Player Discussion: Devon Toews

[CREW99AW]

Kid is a stud. I might be crazy for saying this, but aside from Barzal, I think he's our best asset. It's not easy to find stud d-men like this.

Wow . High praise indeed.
You like his upside more then Pulock's?

 

[CREW99AW]

This kid is the reason why I don’t understand why they brought back Hickey. Only reason maybe is they were worried about his shoulder injury. This kid for me has more talent then Dehaan.

I do not see Hickey at $2.5m per, as having an unreasonable or unmovable contract.

 

[Islesfan22]

I do not see Hickey at $2.5m per, as having an unreasonable or unmovable contract.

It’s not but I just don’t see why he was signed. Cheap price I guess but Towes is better in every aspect than Hickey.

 

[CREW99AW]

It’s not but I just don’t see why he was signed. Cheap price I guess but Towes is better in every aspect than Hickey.

After CDH choose Carolina over Lou's offer,the isles imo panicked a bit,scrambling not to lose anymore nhl talent off the blueline .

Also don't dismiss the reports of how popular Hickey is in the locker room.For an isle team reeling from the loss of Tavares & CDH, extending Hickey at $2.5m per probably seemed like a low risk move.

 

[Instant]

Seeing him a lot in ahl I do think he could be a 40 point nhl defenseman, he may eventually replace Leddy on top unit. The crazy thing is Aho is better offensively I just don’t know where he fits on this team. The biggest reason this team has improved other than Trotz is the young defense have all grown leaps and bounds(Pulock, Mayfield, Toews and even Pelech has played better lately)

I don't want to take anything from their personal growth, but it also helped a lot that we have now a structure to our defence - they know what they are supposed to be doing, where they are supposed to be on the ice, and that's a huge change from the 'run and gun' method that Weight had.

But they've been good. Not flashy, but quietly getting stuff done.

 

[duster19]

I do not see Hickey at $2.5m per, as having an unreasonable or unmovable contract.

Isles D looks great right now. Going to have 7 true NHL D. Plus Aho. Pipeline has a couple huge prospects. Other then maybe Boychuk, no real contract concerns. I love what the isles D looks like. Arguably one of the better groups all round in the NHL.

 

[Sparksrus3]

After CDH choose Carolina over Lou's offer,the isles imo panicked a bit,scrambling not to lose anymore nhl talent off the blueline .


seemed like a low risk move.

Or a small risk if I may

 

[Sparksrus3]

Isles D looks great right now. Going to have 7 true NHL D. Plus Aho. Pipeline has a couple huge prospects. Other then maybe Boychuk, no real contract concerns. I love what the isles D looks like. Arguably one of the better groups all round in the NHL.

It's so fantastic having all these drafted D men . I know I cheer so much more for guys we have drafted. I feel like I drafted them . It has been forever since this many here at the same time . Since the cup days possibly.

Just from memory only working backwards before this group I come up with

Hamonic
DeHaan
Martinek
Gervais
Macdonald
Pilon

Now Pilon takes us back to the 1990s . That is not an impressive homegrown group for a 20 year period . Am I missing anyone that has played at least a couple hundred games for us that we drafted?

 

[doublechili]

he is not a kid anymore. he's 24.

I think that makes me a Sequoia tree.

 

[Bronson]

It's so fantastic having all these drafted D men . I know I cheer so much more for guys we have drafted. I feel like I drafted them . It has been forever since this many here at the same time . Since the cup days possibly.

Just from memory only working backwards before this group I come up with

Hamonic
DeHaan
Martinek
Gervais
Macdonald
Pilon

Now Pilon takes us back to the 1990s . That is not an impressive homegrown group for a 20 year period . Am I missing anyone that has played at least a couple hundred games for us that we drafted?

Chris Campoli. Chara, Kasparaitis, Lachance, McCabe and Malakhov were picked in the 90s as well. Pilon was actually picked in the 80s.

 

[Sparksrus3]

Campoli , Chara, kasper, and McCabe all just barely topped 200 games with us . Makakhov less. Pilon and Lachance were the only ones with some tenure . But yes , I did use 200 games as my minimum so you are correct .

 

[seafoam]

Hickey at 2.5M per is fine for a 7D when a lot of younger defensemen are making less to offset the cost of 2.5M per being on the high-end of depth D.

He will probably stick around until his contract is too large for the team to carry. He’s a high character guy who brings a consistent effort every night and has typically been pretty healthy.

Good to have in case someone goes down, or can step in when someone’s struggling.

 

[seafoam]

 

[saintunspecified]

Toews and Pulock (when he's going) have a decisiveness when they're on offense that none of our other defenders have. If Nick Leddy had that with his skillset, he'd be a #1D.

 

[Duanesutter12]

After a couple of frustrating years Boychuck is living up to his contract. With him, it's mostly health issues given his age but he's been really good this year. I hate to say this because there's just not many puck moving defensemen like Leddy but he's not really living up to his contract and his cap hit is going up every year from here on out. I'm starting to wonder if his passive personality is just not suitable for top shelf defenseman.

Isles D looks great right now. Going to have 7 true NHL D. Plus Aho. Pipeline has a couple huge prospects. Other then maybe Boychuk, no real contract concerns. I love what the isles D looks like. Arguably one of the better groups all round in the NHL.

 

[PK Cronin]

After a couple of frustrating years Boychuck is living up to his contract. With him, it's mostly health issues given his age but he's been really good this year. I hate to say this because there's just not many puck moving defensemen like Leddy but he's not really living up to his contract and his cap hit is going up every year from here on out. I'm starting to wonder if his passive personality is just not suitable for top shelf defenseman.

Leddy's cap hit is not going up, the cap hit remains the same for the duration of player's contracts. His actual salary is what's going up ( assume that's what you meant). We all know he isn't a #1 defenseman.

 

[Duanesutter12]

Ah I see, I thought the cap hit goes up with the salary. I really should be careful complaining about the contract because he is only 27 after all. It's just that his skill set is so much better than what we're actually getting out of him.

Leddy's cap hit is not going up, the cap hit remains the same for the duration of player's contracts. His actual salary is what's going up ( assume that's what you meant). We all know he isn't a #1 defenseman.

 

[CupHolders]

I think that makes me a Sequoia tree.

LOL... reminds me of Milbury's "Redwood Defense" of Chara, Kudroc, Mezei and Biron I beleive.

 

[PK Cronin]

Ah I see, I thought the cap hit goes up with the salary. I really should be careful complaining about the contract because he is only 27 after all. It's just that his skill set is so much better than what we're actually getting out of him.

The impact a player's actual salary has is that some teams might be reluctant to pay a player more money at the end of their career/contract. For example, a team that doesn't have all the money in the world like Arizona might not want to trade for him now because they'd have to pay $7 million to him while his cap hit is only $5.5 million. Arizona might like trades where a player has a higher cap hit but is being paid a lower salary for the years remaining on their contract. It's a way to game the cap maximum and minimum for some teams because on paper the salary cap is just the average of the entirety of the contract.

 

[GrandmaSlices51631]

Toews & Pulock will be a bonafide 1st pairing - give them 100-150 games together.

We could have a blueline as deep as NSH or SJS

 

[Flair19Woo]

LOL... reminds me of Milbury's "Redwood Defense" of Chara, Kudroc, Mezei and Biron I beleive.

Back when the nhl was all about interference, clutching, and grabbing....milbury and his crazy ideas. Should’ve made sure they could play instead just drafting size.

 

[BelovedIsles]

I watched McAvoy (shoutout to Long Beach, LI) closely tonight. 1st pairing material. He just gets things done, and done well, 200 ft player.

I can say the same about Toews. The subtleties make the difference; except he’s 24 and McAvoy is what, 20-21.

 

[Disgraced Cosmonaut]

Wow . High praise indeed.
You like his upside more then Pulock's?

I'll answer that I do, for sure. Like them both quite a bit. I'm excited for our D under the Trotz system.

 

[doublechili]

LOL... reminds me of Milbury's "Redwood Defense" of Chara, Kudroc, Mezei and Biron I beleive.

And he traded away the only redwood that could play....

 

[Big L]

I watched McAvoy (shoutout to Long Beach, LI) closely tonight. 1st pairing material. He just gets things done, and done well, 200 ft player.

I can say the same about Toews. The subtleties make the difference; except he’s 24 and McAvoy is what, 20-21.

The Bruins have themselves a real solid player in #73, no question.