Commandant Posted March 18, 2021 Author Share Posted March 18, 2021 20 hours ago, sbhatt said: But we know he won't, or if he does he likely won't score...as do the penalty killers on the opposing team. That's why I am fine with giving up his playmaking in favor of a pure shooter: we need more pucks buried, and there's little doubt in my mind that Caufield is better at doing that than Jonathan Drouin. The PP is producing since the change from muller to burrows. So why do we want to change the structure? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GHT120 Posted March 18, 2021 Share Posted March 18, 2021 20 hours ago, sbhatt said: But we know he won't, or if he does he likely won't score...as do the penalty killers on the opposing team. That's why I am fine with giving up his playmaking in favor of a pure shooter: we need more pucks buried, and there's little doubt in my mind that Caufield is better at doing that than Jonathan Drouin. A powerplay is a balance/mixture of shooters, passers, diggers and front-of-net "stuff-disturbers" ... CC for Drouin would, IMO, disrupt the balance ... CC has to replace someone who is primarily a shooter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlbalr Posted March 19, 2021 Share Posted March 19, 2021 Given the signing age, I don't think this is a case where he has to play an NHL game to burn the contract. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prime Minister Koivu Posted March 19, 2021 Share Posted March 19, 2021 50 minutes ago, dlbalr said: Given the signing age, I don't think this is a case where he has to play an NHL game to burn the contract. Im not understanding what this means. This is a choice between going back to college or going pro right? College would mean UFA? Turning pro means nhl or Laval then usual rfa route? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commandant Posted March 19, 2021 Author Share Posted March 19, 2021 6 hours ago, dlbalr said: Given the signing age, I don't think this is a case where he has to play an NHL game to burn the contract. Yup. If Habs register it as an NHL contract for this season, and he plays in the AHL under his NHL ELC, it burns a year. IF the Habs didn't want to burn a year (but it sounds like they will) but if they didn't, they could sign him to a deal that starts in 2021-22, and sign him to play the remainder of the year for Laval on an ATO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commandant Posted March 19, 2021 Author Share Posted March 19, 2021 5 hours ago, Prime Minister Koivu said: Im not understanding what this means. This is a choice between going back to college or going pro right? College would mean UFA? Turning pro means nhl or Laval then usual rfa route? College means UFA in August 2022... so Habs would still have his rights for a while. I doubt he goes back to college. He is just waiting to make sure that Northeastern doesn't get an at-large (ie wildcard) spot into the frozen four tourney. It is highly unlikely they would get such a wild card spot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prime Minister Koivu Posted March 19, 2021 Share Posted March 19, 2021 30 minutes ago, Commandant said: Yup. If Habs register it as an NHL contract for this season, and he plays in the AHL under his NHL ELC, it burns a year. IF the Habs didn't want to burn a year (but it sounds like they will) but if they didn't, they could sign him to a deal that starts in 2021-22, and sign him to play the remainder of the year for Laval on an ATO. 29 minutes ago, Commandant said: College means UFA in August 2022... so Habs would still have his rights for a while. I doubt he goes back to college. He is just waiting to make sure that Northeastern doesn't get an at-large (ie wildcard) spot into the frozen four tourney. It is highly unlikely they would get such a wild card spot. Thanks for the info 👍 Im curious to see what he can do in Laval Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DON Posted March 20, 2021 Share Posted March 20, 2021 Farrell 2a Smith 1g Pitlick 1a Ikonen is staying consistent, 0pts for the twelfth game in a row. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredoh2009 Posted March 20, 2021 Share Posted March 20, 2021 16 hours ago, DON said: Farrell 2a Smith 1g Pitlick 1a Ikonen is staying consistent, 0pts for the twelfth game in a row. Quick, let's sing him. He would be perfect for the Habs OT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomh009 Posted March 20, 2021 Share Posted March 20, 2021 17 hours ago, DON said: Ikonen is staying consistent, 0pts for the twelfth game in a row. I don't know whether he's still suffering from his injuries, surfing the Finnish content hasn't revealed the situation, either. He's generally getting well over 15 minutes per game, and his faceoff percentage is close to 50, but he's shooting very, very little (and thus scoring very little, too). Is it a health issue, or is that the role he is expected to play? Regardless, the odds of him getting signed have dropped further, I think, since he returned from injury. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredoh2009 Posted March 20, 2021 Share Posted March 20, 2021 52 minutes ago, tomh009 said: I don't know whether he's still suffering from his injuries, surfing the Finnish content hasn't revealed the situation, either. He's generally getting well over 15 minutes per game, and his faceoff percentage is close to 50, but he's shooting very, very little (and thus scoring very little, too). Is it a health issue, or is that the role he is expected to play? Regardless, the odds of him getting signed have dropped further, I think, since he returned from injury. I think he would be excellent for the new ECHL team. Longshot prospect that can be helped by playing closer to the Habs HQ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DON Posted March 20, 2021 Share Posted March 20, 2021 2 minutes ago, alfredoh2009 said: I think he would be excellent for the new ECHL team. Longshot prospect that can be helped by playing closer to the Habs HQ. I kinda assume he will be gone from organization come July. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlbalr Posted March 20, 2021 Share Posted March 20, 2021 6 minutes ago, alfredoh2009 said: I think he would be excellent for the new ECHL team. Longshot prospect that can be helped by playing closer to the Habs HQ. If the Habs present him with a two-year offer (that's what they'd be capped at) and said their idea was to have him in the ECHL, I suspect he'd decline and choose to stay in Finland where he'd make more money. I also wouldn't be in favour of using a 50-contract spot on someone whose primary team would be the ECHL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomh009 Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 1 hour ago, dlbalr said: If the Habs present him with a two-year offer (that's what they'd be capped at) and said their idea was to have him in the ECHL, I suspect he'd decline and choose to stay in Finland where he'd make more money. I also wouldn't be in favour of using a 50-contract spot on someone whose primary team would be the ECHL. He might be AHL calibre -- someone who can actually see his games in person (such as the Habs' Finnish scout) would be in a better position to judge -- but if his probability of making it to the NHL is low, would they use a contract spot for him? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commandant Posted March 21, 2021 Author Share Posted March 21, 2021 3 hours ago, tomh009 said: I don't know whether he's still suffering from his injuries, surfing the Finnish content hasn't revealed the situation, either. He's generally getting well over 15 minutes per game, and his faceoff percentage is close to 50, but he's shooting very, very little (and thus scoring very little, too). Is it a health issue, or is that the role he is expected to play? Regardless, the odds of him getting signed have dropped further, I think, since he returned from injury. 2 years of not playing hockey is going to be a set back for any prospect. Ikonen has regressed from where he was before the injury, but it shouldn't be surprising. No chance he gets a contract IMO. We have way too many players far more deserving with all the draft picks we've had recently (and have another big group of draft picks this year). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredoh2009 Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 Not even a 50 contract spot instead of Verbeek? Pezzeta? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commandant Posted March 21, 2021 Author Share Posted March 21, 2021 36 minutes ago, alfredoh2009 said: Not even a 50 contract spot instead of Verbeek? Pezzeta? They need to let guys like this go too. They need contract spots for harris, fairbrother, farrell, norlinder, struble, caufield, tuch, and others with a lot more potential than ikonen at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredoh2009 Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 1 minute ago, Commandant said: They need to let guys like this go too. They need contract spots for harris, fairbrother, farrell, norlinder, struble, caufield, tuch, and others with a lot more potential than ikonen at this point. But the NCAA prospects don’t need to be signed this year they can be signed later Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commandant Posted March 21, 2021 Author Share Posted March 21, 2021 46 minutes ago, alfredoh2009 said: But the NCAA prospects don’t need to be signed this year they can be signed later Tying up contract spots for multiple years is not a good idea with all the draft picks from 2019, 2020 and 2021 needing contracts soon. You either are a valuable prospect or youre not and ikonen isnt due to the injuries Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlbalr Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 11 hours ago, alfredoh2009 said: But the NCAA prospects don’t need to be signed this year they can be signed later Some can, sure, but a few years ago they could get away with signing some fringe wildcards since they didn't have a deep prospect pool. Now they have a better group so better guys will be going unsigned. Five years ago, they could take the shot but now, I don't think so. Caufield and Harris are signing for this year so they'll be signed next year, Fairbrother will start next season and Harvey-Pinard too if he signs, while Guhle/Mysak are a year away (so is Olofsson who is trending into iffy territory). LeGuerrier is on the fringe and frankly has the better NHL chance at this point. There's as many as seven prospects in the next couple of years while Norlinder probably signs by then as well. That's a lot of prospects to make room in a short time for so they have to be selective with their longshot gambles if not scrap them outright. Ikonen isn't showing enough this season to suggest that there is any NHL upside left; he's a longshot at best now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomh009 Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 So, if you have prospects (taking up contract slots) who are not doing well enough to make your top 50, is there a market to trade them away for (late) picks — or even give them away to another team? Or are you stuck with them for the duration? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlbalr Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 10 hours ago, tomh009 said: So, if you have prospects (taking up contract slots) who are not doing well enough to make your top 50, is there a market to trade them away for (late) picks — or even give them away to another team? Or are you stuck with them for the duration? If you have prospects taking up contract slots that aren't any good (such as Verbeek), the market in trading them is tossing them in to match contracts in a trade. Sometimes, a late pick attached to them for future considerations might 'buy' a contract slot. Maybe a swap of useless prospect for useless prospect but other than that, there's no real trade market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfredoh2009 Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 Here are some of the 50 contracts coming to an end this season: Lindgren, Frolik, Verbeek, Pezzeta, Lucchini, Doesn't Ikonen have more upside than the players above? Leguerrier and Gorniak haven't played much, Ruchheinski neither. THe other prospects do not need to sign this year and with the draft being such a lottery with most players hardly playing: I's say Ikonen is signed. Specially with Weal, Vejdemo, Mete and Fleury needing to clear Waivers next year. They will either be moved or traded freeing up slot(s) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GHT120 Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 It also strikes me that with a flat-cap for apparently the next 3-4 years, contract slots could also have value if another team needs to dispose of a smaller contract (i.e., that can be buried with no or minimal cap impact) for cap, internal-budget or roster purposes (i.e., I'll take X if you give me Y) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commandant Posted March 21, 2021 Author Share Posted March 21, 2021 Ikonen has proven nothing. Id rather sign college free agents who look like they might blossom than him. Its ok, not every draft pick makes it. It sucks cause a big cause of the issues is injuries but Ikonen just isnt likely to make it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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