New guys brought by Zito

[Chessarmy]

I voted Forsling. The guy is a WAIVER pick up and is a top 4 D capable of playing on the top pair and he looks GREAT! He's Mike Matheson if Matheson was actually good. Smooth skater, smart with the puck, crisp passer and he even has a decent shot. He's excellent with the poke check and you can count on him to be in the right position defensively. Forsling is by far the best pick up.

For me, second place is Carter Verhaeghe. He came in and meshed well with Barkov right off the bat. When you can add a top line winger for free who rounds out your top six it's a massive win.

 

[Jean Luc Discard]

I voted Forsling. The guy is a WAIVER pick up and is a top 4 D capable of playing on the top pair and he looks GREAT! He's Mike Matheson if Matheson was actually good. Smooth skater, smart with the puck, crisp passer and he even has a decent shot. He's excellent with the poke check and you can count on him to be in the right position defensively. Forsling is by far the best pick up.

For me, second place is Carter Verhaeghe. He came in and meshed well with Barkov right off the bat. When you can add a top line winger for free who rounds out your top six it's a massive win.

imo Verhaeghe is almost one par with Forsling's status as a waiver wire pick up considering his current contract.

Vergy has scored 16 even strength goals in 43 games but if he hadn't got injured he'd probably be a 18 goals in 56 games and that would make him the 6th best forward in the league. Plus, he's been one of the best backchecking forwards on this team so thus far he's a bonafide 1st line winger which would make him more valuable add than Forsling (who's also been very good).

Zito will have increasingly difficult time executing trades because now the rest of the league has taken notice of his success.

 

[zeroG]

imo Verhaeghe is almost one par with Forsling's status as a waiver wire pick up considering his current contract.

Vergy has scored 16 even strength goals in 43 games but if he hadn't got injured he'd probably be a 18 goals in 56 games and that would make him the 6th best forward in the league. Plus, he's been one of the best backchecking forwards on this team so thus far he's a bonafide 1st line winger which would make him more valuable add than Forsling (who's also been very good).

Zito will have increasingly difficult time executing trades because now the rest of the league has taken notice of his success.

i don't think that's the case. as long as he's got chips to play with, people will listen.

if anything, owners will be holding their GMs feet to the fire - "why can't you find some gems like zito?"

 

[Jean Luc Discard]

i don't think that's the case. as long as he's got chips to play with, people will listen.

if anything, owners will be holding their GMs feet to the fire - "why can't you find some gems like zito?"

All of Zito's pick ups via trades, waivers and FA has been about picking up potentially undervalued and thus underutilized players. Even Hinostroza who was a failure in a Cats jersey was able to score 12pts in 17 games with the Hawks after the trade. So other GMs only need to know that if Zito is offering peanuts for "some time ago a promising talent" then they can raise their ask just because it's Zito calling. I'm not saying that Zito is actively fleecing them but, like you said, that they need to look at their players on a some level like Zito is and in the meanwhile they need to be cautious when dealing with Zito. Other teams can't behave that they don't know that Zito is making teams look foolish and do their trade business with him like nothing is going on.

 

[zeroG]

All of Zito's pick ups via trades, waivers and FA has been about picking up potentially undervalued and thus underutilized players. Even Hinostroza who was a failure in a Cats jersey was able to score 12pts in 17 games with the Hawks after the trade. So other GMs only need to know that if Zito is offering peanuts for "some time ago a promising talent" then they can raise their ask just because it's Zito calling. I'm not saying that Zito is actively fleecing them but, like you said, that they need to look at their players on a some level like Zito is and in the meanwhile they need to be cautious when dealing with Zito. Other teams can't behave that they don't know that Zito is making teams look foolish and do their trade business with him like nothing is going on.

see, i don't think he's making other teams look foolish. at all. the pens are happy with matheson. chicago is happy with stillman and hinostroza. even flames fans were happy with their haul.

 

[Cricket Green]

Lol @ this paranoid notion that Zito's trading wells will dry up. He'll always target guys that have no value to their current employer. He'll prey on teams with overloaded depth charts and/or cap concerns. If these teams are dumb enough to raise their asking price exclusively for Zito, thus hacking their nose of to spite their own face, so be it. There's 30 other GMs to hit up. Can't hold on to all of your chips forever. Only so many buyers. And a GM would rather get something from Zito than nothing from everyone else. Or they can always toss a guy on waivers, and watch Zito rob 'em blind lol

 

[BabyBennettov]

All of Zito's pick ups via trades, waivers and FA has been about picking up potentially undervalued and thus underutilized players. Even Hinostroza who was a failure in a Cats jersey was able to score 12pts in 17 games with the Hawks after the trade. So other GMs only need to know that if Zito is offering peanuts for "some time ago a promising talent" then they can raise their ask just because it's Zito calling. I'm not saying that Zito is actively fleecing them but, like you said, that they need to look at their players on a some level like Zito is and in the meanwhile they need to be cautious when dealing with Zito. Other teams can't behave that they don't know that Zito is making teams look foolish and do their trade business with him like nothing is going on.

I think we still have some time before Zito’s cover get blown out !

About a year…

The guy has been Midas’ Touch good !

Hope he can work some magic at the expansion draft…

All hail Bill !!

Hum… BTW I voted Bennett on this poll, guy has been dynamite, transformed this team from potentially good and cool to freaking scary and funny !

Cherry on the sundae… Don’t like them usely, but that one is… Tasty !

 

[JP Mick]

Off ice impact has to be Hornqvist, close second to Gudas. We don’t see what they do or hear what they say off ice and on the bench but I think they really set the tone from the start.

Purely performance based on the ice, probably Forsling. No one expected him to do what he’s done (or maybe they did and that’s why we claimed him), it’s been pretty incredible.

I’m still amazed by the Forsling pickup, from waivers to number 2 D man on our team in the NHL. Extremely underrated pickup IMO.

 

[HockeyWooot]

Forsling is a stud. You can see why Canuck fans were mad when our GM traded him away a month after a breakout WJC performance (and less than a year after being drafted) for Adam Clendenning. 17 whole games of him.

His knock in younger years may have been his slight frame and size, but he more than makes up for it with his high IQ and smooth skating. Glad he’s found a home in the NHL.

Bill Zito, also a stud with his GMing abilities. Unbelievable what he’s done in such a short time. This thread with such a long list of impactful players itself is a testament to his ability to acquire undervalued players elsewhere they succeed in the right situation with their new team.

Best of luck Panthers, rooting for you guys these playoffs!

Cheers,

 

[CursedCats]

It’s hard to pick one.

Win or lose, Zito’s been awesome.

 

[batting1k]

I think this off-season will be key for Zito in terms of the expansion draft and overall keeping the moving forward, taking that next step again.

 

[zeroG]

one of the commentators on nhl network relayed an anecdote from the pre-camp skates. several panthers were heading off the ice after some work and horny said "where are you guys going? we still go work to do!" it was this commentator's opinion that horny has had a major impact on the culture in that room.