Long live the King

He's not a kid. He's 27. It's super unrealistic to expect him to maintain how he played on a consistent basis.

An outdoor game with the snow capped mountains would look pretty cool.

Never

The Delta Center sucks for hockey. If you've watched any of the preseason games they've played there the stands block the camera view of the corners. But as it says that would just be temporary until a new arena is built. As far as the market we have an ECHL team, in a less than ideal location, that draws over 5k in attendance. The Jazz consistently average 18k in attendance. I think they'd easily be able to draw similarly for a NHL team. An NHL arena in Salt Lake City or Draper would offer far more in terms of other attractions than the ECHL arena location. Everything is about the 2034 Olympics. I think a fancy new arena gets built regardless.

People keep saying this. Quinn sucks. GG never lasted any more than 3 years. How are they relevant?

Is he allowed to wear the home helmet?

Hard to say 9 drafts. Looking at 2020, there are only 2 non first rounders that have played more than 80 games and one was the 3rd pick in round 2. If you're looking for good late round picks gotta give them 4-5 years to develop. There a good number of kids with a shot in that group.

Just because he shouldn't unseat someone off the league's top PP =/= he wouldn't produce on the PP

To my point: 2007: Gange #6 2009: Paajarvi #10 2010: Hall #1 2011: RNH #1 2012: Yakupov #1 2013: Nurse #7 2014: Draisaitl #3 2015: McDavid #1 2016: Puljujarvi #4 2018: Bouchard #10 2019: Broberg #8 They just happen to suck long enough until they sucked in the "right" years. Even with their generational centers they missed the playoffs 3 times, lost in the Covid qualifying round, lost in the first round, lost in the second round twice, and made one conference final. The Rangers had 4 down years and were back in the conference finals. Does Edmonton have more to show for it? Toronto missed the playoffs 10 out of 11 years. All they have to show for their draft picks is 1 playoff series win. Just because they have flashy names doesn't mean they were any more successful at rebuilding than the Rangers.

This is the kind of thing that's keeping the argument going, lol. Paranin is 3rd in the league in assists going back 5 years. Laf obviously isn't bumping Panarin off the PP. That doesn't mean that Laf doesn't own that skill set and would be ineffective being the distributor from the circle.

Well, he plays Panarin's role on the 2nd unit. We've already addressed the 2nd unit's usage, and he is trying to feed Brodzinski and Wheeler on the 2nd unit. No wonder it looks like ass. Now Kakko is back we'll see how it looks going forward, hopefully they get a center soon.

The only real mistake was Andersson over Necas, Suzuki, and Thomas. Laf and Kakko were must picks. Nothing really worth crying over after Krav as far as forwards. Add that to the fact they are 5th in the league in wins over the last 3 years. That's preferable to me rather than drafting in the top 5 for a decade until a true generational player comes along.

He has identical ES numbers as Kreider and is better than Zib. Again I'm not taking either off PP1, but this is starting to boarder on blind Laf hate because "He'S nOt A nUmBeR 1 oVeRaLl!"

I'm not taking anyone off. That still doesn't mean he would be ineffective if he was on the first unit.

You'd need a d back if you trade Schneider. More likely they'd be willing to move Hartman & Bogosian than Eriksson Ek.

Maybe, if you split up Panarin and Tro, you'd get 2 lines that produce. Only one way to find out. If it doesn't work, put them back.

As has been mentioned numerous times by Pete, just because you try another center with Bread, doesn't mean you can't go back to Tro if you need to. Panarin had 16 points in 10 games with Chytil. It's not like he sucked until Tro was on the line.

That's not really a fair assessment either. Last year he averaged 1:23 per game on the PP. We know based on usage that's on average the last 20-30 seconds of 3-4 PP's per game, and they come on while to puck is behind their own net. Not really setting the second unit up for success. And I'm not advocating for the first unit to come off sooner, just a by-product of having such a good first unit, the second unit gets crap opportunities.

It doesn't look very consistent. Looks like one anomalous year where he scored 3-4 years worth of goals. So last year Kreider had 8 with the first unit in 272 minutes. Laf had 3 on the second unit in 111.5 minutes. There's no way you can sit there with a straight face and say Laf isn't competent enough to score around 10 goals if played 250+ minutes with the first unit.

In Laf's defense, without Chytil and Kakko, the 2nd unit was Laf, Gus, and a pile of trash.

Bread is at a 1.4 ppg pace. His 2 seasons with Strome he paced 1.38 ppg. We know Bread and Butter works. What we're not currently doing is taking advantage of Tro's defense, which is why Lavi had him centering the 3rd line/checking line to start the season.

Would you break up the bread line for this? Go Cuylle-Tro-Vesey as the 3rd line?

Having no 3rd line has a big impact on matchups.

Still need a real center for the 3rd line.

We've replaced a 20-goal scorer (Chytil) and an excellent possession/defensive player (Kakko) with a 30-year-old career AHLer (Brodzinski) and career 4th liner (Pitlick). Say what you want about wishing for more production from Chytil and Kakko, but those are still two big losses. It's turned our 3rd line into the worst 4th line in the league. That said Pitlick to me has earned a spot over Wheeler. Kakko should be back soon. With Chytil in Europe, they need a C. CK - Zib - Cuylle Panarin - Tro - Laf Vesey - Lindholm - Kakko Pitlick - Bonino - Goodrow This is light years better than running out a line of soon-to-be: Brozinski - Bonino - Wheeler Wheeler - shot into the sun. If Chytil is back for the playoffs I put him at 3LW and bump Vesey back to the 4th line.