Player Discussion Cole McWard

[credulous]

zach whitecloud is probably the closest comparable for mcward in terms of career arc. both played their first ncaa season at 19/20 and both left after their sophomore season at the same age many players are graduating as four year seniors. both played for pretty middling programs

whitecloud spent a whole season in the ahl post signing but is now only not a top 4 defender by virtue of playing behind pietrangelo and theodore in vegas. it would be incredible if mcward can top whitecloud. looks promising so far

 

[F A N]

zach whitecloud is probably the closest comparable for mcward in terms of career arc. both played their first ncaa season at 19/20 and both left after their sophomore season at the same age many players are graduating as four year seniors. both played for pretty middling programs

whitecloud spent a whole season in the ahl post signing but is now only not a top 4 defender by virtue of playing behind pietrangelo and theodore in vegas. it would be incredible if mcward can top whitecloud. looks promising so far

Is Ohio State a middling program now? There was a time when we drafted Umberger and Kesler.

 

[Vector]

Is Ohio State a middling program now? There was a time when we drafted Umberger and Kesler.

It's really only produced Kesler, Umberger, and Macoun. The rest of the guys from there have been middling, at best.

 

[StreetHawk]

It's really only produced Kesler, Umberger, and Macoun. The rest of the guys from there have been middling, at best.

The top Big10 programs had always been traditionally Minnesota and Michigan. With Wisconsin close to them. OSU probably in about the same class as Michigan State.

Can’t say I’ve hear of many OSU picks in round 1 in the past decade plus.

 

[MS]

The top Big10 programs had always been traditionally Minnesota and Michigan. With Wisconsin close to them. OSU probably in about the same class as Michigan State.

Can’t say I’ve hear of many OSU picks in round 1 in the past decade plus.

Ohio State really seemed to be an emerging power in the early 2000s in the Kesler/Umberger/Steckel period and given how big the school is and the resources they have I expected them to build on that and eventually be right up there with the Michigan/Minnesota/North Dakota/Boston University types.

Instead they've kind of just drifted back to being a second-tier school with a couple mid-round picks on their roster at any given time. Mason Lohrei (2nd round) is their highest-drafted player in absolute ages, I think since Kesler.

Also it should be mentioned that Dakota Joshua is an OSU product, one of the few in the NHL right now.

 

[HairyKneel]

Whitecloud was 5 or 6 in ice time on that Vegas D. Behind AP, Theodore, Martinez and Hague not to mention Mcnabb. i like Whitecloud but he is not a top 4 on a good team. He might be here but while there’s a lot to like about his game, he’s probably at his peak right now.

McWard doesn’t play with the bite of Whitecloud. As aside it’s too bad Brady Keeper kept getting hurt. Bad luck sometimes seperates some equal ability kids at the bottom end of rosters. Luck and health are huge.

 

[HairyKneel]

It's like picking up a d-man in the first round of the draft

it really isn’t.

 

[HairyKneel]

I can't get over a guy like McWard being played up the roster for 1 preseason game and posters en masse thinking he's now a better signing than guys like Hutton or Stecher who played 500 NHL games and were top-4 guys for decent stretches.

They were top 4 on a garbage fire of a team. By that rationale Erik Gudbranson was as well.

As an asside whomever is scouting the pro D and trying to pick one in the draft really sucks shit. Multiple people really. This team had a good D corps for 25 years and the last 10 have been a black hole.

Babych, Diduck, Lumme, Murzyn, Brown, Hedican, Ohlund, McCabe, Jovo, Aucoin, Salo, Malik, Mitchell, Ehrhoff, Bieksa, Hamhuis, Edler, Tanev . I’m sure im missing a couple but from Quinn to Gillis the GM’s understood that you need to build fro the back end.

 

[MS]

They were top 4 on a garbage fire of a team. By that rationale Erik Gudbranson was as well.

As an asside whomever is scouting the pro D and trying to pick one in the draft really sucks shit. Multiple people really. This team had a good D corps for 25 years and the last 10 have been a black hole.

Babych, Diduck, Lumme, Murzyn, Brown, Hedican, Ohlund, McCabe, Jovo, Aucoin, Salo, Malik, Mitchell, Ehrhoff, Bieksa, Hamhuis, Edler, Tanev . I’m sure im missing a couple but from Quinn to Gillis the GM’s understood that you need to build fro the back end.

Both Hutton and Stecher looked better than McWard at the same age and have had very long NHL careers.

Like, it's not impossible that McWard will be better. But right now he's had 1 pretty decent preseason NHL game while being paired with Quinn Hughes, a situation that even made Noah Juulsen look pretty serviceable last year.

 

[Spectrefire]

Let's also slow down and relax. Hutton and Stecher looked good too early on coming out of the NCAA too.

Excuse me, that's Stanley Cup Champion Ben Hutton to you.

 

[VanJack]

it really isn’t.

I'm not so sure.....McWard's 18-year old draft year was 2019, the same year as Podkolzin and Hoglander.

If McWard had been a first rounder, he'd be exactly where you'd expect him to be by age 22--knocking on the door of NHL deployment.

 

[MS]

I'm not so sure.....McWard's 18-year old draft year was 2019, the same year as Podkolzin and Hoglander.

If McWard had been a first rounder, he'd be exactly where you'd expect him to be by age 22--knocking on the door of NHL deployment.

The 2019 1st rounders who haven't stuck by now will end up overwhelmingly being busts.

A 2019 3rd rounder, sure. You'd be happy with that player being where McWard is at.

 

[F A N]

I'm not so sure.....McWard's 18-year old draft year was 2019, the same year as Podkolzin and Hoglander.

If McWard had been a first rounder, he'd be exactly where you'd expect him to be by age 22--knocking on the door of NHL deployment.

You’re telling me after getting three 1st rounders from the Horvat trade we got more for free?

 

[VanJack]

The 2019 1st rounders who haven't stuck by now will end up overwhelmingly being busts.

A 2019 3rd rounder, sure. You'd be happy with that player being where McWard is at.

If McWard was a forward, I might agree with you. But the blueline is probably the toughest position in the rink to break into the NHL as a 19-20 year old. And if McWard had been a first round pick, it would likely have been in the back-half of the 2019 draft.

But I guess the debate about how or why he got here is kind of irrelevant. The reality is that he might have been one of the best d-men to come out of the NCAA last season....and props to Allvin that he chose the Canucks.

 

[AlainVigneaultsGum]

Nvm lol he sucks. FREE MY BOY AKITO HIROSE.

 

[petterdaddy]

Noted Pre Season Goon Cole McWard

 

[SelltheTeamFrancesco]

Was kind of unfair to expect him to step up on the first pairing with Hughes. He is not and might not ever be ready for that spot. Still think he can be a good depth piece and might grow into a good #4 if everything goes as planned.

 

[biturbo19]

Was kind of unfair to expect him to step up on the first pairing with Hughes. He is not and might not ever be ready for that spot. Still think he can be a good depth piece and might grow into a good #4 if everything goes as planned.

Yeah. It was just an unreasonable expectation pumped up by unrealistic deployment in the preseason. This was never going to be a thing this year.


That said, it's awfully nice whenever you can pick up a "free" asset who can even manage a game or two in their first preseason looking like they've got some potential to be a long-term NHLer. Especially if they happen to be a steady RHD with some decent size.

He acquitted himself well this camp. The ride has come to a screeching halt as reality sets in. But there's nothing wrong with a guy in his shoes spending some time in the AHL to gain that Pro experience and hone his craft further, adjust to the pace, get more comfortable. And that's not even to say it's going to be some easy ride with a linear path. There are almost certainly going to be bumps in the road. But at the end of the day...promising. We may have an NHLer here and that's outstanding.

 

[alternate]

Yeah, still a very positive camp and preseason for McWard. Looks poised for a big year in Abby. Be awesome if he could slide into Myers' 3RD slot next season, but even that is probably overly optimistic.

 

[VanJack]

Tocchet was asked about McWard in his post game presser, and seemed to dismiss the notion that at 22, he was still too young to be an everyday NHL d-man. He pointed out that 22-year old d-men coming into the league is a lot more common that it used to be.

Still in all likelihood Soucy shifts to the right side as a placeholder; until Bear has recovered and re-signs with the Canucks. Apparently the Canucks have reached out to him.

But it's also possible that McWard sticks around and plays limited minutes at least for the first couple of months. Based on his pre-season play so far, he's earned it.

 

[IComeInPeace]

Tocchet was asked about McWard in his post game presser, and seemed to dismiss the notion that at 22, he was still too young to be an everyday NHL d-man. He pointed out that 22-year old d-men coming into the league is a lot more common that it used to be.

Still in all likelihood Soucy shifts to the right side as a placeholder; until Bear has recovered and re-signs with the Canucks. Apparently the Canucks have reached out to him.

But it's also possible that McWard sticks around and plays limited minutes at least for the first couple of months. Based on his pre-season play so far, he's earned it.

“I don’t know if he’s going to make the team or not, but there’s guys that have come out of college at 22 that have done well,” said Tocchet

 

[Diversification]

Just watched the game. He wasn't as bad I feared after reading some of the comments. Got a bit unlucky with some of the calls. The ones on RNH and Pederson were kind of soft calls and the play on Lavoie negated a quality scoring chance.

Perhaps what it suggests is that he needs to find a better balance in his defensive play where he knows how long he can hold or hook up to the edge before it triggers a call from the referee. But otherwise, he was doing the same things he was doing before: a low event partner for Hughes at evens with decent outlet passing.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Had a bit of a rough game as expected with all rookies. Will be interesting to see how he bounces back next game just to get an idea of how close he is to becoming a regular. It’s a big ask to have him on the top pairing but maybe he can be the guy on the third pairing if he has a strong next game. Otherwise send him to Abbey to play big minutes and he will probably be back as a regular once the inevitable injuries hit.

 

[M2Beezy]

Not to be overly dramatic but hes the worst player Ive ever seen in my life

 

[Fraser28]

Not to be overly dramatic but hes the worst player Ive ever seen in my life

Yeah he should probably retire from the sport before he brings even more shame to his family.