Traded Christian Wolanin (D)

[Ouroboros]

I really don’t know what some people see in Wolanin. He and Reilly are very similar players

It's just garden variety prospect fetishism.

Look at how angry people got when Jaros, Lajoie, Balcers and Chlapik were waived. Over the years we've seen it with dozens of players. Kaspars Daugavins. Peter Regin. Ilya Zubov. Alex Nikulin. Mattias Karlsson. Roman Wick. Andre Petersson. Francis Perron. Shane Prince. Fred Claesson. Stephane Da Costa. Matt Puempel. Mikael Wikstrand. At one point or another all HFSens darlings.

People get too invested in these players and then they lash out when things don't go as they expected. It's always the team's fault for not giving the chosen bust-du-jour enough opportunity.

 

[bert]

It's just garden variety prospect fetishism.

Look at how angry people got when Jaros, Lajoie, Balcers and Chlapik were waived. Over the years we've seen it with dozens of players. Kaspars Daugavins. Peter Regin. Ilya Zubov. Alex Nikulin. Mattias Karlsson. Roman Wick. Andre Petersson. Francis Perron. Shane Prince. Fred Claesson. Stephane Da Costa. Matt Puempel. Mikael Wikstrand. At one point or another all HFSens darlings.

People get too invested in these players and then they lash out when things don't go as they expected. It's always the team's fault for not giving the chosen bust-du-jour enough opportunity.

So we're Nick Paul, Mike Hoffman, JG Pageau, Mark Stone, Ryan Dzingel. Works both ways, that's why people want to see these players have a chance. I have seen you personally write off Nick Paul many times. Don't hurt yourself falling off that horse.

 

[bert]

Reilly is far better. Sorry dude.

The only times he has played well has been when he has been paired with Zub. Even then he has had some tough games. Literally one of the worst players I've ever seen play for this team. He stays in the lineup on the last place team in the NHL. The same regulars pump his tires when the majority of people that watch this team see how bad he has been. It's ok to all agree he hasn't been very good. He hasn't been 'far better' than anyone.

 

[Micklebot]

Reilly and Wolanin were born 1 1/2 years apart. There's no legitimate argument that Wolanin is deserved any special treatment over Reilly. He's getting outplayed.

I think the issue people have is the degree of rope Reilly is being afforded, he's a healthy scratch on 30 other teams but our team is playing in our top 4. The guy is good for terrible play a game yet outside of one game has yet to find himself scratched all the while if a guy like Brannstrom or Wolanin were to make rhe same play they'd be stappled to the bench.

As for Wolanin, there's a desire to see him given a bit more patience to work out kinks becauae of how much better he looked in the AHL and short NHL stint prior to missing almost all of lat year to a freak shoulder injury.

It boils down to we know exactly what Reilly is as a player, he's not good. Wolanin was just starting to establish himself when he got hurt and has played only 21 games in the year and a half since. He hasn't been good but he also hasn't really been put in a position to succeed so there's still hope he can find his form and get back on track.

 

[bert]

Man, the hoops people jump thru in here

Preseason very few people had Zub in their proposed lineups. lots of guys pegging Wolanin as a top 4 and i think some guys had him as our second best day. Many had Brannstrom out of the starting 6. More had Brannstrom in trade proposals than playing.

Before this year started i raised the Zub flag several times. I didn't think Wolanin was going to compete for ice with Brannstrom, i thought that wasn't a competition at all, it was going to be Brannstrom. I figured Wolanin was competing for ice with Reilly and suggested it might not be a competition that goes his way. I took some heat for those views. All of them correct at this point

Wolanin is just not good enough at what he's good at. It's as simple as that. Brannstrom moves the puck way better and is 21. Reilly's got decent nhl mileage. I don't think either has future here beyond the 21-22 season and in the short term, Reilly is bringing more to the table. Wolanin is simply not showing nearly enough to warrant ice time in the name of development. Chabot and Sanderson and sorting out whether Brannstrom is L or R. Wolanin doesn't fit and hasn't shown he warrants the ice time.

And it's pretty much that simple. I said all that pre season and it's pretty much obvious watching it. If you dont see that, that's not on DJ and Dorion.

Give him 10 games. f*** that. They're trying to win games and developing a guy with more or less no future that doesn't help winning now ain't happening

Maybe Reilly gets traded and Wolanin does ok with the ice. But even if that becomes reality there's still no future.

Sorry boys, those 30 well played games two years ago are a long time ago. He slipped on a puck, blew his shoulder and his opportunity along with it. And with limited ice time he hasn't done enough to win it back.

I'll give you that you were right about Brannstrom over Wolanin. However to say they weren't competing is not correct Wolanin started the year in the lineup. He struggled and his leash was very short. Branntsrom once given an opportunity played very well and made the most of it.

When comparing Wolanin to Reilly the two players were handled completely differently this year.

Reilly was afforded the opportunity to work through his struggles and got to play with multiple partners until there was a fit. That didn't happen for Wolanin and he got hurt. Now staying healthy is certainly a skill Reilly did it and managed to gain trust in the coaching staff. Who knows if Wolanin stays healthy? The game he got hurt in was his best.

What I don't understand is the chest thumping going on in here saying 'I told you so' about a prospect not playing well. Were you guys hoping he struggled? Seems kind of strange if you are a fan of this team. Secondly why are you happy that a player like Reilly who has been pretty bad has earned a spot? That's not a good thing, it's a shame that there is no solid 3rd option on the left side for the sens. I wish one of Reilly, Coburn or Wolanin had really stepped up and solidified that side.

 

[bert]

I think the issue people have is the degree of rope Reilly is being afforded, he's a healthy scratch on 30 other teams but our team is playing in our top 4. The guy is good for terrible play a game yet outside of one game has yet to find himself scratched all the while if a guy like Brannstrom or Wolanin were to make rhe same play they'd be stappled to the bench.

As for Wolanin, there's a desire to see him given a bit more patience to work out kinks becauae of how much better he looked in the AHL and short NHL stint prior to missing almost all of lat year to a freak shoulder injury.

It boils down to we know exactly what Reilly is as a player, he's not good. Wolanin was just starting to establish himself when he got hurt and has played only 21 games in the year and a half since. He hasn't been good but he also hasn't really been put in a position to succeed so there's still hope he can find his form and get back on track.

Exactly.

 

[Butchy Dakkar]

I’m in the give Wolanin a proper chance camp.

But Reilly has been looking much much better. I don’t get why many are insisting he is terrible, or even the “worst ever”. One terrible mistake a game??? Chabot seems to have 5-10 per game these days.

Don’t hate me, I just watch the games and this is what I’m seeing.

 

[bert]

I’m in the give Wolanin a proper chance camp.

But Reilly has been looking much much better. I don’t get why many are insisting he is terrible, or even the “worst ever”. One terrible mistake a game??? Chabot seems to have 5-10 per game these days.

Don’t hate me, I just watch the games and this is what I’m seeing.

Chabot hasn't been himself so far this season I agree.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

Reilly and Wolanin were born 1 1/2 years apart. There's no legitimate argument that Wolanin is deserved any special treatment over Reilly. He's getting outplayed.

And games played? I don’t think Wolanin has played 100 games yet. That’s why I said young in their career.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

And games played? I don’t think Wolanin has played 100 games yet. That’s why I said young in their career.

52 games 12 in the since end of 2018-19

 

[Burrowsaurus]

52 games 12 in the since end of 2018-19

Yeah exactly. Reilly has had much longer to figure out his game. I’m not even saying Wolanin will definitely be better than reilly. But on our team in our situation. He should be getting the reps.

 

[Micklebot]

I’m in the give Wolanin a proper chance camp.

But Reilly has been looking much much better. I don’t get why many are insisting he is terrible, or even the “worst ever”. One terrible mistake a game??? Chabot seems to have 5-10 per game these days.

Don’t hate me, I just watch the games and this is what I’m seeing.

Chabot has struggled too, he adds more on the other side mind you but definately needs to improve, no disagreement there.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Yeah exactly. Reilly has had much longer to figure out his game. I’m not even saying Wolanin will definitely be better than reilly. But on our team in our situation. He should be getting the reps.

They need to show a little more patience with Wolanin,, or waive him to get him games in Belleville. Wolanin losing last year or the best part of it has set him back and he has struggled to get comfortable this year. They don't practice enough to really get the kind of reps he needs. I don't think the difference between any of Reilly, Brannstrom , Wolanin, even Coburn is very wide right now.. even though a couple of them are slightly ahead. Wolanin needs reps and patience and then make a decision on him l and if need be they can turf him like they did with Lajoie and Jaros. If they think that decision has been made , waive him now. I think all of their days are numbered.. They should be moving Brannstrom to the right side to see how he does there.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

They need to show a little more patience with Wolanin,, or waive him to get him games in Belleville. Wolanin losing last year or the best part of it has set him back and he has struggled to get comfortable this year. They don't practice enough to really get the kind of reps he needs. I don't think the difference between any of Reilly, Brannstrom , Wolanin, even Coburn is very wide right now.. even though a couple of them are slightly ahead. Wolanin needs reps and patience and then make a decision on him l and if need be they can turf him like they did with Lajoie and Jaros. If they think that decision has been made , waive him now. I think all of their days are numbered.. They should be moving Brannstrom to the right side to see how he does there.

I think brannstrom is the best if the bunch. And by far the youngest. I’ve liked his games. Can’t keep benching him for third periods tho

 

[Micklebot]

They need to show a little more patience with Wolanin,, or waive him to get him games in Belleville. Wolanin losing last year or the best part of it has set him back and he has struggled to get comfortable this year. They don't practice enough to really get the kind of reps he needs. I don't think the difference between any of Reilly, Brannstrom , Wolanin, even Coburn is very wide right now.. even though a couple of them are slightly ahead. Wolanin needs reps and patience and then make a decision on him l and if need be they can turf him like they did with Lajoie and Jaros. If they think that decision has been made , waive him now. I think all of their days are numbered.. They should be moving Brannstrom to the right side to see how he does there.

This is a good point, if the team sees him as part of the future, he needsreps either here or in Belleville. If they don't, well he would certainly help belleville more than by being a heathy scratch here.

If the gap isn't so wide that they feel they can't afford losing him via waivers then they really should be getting the guy in games imo because it's not like Reilly has been great (i guess they disagree on that last point)

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

I think brannstrom is the best if the bunch. And by far the youngest. I’ve liked his games. Can’t keep benching him for third periods tho

Yah I agree he is the best player of that bunch right now and as you say has age on his side from a development standpoint but I am not sure he his strengths are strong enough to overcome his size and he will have to compete down the road a bit with guys we have coming .. but he should be getting the opportunities now.

 

[foggyvisor]

If someone is going to reverse the puck to no one in our D zone, let it be the guy WE drafted and carefully nurtured into a hot-mess that won't be playing the league in 2 years amirite

 

[Xspyrit]

Don’t think you realize how good Reilly was in College. And he’s only 2 years older than Wolanin!

Well, impossible to always say everything in just one post... but this was already addressed as I said on this page regarding Reilly "It's also true that he once was a good prospect"

I also said in the same post "Difference is he has played 224 NHL games now, while Wolanin has played 52 games. At this point, we know what Reilly is, for Wolanin it's not determined yet"

It's not about the age but more experience in Wolanin's case. As I also explained in this thread, Wolanin's experience related to his age is contextual (drafted as a late bloomer overager, then 3 years in College, then AHL/NHL, then injury, then Covid)

The guy got bad lucked with the timing of his injury. After his solid 30 NHL games stint in 2018-19, he was looking to fully establish himself in 2019-20 but injury + covid ruined those plans.

Man, the hoops people jump thru in here

Preseason very few people had Zub in their proposed lineups. lots of guys pegging Wolanin as a top 4 and i think some guys had him as our second best day. Many had Brannstrom out of the starting 6. More had Brannstrom in trade proposals than playing.

I don't know for everybody but this was from a post I made on November 10th

Chabot-Zub
Brannstrom-Zaitsev
Wolanin-Gudbranson
Reilly-J. Brown
Lajoie-Jaros (Belleville 1st pairing?)

That's what I wanted and it's progressively becoming the case. I watched Reilly A LOT in Montreal and really didn't expect him to play almost all games. A problem with that defense is on the RD, nobody outside of Zub can really help the LD puck movers to get out of trouble or cover their asses

So we're Nick Paul, Mike Hoffman, JG Pageau, Mark Stone, Ryan Dzingel. Works both ways, that's why people want to see these players have a chance. I have seen you personally write off Nick Paul many times. Don't hurt yourself falling off that horse.

Yup it totally works both ways. Of course, not every prospect is going to work out, this is captain obvious material. But personally, if I am running a team and I have invested a pick, time and ressources in a prospect, I'd rather be the one figuring it out rather than some other team. Exactly like it would be the case if the Sens were going to trade Logan Brown right now. His future is totally uncertain at the moment.

Also, if we shouldn't care about guys like Balcers, Chlapik, Lajoie, Jaros, Wolanin. I'd much rather have them as 13/14th forwards, 7th/8th D-men, on my taxi squad or in Belleville. Rather than have Michael Haley, Josh Brown, Braydon Coburn, Cedric Paquette (who didn't want to be here) or even Artem Anisimov on his last legs. But to each their own.

 

[BatherSeason]

I’m in the give Wolanin a proper chance camp.

But Reilly has been looking much much better. I don’t get why many are insisting he is terrible, or even the “worst ever”. One terrible mistake a game??? Chabot seems to have 5-10 per game these days.

Don’t hate me, I just watch the games and this is what I’m seeing.

Wolanin doesn't even appear to be skating with the team. He should at least be one of your top 8 and skating with the team on game days.

 

[Clayonator]

No, he's average in size and speed. He's not a big slow guy nor is he a speedy skilled guy. He's litterally not really part of the conversation.

Yes he is. You’re saying that Wolanin should be there instead of a big slow guy. It’s:

Chabot
Reilly
Brannstrom

down the left side. Where Wolanin would be. Reilly isn’t a speedy skilled guy? You should watch more. His issue is neither speed nor skill. It’s defending.

 

[cudi]

Yes he is. You’re saying that Wolanin should be there instead of a big slow guy. It’s:

Chabot
Reilly
Brannstrom

down the left side. Where Wolanin would be. Reilly isn’t a speedy skilled guy? You should watch more. His issue is neither speed nor skill. It’s defending.

He also seems to struggle from skating forward to skating backwards. Might be the worst D I've seen at that transition lol. A few times he's just fallen over.

 

[Tap on the Ankle]

It's just garden variety prospect fetishism.

Look at how angry people got when Jaros, Lajoie, Balcers and Chlapik were waived. Over the years we've seen it with dozens of players. Kaspars Daugavins. Peter Regin. Ilya Zubov. Alex Nikulin. Mattias Karlsson. Roman Wick. Andre Petersson. Francis Perron. Shane Prince. Fred Claesson. Stephane Da Costa. Matt Puempel. Mikael Wikstrand. At one point or another all HFSens darlings.

People get too invested in these players and then they lash out when things don't go as they expected. It's always the team's fault for not giving the chosen bust-du-jour enough opportunity.

Balcers is playing on the Sharks now and from the looks of his icetime he has earned himself a top 6 spot in the last two games. There was just as many posters saying that waiving him was no big deal, he was a nothing prospect, etc.

Obviously it's still early in his career, he could easily spin out and end up in the KHL, but I can't imagine anyone saying that waiving him was ever justified. The team really did that just to keep Galchenyuk and Paquette around for a few days. It was terrible asset management from Dorion and there is/was no excuse for it. At least with the 2nd for Stepan there is the (terrible but factual) excuse that it saves Melnyk money to have Arizona pay the bonus.

 

[JimmySpaetzle]

I think the real issue that people have is why Anisimov, Stepan etc. Seem to have such long leashes when the younger guys don’t. You’d think it would be the other way around. You can’t tell what a prospect is until you give them a fair shake

 

[jbeck5]

Yes he is. You’re saying that Wolanin should be there instead of a big slow guy. It’s:

Chabot
Reilly
Brannstrom

down the left side. Where Wolanin would be. Reilly isn’t a speedy skilled guy? You should watch more. His issue is neither speed nor skill. It’s defending.

I've literally never seen Rielly blow by anyone or dangle anyone...he doesn't have speed or skill, sorry. Very average in those aspects.

I've seen wolanin blow by people and dangle people several times. Above average skill and speed for dmen.

Not arguing Rielly doesn't know how to defend. Neither does wolanin, but at over 200gp, Rielly is more or less a finished product while wolanin could still develop a better defensive NHL game with some NHL game experience.

 

[coladin]

The only times he has played well has been when he has been paired with Zub. Even then he has had some tough games. Literally one of the worst players I've ever seen play for this team. He stays in the lineup on the last place team in the NHL. The same regulars pump his tires when the majority of people that watch this team see how bad he has been. It's ok to all agree he hasn't been very good. He hasn't been 'far better' than anyone.

It is very easy to focus on his legendary gaffes, while ignoring the good plays he makes. Wolanin has been a train wreck all season when given a chance. he just hasn't seized his opportunity