Player Discussion Tom Wilson - Part 2

[rh71]

There is no lull in his game. Consistency. Love it.

4th line winger wha??? I don't wear jerseys but if I were to get one, it would be this guy.

 

[RandyHolt]

I think he is changing the game. GMs are starting to construct their rosters in an attempt to counter him, and rest assured on draft days, suddenly that big tough canadian kid with no skills that can't skate, will slowly be graded "bester"... aka they will be moving up teams BPA ranks just because of him. Power forwards are making a come back folks. Those were always a secret favorite of everyone... including Ovi. Owen Nolan, Keith Tkachuk, Cam Neely all those guys. Every rabid fan wanted those guys on their team.

It was telling listening to Brian Burke talk about it yesterday. If anyone can post that clip/transcript, it would be good for the record. Something to the effect of, there are no other Tom Wilson's. Teams can only but try to copy him, and then went into McQuaid being used at RW in a feeble attempt to make a Willy out of thin air at the deadline. Teams can try and counter him, but right now they are just holding on for dear life.

 

[g00n]

I think he is changing the game. GMs are starting to construct their rosters in an attempt to counter him, and rest assured on draft days, suddenly that big tough canadian kid with no skills that can't skate, will slowly be graded "bester"... aka they will be moving up teams BPA ranks just because of him. Power forwards are back folks. Those were always a secret favorite of everyone... including Ovi. Owen Nolan, Keith Tkachuk, all those guys.

It was telling listening to Brian Burke talk about it yesterday. If anyone can post that clip/transcript, it would be good for the record. Something to the effect of, there are no other Tom Wilson's. Teams can only try to replicate them, and then went into McQuaid being used at RW in a feeble attempt to make one out of thin air at the deadline. Teams can try and counter him, but right now they are just holding on for dear life.

Wilson has great speed that he uses well, which is what separates him from the previous archetype of the power forward. There are of course exceptions but the PF used to be a power guy who had maybe average speed and a great physical game with net presence. TW can not only blast you into next week, he can match top speeds with your first line.

If other GMs are looking at goons who pot a few goals at lower levels they will miss the mark unless they account for the speed, agility, and hockey sense TW also brings.

 

[RandyHolt]

Wilson has great speed that he uses well, which is what separates him from the previous archetype of the power forward. There are of course exceptions but the PF used to be a power guy who had maybe average speed and a great physical game with net presence. TW can not only blast you into next week, he can match top speeds with your first line.

If other GMs are looking at goons who pot a few goals at lower levels they will miss the mark unless they account for the speed, agility, and hockey sense TW also brings.

I think Willy added his elite (for his size) speed after graduating to the NHL.... not 100% certain of that. I don't recall scouting reports on him mentioning his speed but maybe a draftnik can chime in / check their old notes.

He broke his ankle on the national canadian drinking day, but feel like that same year is when he was notably faster than the previous year. Maybe he got a bionic ankle, lighter skates, got a skating instructor....

HF Draft BIO
"Wilson projects as a power forward with some potential for offensive contributions. At 6'4 and 200 pounds, Wilson already has good size, and he isn't afraid to make use of his size advantage. And there is room for him to add some muscle to his frame. Wilson's skating is adequate, good enough for him to cause some havoc in the offensive zone. While his offensive skills were a big question mark moving forward from his draft date, Wilson put together a tremendous 2012-13 with Plymouth where he had over a point per game. As he continues to develop those assets his stock will only rise."

 

[txpd]

Wilson hired a skating coach for 2 or 3 straight off seasons. He skates far better now then when he was drafted

 

[txpd]

Wilson has great speed that he uses well, which is what separates him from the previous archetype of the power forward. There are of course exceptions but the PF used to be a power guy who had maybe average speed and a great physical game with net presence. TW can not only blast you into next week, he can match top speeds with your first line.

If other GMs are looking at goons who pot a few goals at lower levels they will miss the mark unless they account for the speed, agility, and hockey sense TW also brings.

You can't stop Wilson. You can only hope to contain him.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

It seems that Wilson is one of the faster straight line skaters in the league. His commitment to improving certain aspects of his game -- skating, shooting, stickhandling -- has been impressive. One of the most unique players in the league and he will be a force for years to come.

 

[VaCaps Fan]

Nhl Power forward...

 

[Raikkonen]

Wilson is young pro.
And he has hockey sense at high level.
And some Caps scouts did see that.

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

Any one still complaining about that extension

 

[artilector]

Any one still complaining about that extension

It's the same for Wilson, Kuz, Carlson deals. You're happy the guys stayed with the team, but the negotiated deals were nothing to write home about. To get an edge competing against the best, you need better hometown deals, and thankfully, the Caps got a few of those elsewhere -- Backstrom, Eller, Kempny.

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

Jensen could be one

 

[Raikkonen]

It's the same for Wilson, Kuz, Carlson deals. You're happy the guys stayed with the team, but the negotiated deals were nothing to write home about. To get an edge competing against the best, you need better hometown deals, and thankfully, the Caps got a few of those elsewhere -- Backstrom, Eller, Kempny.

I think, if you will look on the market, and if Wilson-Kuzy-Carlson can string 2-3 more seasons like this (pending on Kuzy being more like playoff version), they will outperform those contracts.

Wilson is surely doing that this year. Good shot at 20 goals in 60 games. Add his physical impact and he's worth more than his contract indicates (which is about what Silfverberg got lately).

 

[trick9]

I remember when Penguins fans were laughing at us wasting a 1st round pick to get him. Now we have him and they traded away a 1st round pick to try and counter him with Reaves and that failed miserably.

 

[artilector]

I think, if you will look on the market, and if Wilson-Kuzy-Carlson can string 2-3 more seasons like this (pending on Kuzy being more like playoff version), they will outperform those contracts.

Wilson is surely doing that this year. Good shot at 20 goals in 60 games. Add his physical impact and he's worth more than his contract indicates (which is about what Silfverberg got lately).

Well, definitely all those guys have been worth those contracts, the Cup by itself proves it. I'm just saying, if at the time of signing the contracts, you have like a 50-50 expectation (i.e. you are pretty unsure) that the guys will be worth the contracts, then in terms of negotiations and team-management you have done a passable but certainly not outstanding job. To take it to the extreme, if you pay $10 for a lottery ticket and end up winning $10M (Wilson goes from being a 10-15G guy to a 25G guy), it doesn't mean that you followed a great investment strategy, even though it worked out great.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Doesn’t quite track that analogy. One was a chance based incident, the other a decision made after a lot of scouting, film review, interviews, etc....

I’d say the strategy to select Willy was very sound.

 

[artilector]

Doesn’t quite track that analogy. One was a chance based incident, the other a decision made after a lot of scouting, film review, interviews, etc....

I’d say the strategy to select Willy was very sound.

"Select"? I was talking about re-signing Wilson at that salary, actually.

It's all a "chance based incident" -- after your scouting, film review, there's a still an X% chance of Wilson solidifying his top line spot and Y% chance of him regressing to a 3rd liner. And the same for any other player.

The point is, if you end up paying closer to the best case version of the player (i.e. you pay for the ticket expecting to win the lottery), then this is not exactly a great negotiation result -- even if the final outcome does end up working out great.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Slow night...I guess I don’t have a problem paying the performers their value.

Caps apparently believed they knew enough to sign him to that deal, and they were right. Theydidn’t suddenly get lucky.

We saw Wilson blossom right in front of our eyes last season. They believed in the player and knew how he would be deployed going forward, and paid him fairly.

 

[artilector]

Slow night...I guess I don’t have a problem paying the performers their value.

Caps apparently believed they knew enough to sign him to that deal, and they were right. Theydidn’t suddenly get lucky.

We saw Wilson blossom right in front of our eyes last season. They believed in the player and knew how he would be deployed going forward, and paid him fairly.

Like I said, I don't really have a problem with it, just noting the difference between getting a good deal like Wilson's and a great deal like Backstrom's.
Getting good deals keeps you relevant -- great deals allow you to put together monster teams.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Guess they need to get a great deal done with Vrana then....

I feel like “great deals” are slowly vanishing anyway by smarter agents and players with more readily available data.

 

[StrikingDistance]

Wilson doesn't sleep, he waits.

 

[Bananas]

I will say Wilson is a great leveler against a juggernaut like TB. It’s kind of like, “Great, your team is stacked, but you don’t have a counter to this particular player.”

Same reason Penguins are dangerous even in a down year. No matter what they’re looking at an advantage at 1C, 2C.

Same can be said for a team that has a hot goalie or, you know, Ovechkin.

The Caps have multiple trump cards right now: center depth, Ovechkin, Wilson and, most of the time, Holtby and their power play. It’s fun to think about...

That’s also why hockey is so great. Even though Tampa is having an historically good year, there’s still 4-5 teams in the East that definitely can beat them - and any playoff team has a chance.

 

[Calicaps]

Part 3