Confirmed with Link: Nick Schmaltz extended at $5.85M AAV/7 years
- Thread starter The Feckless Puck
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azcanuck
Registered User
Richardson is having a career year. I agree he's probably better this year but Stepan has been pretty consistent over the years.
_Del_
Registered User
- Jul 4, 2003
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Stepan is a 2/3C. He should be used as a checking center like he was in New York. He is a facilitator, not a driver. He's like a "rich man's" Hanzal in respect to skill, only without the size, reach, and meanness which made Hanzal so valuable -- so he's a poor man's Hanzal despite being more skilled. Richardson is a career good bottom-six forward having a Cinderella year.
If either of those guys are in the discussion for "best all around forward" the team is bad. Which it is, so. ..
If either of those guys are in the discussion for "best all around forward" the team is bad. Which it is, so. ..
I'm glad you brought that back around, I like Stepan but I take a healthy Hanzal all day every day!
I don't recall Stepan being used as a checking center in NY. Was he not their No. 1C until they brought in Zibanejad?
I take Stepan over Hanzal and it's not even close IMO. Hanzal brings a lot of those other attributes you listed but they aren't so valuable when he can't stay in the lineup.
I take Stepan over Hanzal and it's not even close IMO. Hanzal brings a lot of those other attributes you listed but they aren't so valuable when he can't stay in the lineup.
And play he does. The most minutes of any forward and a real dynamo on the PP. At least his minutes suggest that. RT always says "you earn ice time", well, I think he was watching game tape when Stepan played in New York. I hated that trade when it happened, and I hate it even more now.
A one legged Hanzal is better than a two legged Stepan. When Hanzal was healthy, he was a beast. Too bad injuries derailed his career.
- Oct 26, 2006
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My thinking is that Chayka isn't going to address any more contracts until after the season's over - maybe not until Tucson's season ends, for that matter. We have a raft of RFA and depth signings to get to and Noel Hoefenmayer still doesn't have a contract yet (and his rights expire at the start of June) so I'm hoping the front office is working on all of this right now.
_Del_
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He played lines one and two when they had Brassard. He got the tough matchups. Brassard got the easy ones. He was the 1C in the same way Hanzal was a 1C. He got top minutes because he was matched up against top lines, and there wasn't a lot of depth at C. Same dynamic with Z.
Well, I wasn't comparing them off ice or comparing durability...
Lot easier to talk contracts with guys who aren't playing every day and have more down time to think about a contract extension then players who are trying to focus on learning the systems day in and day out and learn about their matchups for the next game.
- Oct 26, 2006
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Well, in all honesty, the GM communicates mostly with the player agents. I'm sure Chayka is putting together offer packages to run by the agents rather than communicating directly with the players. But there are still a lot of logistical hurdles to clear before the end of the season.
Well we were ravaged at C this year.
I like Stepan and thought at the. Time we acquired him that based on the relative mediocrity of the draft at the time that the risk was worth it.
Stepan is a useful player, but mostly what I'm pissed about is how RT utilized him. I think you would be hard pressed to find two games where Stepan didn't have the most ice time of any forward regardless of how he played. There is no way in hell Stepan, Panik and Fischer deserved the PP time they got this year. Combined they got 5 friggin points. RT and Chayka had all year to figure out the PP, they didn't and it probably cost us a playoff berth. If RT would have at least tried other players and had the same result I could understand that he is a least trying to figure out our PP. Overall, I'm happy how things went, but let's be honest, if not for Kuemper we would have been out of it a long time ago.
Stepan could bounce back next year, but my point was his play this year and how RT kept on flogging the same dead horses on the PP. Based on his play, why did Stepan get more TOI than any other forward?
*mostly
I wouldn't have done things the same way all the time but that's mostly the long and short of it.
I had largely the same opinion under the last regime too when our PP was dreck. It's mostly a personnel issue in that we ain't got any. Sure the schemes could probably be better but I'd guess that's half the problem at absolute most. Under the last PP coach (can't even remember his name at the moment) when our PP was good and people liked him it was fine, until it wasn't and we traded half our roster. His scheme didn't get crappier it was mostly the players getting crappier.
What I'm looking for in terms of internal improvement on the PP isn't necessarily scoring it's having the damn puck inside the zone more and longer. Scoring will naturally follow. That *should* be fixable and probably is a coaching issue more so than a personnel one.
Despite the reputation some of us garnered during the last coach, I'm not a coach blamer by nature.
Certainly we're not a good scoring team 5 on 5 (dead last). It stands to reason our PP is probably not going to be good no matter what scheme we run or players we put out. In that sense we're already outkicking our coverage being 25th in PP but 31st in even strength scoring.
Well I specifically stated a healthy Hanzal but either way I stand by my statement. Sure he'd miss 15 games a year or so but Hanzal was highly effective when in the lineup. Unfortunately the 15 games a year tradeoff is no longer a thing as his healthy has really taken a bad turn (as most of us expected).
TheLegend
Megathread Gadfly
Been following this conversation about Hanzal and it’s somewhat weird to keep seeing references to a “healthy” Hanzal when he’s never been 100% to begin with.
I think you're thinking of Newell Brown and his prowess in devising a powerplay is obvious when looking at the inverse relationship between the Coyotes' pp and the Canucks' when he was let go. Also, during his time we had Yandle, and I'm pretty certain he's a big reason why Florida is decent at it, at least personnel-wise.
Schmaltz should elevate the powerplay next season. He gave the team that extra option as opposed to the very predictable pass it back to the blue line until OEL is open for a shot or keep it on the right side for a Galchenyuk one-timer. I like Galchenyuk's shot, but of late teams are so prepared for it so he's forced to take the shot from a worse angle because he's not open otherwise. Hopefully with one more legitimate threat it opens up the defense even more and makes every one else more dangerous.
Oh, also Schmaltz should make losing faceoffs sting less as he is very capable of gaining the zone with possession.
rt
The Kinder, Gentler Version
