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Non-Rocket Habs Prospect tracker


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12 minutes ago, DON said:

 

USHL

Sean Farrell 1g (3), 5pts in 2gms

Jack Smith 1a

 

Vedjemo/KK/CC 1a

Mysak 0pts 0/1shootout

 

KK 1a in 1st period today

 

Who is CC? I canopy figure it out

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1 hour ago, tomh009 said:

Kotkaniemi is getting his game together over in Liiga; he is now 0.8 points/game, and averaging 19:28 on the ice.

How long and many games will Habs give him over there?

Given that he will likely play an upcoming condensed NHL season.

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3 hours ago, DON said:

How long and many games will Habs give him over there?

Given that he will likely play an upcoming condensed NHL season.

 

NHL and NHLPA are still negotiating, and the virus is still running rampant. I think a best-case scenario is that they'll announce the plan within three weeks, followed by a short pre-training camp for the non-post-season teams and then the "normal" training camps.

 

I think Kotkaniemi will be returning in short order as soon as the plan for the season as been confirmed. Ylonen and Leskinen will probably do the same as I expect that they'll be invited to the training camp, even if the start of the AHL season might not be until February.

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1 minute ago, tomh009 said:

 

NHL and NHLPA are still negotiating, and the virus is still running rampant. I think a best-case scenario is that they'll announce the plan within three weeks, followed by a short pre-training camp for the non-post-season teams and then the "normal" training camps.

 

I think Kotkaniemi will be returning in short order as soon as the plan for the season as been confirmed. Ylonen and Leskinen will probably do the same as I expect that they'll be invited to the training camp, even if the start of the AHL season might not be until February.

 

Maybe part of the NHLPA-NHL negotiations will be a non-roster taxi squad (off the cap) of 5-6 players to bridge until the AHL season ... in order for any of the taxi squad to play would be a "call-up" to place them on the roster (and cap)

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13 minutes ago, GHT120 said:

Maybe part of the NHLPA-NHL negotiations will be a non-roster taxi squad (off the cap) of 5-6 players to bridge until the AHL season ... in order for any of the taxi squad to play would be a "call-up" to place them on the roster (and cap)

 

I'm expecting something like that as well.  It'll also serve as a way for cap-strapped teams to routinely carry the minimum and free up some room for in-season movement.

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15 hours ago, dlbalr said:

I'm expecting something like that as well.  It'll also serve as a way for cap-strapped teams to routinely carry the minimum and free up some room for in-season movement.

 

The taxi squad idea would mostly address issues with cross-border movement of players between minors and the parent team. That really only affects the three westernmost Canadian teams (Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton), who have their AHL affiliates south of the border: Habs, Sens, Leafs and Jets all theirs in Canada. That's only three of 31 teams affected.

 

But, if the border restrictions are not eased, the AHL may also need to go with a Canadian division route, and those three teams might have to have their affiliates play their home games on the Canadian side of the border, in which case the problem disappears anyway.

 

Anyway, in my view, the biggest problem with large taxi squads is that those players are not getting to play any games at all, neither AHL or NHL, which is rather unhelpful for young players' development.

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4 hours ago, tomh009 said:

 

The taxi squad idea would mostly address issues with cross-border movement of players between minors and the parent team. That really only affects the three westernmost Canadian teams (Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton), who have their AHL affiliates south of the border: Habs, Sens, Leafs and Jets all theirs in Canada. That's only three of 31 teams affected.

 

But, if the border restrictions are not eased, the AHL may also need to go with a Canadian division route, and those three teams might have to have their affiliates play their home games on the Canadian side of the border, in which case the problem disappears anyway.

 

Anyway, in my view, the biggest problem with large taxi squads is that those players are not getting to play any games at all, neither AHL or NHL, which is rather unhelpful for young players' development.

 

I was thinking more as a bridge if there was any gap between the startup of the NHL and the AHL ... although I like the cap tweak angle that dlbalr suggested

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Read he had some issues as well ... but a good play
 

 

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5 hours ago, tomh009 said:

The taxi squad idea would mostly address issues with cross-border movement of players between minors and the parent team. That really only affects the three westernmost Canadian teams (Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton), who have their AHL affiliates south of the border: Habs, Sens, Leafs and Jets all theirs in Canada. That's only three of 31 teams affected.

 

But, if the border restrictions are not eased, the AHL may also need to go with a Canadian division route, and those three teams might have to have their affiliates play their home games on the Canadian side of the border, in which case the problem disappears anyway.

 

Anyway, in my view, the biggest problem with large taxi squads is that those players are not getting to play any games at all, neither AHL or NHL, which is rather unhelpful for young players' development.

 

I don't think taxi squads would be that big when (if) the AHL season gets underway.  At that time, it could be cut down to maybe 3 - 1 G, 1 D, 1 F and if that was the eventual plan, I think you'd see some veteran fringe guys get the spots, not the prospects.  If the Habs had Lindgren, Olofsson/Ouellet, and let's say Blandisi as the three in that situation, it's not really affecting the development of any prospects.  While there's no AHL season, there's no development risk of having a bigger group of reserves to start.

 

As for the Canadian teams with AHL squads, those teams have already said they aren't moving their teams north for a year.  Instead, Belleville, Toronto, Laval, and Manitoba would form a division and only play each other.  That sounds bad at first but Laval already plays the Ontario teams 12-14 times a year anyway and the target length for the AHL schedule is around 35 games now anyway.  For Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton, they may get granted an extra taxi squad spot or two to aid in short-term recalls.

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5 minutes ago, dlbalr said:

As for the Canadian teams with AHL squads, those teams have already said they aren't moving their teams north for a year.  Instead, Belleville, Toronto, Laval, and Manitoba would form a division and only play each other.  That sounds bad at first but Laval already plays the Ontario teams 12-14 times a year anyway and the target length for the AHL schedule is around 35 games now anyway.  For Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton, they may get granted an extra taxi squad spot or two to aid in short-term recalls.

 

Even with an extra spot or two, that would be a significant depth risk for the three western teams. Of course, that's not a problem from a Habs fan point of view. :)

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4 hours ago, tomh009 said:

Even with an extra spot or two, that would be a significant depth risk for the three western teams. Of course, that's not a problem from a Habs fan point of view. :)

 

All the team needs is ample time to recall someone and have them serve the quarantine period in that circumstance and the taxi squad serves that purpose.  If the Canadian government allows non-Canadian players to go to Canada for training camp (assuming they follow quarantine protocol), they'll probably allow a player to be recalled from the US in-season as long as they follow that protocol.

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17 minutes ago, dlbalr said:

All the team needs is ample time to recall someone and have them serve the quarantine period in that circumstance and the taxi squad serves that purpose.  If the Canadian government allows non-Canadian players to go to Canada for training camp (assuming they follow quarantine protocol), they'll probably allow a player to be recalled from the US in-season as long as they follow that protocol.

 

Yes, I agree. But at least at this time it looks like it'll be two weeks to get someone across the border -- and at that point the AHL player will not have been on the ice for two-plus weeks, so will not be in top condition, either. (Presumably the teams would set up a few quarantine apartments with fitness gear, but that's still not quite the same as skating.) Given the compressed schedule, I'd say that you are looking at close to 10 games -- a sixth of the season -- before you have an effective replacement in the line-up.

 

In my view, that's a significant risk, but it looks like the management of those three teams is willing to take that chance.

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20 hours ago, tomh009 said:

In my view, that's a significant risk, but it looks like the management of those three teams is willing to take that chance.

 

I don't think it's easy to simply up and move an AHL team in just over two months, even without having to plan for any sort of ticket sales.  There are existing arena contracts, sponsorship deals, etc that would be broken even by a short-term move.  It's one thing for a top-level team (think the Blue Jays in MLB, Raptors in the NBA) to pack things up - it's a nine-figure enterprise with some big contracts and local sponsors in Buffalo/Tampa Bay respectively can help cover the gap.  The cost of non-compliance with existing contracts is less than not playing and getting TV revenue and stuff like that.  There isn't any of that when it comes to the AHL.  Those teams can lose money where they are or lose more money by the short-term move before even factoring in increased travel costs going across Canada.   This doesn't have anything to do with player development or risk - it's a dollars and cents decision first and foremost.

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3 hours ago, dlbalr said:

This doesn't have anything to do with player development or risk - it's a dollars and cents decision first and foremost.

 

Yes, that's true. But the parent teams certainly would have the ability to subsidize such a move were they of the opinion that it's important to them. Nevertheless, it looks like it's not happening, so I think the horse I'm beating is pretty close to death.

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