IN THE HEARTS OF MEN

Lol... he's 2 months older then me...

Big party... lots of Russian water/vodka...

Also, did he just turn 40?

hold on hold on... firstly and again im not saying he is the next keith primeau. im saying why cant our expectations be higher then that of a 4th liner. BUT to continue this for entertainment purposes... how you twist your stats... their careers in the nhl are 1 year apart forget your 16 to 18 bologna because frankly at the end of the day the era was different and the leagues were different! so keith Primeau class of 71' 1990 when primeau was 19 and not 18 he played his first 58 games in the nhl and scored only 15 points as a C .259pts/game 1991 he was 20 and split time in both the NHL and AHL and got 16pts in 35 games .457pts/game 1992 he became a full time NHLer at age 21 and played 73 games scoring 32 points .438 pts/game in total he played 909 NHL games and scored 619pts for .68 pts/game so lets not paint primeau out to be a scoring machine ala lindros.... primeau's best nhl season(pts) came in 1993 with 73 points (8 players had over 100 points that year and another 13 players broke the 90 point mark (just a small example of how points were come by) all players have different paths to the nhl especially in different era's. if you follow hockey like i know you do... coaches at the minor and junior level play HUGE, HUGE rolls in how players develop, how they are exposed to scouts etc... i wasn't diminishing the USNDT not one bit. i said he played in only 19 games in 2012... playing a checking roll cause when your 6'6' and still growing and finding your way thats the roll your put in by your coach (so 19 games of action is hardly the same as 50 games of action in the OHL in the early 90's when for example the USNDT was nothing and the USHL wasnt even comparable.) Also take into consideration eichel (class of 1996) played in 37 games and larkin 35g (class of 1996) that same year and you can see how a year of mcCarrons development was burned (and thats not even mentioning how he was mis-used as a winger then) so AGAIN im not saying he's gonna be boyle, or primeau or lindros or parros... im saying let the kid play and see... youv'e already played out his career in your head and spit out every stat possible to state your case. you know being that big at the minor and junior level and not having developed the skating technique and the speed to keep up with the small fast kids on the top line is no different then a guy like Martin St. Louis being so small and not even getting drafted for the opposite reason! But as you get into your early to mid 20's all that stuff levels off across the board what i'm saying is he has the tools to be more then just a 4th liner in TODAY"S NHL. HIs size alone almost guarantee's him a 4th line roll at this point.

i think any C could get points between radulov and pacioretty. the real question for mike would be could he keep pace with those 2?

i think it would take more to get tavares but id do it as well. i want no part of moulson and would rather keep plex

WELL, firstly i didnt say he was their highest scorer in the OHL playoffs i said he was there most valuable player and best C. which is so very true! just wanted to correct you there AND If you actually watched those playoffs (specifically erie otter finals), i find it hard for you to not agree about that championship run in particular... but i can understand, considering that you have such a negative bias against this player in particular (as everybody on this forum can see) Also, are you saying you'd rather have cassels or dal Colle in the system? ironically every other prospect you mentioned in his draft has some sort of top 6 upside to them but Mike McCarron. You said yourself he wasnt drafted as a C but a winger and since switching he has excelled. so all that scouting done on the player as a winger is out the door because he's a C as for the primeau comparison, i didnt say mccarron was the next primeau, i said but why not? why is his ceiling just a 3rd/4th liner, ala brian boyle. why cant he continue to develop into something more then that, a 2nd line power forward? if you think he's already plateaued as a developing prospect then ok... but absolutley nothing points to his growth and development as a hockey player being stagnant. he hasn't reached his potential and he's only 21! as for primeau's OHL career, sure he got 127 pts in his 3rd season in the league. mike unfortunately didn't play a 3rd season in the ohl like primeau did at a time when points were very much easier to come by compared to now 20 years later. The facts are that primeau played in 3 ohl seasons not 2 and only put up major points (the 127pts your talking about) in his 3rd season. his first 2 seasons in the OHL primeau scored 67 points in 95 games good for .705 pts/game compared to mikes first 2 ohl seasons of 102 pts in 122 games (34pts in 66 as a RW and 68 pts in 56 as a C) good for .836 pts per game. and yes he was a year older but big freakin deal. you need to play games to develop! regardless of age. mike played only 19 games in what would of been his first ohl season for the us junior development team hardly the equivalent of what a 50 game OHL season plus playoffs would bring to a prospect in terms of development. obviously hindsight is 20 and 20 and after seeing primeau's whole career its easy to say NO F"N way there the same player but... mike's whole career still needs to be written... primeau 21 yr old- in his 3rd pro season became a regular nhler and had 32 points in 73 games those numbers although decent for a rookie are'nt knock your socks off... especially in that era 20 yr old- his 2nd pro season he split between the ahl and nhl and scored 45pts and another 16pts in 35games in the nhl mike mccarron 21 yr old- 2nd pro season has 13 pts in both the nhl and ahl with almost 50 game left in the season 20 yr old- 1st pro season had 48 points playing majority in the AHL and 20 in the nhl on the 4th line. Again primeau didnt blossom into a legit top 6 until his 4th season in the NHL!

it took primeau until his 4th pro season to realize his potential with detroit.... and only put up huge points in his 3rd ohl season.. mccarron played only 2 (not sure about age of the 2, dont have time for that) now of course mike will have it tougher because the game has got that much faster with the new rules... but expectations are set by mike to exceed not us.

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=725 http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=145517 now why cant we set this type of expectation rather then brian boyle at best? no offense to brian?

ive watched st. johns alot over 2 seasons and i'm a knights fan, so when hunter switched him to C then traded him shortly after i was so pissed cause he looked really good centering 2 offensive dynamo's on London. But, it worked out for him in the end as he won a memorial cup.

Well we are talking about his ceiling and floor... i just think his ceiling is much higher then what people are suggesting... he does have to realize it though. and his switch from Wing to C by hunter in his 2nd year at london showed instant success. and like i said he's only showed upward progression and great work ethic and a commitment to being a pro. who sets his expectations to exceed? hockey futures for one had this to say Future McCarron made his NHL debut with the Canadiens in December 2015 as a 20-year-old and played in 20 games with Montreal in 2015-16; splitting the season between the NHL and the AHL. One of the team leaders in points and penalty minutes for the St. John's IceCaps, he continues to develop the tactical game in terms of using his physical play to advantage while avoiding unnecessary penalties. McCarron has the tools to become a top-six power forward at the NHL level, but could drop off a notch into the top-nine role. Read more at http://www.hockeysfuture.com/prospects/mike-mccarron/#cQYilLQbr363vqVs.99

a compelling case?? his development has only continued upward each year, judging the kid at what he did at 16 on goals scored is a joke!! Why is our only reasonable hope that of a 3rd liner??? because comm says so? because scouts say so? he also said he wouldnt get more then 30 points in his rookie season... guess what? he was wrong! and scouts are wrong EVERYDAY, otherwise everyone in the 1st round would make it... and why even draft in the latter rounds.. Now trust me that i'm not fantasising about mcCarron turning into the next eric lindros... But, at this stage of his development and seeing his continuing upward progression the least we can expect from him is 3rd, 4th line duty not the most.... Eller and him aren't even comparable as fans hope of eller finally scoring comes 5+ years into his NHL career and the latter is just starting his. like i said his ceiling is a good 2way 2nd line center... his floor is a good 4th line center Ask Conner McDavid if he thinks Mike McCarron's ceiling is that of just a physical 3rd liner at best after playing him head to head in the playoffs... Who says this guy isn't blooming late. he's still only a kid21... watch some st. johns games and you'll see that hes' getting his chances, hes getting his shots and they just werent going in... all the while doing all the heavy lifting for his team as well as taking on the enforcer roll to. if he's gonna play 8 minutes a night on the 4th line expect 4th line production.. but if his first 3 strides continue to improve as it has... why cant we set the bar higher!

Im sorry but i just dont buy what your selling. -Mike McCarron has shown significant growth in development each year of his very young career -if he was scoring at will at 16 we'd be comparing him to Eric Lindros and he'd go #1 -he doubled his point production from his rookie year in the O to his sophomore year after moving to C and was in fact their best C while winning the memorial cup (not their highest scorer but their best C) -he was successful in his rookie pro career and completely destroyed the low bar you set for him in point production before he even stepped on the ice. -this season he was the best rookie in camp and was putting up points -he also had a great pre season and was only sent down because of the roster make up and not by merit -yes his confidence was low to start the year and he had a horrible opening month to the schedule but so would you if u did everything right, had a great camp, and still got cut!! but after his fight/ head butt and suspension incident, he has woken up and has played well. He is once again trending up and I wouldn't be suprised one bit if he stuck with the habs the rest of the way!! who says his ceiling is 3rd line 4th line C at best in the NHL? You? 3rd/4th line is the worst case for him as his development continues an upward trajectory yearly. It isn't so far fetched to see mike as a guy who is more suited to play in the NHL and he's exactly the swing for the fences prospect we covet... just imagine our point producing #1C (galchenyuk) and behind him big mike playing the tough minutes replacing plex as a huge 2 way 2nd line centre... that's his ceiling!!!!!

What's wrong with markov?

Personally i dont think any of bure, petrov, grabovski or bournival come close to his speed or are able to take advantage of their speed. With that said the closest comparison I would think is Russ courtnall

Pay your debts

Also Flynn playing wing on plex line and McCarron playing C

F'n hilarious

Actually they practiced with shaw coming off the left wall and radulov coming off the right wall patciotetty circling the net

Im surprised they will play him on the right instead of C. Or is this MT "easing" him into the "process" he's played C pretty much since moving from London to Oshawa. also, note some exciting changes to the practices... petry to the right of weber on the first unit with radulov on the right wall and shaw on the left wall patches in front of the net and beau to the right of markov on the 2nd wave

Obviously.... The point is a lot of NHL defenders are making the team at an earlier age then years past... is all I'm saying

Meaning shergachev can and may play a significant role on this team as early as next season...

Tavares signed long term ... then yes sign me up on moving shergachev! But we need look no further then provorov in philly to think shergachev doesn't have a huge Ceiling... it's a young mans game and tonnes of young defEnders have made the jump

Ya 5 on 5

He probably would of ended up fighting so maybe it's better he didn't play last night. Either way he'll practice with the team and get his first game of the season with Flynn moving back to the wing