yes, long term, they are crucial, but just enough to offset the loss of two of Pearson/Boeser/Garland next year, I bank on Mikhayev moving the needle a lot more than the kids in 2024.
based on 7 games against some of the worst competition tanking? far too early to tell.
Or he can go the other way, he is now a known quantity that coaches have tape to counter on. I dont expect 27% shooting every year do you? again, possible to go so many ways.
Growth is if we can find him a partner. he didnt fare well away from Maatta.
but so is every other team. They are all better than last year because they do the same things we do. Do I put any stock on the blistering record against the second weakest schedule in the league? not really.
14-5-2 !
but just 3 of the Ws against playoff teams.
3W vs ducks, 2W vs hawks, 1W vs sharks
We are not likely to be as good as you think we are. The one thing we are definitely better this year is our player development situation. Coliton and Sedins are doing a bang up job prepping the baby canucks, a reason for optimism certainly.
agree. Myers has more than perceived value after bonus paid. but Boeser/Garland probably less than they are worth, not negative though.
not good D or 3C for our expendable wingers in a losing team.
Its a steep uphill climb to get back to respectability. This team is not respectable right now around the league. Whatever success they achieve is on the back of 3 players, like oilers pre hyman/kane/ekstrom/bouchard/skinner. meaningful improvement down the road is possible but unlikely with the way the team operates. Thats all it is, trying to increase likelihood for sustained success.
Without a solid pipe/ cap flexibility/ draft capital. whatever success we are talking about is like what the jets/preds/islanders/penguins achieved recently. No doubt good enough for some. Its just a game, enjoy the sunshine casual crowd.
I had literally forgotten about Mikheyev when I was posting that. That's a great point, we literally haven't seen him at his best (and whether we do this year or not is contingent on his knee's healing rate), but he's another addition.
I called Hirose an asset (paraphrasing) I didn't leap to saying he's a top pairing D. He is inarguably an asset. his worst-case scenario based on what we saw is really good top pairing D in Abbotsford. I would be shocked if he's not an NHLer when all is said and done, but even top line AHL D is a free asset.
Are you arguing with someone else? I literally said I expect Kuzmenko to be more well rounded and probably score fewer goals. So coming at me with his shooting percentage is like...thanks for supporting my argument. Not necessary, but appreciated I guess.
The Maata shit around Hronek completely lacks context and is where 'advanced stats' without context are entirely useless.
He looks so much worse without Maata because he's basically only ever played with waiver fodder other than him. Old Dekeyser, old Marc Staal, and old Jonathan Ericsson.
Nothing against Maata but he's an eminently replicable player.
Hronek literally led their terrible team in scoring as a 22 year old. Maata isn't the better asset there and it's not even close.
Regarding the record, I'm not blindly looking at our record and extrapolating. We literally started last season with a better roster than we ended the previous year with, but had injuries, dysfunction, and horrendous goaltending.
When we brought a better coach in who was cohesive with management (and who players bought into and respected) our process was better and our results were better.
Also add Hronek and Demko and the moves I presume we will make where we more efficiently allocate our resources.
I will bet you a thousand dollars we finish better than 22nd next year (low bar, but I'm not talking out of my ass when it comes to us improving).
