Speculation: Julius Honka
- Thread starter justafan22
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serp
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- Jan 17, 2016
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What really confused me with Polak is how many minutes he played with the Leafs when i looked it up . The hell was Babcock thinking playing him ~18 minutes a night ? Thats top4 minutes . I didn't hate Polak playing the 13 minutes yesterday but more than that and his lack of speed really gets exposed. He looked decent shoving people down and taking people out of the play but his skating looks like his skates are filled with cement.
Kcb12345
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- Jun 6, 2017
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Oof. Had actually a good first game but my god is he slow. No way in hell he is gonna be good against the Jets. No way at all. That's why I think this Honka thing won't last too long lol he will be back when the coaching staff gets (another) look at the real Polak, who was bad all preseason long. At least Honka has an effective transition game and can pass the puck
LucicAndChong
formerly known as Big Sugar
thats because they are filled with cement.
idk what babs was doing but it was wrong. roman is a good bottom pairing dman in sheltered minutes and thats it
LucicAndChong
formerly known as Big Sugar
yeah polak is like the epitome of "youre not bad enough for the ahl but youre not reeeeeeally good enough for the nhl but you stilllll can kiiiiiinda do it maaaaaybe"
Kcb12345
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More like "stand here and hit people and don't worry about anything else and you'll be fine", cause that's just about everything he does. To be fair, I do like his physicality and he is a beast to deal with in front of the net. Saw him lay out some guy trying to score on a wraparound. Won't get that from some of our other dmen
LucicAndChong
formerly known as Big Sugar
not only does he have dad strength, but he has hairy european dad strength. he is a scary dude, but pre-teens playing house league could outskate him in a straight line
Just Linda
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- Feb 24, 2018
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Weber comes back in a few months, Honka would either sit half a season or be lost on waivers at that point.
Or raised his value enough to garner a nice return from a contending team looking to bolster D for PO's...
Or played well enough to make Petry expendable...
Or...
Or...
Just Linda
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- Feb 24, 2018
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If Juulsen finds his offence than Petry might become expendable at some point but Weber going down to injury again would leave the Habs d fully exposed on both sides without Petry, I don’t reckon he gets traded anytime soon.
Flipping Honka at that point risks a low return. Sherback would have been essentially traded for a 4th.
Montreal has two really great RD prospects already that could crack their lineup next season, they don’t need another 3rd pairing guy now. Especially to give up an offensive prospect for.
Skinnyjimmy08
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Kcb12345
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- Jun 6, 2017
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Naturally. And with 4 points in 40+ games last season, how dare anyone question him...
Kcb12345
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Stat watchers are not fans of him and think he's bad. People who have actually watched him know the talent is there. He needs to improve defensively but even there he isn't that bad. His passing, skating, transition game, and powerplay quarterbacking skills are his biggest assets. Unfortunately he doesn't get many chances to show them off despite having a very good preseason. I still expect him to be a lineup regular this year.
He won't be a massive offensive threat ever in his career with Dallas though. We need him to just be a good puck mover for us and contribute when he can
Jot
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Skinnyjimmy08
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Dynamite Time
Where Is My Mind?
BrettHullsToe
'99*
From comments made during the preseason, Monty doesn't like two small defensemen on the same pairing since neither one will be able to push a strong forward off a puck. He tried Heiskanen and Honka together in a game and was not impressed with the result (neither was I).
In order for Honka to get icetime, he needs to be better than Carrick, which I would've thought he could do no problem before the season started, but for now, Carrick looks better.
Spotty 2 Hotty
Special teams, special plays, special players
I can see why they think that though. He's small, hasn't been very good defensively, and when he has played, which hasn't been often, he was indecisive with the puck. Much of that may have to do with lack of confidence after being a scratch so often while others were given more freedom to learn from mistakes, but at the same time, if there have been multiple coaches who have played "lesser" veterans over him every year, there must be something missing.
I think the Stars should've traded him a while ago while he still had decent value, I can't imagine that his value has gone up any since he was doing well in the AHL and seems to keep being beaten out by other defensemen at the NHL level. I spent a lot of time believing he was gonna turn in to something special, but I just don't see it anymore. I really hope I'm wrong, but at the rate it's going, he's gonna be another Philip Larsen but with better AHL stats.
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