Checkers III: The Age of Ulf

[AD Skinner]

I've been thinking this for a while. It seems like the plan is to ride out this year in Charlotte actually being competitive and roll over a confident group into Raleigh after a successful season. Like they are afraid they will get the loser hurricane stink on them if they call them up too soon

 

[Incubajerks]

trade bait.

 

[MinJaBen]

i don't see why these moves have to be so hard when you have the talent down there that could potentially spark your team but you have this old horse that you feel obligated to ride. jooris, pdg, kruger. this team needs more than an honest 14 minutes of good backchecking.

 

[RodTheBawd]

i will soon have to admit to being incredibly wrong about warren foegele, and that time is now. he's tearing it up down there. he needs to be recalled in favor of PDG. i don't see why these moves have to be so hard when you have the talent down there that could potentially spark your team but you have this old horse that you feel obligated to ride. jooris, pdg, kruger. this team needs more than an honest 14 minutes of good backchecking. the bar is so damn low that these guys are safe from any expectation of doing anything other than existing on the ice. there's no reason any of them should have job security right now. you should be trying to do anything you can within reason to find something that can spark your club to better results.

How do you sit guys that are playing the role they're asked to while letting guys that should be the driving force of the team get a pass? I don't disagree with you, but the message it potentially sends is the difficult part.

 

[tarheelhockey]

How do you sit guys that are playing the role they're asked to while letting guys that should be the driving force of the team get a pass? I don't disagree with you, but the message it potentially sends is the difficult part.

Clearly the right move is to use those guys to replace our top line.

 

[Joe McGrath]

I think it’s an interesting balance. Wallmark , Zykov, and McLovin all look like they should be playing in the NHL right now based on their numbers.

Zykov less so because he’s been a PP machine but underwhelming at even strength, which right now is the Hurricanes biggest weakness. He isn’t actually generating many chances either he’s just shooting at an incomprehensible 30% clip. That’s not translateable, especially for this team where no one is going to generate scoring chances for you.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

I think it’s an interesting balance. Wallmark , Zykov, and McLovin all look like they should be playing in the NHL right now based on their numbers.

Zykov less so because he’s been a PP machine but underwhelming at even strength, which right now is the Hurricanes biggest weakness. He isn’t actually generating many chances either he’s just shooting at an incomprehensible 30% clip. That’s not translateable, especially for this team where no one is going to generate scoring chances for you.

I preface this with "I've only seen highlights" and a bit of them at training camp / Traverse City.

McLovin looks fast and looks like his game will translate to the NHL level, even if it's bottom six. Zykov looks slow to me like he won't be able to get the time and space to get his shot off at the NHL level. Maybe it's a bad assessment as I've only seen highlights, but that's my concerned based on the little I've seen.

Can someone who has seen more of them shed some light on it?

 

[NotOpie]

I preface this with "I've only seen highlights" and a bit of them at training camp / Traverse City.

McLovin looks fast and looks like his game will translate to the NHL level, even if it's bottom six. Zykov looks slow to me like he won't be able to get the time and space to get his shot off at the NHL level. Maybe it's a bad assessment as I've only seen highlights, but that's my concerned based on the little I've seen.

Can someone who has seen more of them shed some light on it?

I can only speak to the few games I've seen online, some other highlights, and the pre-season tournament. I used to think that Zykov was slow, but that honestly isn't the case, he's got very deceptive speed and is also very "quick" for a barrel body guy. Personally I think his game translates well to the NHL. I would think a line of Aho/Staal/Zykov would be very productive.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

Zykov skate thru weak Canadian boys for goals da

 

[Vagrant]

How do you sit guys that are playing the role they're asked to while letting guys that should be the driving force of the team get a pass? I don't disagree with you, but the message it potentially sends is the difficult part.

it's tough because the fiscal reality of the situation. the rationale behind coach firings for as long as i can remember has always been "well, you can't fire the entire team." in a similar sentiment, you can't really bench the top 20% of your payroll no matter who they are. what you can and arguably should do is make those players as uncomfortable as possible for their lack of results. which means that sometimes the fondly considered "good locker room dudes" have to take the brunt of it. the players that even by whatever low expectation we have for them are still missing the mark. PDG hasn't had a single meaningful shift up here this season. kruger has been about as much of a disappointment for a high ticket bottom six guy as i can recall. jooris has been good for effort, but the checkers are full of guys who would try. these moves are more designed to send the message that you, mr. cap hit, are responsible in some way for these players losing their jobs and you should strongly consider that next time you decide to take a whole shift, period, or game off. simultaneously, you might get something out of those call-ups that gives you a better idea of how you want to construct your team moving forward.

 

[garnetpalmetto]

So in the midst of everything happening with the big club, I noticed that Callum Booth got called up from Florida to Charlotte. Did either Neds or Smith get hurt or is this more to give a look to Booth?

 

[HisIceness]

Checkers got the TD but played it safe and kicked the XP. Defense and Needaspellcheck held everything else in check. 7-0 win.

 

[CandyCanes]

Zykov with 1G 3A today all on the PP lol. Maybe he's not that dynamic at 5 on 5, but I'm so curious to see if he can translate some of that PP success on the Canes.

 

[bleedgreen]

Zykov isn’t really fast enough to be a big point producer off the rush, but he’s built like a box. He’s very good off the cycle and working the corners down low. Like most players, his success in the NHL will be highly influenced by his line mates. If he plays on a cycle line with enough skill to suit him he could be dangerous.

 

[NotOpie]

Zykov with 1G 3A today all on the PP lol. Maybe he's not that dynamic at 5 on 5, but I'm so curious to see if he can translate some of that PP success on the Canes.

Zykov isn’t really fast enough to be a big point producer off the rush, but he’s built like a box. He’s very good off the cycle and working the corners down low. Like most players, his success in the NHL will be highly influenced by his line mates. If he plays on a cycle line with enough skill to suit him he could be dangerous.

Everytime I've see Zykov play, he seems engaged, even a bit chippy. He is a "get under the opponent's skin" kind of guy. Frankly, it appears that he likes to play where there's contact.

Bleed, I'm going to disagree a bit on Zykov's speed. He actually has surprisingly good wheels. He's no speed merchant and takes a few strides to get going, but his top end is pretty good. Plus, he's much quicker than his barrel body would lead you to believe. But I do agree that if he makes it in the NHL he's going to significantly be dependent on his linemates recognizing his type of game.

Oh, and all of Zykov, Wallmark, and Foegele scored goals in that rout.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Yet we frittered away 2 games not calling them up.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

I would love to see Zykov up here. We see what Brock can do when he gets into the dirty areas. Betting Zykov has a similar edge.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

I think Bleed's assessment is right on. I don't see the "speed" that NotOpie talks about, but get him with the right players that can grind it out and I think he could be effective. We don't have enough guys that can win battles in front of the net and still have the skill to put the puck in the net. Vagrant made a good point about Zykov getting a taste so he doesn't jump ship.

And I'd really like to see Foegele get a call-up and get some 4th line time and PK time. Hard to make a case for that though as the PK has been dominant lately so don't think the coach would mess with that.

 

[Stickpucker]

Zykov isn’t really fast enough to be a big point producer off the rush, but he’s built like a box. He’s very good off the cycle and working the corners down low. Like most players, his success in the NHL will be highly influenced by his line mates. If he plays on a cycle line with enough skill to suit him he could be dangerous.

That's why I think he'd have good chemistry with Lindy and McGinn

 

[bleedgreen]

To be clear, I’m not saying he’s slow. Only that he’s not fast enough to be a consistent point producing threat off the rush. Those guys are obviously a different level of fast. He’s fast enough to keep up, but his quickness in the offensive zone is where he can stand out more and also use that strength to get positioning on guys. He cycles well and the kind of quick he is can create offense in tight spaces where the fast on the rush guys struggle.

He plays a very NHL game to me. He can play the heavy playoff style. I’d really like to see him more, but it’s tough for Peters to put him in a position to succeed without some big injuries I would speculate.

 

[NotOpie]

Yet we frittered away 2 games not calling them up.

Crow duly eaten! Still want to see 'em up here though....that argument is tough after the last 2 games.

To be clear, I’m not saying he’s slow. Only that he’s not fast enough to be a consistent point producing threat off the rush. Those guys are obviously a different level of fast. He’s fast enough to keep up, but his quickness in the offensive zone is where he can stand out more and also use that strength to get positioning on guys. He cycles well and the kind of quick he is can create offense in tight spaces where the fast on the rush guys struggle.

He plays a very NHL game to me. He can play the heavy playoff style. I’d really like to see him more, but it’s tough for Peters to put him in a position to succeed without some big injuries I would speculate.

Yeah, that's what I've seen and essentially meant....you said it better.

Even as good as the PK has been, I've been cringing whenever Nordy gets the puck in the offensive zone. He's clearly been taking "hands" lessons from his captain, Jordan Staal.

 

[bleedgreen]

Someone said it recently and I found it very accurate. If there was a lefty taking those goal line passes from Lindy on the pp who could actually shoot we’d be points ahead of where we are right now. Jstaal is moosey enough to take the space but he really struggled to finish those. That one play is about the only time I’m for patches being traded here.

If Zykov was lefty he may have been the guy. Much tougher to make that pass and space happen as a righty.

 

[Hulkacaniac]

Saarela?

 

[bleedgreen]

If Mcginn keeps it up, why not him? Part of the problem is jstaal commands space with his size, these others wouldnt.

 

[the halleJOKEL]

mcginn scored on a play pretty similar to that last night. could be worth a look out there. my guess is they don't want to disturb that top PP unit while it is actually being productive for once