Post-Game Talk: SENS in Calgary, tonight 9:00pm on TSN

[Xspyrit]

I'm evaluating his body of work overall. Not just this game....

Yes I understand but he only played 5 games this year and it was all after they started to sit the 1st line. The team was already a mess under Boucher and it just got worse after some of the best players were shipped out. All I'm saying is you should put a BIG asterisk to any evaluation you make this year. You can evaluate players individual abilities but anything that is team related or in relation to the opponent is flawed.

Here's Chlapik Game Log :

Filip Chlapik

7:55 against Calgary doesn't say anything so it's basically 4 games.

It's like when people evaluated Joey Daccord the last few years, they knew he was playing on a terrible team.

This is a FULL rebuild, Sens fans never went through one so they'll have to be patient, very patient.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

Didn't watch the entire game but Abramov was a team worst - 3. He had a good game?

Such is life. He played great for a debut.

 

[Korpse]

Didn't watch the entire game but Abramov was a team worst - 3. He had a good game?

Meh. Pretty much all I can say about him in that game is that he worked hard. Wasn’t a whole lot going on.

 

[Filatov2Kovalev2Bonk]

IMO that is what is wrong with this roster, too many small soft skilled perimeter players. They just don't have enough jam in their lineup to crash the net with regularity with the exception of one guy, Tkachuk. BT does something every shift while those little smurfs are figure skating around the perimeter wasting time & accomplishing nothing. Three of those guys need to go.

These are exactly the type of players you succed with these days. Guys like Tkachuk who facepunch and chirp and shit are relics. These guys like Balcers, Abramov and so on are key in today's NHL.
You want Jam? Head to your local IGA. In today's hockey only the soft and skilled survive.

 

[Alex1234]

When your goalie has checked out
There is nothing you can do
Nothing
On his knees for the 5 goals and looked disinterested as ever
Practice goalie at most

 

[Xspyrit]

Player Season Totals - Natural Stat Trick

Small sample size but Chlapik is one of the rare Sens players to have a positive Corsi ratio at even strength this year... 2nd behind Elliott who only played 3 games

Pretty high in SF%, 5th (Elliott 3 games and Brown 2 games are in front)

3rd in SCF% (Stone was 1st, Burgdoerfer 2nd but only 4 games)

35th (on 41 players who dressed for the Sens this year) in HDCF%, but again small sample size.

Overall, advanced stats says Chlapik is not out of place. You need the eye test to valid it though, but personally I can't really say because yesterday was my first full game in a while. I have watched periods there and there but haven't watched much this season because of the situation.

SMURF City:
Balcers 5’11”. 175
Brannstrom. 5’10”. 173
Gibbons 5’8”. 185
Abramov. 5’9”. 170

Vastly improved?

- Gibbons is 31 y/o and UFA at the end of the year, you can count him out of the equation
- Balcers is almost 6'0, not really a smurf
- Abramov is a boom/bust prospect, he's small but really shifty and seems really strong on his skates.
- Brannstrom will be a NHL player, if he was bigger he would have never been available in a trade, even for Mark Stone. His physique is reminiscent of Karlsson at the same age

Look at the size department among prospects :

Logan Brown 6'6" 223 lbs
Nick Paul 6'4" 229 lbs
Christian Jaros 6'4" 201 lbs
Markus Nurmi 6'4" 176 lbs
Drake Batherson 6'3" 197 lbs
Christian Wolanin 6'2" 185 lbs
Alex Formenton 6'2" 185 lbs
Filip Chlapík 6'1" 196 lbs
Josh Norris 6'1" 194 lbs
Maxime Lajoie 6'1" 190 lbs
Jacob Bernard-Docker 6'0" 187 lbs
Max Veronneau 6'0" 176 lbs
Jonny Tychonick 6'0" 181 lbs
Johnny Gruden 6'0" 170 lbs

Note that many of them (and others not listed here) are still quite young and haven't done growing and get bigger.

These are exactly the type of players you succed with these days. Guys like Tkachuk who facepunch and chirp and **** are relics. These guys like Balcers, Abramov and so on are key in today's NHL.
You want Jam? Head to your local IGA. In today's hockey only the soft and skilled survive.

Being at any extreme of this debate is ridiculous

It doesn't matter if you have small players as long as it's not the majority of your line-up like the Habs used to have (and still do in their forward group). You need a healthy mix to build a good team. If a player is small, he has to bring other traits that will help the team (like speed or shot, etc). If a player is huge, he has to not have traits that will be a detriment to the team (skating, hockey sense, etc). A player like Hall Gill wouldn't be able to play in today's NHL but he was quite efficient back then.

 

[aragorn]

These are exactly the type of players you succed with these days. Guys like Tkachuk who facepunch and chirp and **** are relics. These guys like Balcers, Abramov and so on are key in today's NHL.
You want Jam? Head to your local IGA. In today's hockey only the soft and skilled survive.

That's nonsense, Washington won the cup with Tom Wilson as one of their main players. Balcers has done nothing since he has been in Ottawa, he's just another small soft perimeter player who constantly loses board battles against bigger players. Abramov will likely be a career minor league player. We have seen plenty of these guys who just don't stick like Prince, Connacher, Dumont, Dido & many more.

 

[aragorn]

There is no hitting in the nhl anymore... your thoughts of size does not matter anymore... the game has changed significantly

Smaller, skilled players with speed is the way the nhl is going

As much as I like hitting and grit... it’s getting phased out if the nhl... either change with the times or become a dinosaur

This is such nonsense, Washington won the cup with Tom Wilson as one of their main players, Wheeler & Stone fought the other night. It's just another fallacy, if Washington wins the cup again & it looks like they have as good a chance as any & if Wilson again dominates than GMs will try & most likely copy their success.

Winn has a big team & are one of the best teams in the league, Bost is a rugged team Chara fought the other night. What are they saying in Toronto these days, that they are too small & soft to get past the 1st rd? It's why Montreal probably won't make the playoffs, at least I hope not. Not everyone thinks going small is the way to go. There are just as many big players with speed & skill. Teams win with a balance of players of all shapes & sizes that play their roles well for the team to have success & that come together at the right time. Too much of one thing & not enough of another hurts teams. This team needs a better balance of players.

 

[Alf Silfversson]

This is such nonsense, Washington won the cup with Tom Wilson as one of their main players, Wheeler & Stone fought the other night. It's just another fallacy, if Washington wins the cup again & it looks like they have as good a chance as any & if Wilson again dominates than GMs will try & most likely copy their success.

Winn has a big team & are one of the best teams in the league, Bost is a rugged team Chara fought the other night. What are they saying in Toronto, that they are too small & soft to get past the 1st rd? It's why Montreal probably won't make the playoffs, at least I hope not. Not everyone thinks going small is the way to go. There are just as many big players with speed & skill.

This is just anecdotal evidence though. I could say the same thing about some of your favourite big players over the years.

Why get a big player like Tkachuk or Brown?? They're just going to end up like Dziuzynski, Buddy Robinson, Culek, Englund, Ahl. Derrrrpp.

Why not look at the best team in the league by a country mile this year? In fact the best team in the last 15 years: Tampa. 4 out of their top 6 scorers (including the guy on pace for over 130 points), are under 5'11. Out west the best team is led by a guy who is listed at 5'9 but who I've met and is probably only 5'6. Toronto is likely going to lose in the first round because they can't play defense. That has nothing to do with size.

The fact of the matter is that there ARE NOT just as many big players with skill and speed. Or else every team would have an Ovechkin. Those players are unique and very hard to find.

Tampa has all those small skilled players who are tearing the league apart. But they also have a 6'6 defenseman who is among the best in the league. There's a common thread there. They look for GOOD players not big ones, or small ones.

The NHL is a fast league now. If you can't move fast or make the puck move fast you're done. I don't care if you're 6'11, if you move and think slow you're useless.

 

[aragorn]

This is just anecdotal evidence though. I could say the same thing about some of your favourite big players over the years.

Why get a big player like Tkachuk or Brown?? They're just going to end up like Dziuzynski, Buddy Robinson, Culek, Englund, Ahl. Derrrrpp.

Why not look at the best team in the league by a country mile this year? In fact the best team in the last 15 years: Tampa. 4 out of their top 6 scorers (including the guy on pace for over 130 points), are under 5'11. Out west the best team is led by a guy who is listed at 5'9 but who I've met and is probably only 5'6. Toronto is likely going to lose in the first round because they can't play defense. That has nothing to do with size.

The fact of the matter is that there ARE NOT just as many big players with skill and speed. Or else every team would have an Ovechkin. Those players are unique and very hard to find.

Tampa has all those small skilled players who are tearing the league apart. But they also have a 6'6 defenseman who is among the best in the league. There's a common thread there. They look for GOOD players not big ones, or small ones.

The NHL is a fast league now. If you can't move fast or make the puck move fast you're done. I don't care if you're 6'11, if you move and think slow you're useless.

It's a balance, IMO if you have too many small players bigger teams push you around. I guess we'll see if Tampa can get by Washington in the East & LV, Cal or Winn in the west. The playoffs are completely different than the regular season & much tougher but Tampa has a pretty good balance.

 

[Six Assets]

Meh. Pretty much all I can say about him in that game is that he worked hard. Wasn’t a whole lot going on.

i thought he had a great 1st game, i thought of him as a top 6 forward or bust, but he can definitely be a good 3rd liner at least similar to pageau.

 

[God Says No]

i thought he had a great 1st game, i thought of him as a top 6 forward or bust, but he can definitely be a very good 3rd liner at least similar to pageau.

He looked ok. My only concern is that his skating was just good. Not great. With small guys like him, they need to have great skating. I think you're right that he will most likely (if ever) turn out to be a 3rd liner.

 

[topshelf15]

It's a balance, IMO if you have too many small players bigger teams push you around. I guess we'll see if Tampa can get by Washington in the East & LV, Cal or Winn in the west. The playoffs are completely different than the regular season & much tougher but Tampa has a pretty good balance.

Yeah you need sandpaper in your lineup,this is a fact...Ask Toronto how they feel about their top 9 and their blueline right now,and why its not working

 

[Cosmix]

I found a gif of aragorn watching hockey:

(aragorn, I kid, we love ya buddy )

The team could use a guy like those, IF he could skate!

 

[Cosmix]

IMO that is what is wrong with this roster, too many small soft skilled perimeter players. They just don't have enough jam in their lineup to crash the net with regularity with the exception of one guy, Tkachuk. BT does something every shift while those little smurfs are figure skating around the perimeter wasting time & accomplishing nothing. Three of those guys need to go.

Agreed. There appears to be only one of those four who can make a significant contribution.