– They start off by talking about Joshua Roy, and his performance at the World Juniors. McKenna talks about how it is nice to see a Quebecois player excelling on a big stage like this, and how it can inspire kids from the province to take up hockey. Denis agrees, saying it was players like Jimmy Waite and Stephane Fiset play in the World Juniors that really inspired and motivated him.
– Denis talks about how Roy would dominate when called up to midget, even playing a year above his age group. He struggled a bit early in his Junior career, and that is why he fell to the 5th round in the draft. Since then, he has become a totally different player, working very hard and has become a leader for his junior team. Denis comments how Roy could probably have more points in Junior, but has taken on a larger role, killing penalties and other defensive responsibilities. He’s a more complete player now.
– They talk about the first goalie interference call in the US-Canada game last night. Denis was not surprised, saying that IIHF standards are harsher than NHL standards when it comes to goalie interference.
– Co-host Sean Starr asks if the players at the World Juniors care about what colour of jersey they wear in these games. « Yes » says Denis emphatically, players want to wear the « winning kit ». He then mentions how the Habs players don’t have a choice when it comes to wearing the Reverse Retro jersey’s as it is a business decision nowadays.
– They talk about Canada’s goalie at the World Junior’s, Thomas Milic. Denis says it was a tremendous performance, and somewhat of a surprise considering nobody really knew much about this guy before this tournament. Denis goes on to say that NHL teams are definitely watching his performance, and thinks he could get a pro tryout offer or two from NHL teams. It’s hard to find goalies these days, so teams are always on the lookout.
– McKenna brings up Slafkovsky, saying that he has been struggling recently, having zero shots on net in the last 5 games. He asks if it is time to consider sending him to Laval? Denis says that this would be a real bummer for Slafkovsky. He could have been playing bg games with his countrymen at the World Juniors rather than wasting his time on that terrible road trip, just to be sent down to Laval. That said, Denis says we definitely need to consider it. He mentions how once Slafkovsky passes the 40 game mark, it gets him closer to UFA, and he’ll hit that benchmark in 3 games. Denis talks about how it is fine for a young player to be playing in the NHL, but there needs to be development, and he isn’t seeing that with Slafkovsky right now. When a team is not competitive, it is also not a good environment for player development. Starr echo’s this sentiment, saying that unless you are an elite talent, you shouldn’t be in the NHL at this stage, at least, not permanently.
– Denis compares Slafkovsky’s situation to Ghule’s. Kaiden plays a much more mature and stable game, and looks comfortable, contributing every night. Slafkovksy is much more inconsistent, going from good shift to bad shift, periods of being invisible, not keeping his head up, etc. McKenna asks if the way we were handling Slafkovsky could hurt his development. Denis says that yes, it could. When a team is losing like we are, it hurts the team culture, and player development. Denis mentions how he learned this lesson when he played in Columbus.
– On the game tonight, Denis talks about how the Rangers had a rough start, but have found their game, and are a very good team. It’s not the score of this game that will matter, but if we can compete on a shit by shift basis.
poub06
There’s clearly no miracle recipe to develop prospects. But if we look back in time, the best draft we remember is 2003. And the special thing with this draft is that one year later, there was a lockout, which forced all the 19 years old prospects to play in the AHL, juniors or in Europe, instead of possibly struggling in the NHL.
Also, the podcast « La Poche Bleue » received the Sedin brothers a couple of weeks ago and they asked them when did it click for them, because they had a couple of difficult seasons at first. Their answer was when they returned in Europe for a season during the lockout, because they had time to work on the stuffs they needed to work on.
It’s possible that it’s just some coincidences or isolated cases, but it’s also possible that those are signs that prospects shouldn’t be brought up in the NHL too soon. We keep saying that the NHL isn’t a development lesgue, and yet we keep bringing up very young and raw prospects expecting them to develop while playing very limited role..
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**Summary**
– They start off by talking about Joshua Roy, and his performance at the World Juniors. McKenna talks about how it is nice to see a Quebecois player excelling on a big stage like this, and how it can inspire kids from the province to take up hockey. Denis agrees, saying it was players like Jimmy Waite and Stephane Fiset play in the World Juniors that really inspired and motivated him.
– Denis talks about how Roy would dominate when called up to midget, even playing a year above his age group. He struggled a bit early in his Junior career, and that is why he fell to the 5th round in the draft. Since then, he has become a totally different player, working very hard and has become a leader for his junior team. Denis comments how Roy could probably have more points in Junior, but has taken on a larger role, killing penalties and other defensive responsibilities. He’s a more complete player now.
– They talk about the first goalie interference call in the US-Canada game last night. Denis was not surprised, saying that IIHF standards are harsher than NHL standards when it comes to goalie interference.
– Co-host Sean Starr asks if the players at the World Juniors care about what colour of jersey they wear in these games. « Yes » says Denis emphatically, players want to wear the « winning kit ». He then mentions how the Habs players don’t have a choice when it comes to wearing the Reverse Retro jersey’s as it is a business decision nowadays.
– They talk about Canada’s goalie at the World Junior’s, Thomas Milic. Denis says it was a tremendous performance, and somewhat of a surprise considering nobody really knew much about this guy before this tournament. Denis goes on to say that NHL teams are definitely watching his performance, and thinks he could get a pro tryout offer or two from NHL teams. It’s hard to find goalies these days, so teams are always on the lookout.
– McKenna brings up Slafkovsky, saying that he has been struggling recently, having zero shots on net in the last 5 games. He asks if it is time to consider sending him to Laval? Denis says that this would be a real bummer for Slafkovsky. He could have been playing bg games with his countrymen at the World Juniors rather than wasting his time on that terrible road trip, just to be sent down to Laval. That said, Denis says we definitely need to consider it. He mentions how once Slafkovsky passes the 40 game mark, it gets him closer to UFA, and he’ll hit that benchmark in 3 games. Denis talks about how it is fine for a young player to be playing in the NHL, but there needs to be development, and he isn’t seeing that with Slafkovsky right now. When a team is not competitive, it is also not a good environment for player development. Starr echo’s this sentiment, saying that unless you are an elite talent, you shouldn’t be in the NHL at this stage, at least, not permanently.
– Denis compares Slafkovsky’s situation to Ghule’s. Kaiden plays a much more mature and stable game, and looks comfortable, contributing every night. Slafkovksy is much more inconsistent, going from good shift to bad shift, periods of being invisible, not keeping his head up, etc. McKenna asks if the way we were handling Slafkovsky could hurt his development. Denis says that yes, it could. When a team is losing like we are, it hurts the team culture, and player development. Denis mentions how he learned this lesson when he played in Columbus.
– On the game tonight, Denis talks about how the Rangers had a rough start, but have found their game, and are a very good team. It’s not the score of this game that will matter, but if we can compete on a shit by shift basis.
There’s clearly no miracle recipe to develop prospects. But if we look back in time, the best draft we remember is 2003. And the special thing with this draft is that one year later, there was a lockout, which forced all the 19 years old prospects to play in the AHL, juniors or in Europe, instead of possibly struggling in the NHL.
Also, the podcast « La Poche Bleue » received the Sedin brothers a couple of weeks ago and they asked them when did it click for them, because they had a couple of difficult seasons at first. Their answer was when they returned in Europe for a season during the lockout, because they had time to work on the stuffs they needed to work on.
It’s possible that it’s just some coincidences or isolated cases, but it’s also possible that those are signs that prospects shouldn’t be brought up in the NHL too soon. We keep saying that the NHL isn’t a development lesgue, and yet we keep bringing up very young and raw prospects expecting them to develop while playing very limited role..
Kotkachelnyukovsky