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Post by jimmy on Apr 9, 2020 8:47:56 GMT -4
Ritchie T nominated for GM of the year. Deserves a lot of credit for building a powerful team, adding the right pieces to fit what the team needed. In today's TT he talks about adding FA's, I assume it will mostly be up front. They are losing a lot of forwards. I think Ritchie did a great job at the deadline, especially considering the Torchetti drama that was swirling around the team (though he perhaps should get bonus points for being the calming, competent presence who steered the ship through all of that). Kind of surprised to see him nominated as he wasn't the GM for the full season, figured they would reward those who were. I think Thibault is the favourite for this one in my book, not to take away from the great job Ritchie did. IMO, without knowing the details of his contract, I think Ritchie deserves a long term extension and acknowledgement that he is not an interim Director of Hockey Ops until someone sexier comes along - I personally feel very good about heading into a rebuild with him in charge. |
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Post by jimmy on Apr 9, 2020 8:59:52 GMT -4
Ritchie T nominated for GM of the year. Deserves a lot of credit for building a powerful team, adding the right pieces to fit what the team needed. In today's TT he talks about adding FA's, I assume it will mostly be up front. They are losing a lot of forwards. I think there is room for an FA at any position if they can find a quality guy. On defense, we have DeJong, Spence, Stewart, presumably Dow ... then a bunch of fringy prospect types - Berube, Wilson, Pavan, Desrosiers. Some of these guys will hopefully develop into players for us, but none are absolute locks IMO. Even in net ... there is no clear backup / starter of the future (Sheehan and DiMattia seem poised to battle it out) ... and while Lund-Cornish would seem to have the inside track on the starter job, no harm in looking at younger FAs if any are out there. |
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Post by Captain Obvious on Apr 9, 2020 9:10:58 GMT -4
Ritchie T nominated for GM of the year. Deserves a lot of credit for building a powerful team, adding the right pieces to fit what the team needed. In today's TT he talks about adding FA's, I assume it will mostly be up front. They are losing a lot of forwards. I think Ritchie did a great job at the deadline, especially considering the Torchetti drama that was swirling around the team (though he perhaps should get bonus points for being the calming, competent presence who steered the ship through all of that). Kind of surprised to see him nominated as he wasn't the GM for the full season, figured they would reward those who were. I think Thibault is the favourite for this one in my book, not to take away from the great job Ritchie did. IMO, without knowing the details of his contract, I think Ritchie deserves a long term extension and acknowledgement that he is not an interim Director of Hockey Ops until someone sexier comes along - I personally feel very good about heading into a rebuild with him in charge. I have 100x more confidence in him than a guy like Shannon who loved to see his name in the papers and was always looking to draft players "off the board" to try and look smart. RT has been around Q hockey for around 20 years. Hopefully they play it smart and do a true rebuild next year, even if it's painful the 2nd half. My concern is they go back to looking to win one extra playoff round and trade away good picks like in 17-18 and 18-19. Smart teams keep those picks, draft young players and have deep cupboards once they are ready to contend. It makes for an easier rebuild without necessarily "bottoming out". The reason the Wc have needed full rebuild is wasting kids and high picks(top 4-5 rounds) in non contending years since 2012. |
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Post by Captain Obvious on Apr 9, 2020 9:16:45 GMT -4
Ritchie T nominated for GM of the year. Deserves a lot of credit for building a powerful team, adding the right pieces to fit what the team needed. In today's TT he talks about adding FA's, I assume it will mostly be up front. They are losing a lot of forwards. I think there is room for an FA at any position if they can find a quality guy. On defense, we have DeJong, Spence, Stewart, presumably Dow ... then a bunch of fringy prospect types - Berube, Wilson, Pavan, Desrosiers. Some of these guys will hopefully develop into players for us, but none are absolute locks IMO. Even in net ... there is no clear backup / starter of the future (Sheehan and DiMattia seem poised to battle it out) ... and while Lund-Cornish would seem to have the inside track on the starter job, no harm in looking at younger FAs if any are out there. K'm not suggesting they turn their backs on good FA's, but usually 8 out of 10 are not top 6F/top4D/#1G types. If you're going to add a 19 year old instead of Pilotte or Pavan as #5 or ^ D, that isn't helping you. we saw that a few years back, they played some mediocre 18/19 year olds instead of Bellamy and he asked for a trade. Wilson is an intriguing player. He is a year older but looked good when given a chance. Dow has a solid track record. Plus Pilotte and Pavan both were very good in MAAA at 16. I would plan to have all 4 on the roster. Desrosiers looked overwhelmed last year and he was ok in MAAA, he might be a guy I send to a Jr.A team and possibly call back midseason if Spence/Stewart get moved. Nutbrown is a wild card, he was a late pick and had a good year MAAA, he is huge, not sure if he was an NCAA guy, think he was at camp last year? |
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Post by SteveUL on Apr 9, 2020 10:35:45 GMT -4
Ritchie T nominated for GM of the year. Deserves a lot of credit for building a powerful team, adding the right pieces to fit what the team needed. In today's TT he talks about adding FA's, I assume it will mostly be up front. They are losing a lot of forwards. I'm happy for Ritchie, but I wish the Q would recognize a GM that built a team that finished with say a better than 0.500 record, but were expected to finish near the bottom. I find it is too easy as a GM to build a contender by making trades that mortgage your future. If being the best is the criteria, lets just give the award to the GM that wins the Prez Cup (in normal seasons). |
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Post by jimmy on Apr 9, 2020 11:19:40 GMT -4
I think there is room for an FA at any position if they can find a quality guy. On defense, we have DeJong, Spence, Stewart, presumably Dow ... then a bunch of fringy prospect types - Berube, Wilson, Pavan, Desrosiers. Some of these guys will hopefully develop into players for us, but none are absolute locks IMO. Even in net ... there is no clear backup / starter of the future (Sheehan and DiMattia seem poised to battle it out) ... and while Lund-Cornish would seem to have the inside track on the starter job, no harm in looking at younger FAs if any are out there. K'm not suggesting they turn their backs on good FA's, but usually 8 out of 10 are not top 6F/top4D/#1G types. If you're going to add a 19 year old instead of Pilotte or Pavan as #5 or ^ D, that isn't helping you. we saw that a few years back, they played some mediocre 18/19 year olds instead of Bellamy and he asked for a trade. Wilson is an intriguing player. He is a year older but looked good when given a chance. Dow has a solid track record. Plus Pilotte and Pavan both were very good in MAAA at 16. I would plan to have all 4 on the roster. Desrosiers looked overwhelmed last year and he was ok in MAAA, he might be a guy I send to a Jr.A team and possibly call back midseason if Spence/Stewart get moved. Nutbrown is a wild card, he was a late pick and had a good year MAAA, he is huge, not sure if he was an NCAA guy, think he was at camp last year? I agree with you in theory, but a couple of observations ... none of the guys you mention are sure thing prospects like a Bellamy was. We don't have anyone like that, and based on our current picks, we are not likely to have too many after the draft either. I agree that ideally we have promising 17 year olds playing rather than journeymen 19 y/o's in a rebuilding year. But at some point, you need to be able to compete (not necessarily win) on the ice. First choice is that all of Pavan, Pilotte, Berube, Wilson, Nutbrown, Desrosiers, etc ... prove to be good young players with upside ... but the reality is most of them are borderline prospects - some will pan out, others will not. For the ones who end up being fish out of water ... it would be better to have an extra servicable vet around than one more kid who has no place being in the league (i.e. not good enough at 17 and unlikely to be good enough in the future to play at 18/19/20). Figure out who your promising youngsters are and develop them - sure. But don't waste your time on longshots who are currently out of there element. |
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Post by Captain Obvious on Apr 9, 2020 12:06:00 GMT -4
K'm not suggesting they turn their backs on good FA's, but usually 8 out of 10 are not top 6F/top4D/#1G types. If you're going to add a 19 year old instead of Pilotte or Pavan as #5 or ^ D, that isn't helping you. we saw that a few years back, they played some mediocre 18/19 year olds instead of Bellamy and he asked for a trade. Wilson is an intriguing player. He is a year older but looked good when given a chance. Dow has a solid track record. Plus Pilotte and Pavan both were very good in MAAA at 16. I would plan to have all 4 on the roster. Desrosiers looked overwhelmed last year and he was ok in MAAA, he might be a guy I send to a Jr.A team and possibly call back midseason if Spence/Stewart get moved. Nutbrown is a wild card, he was a late pick and had a good year MAAA, he is huge, not sure if he was an NCAA guy, think he was at camp last year? I agree with you in theory, but a couple of observations ... none of the guys you mention are sure thing prospects like a Bellamy was. We don't have anyone like that, and based on our current picks, we are not likely to have too many after the draft either. I agree that ideally we have promising 17 year olds playing rather than journeymen 19 y/o's in a rebuilding year. But at some point, you need to be able to compete (not necessarily win) on the ice. First choice is that all of Pavan, Pilotte, Berube, Wilson, Nutbrown, Desrosiers, etc ... prove to be good young players with upside ... but the reality is most of them are borderline prospects - some will pan out, others will not. For the ones who end up being fish out of water ... it would be better to have an extra servicable vet around than one more kid who has no place being in the league (i.e. not good enough at 17 and unlikely to be good enough in the future to play at 18/19/20). Figure out who your promising youngsters are and develop them - sure. But don't waste your time on longshots who are currently out of there element. I'm not saying those guys have the upside of Bellamy, but especially Pavan Dow and Pilotte, I would give them next year to show they are or are not future top 4 D. I don't think the Wc currently have anybody that is 1st pair caliber under 18. they already have vets coming back in Spence Dejong and Stewart plus Dow who got a half season under his belt. |
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Post by hockey1981 on Apr 10, 2020 7:56:06 GMT -4
Out of boredom, I made a couple of video's #31 - #91 - 19-20 Wildcats - That’s awesome! Well done 👍Thanks for doing all that work and posting them |
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Post by hockey1981 on Apr 11, 2020 7:46:16 GMT -4
That’s awesome! Well done 👍Thanks for doing all that work and posting them |
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Post by WhiteTyAffair on Apr 12, 2020 8:43:36 GMT -4
I think Ritchie did a great job at the deadline, especially considering the Torchetti drama that was swirling around the team (though he perhaps should get bonus points for being the calming, competent presence who steered the ship through all of that). Kind of surprised to see him nominated as he wasn't the GM for the full season, figured they would reward those who were. I think Thibault is the favourite for this one in my book, not to take away from the great job Ritchie did. IMO, without knowing the details of his contract, I think Ritchie deserves a long term extension and acknowledgement that he is not an interim Director of Hockey Ops until someone sexier comes along - I personally feel very good about heading into a rebuild with him in charge. Hopefully they play it smart and do a true rebuild next year, even if it's painful the 2nd half. My concern is they go back to looking to win one extra playoff round and trade away good picks like in 17-18 and 18-19. Smart teams keep those picks, draft young players and have deep cupboards once they are ready to contend. It makes for an easier rebuild without necessarily "bottoming out". The reason the Wc have needed full rebuild is wasting kids and high picks(top 4-5 rounds) in non contending years since 2012. Agreed. Thibeau believes in quality over quantity. It was so pointless when Roger Shannon brought in 10-15 free agents every year. My guess is they'll bring in 6-8 FAs in August (or September/October/November...). Whenever training camps open. That doesn't include those from last August who will get another crack. I think Brock Forsythe has a shot at a 4th line role while Julien Breton is in a numbers game on defense. |
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Post by Captain Obvious on Apr 13, 2020 7:56:47 GMT -4
I have 100x more confidence in him than a guy like Shannon who loved to see his name in the papers and was always looking to draft players "off the board" to try and look smart. RT has been around Q hockey for around 20 years.Hopefully they play it smart and do a true rebuild next year, even if it's painful the 2nd half. My concern is they go back to looking to win one extra playoff round and trade away good picks like in 17-18 and 18-19. Smart teams keep those picks, draft young players and have deep cupboards once they are ready to contend. It makes for an easier rebuild without necessarily "bottoming out". The reason the Wc have needed full rebuild is wasting kids and high picks(top 4-5 rounds) in non contending years since 2012. Agreed. Thibeau believes in quality over quantity. It was so pointless when Roger Shannon brought in 10-15 free agents every year. My guess is they'll bring in 6-8 FAs in August (or September/October/November...). Whenever training camps open. That doesn't include those from last August who will get another crack. I think Brock Forsythe has a shot at a 4th line role while Julien Breton is in a numbers game on defense. Agree on both, I forgot about those guys, Breton got a few games this year and did not look out of place, though he is a year older than the kids drafted in 2019. He could be a guy who doesn't crack the day 1 roster but gets called up from Jr.A after midseason trades(Stewart? Spence?). |
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Post by jimmy on Apr 13, 2020 8:33:38 GMT -4
Agreed. Thibeau believes in quality over quantity. It was so pointless when Roger Shannon brought in 10-15 free agents every year. My guess is they'll bring in 6-8 FAs in August (or September/October/November...). Whenever training camps open. That doesn't include those from last August who will get another crack. I think Brock Forsythe has a shot at a 4th line role while Julien Breton is in a numbers game on defense. Agree on both, I forgot about those guys, Breton got a few games this year and did not look out of place, though he is a year older than the kids drafted in 2019. He could be a guy who doesn't crack the day 1 roster but gets called up from Jr.A after midseason trades(Stewart? Spence?). Or alternatively, cracks the opening day roster as a guy destined to spend a good chunk of the first half in the stands, while a couple of the younger guys get sent down to play a lot in the first half and then get recalled if guys are moved at Xmas ... |
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Post by hockey1981 on Apr 13, 2020 14:42:02 GMT -4
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Post by hockey1981 on Apr 16, 2020 9:00:45 GMT -4
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Post by hockey1981 on Apr 19, 2020 7:45:23 GMT -4
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