down. Even if he gets the keys to the 3rd line, unless he gets stronger we might as well get a 3rd line grinding center instead of hoping to run 3 "scoring lines" in the playoffs.

Probably a stretch to say JAM is better than Vlad at the moment, but I can tell you I was much more excited to see JAM in the bottom 6 lineup last year then seeing vlad, maybe it's because he fits much better in that "energy player" type of role with how big a pest he is. I doubt he holds a top-6 spot for the entire year but I think he'll be a better bottom 6 forward than Vlad will be a top-6er if that makes sense.

 

[The Macho King]

This is pretty much my point. I was a drouin apologist because the skills were obvious from game 1. I was a kucherov apologist too in his rookie year for the same reason. I'm not seeing that with namestnikov. I'm seeing about an average 3C. Yeah, every once in a while he makes a nice play, but so does every other 3C in the league.

I think he's a decent player, but I feel like many of us have projections for him that are way too high.

I don't know anyone that projected him as more than a 2C. I always pegged him as a slightly more skilled Dominic Moore.

 

[DFC]

Mostly on the same page with DCF but I think you hit some good points, I see him as a tweener right now, not good enough to be a top 6 guy but not an ideal bottom 6 guy either.

If we were matching up against another team and Vlad was their 2nd line center, wouldn't exactly be too worried, first thought is that it'd be an easy line to shut down. Even if he gets the keys to the 3rd line, unless he gets stronger we might as well get a 3rd line grinding center instead of hoping to run 3 "scoring lines" in the playoffs.

Probably a stretch to say JAM is better than Vlad at the moment, but I can tell you I was much more excited to see JAM in the bottom 6 lineup last year then seeing vlad, maybe it's because he fits much better in that "energy player" type of role with how big a pest he is. I doubt he holds a top-6 spot for the entire year but I think he'll be a better bottom 6 forward than Vlad will be a top-6er if that makes sense.

That's more the thing about JAM. He's a complementary player, and with certain linemates, it's easy to imagine how he'd fit.

I think I agree with everything here.

 

[HoseEmDown]

Why are we comparing Point and Namestnikov? Point should be compared with Filpulla, they're both soft skilled playmakers and Point is the cheap Filppula replacement. Namestnikov has a lot more grit to his game, I highly doubt Point ever drops the gloves in the NHL like Filpulla, Namestnikov is willing to play with an edge to his game that Point doesn't have. Namestnikov sucks in the playoffs but if giving the job full time would be an above average 3C borderline 2C right now.

 

[DFC]

I don't know anyone that projected him as more than a 2C. I always pegged him as a slightly more skilled Dominic Moore.

Yeah, I just don't see him as a 2C. Not on a good team, anyway. I can see him as a 2C in spot duty, or maybe in Vegas.

It's sort of the same argument I have/had about Sustr. It's not that I think he sucks. It's that I don't think his ceiling is all that high. That's not to say these players aren't valuable for depth. I'm not saying we need to dump them or anything. Just that I don't see him being much more than a 3rd liner with this team.

 

[VinikToWinIt]

This is pretty much my point. I was a drouin apologist because the skills were obvious from game 1. I was a kucherov apologist too in his rookie year for the same reason. I'm not seeing that with namestnikov. I'm seeing about an average 3C. Yeah, every once in a while he makes a nice play, but so does every other 3C in the league.

I think he's a decent player, but I feel like many of us have projections for him that are way too high.

Agreed. The difference in the Drouin situation was that many of us felt that Drouin DESERVED more ice time. I don't think Vladdy does. He's a serviceable player, and he may improve, but I don't see a "breakout" year in his future. I don't think suddenly things will click for him, I think he'll just improve marginally on a standard, slow, arc.

 

[CupsOverCash]

Agreed. The difference in the Drouin situation was that many of us felt that Drouin DESERVED more ice time. I don't think Vladdy does. He's a serviceable player, and he may improve, but I don't see a "breakout" year in his future. I don't think suddenly things will click for him, I think he'll just improve marginally on a standard, slow, arc.

Of course he doesn't deserve more playing time than the likes of our top 6. There's not one player in our top 6 that he's more talented than. Or he's not more important to the team than anybody in the top 6. But that doesn't mean he couldn't prove to be a really good player for us. I mean last year was his first full season with this team. The season before he played games with the team but he also played games down in Syracuse too. I would like to see him get more playing time and would like to see what he would do with it.

 

[The Macho King]

Yeah, I just don't see him as a 2C. Not on a good team, anyway. I can see him as a 2C in spot duty, or maybe in Vegas.

It's sort of the same argument I have/had about Sustr. It's not that I think he sucks. It's that I don't think his ceiling is all that high. That's not to say these players aren't valuable for depth. I'm not saying we need to dump them or anything. Just that I don't see him being much more than a 3rd liner with this team.

Nah - I'm saying I think his ceiling is a 2C - not that he is a 2C now. I do think he would be a good 3C though.

He was a depth pick. 28th or so and we got a serviceable NHLer out of it. No reason to be disappointed with that. I think he needs to develop more as a defensive center though.

Meanwhile - I still don't think JAM will be more than a fringe NHLer.

 

[Brie]

I forgot that tomorrow was the night that we would honor Visby, even more of a reason for the team to work hard.