Player Discussion Drake Caggiula - How far can he go?

[Raab]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Reminds me of a young Darren Helm. Great pick up by Chia.

 

[Grey Poupon*]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Reminds me of a young Darren Helm. Great pick up by Chia.

Way off base. Not even the same type of player. I can't pick a single characteristic that they're similar at. Is the only similarity that they both play hockey? Cuz then I could say George's Laraque reminds me Connor McDavid. This sounds like a really random projection of a player which is unfair for Drake.

 

[Panda Bear]

Way off base. Not even the same type of player. I can't pick a single characteristic that they're similar at. Is the only similarity that they both play hockey? Cuz then I could say George's Laraque reminds me Connor McDavid. This sounds like a really random projection of a player which is unfair for Drake.

Fast, aggressive on the puck, good on-ice awareness, responsible play in all three zones, gritty on the boards? Caggiula has better hands and more creativity with the puck while Helm is faster and has better stickwork.

It's not a perfect comparison, but there are similarities to draw. It's certainly a smarter comparison than whatever the hell you just did.

 

[harpoon]

Archive this post under the "foot in mouth" category in a few years

We'll see. The original statement by Aerchon was

I know I will get flamed for this but Caggiula reminds me of Marc Arcobello. Very slightly worse defensively and very slightly better offensively.

I'm going to go ahead and agree with that. He does look like Arco out there sometimes. I also see some similarities with Eberle in the way they handle the puck. Thing with players like that is the modern NHL is not always kind to them. Smallish and fancy with decent speed isn't the winning combination it used to be. Those players tend to be 'streaky' and have lots of games when they look like 'trash' ... qualities we know hfoil loves dearly. The whole of last week the board 'had seen enough of Drake' and wanted him sent down.

But the lo and behold, Caggiula pops a couple of goals and posters start penciling him in on the first line for next season.
That's every bit the 'foot in mouth' statement you think an Arco comparison is.

 

[Draiskull]

Guys like Caggiula, Slepychev and Khaira are just getting their feet wet in the NHL.. Who knows how they will turn out in a couple years but right now they are just gaining valuable NHL exp and showing glimpses of what they can become. Caggiula wont turn into Gaudreau 2.0 that is for sure but he may still become a legit top 6 winger in the NHL.

 

[lakai17]

Guys like Caggiula, Slepychev and Khaira are just getting their feet wet in the NHL.. Who knows how they will turn out in a couple years but right now they are just gaining valuable NHL exp and showing glimpses of what they can become. Caggiula wont turn into Gaudreau 2.0 that is for sure but he may still become a legit top 6 winger in the NHL.

Slepy and Caggiula have top 6 potential still. You can toss Pitlick in the mix as well.(more bottom 6) All great depth for this team going forward. This is great for Chia to have valuable trade chips as well in the future, if necessary.

 

[Dorian2]

Caggiula is a pleasant surprise.

 

[Grey Poupon*]

Caggiula is a pleasant surprise.

16 points in 53 games is a pleasant surprise? Did you guys really forget the 11 points in 51 games version of Drake Caggiula? Because I still remember the non-factor he's been for the past 50 games. I'm glad he's starting to figure it out, but he's been a disappointment this season. I was expecting a top 9 player. Instead we got a player who constantly got slotted into an NHL lineup in favour of Anton Lander who brought more to the table.

Can Drake be a great player in the NHL? Sure. Has his performance this season instilled any kind of confidence in me? No. Seriously no. He's got a lot of work to do. 5 games from now, when he goes back to Scoreless-Drake, we'll look back at all these recent posts and have a nice laugh together.

 

[McFlyingV]

16 points in 53 games is a pleasant surprise? Did you guys really forget the 11 points in 51 games version of Drake Caggiula? Because I still remember the non-factor he's been for the past 50 games. I'm glad he's starting to figure it out, but he's been a disappointment this season. I was expecting a top 9 player. Instead we got a player who constantly got slotted into an NHL lineup in favour of Anton Lander who brought more to the table.

Can Drake be a great player in the NHL? Sure. Has his performance this season instilled any kind of confidence in me? No. Seriously no. He's got a lot of work to do. 5 games from now, when he goes back to Scoreless-Drake, we'll look back at all these recent posts and have a nice laugh together.

 

[Grey Poupon*]

LANDER vs. CAGGUILA

Faceoffs: Lander is a beter faceoff man
Defensive Play: Lander is a better defensive player
Offensive Play: Drake (0.21 PPG in first 51 games player) vs. Lander (0.18 PPG during his stints)

Despite having 2nd unit powerplay time, he only outscored Lander by 0.03PPG. Get a grip.

 

[McFlyingV]

LANDER vs. CAGGUILA

Faceoffs: Lander is a beter faceoff man
Defensive Play: Lander is a better defensive player
Offensive Play: Drake (0.21 PPG in first 51 games player) vs. Lander (0.18 PPG during his stints)

Despite having 2nd unit powerplay time, he only outscored Lander by 0.03PPG. Get a grip.

Lander the last 2 seasons: 0.08ppg. Lander also can't skate. As if we need to get any slower.

 

[Grey Poupon*]

Lander the last 2 seasons: 0.08ppg. Lander also can't skate. As if we need to get any slower.

Clever.

 

[McFlyingV]

Clever.

You think an outlier under Nelson matters?

 

[Jesus Take the Wheel]

LANDER vs. CAGGUILA

Faceoffs: Lander is a beter faceoff man
Defensive Play: Lander is a better defensive player
Offensive Play: Drake (0.21 PPG in first 51 games player) vs. Lander (0.18 PPG during his stints)

Despite having 2nd unit powerplay time, he only outscored Lander by 0.03PPG. Get a grip.

So you ignore the fact that watching each player, Cagguila clearly has the tools to be a much more successful NHL player then Lander and Lander historically have terrible career numbers minus one breakout season? I'd much rather let Cagg's play through his struggles while he adapts to the NHL, if he hones in his shot a bit he will start putting up much better numbers

 

[McFlyingV]

So you ignore the fact that watching each player, Cagguila clearly has the tools to be a much more successful NHL player then Lander and Lander historically have terrible career numbers minus one breakout season? I'd much rather let Cagg's play through his struggles while he adapts to the NHL, if he hones in his shot a bit he will start putting up much better numbers

Agreed. I'd rather let the guy who has an NHL future learn this year than waste the spot on an AHL/press box tweener. I wish Lander was better because he's a likeable guy, but he really just doesn't have the skating or offensive tools to be a good NHLer. He can win a face-off sure, but he's like Matt Hendricks in a lot of ways and I prefer having guys who can skate on the PK. You give up way too much space when you have slow guys PKing.

 

[Jesus Take the Wheel]

Agreed. I'd rather let the guy who has an NHL future learn this year than waste the spot on an AHL/press box tweener. I wish Lander was better because he's a likeable guy, but he really just doesn't have the skating or offensive tools to be a good NHLer. He can win a face-off sure, but he's like Matt Hendricks in a lot of ways and I prefer having guys who can skate on the PK. You give up way too much space when you have slow guys PKing.

Lander minus his outlier season has 4 goals in 177 games.. 10 goals in 215 career NHL games. Caggs has 6 goals in 53 games in his first NHL season, I think thats all that needs to be said when comparing them.

 

[Dorian2]

Caggiula is a pleasant surprise.

 

[kurtcobang]

I have a feeling the Drake hit the wall like Drai did last year adjusting to the long NHL schedule
The reason I think he has more upside than say Lander did is the Drake shows flashes of offensive creativity unlike Rem Murray light Lander
If I was to use some random player as a career comparable id say he has Ray Whitney light
But im a big fan of the Drake so maybe I'm biased

 

[Senor Catface]

Lander scores goals at 3.8 goals over a 82 game season.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Clever.

Pretty weak response to a solid post. Lander has proven time and time again to be a tweener. If you've followed the team long enough you would've seen how camp after camp he was outplayed even by Keith Acton ffs. The bottom line is that his skating is holding him back, he cleared waivers numerous times and is going to the KHL after this season. Caggiula on the other hand has speed, hits pretty damn well considering his size and has shown flashes of having decent offensive abilities. Lander is a PK and faceoff specialist basically and an offensive black hole. Drake has had his ups and downs for sure as most rookies do, but at least there's an upside with him while Lander is close to a finished product at this point unless he gets faster.

 

[SK13]

Anton Lander has played 215 NHL games. That's plenty of time to find a baseline offensively. It just isn't there at the NHL level. He's the new Keith Aucoin.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Anton Lander has played 215 NHL games. That's plenty of time to find a baseline offensively. It just isn't there at the NHL level. He's the new Keith Aucoin.

He looked offensively competent under Nelson and hasn't before or after that stretch at the NHL level. Hard worker, good guy in the room apparently, but he has never been able to seize a spot while we have had many poor teams.

 

[SK13]

He looked offensively competent under Nelson and hasn't before or after that stretch at the NHL level. Hard worker, good guy in the room apparently, but he has never been able to seize a spot while we have had many poor teams.

Todd Nelson's Oilers were wild horses.

I'm not sure you could comfortably apply those scoring rates to a team with structure.

I mean, I had hopes at the time...

 

[frag2]

Clever.

Trying to be a smart ass I see.

Why post here when a) You're a Bruins fan b) all your posts have been here to stir ****?

if you're gonna be antagonistic to everyone's opinions that happen to disagree with you, then perhaps you should go post in HFBruins.

 

[McSomnii]

IMO it's too early to judge how far he can go with this team, but if I were to give my opinion, I would state that he's mostly been pretty serviceable, with the occasional flash of something greater.

I hope to see more consistent offensive production out of him next year, but I do think that he's solidified a roster spot for the foreseeable future.