Player Discussion Rudolfs Balcers - LW

[TkachukNorris79]

He's already a 3rd line level player. Has way more speed than I knew he had. He really is a good replacement for Dzingel after we ship him out. Definitely doesn't have the scoring touch like Dzingel yet. But we all know Dzinger didn't really get that until last year. And Rudolfs is only 21 and we've already seen a good scoring touch at other levels. I say we give him a shot with Duchene (if he's here) after Dzingel goes (inevitable, hopefully it's not until Feb 25 tho)

 

[Tap on the Ankle]

His numbers in the Norway U17 and U18 leagues were really impressive. Granted, it's Norway, but still he was a year younger than a lot of players in the league when he put up 58 points in 22 games. He has scored pretty consistently for the Latvian national team at various levels too. Strange decision to play in Norway, but maybe the Swedish and Finnish leagues have foreign player limits for their youth teams like Canada does.

Rudolfs Balcers at eliteprospects.com

 

[AndrewGaze]

I hear the boy is back in town.

 

[Micklebot]

 

[Sensinitis]

hopefully he plays tomorrow against Laval I’m gonna be at the game

 

[aragorn]

IDK, Balcers LW seems like another version of Mikael Boedker to me, while he might be able to produce a little, I don't see him as a long term solution. IMO Tkachuk, Formenton & Paul all own a LW spot on Ottawa's future team & if Ottawa wins the lottery could end up with Lafreniere/Byfield at LW. Balcers likely won't be playing centre & with Batherson & C. Brown playing RW I just don't see a spot for Balcers, I also think Davidsson RW has more potential than Balcers. I see him more as potential trade bait for a pick or to get something Ottawa needs either by himself or in a package of some kind, not as a future Sen. He may be able to help Belleville though.

 

[mianjo]

TSN 1200 says Balcers will not play wednesday, maybe on friday

 

[Sensinitis]

IDK, Balcers LW seems like another version of Mikael Boedker to me, while he might be able to produce a little, I don't see him as a long term solution. IMO Tkachuk, Formenton & Paul all own a LW spot on Ottawa's future team & if Ottawa wins the lottery could end up with Lafreniere/Byfield at LW. Balcers likely won't be playing centre & with Batherson & C. Brown playing RW I just don't see a spot for Balcers, I also think Davidsson RW has more potential than Balcers. I see him more as potential trade bait for a pick or to get something Ottawa needs either by himself or in a package of some kind, not as a future Sen. He may be able to help Belleville though.

I know you don’t like him because he isn’t tall, but you’re wrong about the Boedker comparison. He’s much closer to MacArthur stylistically than he is to Boedker.

 

[God Says No]

I know you don’t like him because he isn’t tall, but you’re wrong about the Boedker comparison. He’s much closer to MacArthur stylistically than he is to Boedker.

plus he can play RW. I liked what I saw last year. He could be a solid 3rd line player for us.

 

[TheDebater]

IDK, Balcers LW seems like another version of Mikael Boedker to me, while he might be able to produce a little, I don't see him as a long term solution. IMO Tkachuk, Formenton & Paul all own a LW spot on Ottawa's future team & if Ottawa wins the lottery could end up with Lafreniere/Byfield at LW. Balcers likely won't be playing centre & with Batherson & C. Brown playing RW I just don't see a spot for Balcers, I also think Davidsson RW has more potential than Balcers. I see him more as potential trade bait for a pick or to get something Ottawa needs either by himself or in a package of some kind, not as a future Sen. He may be able to help Belleville though.

Formenton at this point is just another "popular name" that we hope can find a future in the NHL. Balcers has already proven he can play at this level so that already gives him the edge over Formenton. I hope both guys pan out and can prove they belong, because at least that way we can trade one of them from a position of strength rather than weakness. I know you said "long-term" but alot can happen between now and then, I am actually hoping to have both of them on the team at some point in the near future and just juggle the lines to make it work.

I think the biggest issue is we have too many bottom 6 guys on the team who are all pretty good, but there will come a point where some of them will have to make the jump to the top 6 or risk getting traded because of a numbers game. C.Brown, Pageau, Paul, Balcers, White, Namestnikov, Ennis , Tierney etc. are all playing very good for lines 3-4 but not good enough to be on lines 1-2 (maybe Pageau but time will tell if he can keep it up otherwise he is the perfect 3rd line center). Duclair is a 2nd line player for sure, but not a 1st line winger, and could find himself dropping to line 3 on nights where he is not contributing. Basically you can picture the logjam we have in the bottom 6 if the top 6 becomes more stable:

Tkachuk-L. Brown-(player)
Duclair- (player)- (player)
Paul- Pageau- C. Brown
Balcers/White/ Namestnikov/ Davidsson/Ennis/Tierney/Chlapik <---------obviously the 4th line is where it gets complicated

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Balcers in Belleville not expected to play tomorrow

 

[Micklebot]

Tkachuk-L. Brown-(player)
Duclair- (player)- (player)
Paul- Pageau- C. Brown
Balcers/White/ Namestnikov/ Davidsson/Ennis/Tierney/Chlapik <---------obviously the 4th line is where it gets complicated

What I'd like to see is something like this should Balcers get called up after he's healthy:

1 Tkachuk-L.Brown-Duclair
2a Paul-Pageau-Brown
2b Balcers-White-Davidsson
2c Chlapik-Tierney-Namestnikov

Line 1 is offense first and formost.
Line 2a is a two way energy line
Lines 2b and 2c are fairly balanced middle 6 type lines.

Icetime can be distributed based on which line is clicking, though I imagine the 2a line will have the most consistant icetime as it will be used for matchups.

 

[TheDebater]

What I'd like to see is something like this should Balcers get called up after he's healthy:

1 Tkachuk-L.Brown-Duclair
2a Paul-Pageau-Brown
2b Balcers-White-Davidsson
2c Chlapik-Tierney-Namestnikov

Line 1 is offense first and formost.
Line 2a is a two way energy line
Lines 2b and 2c are fairly balanced middle 6 type lines.

Icetime can be distributed based on which line is clicking, though I imagine the 2a line will have the most consistant icetime as it will be used for matchups.

That is hilarious, as I literally just posted the exact same line-up in the Logan Brown thread, only difference is I have Davidsson and Namestnikov switching places.

 

[Micklebot]

That is hilarious, as I literally just posted the exact same line-up in the Logan Brown thread, only difference is I have Davidsson and Namestnikov switching places.

Lol, I flipped Davidsson and Namestnikov last second to give the lines more balance, I originally had them the other way around...

 

[The Worst One]

2 goals for Rudy tonight. A call up is imminent.

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

2 goals for Rudy tonight. A call up is imminent.

He is going Balcers to the Wallsers

 

[TheDebater]

2 goals for Rudy tonight. A call up is imminent.

Only question though is, who goes down? Chalpik deserves to stay, the only way they send him down is if they sit him down and say "listen, it is not you, but we gotta get rid of some deadweight before we can bring you back up again, hold tight".

Either that or keep Balcers down for now.

 

[Samsquanch]

Only question though is, who goes down? Chalpik deserves to stay, the only way they send him down is if they sit him down and say "listen, it is not you, but we gotta get rid of some deadweight before we can bring you back up again, hold tight".

Either that or keep Balcers down for now.

Im tired of us giving Chlapik the raw end of the stick. We have to give the man some credit for making things happen nearly every time he hits the ice in his 8 mins of playing time.

For the last 10 years the Senators 4th line has been the place where prospects go to die. From what I know after years of watching hockey, it takes a special player to thrive with the caliber of linemates and minutes that Chlapik has been given to work with thus far.

Sit Ryan if we have to take someone out when Anisimov come back (if Anisimov actually deserves to play). We need to create a culture that convinces the players that the best players will get to play - and DJ has finally started to build that here for us. Sending Chlapik down would undo a lot of the good work that hes done so far by benching some of the vets.

You cant get everyone in the locker room to buy and pull in the same direction if everyone knows that the coach isnt giving the team the best chance to win.

 

[TheDebater]

Im tired of us giving Chlapik the raw end of the stick. We have to give the man some credit for making things happen nearly every time he hits the ice in his 8 mins of playing time.

For the last 10 years the Senators 4th line has been the place where prospects go to die. From what I know after years of watching hockey, it takes a special player to thrive with the caliber of linemates and minutes that Chlapik has been given to work with thus far.

Sit Ryan if we have to take someone out when Anisimov come back (if Anisimov actually deserves to play). We need to create a culture that convinces the players that the best players will get to play - and DJ has finally started to build that here for us. Sending Chlapik down would undo a lot of the good work that hes done so far by benching some of the vets.

You cant get everyone in the locker room to buy and pull in the same direction if everyone knows that the coach isnt giving the team the best chance to win.

It is not a matter of who to sit, but there is a roster limit the team needs to adhere to. With Anisimov, Boedker, Ryan, Brown and Balcers activated, somebody would have to go down or get traded.

 

[Ouroboros]

The Senators are at 22 players so they could recall Balcers if they wanted.

When Anisimov went on IR, Garrioch made some comments suggesting that it was a long-term thing. Would it really shock anybody if he was LTIRetired like Gaborik?

 

[Samsquanch]

It is not a matter of who to sit, but there is a roster limit the team needs to adhere to. With Anisimov, Boedker, Ryan, Brown and Balcers activated, somebody would have to go down or get traded.

Yup, I missed that fact.

Waiving Boedker sounds like a better plan to me then. I see no point in him ever playing another game for Ottawa, baring some big string of injuries that all hit at once.

Were on the hook for his salary either way, and the last thing we should do is put an undeserving bum in the lineup over a kid whos in the middle of a breakout performance. Its so counter productive to what the message is this year to the players in the organization.

Im already getting major Nick Paul vibes from him myself. Have to see where this goes first before we take him out of the lineup again.

 

[Samsquanch]

The Senators are at 22 players so they could recall Balcers if they wanted.

When Anisimov went on IR, Garrioch made some comments suggesting that it was a long-term thing. Would it really shock anybody if he was LTIRetired like Gaborik?

Yeah. Insurance fraud is a real thing, and these are multi million dollar contracts. Its probably not as easy as you think to fake a LTIR injury that is being presented as career ending (unless talking about symptoms of the brain).

There are a lot more Doctors than just Dr Chow looking at our guys on LTIR, and other smart people that are on the lookout for shenanigans such as that. So iIm really doubting it in this case.

 

[Tuna99]

Yeah. Insurance fraud is a real thing, and these are multi million dollar contracts. Its probably not as easy as you think to fake a LTIR injury that is being presented as career ending (unless talking about symptoms of the brain).

There are a lot more Doctors than just Dr Chow looking at our guys on LTIR, and other smart people that are on the lookout for shenanigans such as that. So iIm really doubting it in this case.

Insurance is a real thing and if the a doctor said the player shouldn’t play for medical reason and the NHL says the player has to play and he takes the ice in protest and then gets hurt -LAWSUIT.

Besides the Hossa case I’ve never heard any investigation/protest over an injury retirement.

 

[The Worst One]

He is going Balcers to the Wallsers

What the f*** is Wallsers?

 

[Sensmileletsgo]

What the **** is Wallsers?

It’s a wall. And Balcers are... well I’ll let you figure that one out.