Pre-Game Talk: Training Camp/Exhibition game talk Part II(camp 7/13, exhibition games 7/28-7/30)

[The Kingslayer]

I thought the problem with the PP last game was two things: Burakovsky being awful in the slot, and Rantanen passing up lots of shooting opportunities.

Fortunately the former was resolved by game's end, with Kadri replacing Burakovsky and scoring the (PP) game winning goal.

I didnt like their entry last game. Just stop dickin g around and let either Cale or Mackinnon carry it. Makar looked confused a few times as to what to do.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

A power play problem I don't see brought up a lot is MacKinnon's shot radius. For a player with as good of shot as he has, his radius of where his one timer is effective is very small and he's very picky. If he could even shoot another 10% of those passes from Makar or Rantanen, our PP would be a lot better. For years people blamed Barrie's poor passing... and now it is Makar's telegraphing or poor passing. I don't really think either are the case. I think MacKinnon's too picky and needs to improve his one timer. Not having to force that pass time and time again and instead playing off of his shot and the rebounds to create ciaos would improve the PP.

This is a good point. While MacKinnon has an excellent one timer, he can’t really do it off platform as well as a lot of other guys.

Like, you look at that Perron goal yesterday, firing it from a weird angle. Rantanen does that as well.

 

[Foppa2118]

Burakovsky and Kadri are actually tied with 11 points for 4th amongst forwards in PP points, behind the top line.

Bura's actually ahead of Landy and behind Nate and Mikko for PPP/60 as well.

Seems like maybe Bednar just goes with whoever looked the best recently in practice on the PP, for that bumper position role. He's tried half the team there.

 

[Richard88]

Burakovsky and Kadri are actually tied with 11 points for 4th amongst forwards in PP points, behind the top line.

Bura's actually ahead of Landy and behind Nate and Mikko for PPP/60 as well.

Seems like maybe Bednar just goes with whoever looked the best recently in practice on the PP, for that bumper position role. He's tried half the team there.

I reckon Kaut will make that position his own once he makes the team. I remember him looking great in that role for Czech Republic at the WJC's. He's very good at finding pockets and so I think 'Rantanen to Kaut' could be a successful PP combo.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Yeah, Burakovsky, for all his talent, is not a great power play guy. Quick as his hands are he tends to take way too long to set the puck up for a shot or pass.

I get that Bednar wanted a little more balance, but it was a mistake to bump Kadri down to the 2nd unit.

I agree. Burakovsky is most effective off the rush which is why he fits so well on the Avs.

 

[Balthazar]

Reading this thread makes me realize that Burakovsky is as unidimensional as they come. No longer sure about wanting to keep him now.

Could be an overreaction to his shitty showing so far though.

 

[McMetal]

For what he is, Burakovsky is a good player. Every second liner has flaws that prevent them from being a first liner, if we had somebody else there we would be complaining about their deficiencies instead. Case in point: with Kerfoot it was that he scored a lot in garbage time. Well, Burakovsky led the team in GWGs with six, so now we complain that our second line winger is bad at defense. You can't have everything. If he was a good two-way player, he would be a star and we would never have gotten him out of Washington.

We needed somebody to score goals besides MacKinnon, Rantanen, and Landeskog. Burakovsky has done that for a pretty cheap price in trade. He isn't a core player, but if you remember last season at all, you know it could be a hell of a lot worse.

 

[Balthazar]

For what he is, Burakovsky is a good player. Every second liner has flaws that prevent them from being a first liner, if we had somebody else there we would be complaining about their deficiencies instead. Case in point: with Kerfoot it was that he scored a lot in garbage time. Well, Burakovsky led the team in GWGs with six, so now we complain that our second line winger is bad at defense. You can't have everything. If he was a good two-way player, he would be a star and we would never have gotten him out of Washington.

We needed somebody to score goals besides MacKinnon, Rantanen, and Landeskog. Burakovsky has done that for a pretty cheap price in trade. He isn't a core player, but if you remember last season at all, you know it could be a hell of a lot worse.

So do you say thank you for your goals Mr Burakovsky and move on or you bank on what he did, believe that he will do that again and hand him a contract with term? We're not questioning the past we're questioning the future.

There's a big difference between being unidimensional and "everyone is having flaws". When you're unidimentional and the only thing you can do isn't working you become literally worthless.

 

[McMetal]

So do you say thank you for your goals Mr Burakovsky and move on or you bank on what he did, believe that he will do that again and hand him a contract with term? We're not questioning the past we're questioning the future.

There's a big difference between being unidimensional and "everyone is having flaws". When you're unidimentional and the only thing you can do isn't working you become literally worthless.

Being one dimensional is just one type of flaw you could have. You could be incredibly streaky, like Donskoi. Or lack scoring touch, like Nichushkin. Or be anti-clutch, like Kerfoot. Again, only your stars are going to be perfect.

I just think you're expecting way too much out of your second line. Just look at the second lines of the other big contenders and you'll find a guy in there who's maybe ill fitted for a top six role on paper. Burakovsky is a hell of a sight better on your second line than Nick Ritchie or Zach Sanford.

Would I be cautious about giving Burakovsky a big fat six year deal after only one season as a top six forward? Sure I would, teams get burned by contract year performances all the time, and there's no way to know for sure that he's figured it all out now after spinning his wheels in Washington for so long.

But to call him a bad second liner because he sucks defensively is kind of missing the point of what you look for in secondary scoring. Not every player needs to be Mark Stone. When he IS scoring, he's providing badly needed depth behind our top line. We saw just last year how awful the team can look when the top line gets shut down and nobody else can step up.

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

Being one dimensional is just one type of flaw you could have. You could be incredibly streaky, like Donskoi. Or lack scoring touch, like Nichushkin. Or be anti-clutch, like Kerfoot. Again, only your stars are going to be perfect.

I just think you're expecting way too much out of your second line. Just look at the second lines of the other big contenders and you'll find a guy in there who's maybe ill fitted for a top six role on paper. Burakovsky is a hell of a sight better on your second line than Nick Ritchie or Zach Sanford.

Would I be cautious about giving Burakovsky a big fat six year deal after only one season as a top six forward? Sure I would, teams get burned by contract year performances all the time, and there's no way to know for sure that he's figured it all out now after spinning his wheels in Washington for so long.

But to call him a bad second liner because he sucks defensively is kind of missing the point of what you look for in secondary scoring. Not every player needs to be Mark Stone. When he IS scoring, he's providing badly needed depth behind our top line. We saw just last year how awful the team can look when the top line gets shut down and nobody else can step up.

Exactly! Compare our team from last season and thus season. My only hope last season was Mack's line to produce.. nobody else did nothing. All these "streaky flawed" players like Bura, Donskoi etc have provided a lot of depth scoring and it has made us one of the top teams in NHL! We need those guys. Not everyone can be Rantanen/Mack level..

And in order to win playoffs, I take a guy like Donskoi over Kerfoot. Kerfoot might put up more points in regular season but he is trash when the game gets tough. He can't up the intensity. Those guys are useless in playoffs. I don't think point totals itself tell the whole story.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

So do you say thank you for your goals Mr Burakovsky and move on or you bank on what he did, believe that he will do that again and hand him a contract with term? We're not questioning the past we're questioning the future.

There's a big difference between being unidimensional and "everyone is having flaws". When you're unidimentional and the only thing you can do isn't working you become literally worthless.

good point and that's generally how bad contracts come REAL early. Look at Skinner.
Being one dimensional is fine when you're bringing that dimension. but if you're the kind of guy that relies 100% on skating or something like that, your job is going to become redundant much faster in this league since you're going to suck once you start to lost that attribute. It's why Ovechkin will play until he's 45. He'll never stop being able to shooting the puck like he does.

 

[Richard88]

good point and that's generally how bad contracts come REAL early. Look at Skinner.
Being one dimensional is fine when you're bringing that dimension. but if you're the kind of guy that relies 100% on skating or something like that, your job is going to become redundant much faster in this league since you're going to suck once you start to lost that attribute. It's why Ovechkin will play until he's 45. He'll never stop being able to shooting the puck like he does.

Ovechkin is going to stay in the league until he breaks Gretzky's goal record, even if he has to stay in the league until he's 50.

 

[forsbergavs32]

I’m giving Bura the benefit of the doubt right now because of the 4 months off and little prep time, but he’s shown he can be streaky already and that paired with being bad defensively makes me nervous. If he’s not scoring he’s not doing anything else to help the team. I think he will be kept because they gave up assets for him so we’ll just have to deal with his flaws for awhile.

 

[Murzu]

Ovechkin is going to stay in the league until he breaks Gretzky's goal record, even if he has to stay in the league until he's 50.

I hope so. I want to see that record broken.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

So do you say thank you for your goals Mr Burakovsky and move on or you bank on what he did, believe that he will do that again and hand him a contract with term? We're not questioning the past we're questioning the future.

There's a big difference between being unidimensional and "everyone is having flaws". When you're unidimentional and the only thing you can do isn't working you become literally worthless.

You can trade Burakovsky, but you better have someone else coming in who can produce offence.

A lot of the names in free agency are quite a bit older than Bura, which is why I’d prefer to just stick with him.

You could try and pry Mantha away from Detroit with a Burakovsky + package, but I imagine the + would be quite significant.

 

[Richard88]

You can trade Burakovsky, but you better have someone else coming in who can produce offence.

A lot of the names in free agency are quite a bit older than Bura, which is why I’d prefer to just stick with him.

You could try and pry Mantha away from Detroit with a Burakovsky + package, but I imagine the + would be quite significant.

How about acquiring Saad and extending him at like $5.5m x 4-5 years? The guy is a bit younger than this years UFA crop; has playoff experience; and plays a strong 2 way game. Saad for Compher + small add (eg. 4th/Kamenev) maybe works. Chicago have to trim some capspace this offseason and he's one of the obvious candidates.

 

[The Abusement Park]

You can trade Burakovsky, but you better have someone else coming in who can produce offence.

A lot of the names in free agency are quite a bit older than Bura, which is why I’d prefer to just stick with him.

You could try and pry Mantha away from Detroit with a Burakovsky + package, but I imagine the + would be quite significant.

Yeah that plus would be Byram unfortunately I would assume. They need D prospects bad and assuming they trade up to take Stuetzle.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

How about acquiring Saad and extending him at like $5.5m x 4-5 years? The guy is a bit younger than this years UFA crop; has playoff experience; and plays a strong 2 way game. Saad for Compher + small add (eg. 4th/Kamenev) maybe works. Chicago have to trim some capspace this offseason and he's one of the obvious candidates.

Yeah, I could see that. Saad’s been a very consistent 20+ goal scorer in his career. I’d be worries about not having an extension in place though, given his soon to be UFA status.

 

[Richard88]

Yeah, I could see that. Saad’s been a very consistent 20+ goal scorer in his career. I’d be worries about not having an extension in place though, given his soon to be UFA status.

I'd assume that Sakic would find out what it would take to extend Saad before acquiring him.