Quoting: Db1899
Lou said that they’ve looked at Gus in the past - also regarding Salo, he’s very similar to Toews in that he thinks the game at a high level and rarely makes mistakes. He’s also 6’2 and Trotz is still stuck in the past with only playing defenseman who are at least 6’0 (won’t play Aho despite being nhl ready for years) - so I think Salo has a decent shot to win a spot.
Trotz went into the playoffs with Wahlstrom over Zajac. The decision to not put Wahlstrom in after he was healthy was incredibly stupid and I think Trotz deserves criticism for that, but Wahlstrom cemented himself as a regular going forward. I’m usually on the pessimistic side of things when it comes to Lou/Trotz, but not playing Wahlstrom would be a completely new level, even for them - the only thing I’m focused on is whether Wahlstrom plays with Barzal or Pageau to start the season.
There are some that believe Golyshev has elite potential, but those are the same ones that believed Gusev and Grigorenko would be studs in the NHL. The problem with those two is that the NHL is too fast for them , so will Golyshev follow in their path or explode like a Panarin lol. Who knows, but I want to find out. I actually think he does have high end vision, puck skills, just gotta see if that will translate to the NHL. The fact that he’s close with sorokin and Lou burned the 1 year ELC leads me to believe they have a plan for him. This isn’t another kovar situation IMO
Okay, missed that. Yeah, I’ve also made that comparison many times on this site, I believe Salo will force Trotz to rotate between Greene and Chára, which is ultimately only something positive. He’s ”to” ready for not playing in the NHL at this point, he actually was dominant playing for Örebro last year, in a very underrated SHL league.
Nah, I cannot see any scenario at 26 years old he would have any sort of elite impact at the NHL level based on his career in the KHL, I don’t say you believe that either, but in best case he’s somewhat similar to a Ilya Mikheyev in Toronto. Yeah and there’s alot more to bring into context when it comes to russian players, Nikita Gusev and Vadim Shipachyov is the 2 biggest ”mysteries” last years regarding russian players not succeeding in the NHL. Nikita Gusev still baffles me, he’s one of few that have really dominated KHL and made it look like a beer league in the last 10 years haha, along with the likes of Kaprizov. The same cannot be said about Grigorenko and his likes, they are good at the KHL level, not dominant. Golyshev was a good player in KHL, not elite compared to the rest of the league, but very useful. He’s really fast though and plays a heavy game, altough his size. I don’t agree about he having ”high end vision” or puck skills. Average, probably below-average at NHL-level. Panarin and Kaprizov is elite, elite, elite in context of everyone, they shouldn’t be in any conversation unless we’re talking Matvei Michkov haha.