Topper wrote: ↑Sun Jan 11, 2026 9:51 am
game pace he may be able to keep up with
He hasn't looked good at all really. I thought he acquitted himself far better last year but there has been a regression
He has 66 NHL games under him, 21 years old and playing on a shit team and has had a rookie many nights as his partner, what are you expecting from him?
He was asked to explain what hybrid retool is, in a round about way. His answer, we are transitioning into a rebuild. Sure sounds like they are having difficulty getting their ask for players. Maybe during the olympic break there will be more movement initiated to commence after the trade freeze.
Topper wrote: ↑Sun Jan 11, 2026 9:51 am
game pace he may be able to keep up with
He hasn't looked good at all really. I thought he acquitted himself far better last year but there has been a regression
He has 66 NHL games under him, 21 years old and playing on a shit team and has had a rookie many nights as his partner, what are you expecting from him?
He hits and has great size.
I expect him to be better than he was at 20, which he isn't.
I am happy they sent the kid back before he gets totally ruined. You could see he was getting lost out there, overwhelmed at times. Let him get back to his game and work on the things he needs to. I have always seen his high hope ceiling as a second pairing but in my heart I felt if he could settle into a bottom pairing he could carve out a good career. He could be that tough hard hitting shutdown type. But he could also be a trade chip down the road.
donlever wrote: ↑Sun Jan 11, 2026 1:08 pm
....maybe, as Topper keeps saying, he does not skate well enough to do step his game up to necessary levels...we shall see....
He may well not, but his skating skill is not fixed any more than any other part of his skill set.
I still have hope that his skating will improve, as will his "hockey speed" -- the reduced requirement to skate fast if you know where you will need to be sooner and and can get a head start and choose a good route to getting there.
I don't know much about what it takes to develop young hockey players, but by analogy with boxing, I suspect that we don't want for him to develop the hockey equivalent of a flinch. Therefore, I could easily see where sending him down to sort things out is the sensible thing to do.
I hope it works. If this team is ever going to have a chance, they have to develop as much of the potential of as many of their young assets as possible.
The guy replacing him is also still trying to figure things out for himself and is a couple years older. Growth's not linear. Kid's got time on his side, some more A time is never a bad thing.
Did Lekkerimaki get injured again? I noticed he played Saturday, but not Sunday in the AHL. Wtf is going on with him? I hope he gets 20 games with the big boys this season, as we need guys like him to develop. Bains is not a legit NHLer.
This team has been snakebit with injuries, so I hope we draft a few stocky Canadian boys this year.
Tciso wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 6:39 am
Did Lekkerimaki get injured again? I noticed he played Saturday, but not Sunday in the AHL. Wtf is going on with him? I hope he gets 20 games with the big boys this season, as we need guys like him to develop. Bains is not a legit NHLer.
This team has been snakebit with injuries, so I hope we draft a few stocky Canadian boys this year.
I am feeling so done with this team. There is honestly no one on the team I feel an attachment to anymore. I am sick about the Demko news. This could have been avoided by just not extending him last summer. I can't help think that we extended him, re-signed Baser and extended Garland as part of our efforts to convince Hughes to stay and it is backfiring spectacularly.
Rutherford is finding out the hard way what it is like trying to build a team without a Crosby, Malkin or Letang on the team. I guess he thought Pettersson, Miller and Hughes would do. Guess he found out not.
I just wish someone had the guts to gut the team. Ya it would mean several years of sucking, oh wait, just like now. But I see no future with this team. I thought once the Twins were done we would rebuild. Now we have to wait until all these vets age out or come clamouring to be traded.
Did I say I am sick about the Demko news. I imagine if he had been named to the Olympic team he would be just fine. This guy is a head case and so predictable.
But maybe, just maybe, this is the final nail in the coffin of hope that ownership needs to green light a major dump. But we know the league will hardball the Canucks and we wont get too many, if any good hockey offers for our garbage. But getting rid of the players who were here for the shit show and whose lack of leadership was unable to prevent the fiasco that led to all of this.
