Commandant

If you don't understand why age is important to a players development, then really there is no hope for you. Its the biggest key factor in measuring a player's growth on a year to year basis. And you keep bringing up ridiculous examples. Yes Cale Makar played in a Junior A league. He did that so he could maintain his eligibility for college hockey, not because he wasn't good enough to go in the WHL. He also completely dominated that league showing he was too advanced for it, and after being drafted was immediately one of the best players in the NCAA. By Florian's age he was one of the NHL's best rookies, winning the Calder Trophy. How are you so bad at these comparisons?

The closest comparable who actually became offensively productive is Milan Lucic. That said, he still reached the NHL by the age that Florian is at now, and his 18 year old year is still slightly better than Florian's 19 year old year (and MUCH better than Florian's 18 year old year). So its really unprecedented to have Florian have the type of development that is suggested here, to the point where I call it dreaming.

Id take Ethan Gauthier and/or Jack Thompson from their prospects if they dont want to move picks.

Ryan O'Reilly was in the NHL at 18, immediately after being drafted. At the same age Florian is at now, O'Reilly was playing his 2nd NHL season. So no, the age factor is not comparable, those 19 and 16 goal seasons are his 16 and 17 year old years... not 19.

Salfkovsky has helped but Suzuki has also played at close to Selke levels (he wont get votes but thats where he is playing). Caufield has also improved in his own end to where hes not a huge liability

Do they want a reunion with David Savard.

I think that likely ends his season

At the same age Florian is now, Tom Wilson was an NHL rookie. The year before, he was well over a PPG with 58 points in 48 games. Your comparison is again very bad. Age matters far more than weight, which is often inaccurate.

It would literally be unprecedented for Florian Xhekaj to score 30g or 60 pts in an NHL season. Not one player in the NHL has ever scored 30g or 60 pts in a season after having as low a PPG in his D+2 season in the CHL. Not one.

LoL a 25-30 goal, 55-65 point guy who cant get a PPG in his D+2 year in the OHL. And the muscle thing, he will literally never have a bigger size and strength advantage against opponents than he does right now. This is dreaming. I think his max is to be a bottom six pest Dach is also a horrible comparison considering he was in his 2nd NHL season at the same age Florian is now. Your comparison to getting over 190 lbs has little to do with weight and more to do with Dach like many struggled as a 16 year old WHL rookie, and then exploded as a 17 year old...

Wifi is putting up good numbers. The caveat to that though is the ice time and the fact that he is being sheltered with his zone starts and the opponents who he is being matched against. This indicates that he should get some more icetime and harder matchups to see how he handles it. We've already seen this year with both Struble and Kovacevic that they were putting up great numbers on the third pair, and then fell off entirely when given bigger responsibility. If Xhekaj can continue to play well in his sheltered minutes and avoid penalties, then it will be a good experiment to increase the amount and difficulty of his minutes.

Sure, given the right return. That return isnt Zegras IMO.

I think we are two full seasons before the games. Given the state of Canadian goaltending, I certainly thinks he has a chance. It would take him playing at his current level for that time though (and likely the Habs improving just to get attention on him).

Its not about never trading a young defenceman. Its about not liking a deal that is a stud defensive D in Guhle, for a guy in Zegras where there are serious questions about his overall game, especially his play without the puck.

I dont think we are getting anything for Pearson.

Yup, I think he's a winger too, but we need to at least give him a chance. No better time than now, given that we aren't in the playoff race.

I saw that after i posted and thought i could get in an edit. You're too fast @dlbalr

At least until Newhook is back, i would guess.

The Avs have placed their backup goalie on waivers. If he is claimed or sent to the AHL, they will only have one goalie.

Id definitely take Jost for futures. Hes the most attractive of the three options for me due to the expiring contract. The other two are both signed for next year, so its absolutely about getting an asset with them in order to take the contract on. Not sure what that is but they have negative value.

You need to find a struggling, overpaid centre on a playoff team, not a non-playoff one. The idea would be the playoff team wants out of the contract so they have cap space to add someone else.

Why do the Jackets do this instead of just trading Roslovic for a prospect or draft pick (even a late one). They arent making the playoffs (they are worse than the Habs), so why do they want Pearson instead of something for future?

I think he would need waivers to join the Habs, so I doubt they do that before summer.

Absolutely no harm in giving him time to change that, especially given our lack of healthy centres and the fact we arent making the playoffs. Was just saying what Ive seen to date

From what Ive seen in Montreal and Colorado, hes been more effective on the wing at the NHL level.