Vince Dunn

[bluesXwinXtheXcup]

As a many year Dunn fan, I am interested in how fans of his new team view him.

I think it's great he had the 1st fight and goal in franchise history.

Any views on him would be appreciated...

Go Kraken! ...and the Blues

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[Scomerica]

As a many year Dunn fan, I am interested in how fans of his new team view him.

I think it's great he had the 1st fight and goal in franchise history.

Any views on him would be appreciated...

Go Kraken! ...and the Blues

He's been okay so far but there's been some concerns about his defense at points. Cost a couple of goals.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

I would say he has been solid on offense. But he has made some bone-headed plays on D that has cost us some goals. I think he is the sort of player that may never be more than average defensively but if he gets the support from the other skaters when pinching or being aggressive in the O zone, most of his mistakes can be negated.

 

[Cisse]

He has the offensive skills, his passing game and shooting is there and he can join the rush but in my opinion needs a solid defensive d-man to pair him so he can concentrate on his assets.

 

[kihei]

I agree with all of the above but would add that unless he improves significantly defensively, I find him difficult to trust. He requires a coach who is a good match up manager and one who will limit his ice time in high pressure situations, say,, like near the end of a game with a one goal lead.
.

 

[jbron]

I was at last nights game and Dunn's play was very similar to the way he played in St Louis. He will dazzle fans with his offense and skating ability. He can be solid on defense, at times making some incredible plays. It's the passing mistakes and knucklehead decisions that appear a
few times a game that leave you scratching your head. He is a tough competitor and has ability. He needs to think a little more and not just react
when passing in his own zone as well as his positioning on defense. Hopefully, with veteran leadership and coaching he will improve. He is only 24, so there is hope. Otherwise, it will be more of the same and that would be a shame.

 

[LGB]

I think he'll find his game and be a really good player for you guys. He'll always be prone to make the occasional unforced error, but overall with the Blues he was actually better than the team average in both expected and actual goals against rate. Really wish we had kept him.

 

[The Marquis]

Super young still. He’ll shore up those mistakes.

 

[Cisse]

Super young still. He’ll shore up those mistakes.

I agree. He can still learn from his mistakes. Also I have been always been thinking that if you have a defender with natural offensive talent you should use it by finding him a defensive d-man that can balance him.

 

[lablues]

Former Blues fan here, now Kraken/Blues fan living in Seattle. I haven't watched too many games on tv due to not having cable/Roots sports NW but went to the Montreal game wearing my new Jaden Schwartz Kraken jersey. He's seems very hesitant to shoot in the offensive zone, often passing to the other D instead. Defensively, he has lapses sometimes. I was impressed with Schwartz. His speed helps create offensive chances.

 

[Celtic Note]

Any updates on how Dunn has been playing.

 

[jbron]

Dunn defensively has been a major disappointment. Further, he is hesitating to shoot at times as well.
The Kraken have a poor defensive scheme and it really shows in his play compared to when he played in St Louis.
Having watched many Blues games that Dunn played in, I would say he has regressed.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

Dunn defensively has been a major disappointment. Further, he is hesitating to shoot at times as well.
The Kraken have a poor defensive scheme and it really shows in his play compared to when he played in St Louis.
Having watched many Blues games that Dunn played in, I would say he has regressed.

I will be honest, the type of defense I have seen from Dunn is pretty much what I expected. What I am more surprised about is the lack of offense coming through him. I thought he would be driving play in the offensive zone a lot more than he has. Could be because of the defensive issues with the team and also the fact that he has a bigger role than what he had on the Blues making him more cautious.

 

[jbron]

His role on the Kraken is about what he was on the Blues. He doesn't appear to be the same offensive threat though with the Kraken. Like most young players he had an opportunity with a new team to take it and find a better role. He hasn't done that yet, as he plays tentative and unsure.
He had much better coaching and players around him as well with the Blues. That's not a shot at the Kraken, that's just reality. He will either step up during the season and hopefully receive better coaching or most likely will be traded to another team to take on this project.

 

[RainyCityHockey]

I will be honest, the type of defense I have seen from Dunn is pretty much what I expected. What I am more surprised about is the lack of offense coming through him. I thought he would be driving play in the offensive zone a lot more than he has. Could be because of the defensive issues with the team and also the fact that he has a bigger role than what he had on the Blues making him more cautious.

Well, he's basically paired with a different player on most nights(just like the other guys), which also won't help with chemistry between the both of them.

Though, I also expected more offensively(then he's shown so far)out of him.

 

[bluesXwinXtheXcup]

In hindsight, Tarasenko would have been a better pick.

True statement?

 

[Irie]

In hindsight, Tarasenko would have been a better pick.

True statement?

Tough to say, really. Dunn's defense has progressed more than I could have hoped for this season, and he's even developed a little bit of an edge. Watching him go head to head with McDavid before the break and not back down was kinda cool.

Tarasenko's health was a HUGE concern, and one that made the Dunn pick a no-brainer in my opinion.

With Dunn out last night, especially in OT, it was glaringly obvious that his skillset is desperately needed in the lineup.

Given age and the direction of this team, I am not upset with the Dunn pick, even in hindsight. Tarasenko would have been a nice pickup as well, but let's not fool ourselves into thinking that he would be having an amazing season playing on the Kraken with limited top six talent around him to play with.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

Tough to say, really. Dunn's defense has progressed more than I could have hoped for this season, and he's even developed a little bit of an edge. Watching him go head to head with McDavid before the break and not back down was kinda cool.

Tarasenko's health was a HUGE concern, and one that made the Dunn pick a no-brainer in my opinion.

With Dunn out last night, especially in OT, it was glaringly obvious that his skillset is desperately needed in the lineup.

Given age and the direction of this team, I am not upset with the Dunn pick, even in hindsight. Tarasenko would have been a nice pickup as well, but let's not fool ourselves into thinking that he would be having an amazing season playing on the Kraken with limited top six talent around him to play with.

I agree. Not upset about picking Dunn over Tank. There were some other ones though that were head scratchers.

 

[Irie]

I agree. Not upset about picking Dunn over Tank. There were some other ones though that were head scratchers.

This has definitely been beaten to death, but at the time of the expansion draft, I think all the picks actually made sense.

I am not saying they were the best choices, but there was definitely rationale put into everyone of the picks that I could easily defend. Hindsight is 20\20, and no expansion team is ever going to pick the 100% best player with each pick.

Most of the head scratchers were either taking guys the team had no intention of signing/keeping, because they determined they were better off just using a pass than taking anything off of the list of teams where the options were slim pickings.

The other "head scratchers" were the team targeting AHL players on two way contracts that would likely pass through waivers. There were 3 or 4 guys that seemed obvious choices, until you looked the roster and realized they probably would not make the opening night squad, but they would more than likely be plucked off the waiver wire (like Clague, Gadjovich, and Aube-Kubel), so they targeted players almost guaranteed to pass through waivers to fulfill their agreement with Charlotte.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

This has definitely been beaten to death, but at the time of the expansion draft, I think all the picks actually made sense.

I am not saying they were the best choices, but there was definitely rationale put into everyone of the picks that I could easily defend. Hindsight is 20\20, and no expansion team is ever going to pick the 100% best player with each pick.

Most of the head scratchers were either taking guys the team had no intention of signing/keeping, because they determined they were better off just using a pass than taking anything off of the list of teams where the options were slim pickings.

The other "head scratchers" were the team targeting AHL players on two way contracts that would likely pass through waivers. There were 3 or 4 guys that seemed obvious choices, until you looked the roster and realized they probably would not make the opening night squad, but they would more than likely be plucked off the waiver wire (like Clague, Gadjovich, and Aube-Kubel), so they targeted players almost guaranteed to pass through waivers to fulfill their agreement with Charlotte.

Yep. Most of the picks did make sense and I will still stick to that.

Based on GMRF's past I just get the feeling that he won't be super aggressive and make high-risk high-reward moves. For both trades or draft picks. Seems like the likes playing it safe which is a good approach to take if you have a lot of time to build a franchise. I am not sure if GMRF's leash will be long enough to survive 3-4 seasons of us missing the playoffs.

 

[Irie]

Yep. Most of the picks did make sense and I will still stick to that.

Based on GMRF's past I just get the feeling that he won't be super aggressive and make high-risk high-reward moves. For both trades or draft picks. Seems like the likes playing it safe which is a good approach to take if you have a lot of time to build a franchise. I am not sure if GMRF's leash will be long enough to survive 3-4 seasons of us missing the playoffs.

Agreed on all accounts.

While at the time of Francis' hiring, I felt like given the environment with the recent Vegas draft and GMs having time to prepare for Seattle's expansion, that a conservative and slow build approach would be best, and I liked the hire.

But i will admit that I have been far less impressed with his choice of the people he has placed around himself. Most of the guys have suspect track records at best. I had hoped that Francis might be able to use the cap space and pull off a couple of obvious wins, but all of his UFA signings have been disappointing for me, and he's burned more cap than I had hoped he would, somewhat limiting the option for a potential franchise changing signing in the next two years.

I don't mind overpaying for superstars, but overpaying to bring in average guys is how you blow your cap and end up only marginally competitive.

 

[Ray Martyniuk]

I liked the Kraken pick of Dunn from the Blues. I think that he moves the puck well outta the D-Zone and makes good passes. He plays well against most speed demon like players while getting exposed against bigger,physical players. He'll always be an Offense first player but his Defensive game is getting better with time. He'll get more PP time when/if Gio is dealt. I see him as being the catalyst on the PP

 

[gstommylee]

Agreed on all accounts.

While at the time of Francis' hiring, I felt like given the environment with the recent Vegas draft and GMs having time to prepare for Seattle's expansion, that a conservative and slow build approach would be best, and I liked the hire.

But i will admit that I have been far less impressed with his choice of the people he has placed around himself. Most of the guys have suspect track records at best. I had hoped that Francis might be able to use the cap space and pull off a couple of obvious wins, but all of his UFA signings have been disappointing for me, and he's burned more cap than I had hoped he would, somewhat limiting the option for a potential franchise changing signing in the next two years.

I don't mind overpaying for superstars, but overpaying to bring in average guys is how you blow your cap and end up only marginally competitive.

So you rather waste cap space on bad contracts in the expansion draft forcing the team to give up draft picks and other assets to make improvements just cause they put them selves into cap hell just to appease the fan base... Having a weak prospect pool is not how you build a franchise. Look at Vegas they don't have that great of a prospect pool cause they keep giving up those assets.

 

[Irie]

So you rather waste cap space on bad contracts in the expansion draft forcing the team to give up draft picks and other assets to make improvements just cause they put them selves into cap hell just to appease the fan base... Having a weak prospect pool is not how you build a franchise. Look at Vegas they don't have that great of a prospect pool cause they keep giving up those assets.

Not at all, and I am not sure how you came to that conclusion from any part of my post.

Maybe start at the beginning of the exchange and re-read what was written, and the discussion will make more sense to you?

You should know from our discussions pre-draft that I was absolutely against taking any over-priced players. I said from day one, save cap for two to three years down the road, and only take on cap if it is on expiring contracts (like Gio) that you can trade at the deadline for assets.

I would absolutely be all on board at throwing 12 million at MacKinnon in a year and a half, but I was not really thrilled with the Grubauer, Oleksiak and Schwartz signings. I will admit that the Oleksiak deal has worked out well, as I think he epitomizes the culture Francis is trying to build, but I still hate the other two contracts and think they are going to hurt down the road a lot more than any realized when they were signed.

 

[gstommylee]

Not at all, and I am not sure how you came to that conclusion from any part of my post.

Maybe start at the beginning of the exchange and re-read what was written, and the discussion will make more sense to you?

You should know from our discussions pre-draft that I was absolutely against taking any over-priced players. I said from day one, save cap for two to three years down the road, and only take on cap if it is on expiring contracts (like Gio) that you can trade at the deadline for assets.

I would absolutely be all on board at throwing 12 million at MacKinnon in a year and a half, but I was not really thrilled with the Grubauer, Oleksiak and Schwartz signings. I will admit that the Oleksiak deal has worked out well, as I think he epitomizes the culture Francis is trying to build, but I still hate the other two contracts and think they are going to hurt down the road a lot more than any realized when they were signed.

Good lord no way i'll throw 12m a year on a player...