Olympics thread mk XXV

[Smitty-48]

Bednash finding some utility in Colin Wilson, playing him with Jost and Kerfoot, skilled duo with a forechecker puck retriever; Babsian line.

Av's are very similar to the Loafs.

[Smitty-48]

Whoops.

[Smitty-48]

Soft as butter in the D-zone, caves into the heavy play, so Loafy.

Kids go fast, but they don't play heavy.

[StCapps]

Fucking Draisaitl, killed us tonight. Girard falls down and we just stand around like pylons watching him drive to the net. Ugh.

[Smitty-48]

Girard needs more muscle and seasoning, he should rightly be in the A, throwing him in at 19 is risking a regression in the process, defencemen should never be rushed.

Six games in the A, five games with Nashville, he's basically going straight from junior to the full time NHL grind here, that's not a good idea.

[StCapps]

Girard needs more muscle and seasoning, he should rightly be in the A, throwing him in at 19 is risking a regression in the process, defencemen should never be rushed.

Six games in the A, five games with Nashville, he's basically going straight from junior to the full time NHL grind here, that's not a good idea.

I suppose, but he's ready to go right now, and he seems to be handling it just fine. He seems to bucking that trend, if a regression is coming, I haven't seen any sign of it thus far.

[Smitty-48]

Girard needs more muscle and seasoning, he should rightly be in the A, throwing him in at 19 is risking a regression in the process, defencemen should never be rushed.

Six games in the A, five games with Nashville, he's basically going straight from junior to the full time NHL grind here, that's not a good idea.

I suppose, but he's ready to go right now, and he seems to be handling it just fine. He seems to bucking that trend.

Yeah, everybody who has ever ruined a young NHL defence prospect by throwing him in too early, has said the same thing, that's how they end up getting ruined, because at first they seem great, but then when it catches up to them, they basically have to have their confidence rebuilt from the ground up, and sometimes they never get it back.

[StCapps]

Girard needs more muscle and seasoning, he should rightly be in the A, throwing him in at 19 is risking a regression in the process, defencemen should never be rushed.

Six games in the A, five games with Nashville, he's basically going straight from junior to the full time NHL grind here, that's not a good idea.

I suppose, but he's ready to go right now, and he seems to be handling it just fine. He seems to bucking that trend.

Yeah, everybody who has ever ruined a young NHL defence prospect by throwing him in too early, has said the same thing, that's how they end up getting ruined, because at first they seem great, but then when it catches up to them, they basically have to have their confidence rebuilt from the ground up, and sometimes they never get it back.

It's risky sure, but it's not like it's never worked out before, there are outliers.

[Smitty-48]

Playing Girard would be like the Leafs playing Liljegren, which, yeah, he might look good on the odd rush, but that's not worth the risk of a setback, just be patient and stick to the process, because Girard doesn't look like a top NHL dman right now, and since he's not a bottom pairing prospect, there's no reason to be playing him in the show right now, whatsoever.

Desperate to make the playoffs for the sake of making the playoffs, rushing kids into the line up to make up the difference; classic Harold Ballard management strategy.

[Smitty-48]

On the Karlsson to the Tampa rumours; Lou should take a run at it just to drive the price up, maybe you don't get Karlsson, but strategically the Leafs should try to play spoiler, just to deny him to Tampa.