This season is like beginning of last year with Tigers. Awful team with none of the future playing. I mean Larkin, Mantha yea, but a red wings team without Bertuzzi, Zadina, and with guys like Berggren, Raymond, Seider, Veleno, etc playing overseas it's a chore watching this team.
I guess if the goal is to sell lots of jerseys in Romeo, this makes sense. Otherwise, fuck off Steve.
Raymond is not scoring in bunches, but he’s probably had a point in like 7 of his last 10. He’s still not getting enough minutes, but the production is improving. Nothing he’s done this year has me concerned though. He’s going to be a stud.
I know nothing about international hockey, but does that league kind of hold it against young guys who are clearly NHL bound on some level? Don't mean it necessarily in a negative "screw that guy" way as much as "he's not going to be here in a year anyway so we're not giving him more minutes to develop him over someone who will be here long term" type stuff.
Been said it's the 3rd or 4th toughest league in the world. Think AHL, but they care about more about winning. They will play vets over younger players often. They don't care as much about the long term development.
Berggren on other hand has 35 points in 36 games in same league. He's 2 years older than Raymond, 2 years ago he had 0 goals 3 assists in 16 games in that league. So 17 points in 30 games in his 18 year old season doesn't look as bad comparatively. I mean look how little 18 year olds play pro over here. I think its just they don't start getting to that level until they are a little older
Yeah each team has a juniors team specifically for guys like Raymond so for any U-20 to make the men’s league is a huge thing in and of itself.
It’s like soccer where kids come out though a teams youth system, so there is a loyalty to these kids, so I don’t think it’s that. The bigger issue is Frolunda sounds like they operate like the Wings, where they favor vets over kids. Frolunda also plays a very defensive game, so it limits a guy like Raymond. The good news is he’s developed a nice two way game as a result.
Berggren has me excited, I should probably temper my expectations. But he's putting up a point per game at 20 in that league and it's pretty amazing. I hope he goes to the AHL at the end of the SHL season and sticks around to join the Wings next season. Although we are one of the oldest teams in the league. We don't seem to be rushing the prospects too quickly to this point.
One other thing about Raymond, is he has 17 points in 30 games. Frolunda’s leading scorer only has 22 points in 37 games. Jay should give you an idea of their style of play. Raymond’s PPG is third on the team.
Also, I was curious about how Raymond’s season stacks up historically. He currently has the 21st highest PPG % of any 18 year old in SHL history.
Seider has the 19th best PPG% of any 19 year old in SHL history. He’s currently at .77 PPG. This isn’t just for D either. This is everyone.
Going forward, I am curious what Wings plans are for the guys currently in Sweden. Seider is an easy one. He’s going to break camp with the Wings next season, barring something insane happening. Raymond is a tough one. I think the preference will be to get him to GR to start acclimating to North America. That said, I can see them keeping Raymond in Sweden if the AHL season is at risk to be truncated again. Berggren and Veleno should be no doubters: compete for spots in camp.
Scott Wheeler of The Athletic has been releasing his prospect pool rankings. He just released Montreal as his sixth ranked pool, which means we’re somewhere in the top 5. We were #9 last season.
Also Ken and Mickey brought up NHL is debating skipping the draft this year and doing two drafts the next year? One 18 year old and one 19 year old? If that's true, may not be awful for us to give us another year to scout guys for our top pick
Friedman and Dreger have said it’s an idea being pushed by GM’s since the entire CHL is paused, with no end in sight. The rumored idea is for both drafts to happen during a week in the summer of 2022. I am all for it at this point.
I mean 1 or 2 18 years olds play in NHL a year at most so it'll really only cost one or two guys a year in NHL. And I'm not sure anyone this draft is a sure fire guy anyway
Yeah I’m not crazy about this draft. No skill position players at the top, which is what this team needs. Does Power even go top 5 in last year’s draft?
This year's class hasn't really had a chance to seperate themselves though, which is why they are debating delaying the draft