hab29RETIRED

100% agree!

Well DJ Smith doesn’t seem to be benefitting from having a more experienced coach helping him. He will probably be the next coach fired, Ottawa should be a lot better than how they have been.

Agreed. I’m hoping he has a prolonged stint in Laval to assess his hockey IQ and see if he has enough to develop into a legit Dman, rather than get rushed back up in a couple of weeks.

I’m hoping so as well - it would be great to have a big physical dman that can actually play - even if it’s in. A bottom pairing role. I’m in the skeptic camp as well though -generally when you see a guy who makes a huge incremental improvement in their skill level, any further improvement generally tends to be much smaller and isn’t at anywhere near the same exponential rate. what I’m hopeful is that wifi’s initial improvement wasn’t just because of his size and because advantage and because for HIS SIZE he is a decent skater and can make a decent first pass. Hopefully he also has good natural hockey sense and instincts - something Wideman clearly lacks. If he does have good natural hockey sense/instinct, with experience he should start improving his decision making - something again I have zero expectations of from Wideman. But what makes me skeptical is that we had a HORRIBLE D last year - hell, I think we had what 5 rookies on D? With the low caliber of D, injuries, and his size he made the team when there really were zero expectations for him and he was an unknown to the opposition. Now other teams know him, our other young D are improving, and most of them have gone through the development steps he skipped. We have more options now and there is an expectation of continuous improvement for the young D. Hopefully he gets more ice time in Laval and shows that he is more than just a physical presence. If this was 1993, he definitely would be an NHL dman in a couple of years, because even if he couldn’t play, he could fight. Now to be an everyday player, he needs to show he is a legit everyday dman. the positive with him regardless of he pans out or not, is that unlike some of other prospects on D, he will always have value, because there will always be a team that covets his size and will think he has enough that they can develop him into an everyday player. Whats important is he gets the proper development time with us, so if he does have the ability he succeeds here and not with another team. I think even if he spends the whole year in Laval and that makes him a better player and a legit dman, I’d be all for that.

He’s usually been “on pace” for 20 goals many times in his career.

Maybe they do want to resign him, and are trying to keep his production low to get him at a lower salary. I can’t see any other rationale for that line combo.

For now I just hope we can move Allen and give Premieau a better look as an everyday backup

Thanks for the the link. Is this injury luck ever going to end?

Didn’t MB say one of the reasons he got Weber was that the impact of his leadership would be felt years after he was gone🙄

What happened?

I really don’t get the excitement over “shiny new players” - particularly ones that are complementary role players. We will probably see ups/downs from young players for the first 2-4 seasons, until we see some consistency. New players often do better from a combination of adrenaline and being unfamiliar to the opposition. The test is are they able to maintain their level of play over time, and adjust to the opposition, once the opposition start game planning to their tendencies. Despite some surprising good play from our young D, I didn’t see us as a playoff or even bubble team this year, and probably won’t be next year as well - unless Reinbacher and Hutson make a huge impact and Dach, Slafkovsky, Roy and newhook are major contributors. What I do want to see is continual progress year over year and improved consistency. I’ve got new issues with sending Wifi down, so he can play more minutes and work on improving his game in Laval, but I wouldn’t send him down because Steuben had a few good debut games. what concerns me more is the lacke of consistency from Suzuki and Caufield’s 5-5 production

When I said it wasn’t terrible, it was in response to the posting of trading him for Campbell. That is a horrible contract the day it was signed. When MB signed Anderson to his current deal, at that time I had posted I hated the deal - it’s not much different than when he handed Drouin a long term deal where he doubled the salary for a guy with no track record for consistency. If Anderson gets back to scoring 20 goals, I still think he is overpaying for what he brings and lacks, but it’s an over pay by about $1 to $1.5m for his production. Some GM’s (like MB), would be willing to pay that premium for the size fetish most have. Campbell on the other hand is a horrible choice as a starter, and even as a backup I wouldn’t have been willing to give him more than $2m given his inconsistency back when Edmonton signed him. But then I probably in the minority, because I also think Allen is overpaid. He’s not overpaid as an NHL starter (which is what he was expected to be with Price out), but I just don’t think he’s a starter, for the same reasons I don’t like Campbell.

Yeah I agree. Having said that, I’d want to move him when he does turn it around. He never really has been able to mesh with any line. He is a heat sinking missile that can shoot. But right now he is not scoring or being a physical player.

I think he’d get picked up. Salary isn’t horrible, and is about market if he scores 20. I think he’s one guy who’s probably been hurt by Marty trying to make him a better player - he just doesn’t have the hockey IQ. He is what he is. Have to let him be the guy who can only play up and down, where he uses his speed and his shot, can’t pass worth shit , but let him just either shoot or hit guys along the board. down the wing hits guys on the boards, does his thing, but never really meshes with his linemates. Get him going and than trade his ass out of here!

So who thought Armia would have two more goals than Anderson this far into the season? Not that I want to keep either of them!