Around the league (signings, RFAs injuries)

[Jovocop]

Should canucks claim Rundblad on waivers?

Hell no.

Could Rundblad be any worse than Weber?

[Hockey Widow]

Something I didn't know, or have any reason to, Kassian played with Taylor Hall on the 2010 Mem Cup Windsor Spitfires. Hall vouches for him. Another reason Charelli took the risk.

[Arachnid]

Wow Son of Dave has fallen a long way....http://www.tsn.ca/ice-chips-gagner-gome ... s-1.415374

We could have used him at c.

[Hockey Widow]

Wow Son of Dave has fallen a long way....http://www.tsn.ca/ice-chips-gagner-gome ... s-1.415374

We could have used him at c.

We don't have 3.2 in cap space but if Flyers were to retain 50% I'd trade for him, if we didn't have to give up much of anything. I'd trade them Vey, they retain 50%. He can't be any worse than Vey can he? He is on an expiring contract.

[SKYO]

Wow Son of Dave has fallen a long way....http://www.tsn.ca/ice-chips-gagner-gome ... s-1.415374

We could have used him at c.

crazy days!

via patrick williams: Gagner has cleared waivers and been assigned to Lehigh Valley. Big boost for the Phantoms. #AHL

[Rumsfeld]

Gagner sucks.

[Tciso]

Gagner sucks.

Does he suck more or less than Jake "the sky is falling" Virtanen?

[Rumsfeld]

Gagner sucks.

Does he suck more or less than Jake "the sky is falling" Virtanen?

He sucks a lot less than your contributions to this discussion.

Virtanen is our most important draft pick since the Sedins and he hasn't looked good at any level since his draft year. Of course he's only 19 you dunce, but that's not he point. We can only judge him on his last season and a half, and from what I've seen his offensive skills look like shit. Maybe you will be happy if our blue chip pick turns out to be a bottom six grinder, but I won't.

When a prospect is performing well you get all excited, when they look like shit it's "he's only 19"? Forget chicken little, that's chicken SHIT.

Are you happy with the pick then, Crisco? Would you make it again knowing what we know now about him and many of the kids picked after him? Are we forbidden to criticize his game lest it offend your homeristic sensibilities? Fuck off.

Or maybe you'd like to play the "lets wait and see for five years" game with every prospect. How ballsy of you.

Hopefully he turns it around, but I think it's realistic to have lowered expectations for this player. He doesn't look like a future first-liner. He's terrible with the puck and looks lost away from it. Bad at giving and receiving passes. His fabled shot looks weak. He didn't even look good in junior or the AHL last year.

[ESQ]

Are you happy with the pick then, Crisco? Would you make it again knowing what we know now about him and many of the kids picked after him?

I don't know who you're referring to, isn't their only one other 2014 first rounder (Dylan Larkin) playing in the NHL right now? Fabbri is back up, but isn't exactly setting the world on fire.

Based on *half a season*, I don't think that:
- the 17 1RPs that haven't played in the NHL are a bust;
- the 1RPs that have already been sent down (Nick Ritchie, Ehlers, Pastrnak, Goldobin) can be written off as busts;
- Virtanen, to me, still looks like roughly the 6th best player in the 1st round, maybe 8th or 9th best player.

Virtanen made the birthday cutoff by a month for the 2014 draft, so he's one of the youngest, plus he missed 4 months recovering from shoulder surgery.

[Rumsfeld]

Are you happy with the pick then, Crisco? Would you make it again knowing what we know now about him and many of the kids picked after him?

I don't know who you're referring to, isn't their only one other 2014 first rounder (Dylan Larkin) playing in the NHL right now? Fabbri is back up, but isn't exactly setting the world on fire.

Based on *half a season*, I don't think that:
- the 17 1RPs that haven't played in the NHL are a bust;
- the 1RPs that have already been sent down (Nick Ritchie, Ehlers, Pastrnak, Goldobin) can be written off as busts;
- Virtanen, to me, still looks like roughly the 6th best player in the 1st round, maybe 8th or 9th best player.

Virtanen made the birthday cutoff by a month for the 2014 draft, so he's one of the youngest, plus he missed 4 months recovering from shoulder surgery.

Virtanen shouldn't be anywhere near the NHL right now, and wouldn't be a top 20 pick if the draft happened tomorrow. He was struggling in Junior last season.

The kid needs a year or two of pro seasoning in the AHL. Right now he looks terrible.

[Island Nucklehead]

I think it's obvious the Canucks made a mistake by basically gifting Jake a spot. McCann played his way onto the team, Jake got there by being "physically ready". Not the end of the world. Send him back to junior after the tourney and then next year you have the AHL option.

[Rumsfeld]

Ehlers, Pastrnak and Ritchie all made far bigger impacts for their respective NHL teams before they were sent down. Nylander is destroying the AHL and would be in the big show if TO wasn't worried about ruining him.

Most important to me is the eye test. I wonder if some of you guys even watch him play. He's been bad at every level.

His saving grace is his physicality and his straight-line speed, but you can get a player like that well after the first round, let alone sixth overall.

Hopefully he gets sent down and regains some confidence, because aside from one big year in junior he's been very very meh.

[ESQ]

Virtanen shouldn't be anywhere near the NHL right now, and wouldn't be a top 20 pick if the draft happened tomorrow.

I can agree with the first part, not the second though. Including the guys you mention, he's still top-10. Its far too early to say that 10 1st round picks still playing in junior are better than Virtanen.

Sorry, but that doesn't pass the eye test.

[Rumsfeld]

Just flicked on the Det/Pit game, the Detroit broadcasters are arguing about who was the last team, before Detroit in 97 and 98, to win back to back chsmpionships. One clown says Edmonton, the other clown says islanders.

Meanwhile, they're fucking playing the Pittsburgh Penguins! You can't make this stuff up...

[Meds]

The other guys you mentioned Rummy were not playing primarily with the scrubs that Virtanen (and even McCann and Bo) gets saddled with regularly.

Nobody expected Jake to come into the NHL this year and be anything more than a fast, physical, presence. He's not the type of player who sets the world on fire with end-to-end rushes and playmaking. He is a crasher, a finisher, he has a big shot and a nose for the net, and to be fair he does have a fairly good sense for getting the puck to open ice and scoring areas.....but again, his linemates are not the type to go there. He needs to work on his release, it needs to be faster and less obvious.

I agree that he shouldn't be on the big club this year. Ideally he's in the AHL, the CHL would pit him against boys who he can easily dominate with his physical game and that won't force him to work on the game between his ears.

If you are judging him based on the WJC then that's a waste. The entire team looks terrible. With the exception of 2 or 3 players.

Larkin is the only player who went later than Virtanen that I would take instead. Maybe Perlini with what I've seen at the WJC, but I'm hardly convinced.