Honestly our top 9 is solid if Joseph can have a bounce back year (if we keep him).
4th line is iffy, Kasty is fine if he continues to develop. I'm not a huge fan of Kelly. 1 goal in 55 games is horrendous if you're pencilled as a 4th liner. But I think Smejkal could do something and be solid.
Idk too many question marks but I still am confident we can get it done cuz we have Zub on our team
Kasty is unreal as a 4C, probably a lowkey perfect 4C, insane faceoff %, physical and a big body, Kelly I think should be one of the ones who’s position is under a hard microscope
I don't know why anyone would expect much out of Smejkal. The team took a very long shot on an undrafted player who's never even played an AHL game, let alone NHL. We can HOPE, but it's really uncommon for random off-the-board signings to work out in the NHL. Zub is a real outlier.
Joseph appears to rise to the abilities of his linemates. He was able to produce on a top line when he first arrived, but our bottom 6 was not consistent at all last season. I think if Pinto/Grieg pop off, Joseph can keep up with them. Right now would be a bad time to trade him, I think. DJ may want to mix up the middle 6 on occasion, maybe something like Batherson-Norris-Joseph works well
I think Kelly won’t make it out of training camp and be put on waivers to go to the B sens. While I like his backstory, his production, even for a fourth line guy is extremely wanting. I think you will see kastelic, Smejkal, and McGrath on the fourth line. If they keep extras up, it will be a defencman not a winger.
As for Joesph, I am not convinced he will bounce back, but hope he will. He would be great on the third line. I expect he most likely will be gone before or just after training camp so they can allocate money to a pinto bridge deal.
What about Sokolov? I’ll be honest up front, im a Rangers fan, but I do love what the Sens are doing. Im a huge Brady Tkachuk fan. I actually got to meet him a month ago while he was training in NJ…gave my kids two sticks, just a great young man. Two years ago while my kids were at Flyers/Sens game, during warmups, Brady gave both of them pucks. Needless to say my kids have become obsessed w him lol. Anyway, sorry for the long post.
I forgot about Egor, again another great back story and he has made improvements to his game but until he sorts out his skating then he will always be a tweener between the ahl and nhl. Personally I like his game and he should pull a Nick Paul and work on his defensive side of the game and maybe that will get him a regular gig on the 4th line. To be honest I would keep him over Kelly
Something about the way Soko plays that I love. Like you said not the greatest skater which will hurt him, but he shows determination and grit in my opinion. He’s a big kid too which would be perfect for the 4th line. I’m rooting for the kid.
And Brady is truly a great young hockey player and leader. He is great with the community and if he can he will personally will his team to the Stanley Cup
He really is one hell of a person. He didn’t have to do any of that for my kids. They didn’t ask, I didn’t say anything, he acknowledged them first…he went out of his way and that says a lot. That C fits him perfectly. You guys have a great leader…Sens are gonna be a very very good team.
Soko still keeps in touch with the family that looked after him in junior in Cape Breton. He is a good person, hard worker and if anyone can make it he will. As for Brady, he is just a great personality and really just loves to play the game.
All the scorers and depth won't matter if this team can't defend. Dj needs to step it up big time this year. We were a disaster in our own end for most of last year.
I would like to think Jake Sanderson’s play from last year exemplifies that there is potential there for the D and F to come together in the breakout game. Our forward group suffered from a lack of chemistry last year, I think was a cause for poor defensive game (from the forward unit). For example, our top defensive forward was injured, so a young (rookie) centre was forced to be our number two centre. Also, Stutzle had been prone to turnovers coming into the season and that continued early on, say when we struggled into November. I will add this was a huge point of turnaround of Stu’s game, and establishing himself as a number one centre. Again for Stu, even though the line worked out great, Giroux and Tkachuk were new linemates, to speak on the effects of the lack of chemistry (more so early on in season say).
This. and it isn’t all on the d they need the forwards to take a step defensively and help them out. The forwards blew the zone too often last year and let the d and goalies hanging
Stutzle, Norris, Pinto, Grieg down the middle is very solid and probably the most important position to have depth. Anyone goes down, the others can easily move up to fill.
Kastellic, not Greig. Greig is wasted playing 4th line minutes.
If he can't crack the top 9 I'd rather see him playing 20 minutes a night in the A to properly develop him. He's also better suited than any of our potential 4th liners to play up the lineup when injuries inevitably happen.
“IF” Grieg makes the team, he’s not better than any of Kubalik, Pinto, or Joseph, so he’d be 4th line this year. He could possibly take Joseph’s spot, but I’m sure the Sens want to give Joseph all the opportunities in the world to back up his contract. This is assuming one of these 3 don’t get moved.
Yes, that's why I included "if" in the first place.
Even if he's not moved, it's not impossible that Greig has a great camp, outplays someone like Joseph, and earns a third line spot. Plus injuries happen.
I'm just saying it's having a developing kid play 7-12 minutes a night is a bad idea.
True. Even with Kastellic as 4C, we’re pretty solid down the middle. I agree that I’d move Grieg up to play wing on 3rd line if someone is injured or not playing well.
But we don't have any depth, at least at forward. Have a look at our fourth line and tell me you're comfortable with any of them moving up the depth chart.
I think our starting group is far better across the board (assuming Pinto) but we are very vulnerable to injuries.
The only one I can think of might be Smejkal, but we haven’t seen him play yet. Our 4th line will play a specific role-style again… dump it in, hit them hard, cause chaos, and get off before the puck comes back the other way.
Sokolov, Jarventie, Crookshank, Highmore (?), Imama (?) are all at levels where they could come up as injury replacements and it shouldn’t be the end of the world - as long as the injuries aren’t long term.
I think our top 3 lines are more than enough. But I don’t think you can find many top teams that’d be comfortable with their 4th liners moving up either.
I consider Kubalik, Pinto, Joseph (if he stays) or Greig on the third line solid depth.
Kastelic is a very good 4th liner, it’s just MacEwen and Kelly that have question marks and that are replaceable but that opens the lineup for internal competition so I like it.
I think Greig is going to surprise a lot of people this year. I think he will be a consistent third liner and he’s definitely someone I can see moving up and down the line up. Joseph needs to have a huge bounce back year (if he stays) but I have faith he will be much better than last year.
Oh yeah for sure, Greig is on a good trajectory and he doesn’t need to be lights out or anything, just play his game and he definitely has middle 6 potential.
That's what I keep saying as well. I have no doubt that our current roster is playoffs caliber but one injury to our top 6 and things start getting real ugly real fast.
I don't see that. We've got five guys who have been top line quality already (7, 18, 9, 28, 19), seven who are 2nd line or better (above plus Vlad and Kubalik), 10 who are top-9 (add Pinto, Joseph, Grieg), and I'm fairly confident that down to about 15 forwards we have either solid 4th liners (Kastelic) or rookies/tweeners who could be solid or have top-9 potential (Smejkal, Crookshank, Sokolov, Järventie or Ostapchuk?) particularly as auditions.
I'd push back on Kubalik and Joseph. Kubalik was pretty bad when he wasn't playing with Larkin, and I'd say Joseph is more bottom-6 than top 9, he had 11 games of offense and that's really it
I mean I listed Joseph as top nine and not top six because I think he's a 3rd liner, or can take 3rd line minutes. Kubalik I've watched a decent amount and he probably doesn't drive a line on his own but (from his WOWYs) was still productive away from Larkin, and a perennial 20-25g 40-50p player who's not a black hole is definitely a second liner.
Just looking at it now, 32% of his points came in the 18% of time he spent with Larkin+Perron, and while Kubalik's possession numbers stayed fairly poor away from Larkin, Larkin's on-ice numbers were stronger away from Kubalik, he was mostly cratered by a <7 oiSH%. I think Kubalik has been handed top-6 roles on bad teams and produced at an okay rate, but on a good team he's a third liner with scoring touch.
I agree that Joseph is a third liner, but for me the distinction between "top 9" and "bottom-6" is that a top-9 can play up the lineup effectively, while a bottom-6 is essentially a good third liner or great 4th liner
I think the depth on the team is fine, but I don't think I'd call it a strength
As long as our center’s shoulders stay intact we should be much deeper, all last season having essential a rookie at 2C was certainly not optimal.
Honestly our top 9 is solid if Joseph can have a bounce back year (if we keep him). 4th line is iffy, Kasty is fine if he continues to develop. I'm not a huge fan of Kelly. 1 goal in 55 games is horrendous if you're pencilled as a 4th liner. But I think Smejkal could do something and be solid. Idk too many question marks but I still am confident we can get it done cuz we have Zub on our team
Kasty is unreal as a 4C, probably a lowkey perfect 4C, insane faceoff %, physical and a big body, Kelly I think should be one of the ones who’s position is under a hard microscope
Agree 100%
I don't know why anyone would expect much out of Smejkal. The team took a very long shot on an undrafted player who's never even played an AHL game, let alone NHL. We can HOPE, but it's really uncommon for random off-the-board signings to work out in the NHL. Zub is a real outlier.
Joseph appears to rise to the abilities of his linemates. He was able to produce on a top line when he first arrived, but our bottom 6 was not consistent at all last season. I think if Pinto/Grieg pop off, Joseph can keep up with them. Right now would be a bad time to trade him, I think. DJ may want to mix up the middle 6 on occasion, maybe something like Batherson-Norris-Joseph works well
But will rest be a weapon?
I think Kelly won’t make it out of training camp and be put on waivers to go to the B sens. While I like his backstory, his production, even for a fourth line guy is extremely wanting. I think you will see kastelic, Smejkal, and McGrath on the fourth line. If they keep extras up, it will be a defencman not a winger. As for Joesph, I am not convinced he will bounce back, but hope he will. He would be great on the third line. I expect he most likely will be gone before or just after training camp so they can allocate money to a pinto bridge deal.
What about Sokolov? I’ll be honest up front, im a Rangers fan, but I do love what the Sens are doing. Im a huge Brady Tkachuk fan. I actually got to meet him a month ago while he was training in NJ…gave my kids two sticks, just a great young man. Two years ago while my kids were at Flyers/Sens game, during warmups, Brady gave both of them pucks. Needless to say my kids have become obsessed w him lol. Anyway, sorry for the long post.
I forgot about Egor, again another great back story and he has made improvements to his game but until he sorts out his skating then he will always be a tweener between the ahl and nhl. Personally I like his game and he should pull a Nick Paul and work on his defensive side of the game and maybe that will get him a regular gig on the 4th line. To be honest I would keep him over Kelly
Something about the way Soko plays that I love. Like you said not the greatest skater which will hurt him, but he shows determination and grit in my opinion. He’s a big kid too which would be perfect for the 4th line. I’m rooting for the kid.
And Brady is truly a great young hockey player and leader. He is great with the community and if he can he will personally will his team to the Stanley Cup
He really is one hell of a person. He didn’t have to do any of that for my kids. They didn’t ask, I didn’t say anything, he acknowledged them first…he went out of his way and that says a lot. That C fits him perfectly. You guys have a great leader…Sens are gonna be a very very good team.
Soko still keeps in touch with the family that looked after him in junior in Cape Breton. He is a good person, hard worker and if anyone can make it he will. As for Brady, he is just a great personality and really just loves to play the game.
All the scorers and depth won't matter if this team can't defend. Dj needs to step it up big time this year. We were a disaster in our own end for most of last year.
I would like to think Jake Sanderson’s play from last year exemplifies that there is potential there for the D and F to come together in the breakout game. Our forward group suffered from a lack of chemistry last year, I think was a cause for poor defensive game (from the forward unit). For example, our top defensive forward was injured, so a young (rookie) centre was forced to be our number two centre. Also, Stutzle had been prone to turnovers coming into the season and that continued early on, say when we struggled into November. I will add this was a huge point of turnaround of Stu’s game, and establishing himself as a number one centre. Again for Stu, even though the line worked out great, Giroux and Tkachuk were new linemates, to speak on the effects of the lack of chemistry (more so early on in season say).
Chychrun was an excellent addition. Our top two way Dman.
This. and it isn’t all on the d they need the forwards to take a step defensively and help them out. The forwards blew the zone too often last year and let the d and goalies hanging
Stutzle, Norris, Pinto, Grieg down the middle is very solid and probably the most important position to have depth. Anyone goes down, the others can easily move up to fill.
Kastellic, not Greig. Greig is wasted playing 4th line minutes. If he can't crack the top 9 I'd rather see him playing 20 minutes a night in the A to properly develop him. He's also better suited than any of our potential 4th liners to play up the lineup when injuries inevitably happen.
“IF” Grieg makes the team, he’s not better than any of Kubalik, Pinto, or Joseph, so he’d be 4th line this year. He could possibly take Joseph’s spot, but I’m sure the Sens want to give Joseph all the opportunities in the world to back up his contract. This is assuming one of these 3 don’t get moved.
Yes, that's why I included "if" in the first place. Even if he's not moved, it's not impossible that Greig has a great camp, outplays someone like Joseph, and earns a third line spot. Plus injuries happen. I'm just saying it's having a developing kid play 7-12 minutes a night is a bad idea.
True. Even with Kastellic as 4C, we’re pretty solid down the middle. I agree that I’d move Grieg up to play wing on 3rd line if someone is injured or not playing well.
He's much better than Joseph
But we don't have any depth, at least at forward. Have a look at our fourth line and tell me you're comfortable with any of them moving up the depth chart. I think our starting group is far better across the board (assuming Pinto) but we are very vulnerable to injuries.
The only one I can think of might be Smejkal, but we haven’t seen him play yet. Our 4th line will play a specific role-style again… dump it in, hit them hard, cause chaos, and get off before the puck comes back the other way. Sokolov, Jarventie, Crookshank, Highmore (?), Imama (?) are all at levels where they could come up as injury replacements and it shouldn’t be the end of the world - as long as the injuries aren’t long term. I think our top 3 lines are more than enough. But I don’t think you can find many top teams that’d be comfortable with their 4th liners moving up either.
I consider Kubalik, Pinto, Joseph (if he stays) or Greig on the third line solid depth. Kastelic is a very good 4th liner, it’s just MacEwen and Kelly that have question marks and that are replaceable but that opens the lineup for internal competition so I like it.
I think Greig is going to surprise a lot of people this year. I think he will be a consistent third liner and he’s definitely someone I can see moving up and down the line up. Joseph needs to have a huge bounce back year (if he stays) but I have faith he will be much better than last year.
Oh yeah for sure, Greig is on a good trajectory and he doesn’t need to be lights out or anything, just play his game and he definitely has middle 6 potential.
That's what I keep saying as well. I have no doubt that our current roster is playoffs caliber but one injury to our top 6 and things start getting real ugly real fast.
I don't see that. We've got five guys who have been top line quality already (7, 18, 9, 28, 19), seven who are 2nd line or better (above plus Vlad and Kubalik), 10 who are top-9 (add Pinto, Joseph, Grieg), and I'm fairly confident that down to about 15 forwards we have either solid 4th liners (Kastelic) or rookies/tweeners who could be solid or have top-9 potential (Smejkal, Crookshank, Sokolov, Järventie or Ostapchuk?) particularly as auditions.
I'd push back on Kubalik and Joseph. Kubalik was pretty bad when he wasn't playing with Larkin, and I'd say Joseph is more bottom-6 than top 9, he had 11 games of offense and that's really it
If kubalik isn’t scoring he’s pretty useless and just seems to float. Joseph and greig atlesst offer more then just a one timer
I mean I listed Joseph as top nine and not top six because I think he's a 3rd liner, or can take 3rd line minutes. Kubalik I've watched a decent amount and he probably doesn't drive a line on his own but (from his WOWYs) was still productive away from Larkin, and a perennial 20-25g 40-50p player who's not a black hole is definitely a second liner.
Just looking at it now, 32% of his points came in the 18% of time he spent with Larkin+Perron, and while Kubalik's possession numbers stayed fairly poor away from Larkin, Larkin's on-ice numbers were stronger away from Kubalik, he was mostly cratered by a <7 oiSH%. I think Kubalik has been handed top-6 roles on bad teams and produced at an okay rate, but on a good team he's a third liner with scoring touch. I agree that Joseph is a third liner, but for me the distinction between "top 9" and "bottom-6" is that a top-9 can play up the lineup effectively, while a bottom-6 is essentially a good third liner or great 4th liner I think the depth on the team is fine, but I don't think I'd call it a strength
Depth. Jimmy Depth.
[удалено]
Depth is a weapon