Welcome to the Thursday ramblings again, and why yes I could not think of a good title at all!
Notice my Amazing Photoshop Skills (Jokke is jealous) – I am available to be hired for all graphic design
Hopefully everyone had a good Halloween on a Wednesday. Here are some scary topics to celebrate the occasion
And the Monster Mash!
Low ice time (Average Total on Ice) for rookies because older less skilled players need more ice time than the late round rookie sleepers drafted:
- Before getting sent down for not producing in five games Kristian Vesalainen was getting the awesome ATOI of 6:50. Wow! He was given big time opportunity to produce with those numbers (this whole ramblings will be chock full of sarcasm, strap in)
- Andreas Johnsson was thought by many (myself included) to be given a shot in the top six for Toronto. We all should remember Babcock favors some vets no matter what (see: Polak, Roman; Cleary, Dan) and Marleau is currently getting that favor dispute putting up a whole lot of nothing. AJ has averaged 8:31 in seven games and has been healthy scratched the other five. Remember when he had 54 points in 54 AHL games last season…
- What do you gave a prospect that had missed the last half of the 2017-2018 season, apparently 8:54 seconds of ATOI! I can forgive the low ice time to Vladislav Kamenev as this should surely increase once he gets the NHL game more as he is going to play game eight next
- Calgary fans that were very excited for Dillon Dube, I wonder if they were excited for him to hang out on line four getting 11:10 TOI/Game through 12 games so far
- This player has stood out for me early, but then I realized you rarely see him on the powerplay and never on penalty kills. He sure keeps San Jose’s line three running as a legit threat every night though. Antti Suomela has only averaged 11:18, but he has sure looked good
- The Kings need speed and skill in the lineup so they keep top prospect Jaret Anderson-Dolan to start the year, then proceed to play him 11:36 per game for five games and send him back to the WHL because they are a powerhouse in the West and definitely do not need scoring help
- Last note: Rangers, please give my good boy Filip Chytil more than 13 minutes of ice time per game. Thanks
Separate sub-heading for Carolina! Yes I know they are winning and out shooting the opponent in all (or most) games, but shooting from anywhere with average players and shooting from everywhere with good players is quite different. By this I mean that
Listen now Brind’Amour we all know Jordan Staal is one of the best two-way players in the NHL, but he also has only reached 50 points once in his career, perhaps putting him out there to tie the game and be on the #1PP is not the best idea. Same goes with Justin Williams, he is a good veteran player but he has not cleared 52 points since 2011-2012.
May I suggest the following players:
- Andrei Svechnikov (12:41 ATOI) – At 18 he kind of is a pretty good hockey player, perhaps third line and #2PP could be improved upon if you’re a team that needs more scoring instead of more shots
- Valentin Zykov (10:17 ATOI) – Lead the AHL in goals for 2017-2018 but what have you done for me lately. Obviously does not need more ice time. Thankfully he is getting #1PP time (when not a healthy scratch) but is also toiling around on the fourth line
- Martin Necas was getting 10:01 (YEAH A WHOLE 10 MINUTES PER GAME!) before getting sent to the AHL. I cannot believe he did not break out early on the fourth line and with minimal powerplay time
- Recently called up Nicolas Roy is averaging a whopping 6:51 in three games so far
- Jordan Martinook is also getting more ice time than the above players. Yes THAT Jordan Martinook. Carolina wonders why games remain so close when they outshoot the other team by a ridiculous margin
You know what, a separate sub-heading for St. Louis too. The team that decided to leave no Ufa unsigned this off-season
What do you do when you have a bunch of top level prospects but signed a bunch of players for your top nine, barely play the rookies! How infuriating is this as a fantasy GM (especially if you have prospect game limits)
- Robert Thomas 9:07 ATOI in six games because healthy scratches are necessary, what did he ever do in the OHL
- Jordan Kyrou, in NINE games, has averaged 10:18 on line four, what did he ever do in the OHL
- Ivan Barbashev, who is that even, give him 10:10 of ice time. No reason to develop him. Make him Jaskin 2.0
- Sammy Blais, scores like crazy in the AHL, scores in pre-season better give him 11:04 of ice time before sending him down because he can be recalled unlike Thomas and Kyrou
- Luckily Zach Sanford came up and posted six points in five games, while averaging 11 minutes a game. Once his scoring dries up expect him to go to the AHL for Blais who will be scoring with ice time available in the AHL
Scary high shooting percentages among rookies:
- Elias Pettersson is shooting 43.8% … I think that may not be sustainable. Just a guess
- Max Comtois, who was on fire to start the year, is shooting 22.2%. If you do not shoot much that can be sustainable but he has a whole nine shots in 10 games. Now I know the Ducks love apparently being outshot every game, but Comtois is going to need to shoot a tad more than under one shot per game
- Brett Howden for the Rangers, with a whole 11 shots in 12 games, is shooting 18.2%. He also needs to shoot more
Scary low shooting percentages among rookies (AKA on the opposite end of lucky):
- Antti Suomela is shooting a hilariously low 3.7% in 12 games with 27 shots on goal
- Dominik Kahun is rocking a 5% shooting percentage in the top six for Chicago (one goal on 20 shots)
- Casey Mittelstadt, who also appears to not be the most comfortable in the NHL (but is possibly getting better I have not watched much Buffalo games lately), is rocking a 5% shooting as well
- Andrei Svechnikov has 30 shots in 12 games and is shooting 6.7%, better reduce his ice time
- Warren Foegele, who is getting ~3:30 more minutes and has one shot more than Svechnikov, is shooting 9.7%
Prospects too good to be in the AHL but won’t be back up any time soon because NHL GMs can be very awesome at not being good (yes I planned to write it like this) at their jobs according to this arm-chair GM! Don’t we all love wasted potential!
- Filip Zadina has four points in eight games, perhaps I should not have written my heading here as such… He could spend the whole year in Grand Rapids and with how bad the Red Wings are it would not be the worst
- Josh Ho-Sang has four assists in nine games. Perhaps post over a point per game before you call your team out in the media. For the record though I think JHS is correct and should be in the NHL
- Drake Batherson has 12 points in 10 games, how long will Ottawa keep him in the AHL
- Henrik Borgstrom has 11 points in seven AHL games. Dale Tallon what is he even doing in the AHL!!!
Sad Scratches :(
- Jesse Puljijarvi – Can Edmonton just trade him and let a good team develop him. Please?
Alright that is all.
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