harmfuljays wrote:
Can't say for 100% but I too am fairly certain it was Brodie.
I was going to post this in the Calgary forum but its Kadri and safe speak. Guess we'll just have to take him at his word...whatever the case thank God he isn't on the Flames! Barrie is better than Brodie anyway.
At least 2nd line scoring was addressed (sort of). Whether it works or not remains to be seen. Lots of teams seem to be able to make it with 2 lines and role players so at this point I would expect a playoff showing.
I wish someone from the local news would sit down and give Kadri some air time for the fans....they do it for the Nuggets.
I'm being told for certain it was going to be Brodie/Jankowski for Kadri/Rosen, which would've been a very good trade for Calgary as Backlund is probably better suited as a 3rd line center, but they really wouldn't lose much defense on the 2nd line with Kadri. And Kadri and Tkachuk on the same line...egads...
Unfortunately, there's still a ton of question marks in the forward ranks, notably Jost and Burakovsky, who are slotted to take the wings alongside Kadri. And they're problematic players for the exact opposite reasons. Burakovsky has all the size, skating, skill, and hockey sense to be an elite two-way forward, but his mental drive appears to go off the rails too often. I'm still not thrilled with the trade, but if the gamble pays off he'll be a force.
Jost, on the other hand, has all the drive and character you could possibly want in a young player--unfortunately his size and skating are simply not up to snuff, and his hockey sense is not quite up to the point where it mitigates those other two deficits. I'm not very bullish on the guy, but he did show some signs of life in the postseason. The other issue is apparently he dealt with an injured hand most of last season, which is good news in that the poor play we saw might be accounted for, but bad news in that he has now limped through his first two pro years with injuries. If he doesn't have the skating, size, OR durability...I'm just not sure if he has a place on this team. That'd be a pretty big whiff for the Avs drafting/development crew since he was taken 10th overall in the 2016 draft. He may yet be a player, but I just don't see a star, which makes me think the Avs will move him if he doesn't have a breakout season.
Personally, I think they'll eventually have to move J.T. Compher onto Kadri's RW and that's what'll start making that line click. As for the LW, not sure, maybe Donskoi, maybe Wilson, but they clearly want both of those guys on the 3rd line since they're more defensively-oriented than the other two.
Regardless, it's nice to see that analytics is clearly playing a role in the decision-making process. They're taking a chance on Burakovsky because he has very good underlying numbers. Donskoi is an analytics darling, and their blueline is moving away from stay-at-home types and emphasizing speed and skill. Will it work? Well...we'll see. Should be exciting at the very least.