Are MacNeill or Huberdeau suited to play penalty kill in the KHL? MacNeill would probably start the season in the MHL but, if he outplays the other centers on the MHL team, he will get a few games on the big team. However, Huberdeau would clearly be placed on the top line of the big team right off the bat.
Neither will sign there. Drafting players like them, especially as early as Huberdeau was picked, is just another way Vityaz Chehkov mismanages one of the few ways to improve their team.
Hubderdeau's agent, a big doucher Allan Walsh, even tweeted after he was drafted basically mocking the pick. (I don't have the quote but he basically said how Vityaz obviously wasn't on the same page as Huberdeau and himself.)
If drafting high profile guys, like McNeil and Huberdeau, ends up paying off, which again it won't, it'll because those guys bust out stateside and have to go overseas to get better pay. I guess it's a pretty progressive step for them relative to the rest of the joke their franchise is, but it just seems like a waste of a very high pick. CSKA has shown what good drafting can produce, how many of their young guys would immediately sneak into Vityaz's top spots?
It just blows my mind how one organization can fail so miserably in the transfer market, the already marginalized KHL draft, and on the ice to top it all off. What other European clubs could get away with signing import players to big money just to have them say they don't care about the game or if they win? Oh Vityaz, maybe next year they'll give Boulerice a call, I'm sure it'd beat his Wilkes-Barre paycheck.
Huberdeau was a waste of a lottery pick and likely would be until the NHL is locked out again. However, Dumba could be a bigger waste than McNeill at this point, simply because Dumba was a 3rd-rounder while McNeill was a 5th-rounder.
Still, either of these 3 players can actually play the game outside scrapping.
Right but it doesn't matter much if they'll never come to the KHL. Those names are seemingly a step in the right direction for Vityaz but in reality it's far from it. It's lazily selecting kids who'll go in the first round in the NHL draft. I'd say look at what other teams who have had success in their KHL drafting and try to model after it. There's good reason no other teams are drafting Canadians, Vityaz isn't tapping into some new market or some ****. CSKA landed Kucherov and Grigorenko from wise drafting. Vityaz just seems so poorly run and these picks just add to it.
Dvurechensky isn't any good then?
The last time you evoked the possibility of playing in the KHL yourself, you said that you could potentially crack Avtomobilist's roster. But, if you really were to play for Vityaz in Mirasty's stead, you could probably play on the top penalty kill line, be it as a D-man or as a forward.
Well I live in Pennsylvania so I'm not sure how you'd expect me to answer that. Either way my point was it a plain waste of an asset, a very marginalized asset as Zine points out, when they're selecting Canadians who'll never report. If Dvurechensky's name was followed by ones of other talented European players then I wouldn't be saying any of this. The problem is it's lumped in names like Dumba and Huberdeau which is just ugly and stupid from a KHL perspective. More Dvurechensky's or even Jaskins/Vatanens/etc. who are more likely to ever see the league, and less Canadian lottery NHL picks is what I'm looking for. Having some talented Russian youth means they're not wholly incompetent, but it doesn't change the fact that their essentially wasting picks with their other selections. I don't know how movement of youth players works out of the KHL draft but if these players can be traded then if Vityaz is gonna burn picks on players they won't see, they may as well spend them on players who other teams would want. Tons of KHL teams pick a kid in their respective drafts simply because they know another team in their league wanted said player and they wanna squeeze some assets for them.
Sort of.
In practice, the KHL draft is kind of a joke.
My guess is that the owners of Vityaz are taking the initiative to transform the KHL into a league with heavyweight fighting in order to add excitement to their game. Going pretty over the top but then again don't be surprised if other teams start signing their own nuclear warheads.
I don't agree with it but I really don't believe any GM or owner could be so out to lunch with the antics they are displaying. Their must be something behind the madness
I hope not. They are pathetic and should be severely punished.
If a brawl like the last two brawls against Omsk happened again, they will likely not be playing the season after the brawl.
By that I mean:
Every time I see this video I wish nothing short but the death of the KHL. This is a shame. A real shame.
Vlad, perhaps, if a more peaceful game is what you desire, you should head across the pond and offer your suggestions. Last I checked, fans walk out of blow out games in large numbers, not games with an edge. The club knows what kind of game the fans want, and that is why they have been importing the players they have. To wish injury to any player, like him/her or not, is not in good taste and uncalled for.
Have you had a chance to speak with either Mirasty or Yabo off the ice? Both are easily approached and will spend time talking about their roles in the game. Neither claims to be Gretzky, Jagr, or even Shanahan. They are paid to play a role and do so quite well.
As for your claim to want to return to the ice and show them you can score more points, by all means please do. Then try the style of game they play and offer to drop the gloves with either of them. Heck, you can even leave your full cage helmet, American football style pads, and any other type of protection you feel you might need to prevent the injury you may receive.
You talk the talk, go ahead and walk the walk. Otherwise, do not return to a subject area titled "Hockey Fights", instead post on the "Disney on Ice" area.