Yeah, that's true! Couldn't believe my eyes when read bout it!
Hey Tomppa, hope you're doing well. Can I send my son to live with you so he can get a good education?
Yeah, that's true! Couldn't believe my eyes when read bout it!
I can/will blame him. There's nothing that says "competitor" like seeing a Travis Boyd ahead of you on the depth chart and thinking "yeah, I'm going to quit now after 10 games instead of try to beat him out".
Maybe he's disappointed and frustrated that he choose to join a good team, and instead should have joined a weak team where he had an easier path to the big show. Again guys like that aren't the types you win championships with.
Either way, good riddance.
Hey Tomppa, hope you're doing well. Can I send my son to live with you so he can get a good education?
Agreed.“Can’t blame him” was really just intended as a figure of speech. I meant “I can empathize.” The guy probably had higher expectations than just middling around in the AHL this year. Perhaps he had unrealistic expectations. Perhaps he’s just not good enough. Perhaps he didn’t realize how deep the AHL really is. Maybe the team misled him. I don’t know - so I won’t judge his character.
Keep in mind that Boyd is already 25. That's older than Vrana, Burakovsky, Stephenson, and Wilson.Travis Boyd is really good though. I knew he was likely going to crack the lineup this year but after watching him I think the guy could be a legit top6 for a long time. I bet his success is discouraging for a lot of other fringe guys too.
Thanks for your input. There are threads on the prospects board on each of them I think, although Mantykivi's is pretty scant. Kallionkieli in the USHL is another I've read a bit about as an early round candidate. One of these years it'll happen...
Very very early on I think I'd hope for Kaliyev or Pelletier to slide to the Caps but Guskov, a Russian forward playing with London, also seems like a natural enough fit.
Yeah, hopefully he does get the exposure of the U18s in the spring. I see SaiPa is a playoff team (?) so that could also help (or possibly impact his U18 availability should he gain a real foothold with the big club).I know Mäntykivi isn't a top prospect, but I'm hoping that he gets drafted and it's Caps who take a chance on him. His chances gets better if he makes the U-18 WC team which can happen if keeps playing well. Even if he doesn't make the team I'd like to see Caps drafting him in later rounds. Mäntykivi is playing in quite a bad U-20 team so it's possible that many teams ignore him because of that (a Mike Green effect). He played last night only 4+ minutes, had one good scoring chance and got one PP for his team. He looked sometimes out of place and got outplayed by stronger opponents, but IMO he also showed some of his offensive skills in couple of plays. It's interesting to see if he gets more games as Santeri Virtanen is heading to U20 WJC's and there's lots of injuries in Saipa at the moment.
I haven't followed next summer's draftees much so don't know who could slip to Caps. I'd like to see them drafting a center and if possible maybe prefer to get a North American center.
Watching the Bolts/Leafs game, and Vasilevskiy going insane, I couldn't help but think of this thread and how the player Samsanov is most compared with is Andrei Vasilevskiy.
I also remember how he backed up Bishop for two seasons then took the job and hasn't looked back.
#patience
Watching the Bolts/Leafs game, and Vasilevskiy going insane, I couldn't help but think of this thread and how the player Samsanov is most compared with is Andrei Vasilevskiy.
I also remember how he backed up Bishop for two seasons then took the job and hasn't looked back.
#patience
Yeah, hopefully he does get the exposure of the U18s in the spring. I see SaiPa is a playoff team (?) so that could also help (or possibly impact his U18 availability should he gain a real foothold with the big club).
Thanks.He played his 2nd game today and scored his 1st pro career goal in an ugly 7-2 loss. You can find the highlights video from his thread, I posted it there.
My concern with patience is Holtby's contract. Signing him to a new contract could end up being something that the Capitals regret, as the success rate of long-term goalie contracts tends to be pretty low. Holtby's contract status is basically going to force the team to part ways with Copley and shoehorn Samsonov into the back-up role next season in order to assess his NHL readiness.
If, and it's a big if, he has full confidence in him to seamlessly be capable of taking over. There's a long way to go on that front.MacClellen has shown he won't live in the past and can be a cut throat mother (Johnasson, Alzner, Williams, Orpik, Trotz), I don't think Holtby gets another contract from the Caps. Samsanov will be given the net in 2020.
Dude can’t stop a beach ball with a broomstick right now. I’m hoping it’s just growing pains, but I think 2020 is wayyy to early to just give him the netIf, and it's a big if, he has full confidence in him to seamlessly be capable of taking over. There's a long way to go on that front.
Culture and game are two huge adjustments. I believe Hershey is pretty light on Euros and Russians this year too. Not to mention Hershey is a hot mess. Holtby, Varly and Nuevy were all over the place. Hell, Holtby had a decent chunck of ECHL time and was pretty questionable at first.What’s stupid about it? He’s been horrible so far in NA
MacClellen has shown he won't live in the past and can be a cut throat mother (Johnasson, Alzner, Williams, Orpik, Trotz), I don't think Holtby gets another contract from the Caps. Samsanov will be given the net in 2020.
Not disagreeing entirely here, but I would not be surprised to see Copley take over until Sammy beats him out. I like what I see from Copley in his first 10 or so games. I think he can grow into a solid starter some day. And if Holts does one of his nose dives again, we may find out sooner than later.
Dude can’t stop a beach ball with a broomstick right now. I’m hoping it’s just growing pains, but I think 2020 is wayyy to early to just give him the net
Remember that Copley is already 26 years old (older than guys like Vasya, Hellebuyck, Murray, and Gibson). While he may be an NHL rookie, he's already fairly seasoned professionally. While goaltenders do often blossom at a later age than other positions and there are instances of career back-ups breaking through on new teams (Carter Hutton comes to mind). But if Copley is going to become an NHL starter, more than likely he's going to need to do so sooner rather than later.Not disagreeing entirely here, but I would not be surprised to see Copley take over until Sammy beats him out. I like what I see from Copley in his first 10 or so games. I think he can grow into a solid starter some day. And if Holts does one of his nose dives again, we may find out sooner than later.
Can almost see him getting a call up and a game just to give him a confidence boost, has been fed to the wolves in his first year in NAI mean I get that, the defense is an ahl tryout level but to sport a SV% of 85-86% through 15 or so games is reeaaal bad . He has to pick it up one way or another. At least not giving up 4+ goals a game would be a good start.