Player Discussion Drake Batherson (RW)

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Sen sational

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Mar 27, 2019
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One top 6 player is likely with two first round picks, but two is probably not based on past experience.
You could be right, but I was looking at a few of the prospect rankings and a couple of them have suggested that they thought the top 20 this year were going to be A prospects.

We will have a top 5, which projects to be a 1st liner, along with SJ 1st, which I hope to be in the 20 or less range, plus our 32, 33, CBJ 2nd, Dallas 2nd, and perhaps a late 1st or 2nd for 1 or 2 of Pageau, Tierney, Demelo. Hopefully with those assets we can move down in the draft to grab another first liner. Do you have any opinion of where the top line prospects "stop" for the 2020 draft?
 

jbeck5

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Jan 26, 2009
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Playing a good portion of that time with Pat Kane...

Edit. Beaten to the punch

But that's my point. He's not a black hole. He doesn't drive his line, but the play doesn't die on his stick on odd man rushes or on scoring chances. We've had guys who we've put with Duchene, stone, spezza, who can't even put up 15 goals. Guys like Condra who have trouble hitting 10 goals while having like 20 open nets. I see Anisimov as having more puck skills than those guys.
 

Micklebot

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I see a lot more puck skills with Anisimov than I did with greening. He's gotten 20+ goals away from Kane too. I'm not saying hes amazing. I'm saying he has more puck skills than most of our 3rd or 4th line players over the years. He is pretty slow though. But at least he can receive a pass, make a pass, etc. We've had guys that fumble the puck all the time on our bottom lines recently.

What I'm trying to say is he's pretty close to an average NHLer. If batherson can't produce with average NHLers, I think blaming his linemates is a lazy argument.

We've had most of our top 9 players start off with average to below average 3rd liners...

He certainly has better puck skills, but Greening was a much better skater. The guy wasn't away from Kane his entire time in Chicago. Not sure how much weight his production 6 years ago in Columbus carries today.
 

Sensung

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But that's my point. He's not a black hole. He doesn't drive his line, but the play doesn't die on his stick on odd man rushes or on scoring chances. We've had guys who we've put with Duchene, stone, spezza, who can't even put up 15 goals. Guys like Condra who have trouble hitting 10 goals while having like 20 open nets. I see Anisimov as having more puck skills than those guys.
Pat Kane drives every line he is on. Anisimov is a plug
 

jbeck5

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He certainly has better puck skills, but Greening was a much better skater. The guy wasn't away from Kane his entire time in Chicago. Not sure how much weight his production 6 years ago in Columbus carries today.

I think it points to his higher overall talent level. Yes, greening was a much better skater. That's all greening could do at the NHL level. Even his hard Slapshot was never used in game. His top line speed was also never properly utilised by greening. Why didn't he get breakaways often considering he was our dzingel for speed back in the day, when doing speed tests...
 

jbeck5

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Pat Kane drives every line he is on. Anisimov is a plug

I don't think you're understanding what I'm saying.

I'm saying Anisimov DOES NOT drive his line...but put him with talent and he might flirt with 20 goals.

We've had many plugs we put with talent that couldn't come near 20 goals.

Anisimov is not going to prevent you from producing if you have skill. Jesse Winchester might. That's what I'm saying.
 

Sens of Anarchy

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Have to really be careful what you say about the golden boy around these parts. He's equivalent to the second coming of jesus to some posters on here.
True .. not taking anything away from him.. I think what he's done is very "Rudy" like and I applaud that but in the Sens case it definitely says something about the depth of the team and the quality / readiness currently in the pipeline.
 

Sensung

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I don't think you're understanding what I'm saying.

I'm saying Anisimov DOES NOT drive his line...but put him with talent and he might flirt with 20 goals.

We've had many plugs we put with talent that couldn't come near 20 goals.

Anisimov is not going to prevent you from producing if you have skill. Jesse Winchester might. That's what I'm saying.
Not every player with skill can drive a line.

Batherson has skill, but will need someone else to drive the line, like Brown did for him in the AHL last year.

Anisimov is too slow and a terrible C for a player like Drake. That is what I am saying.
 

harrisb

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Oct 6, 2009
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True .. not taking anything away from him.. I think what he's done is very "Rudy" like and I applaud that but in the Sens case it definitely says something about the depth of the team and the quality / readiness currently in the pipeline.
Rudy only ever played one series. I hope "The Drake" doesn't turn out like Rudy lol. "The Drake" is just too great of a nickname for him to fail.
 

Tuna99

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Sep 26, 2009
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Rebuilds are so delicate, a guy like Batherson falls off a bit and suddenly you wonder if he’s done as a top 6 winger, maybe he’ll be a 3rd liner.

Without elite talent rebuilds don’t ever get going - your top 6 prospects fall off and you never improve

Let's go Drake
 

jbeck5

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Not every player with skill can drive a line.

Batherson has skill, but will need someone else to drive the line, like Brown did for him in the AHL last year.

Anisimov is too slow and a terrible C for a player like Drake. That is what I am saying.

I can agree. I was just trying to make the point that he's not a black hole. We've had black holes and they lack a lot of puck skills.

I think Anisimov line with 2 other big bodies could be a good 4th line in the playoffs to keep possession down low. Obviously were not going to the post season any time soon.

Side note:I also thought Anisimov was taken off Kane's line in favour of Strome last year, but could be wrong.
 

Micklebot

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I think it points to his higher overall talent level. Yes, greening was a much better skater. That's all greening could do at the NHL level. Even his hard Slapshot was never used in game. His top line speed was also never properly utilised by greening. Why didn't he get breakaways often considering he was our dzingel for speed back in the day, when doing speed tests...

I'm not saying Anisimov is as bad as Greening, just that his recent production is a product of Kane the way Greening's was of Spezza. The baseline production for Anisimov would be higher than that of Greening's, sure, but the point remains using either's production from a time when they stapled to a player known for dragging plugs along for the ride is going to give a false impression of the player.

He is not your typical middle six player by any measure, not at this stage in his career anyways.
 

Flamingo

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They alluded to it being a conditioning issue this morning (TGOR). I wonder if he's just not in good shape?

Yeah, and lots of people commented on how much he had bulked up. Maybe he finished the off-season with a strength program and needs to cut & condition a bit.
 

Micklebot

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I can agree. I was just trying to make the point that he's not a black hole. We've had black holes and they lack a lot of puck skills.

I think Anisimov line with 2 other big bodies could be a good 4th line in the playoffs to keep possession down low. Obviously were not going to the post season any time soon.

Side note:I also thought Anisimov was taken off Kane's line in favour of Strome last year, but could be wrong.

Yeah, Anisimov won't destroy a line's production, but he also isn't really helping it imo.

And you're right, he was taken off Kane's line, which resulted in his production plummeting.

In the end, I just don't think he compliments Batherson's skill set. I don't think he really complimented Kane either, he was just sort of there and didn't hurt. He's certainly not the guy you put a rookie with in hopes of sheltering him or helping bring him along in any event.
 

jbeck5

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I'm not saying Anisimov is as bad as Greening, just that his recent production is a product of Kane the way Greening's was of Spezza. The baseline production for Anisimov would be higher than that of Greening's, sure, but the point remains using either's production from a time when they stapled to a player known for dragging plugs along for the ride is going to give a false impression of the player.

He is not your typical middle six player by any measure, not at this stage in his career anyways.

Maybe typical 3rd liner should be more accurate. Not middle 6 as if he's in your top 6 you're in trouble.

I see him flirting with 30 points (25-30 pts per 82) playing mostly on our third line. I guess we'll see.

That's the production I'd expect out of a third liner.
 

jbeck5

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Yeah, Anisimov won't destroy a line's production, but he also isn't really helping it imo.

And you're right, he was taken off Kane's line, which resulted in his production plummeting.

In the end, I just don't think he compliments Batherson's skill set. I don't think he really complimented Kane either, he was just sort of there and didn't hurt. He's certainly not the guy you put a rookie with in hopes of sheltering him or helping bring him along in any event.

I can agree with this. He's not helping young guys...but I just don't see him hurting either.

Put a line driver like duclair with a batherson, and all of a sudden Anisimov as the third doesn't seem too too bad but maybe that's just me. It's not ideal but we don't have too many options right now haha.
 
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Alex1234

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Oct 14, 2014
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How you can get to training camp out of shape as a professional is baffling to me
You're not Bobby Ryan who is sitting on his millions and just waiting to retire
You are supposed to be an up and coming star (relative to your last AHL season)
 

Sens of Anarchy

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How you can get to training camp out of shape as a professional is baffling to me
You're not Bobby Ryan who is sitting on his millions and just waiting to retire
You are supposed to be an up and coming star (relative to your last AHL season)

Who says he's out of shape?
 

HSF

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Sep 3, 2008
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let the kid play through it and see

its still really really early
 

Micklebot

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Apr 27, 2010
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I can agree with this. He's not helping young guys...but I just don't see him hurting either.

Put a line driver like duclair with a batherson, and all of a sudden Anisimov as the third doesn't seem too too bad but maybe that's just me. It's not ideal but we don't have too many options right now haha.

I think the big issue is Batherson and Anisimov are both pretty slow. Some players have skill sets that compliment one another, I think these guys have deficiencies sets amplify one another.
 
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