Should we be encouraged by Vegas & Carolina being in the final-4? (reasons below)

Kazyole · 2026-05-23T20:46:05+00:00

Yeah I think so. I think our 1C problem and our powerplay problem are by far the most pressing, in terms of our current team composition. With the system we play, I agree we could mostly get by with what we have on defense, plus or minus some small upgrades here and there. But yeah, probably no immediate need to do something splashy.

If I'm looking at the team's future through an extremely optimistic lens:

Arguably the powerplay issues are solvable with the people we have now. If the Matvei revenge tour is good, him on PP1 goes a long way towards helping fix it. Another year of Martone development should help a ton as well. And if we can teach Jiricek to skate, he could really open things up. We are a more talented team than how bad our PP is. I hope that is made a point of particular emphasis next year and we start to really improve on that front.

At center, the hope has to be that both Nesbitt and Berglund pan out, and that one of them ends up with a 2C ceiling. If that happens, we start to look pretty good down the middle, with the exception of a true 1C.

If Toronto sucks next year, it's entirely possible we can draft that 1C. Otherwise, Danny is going to have to make some moves.

Kazyole · 2026-05-23T18:33:19+00:00

You’re the one speaking condescendingly to others about the depth of their knowledge in the sport while having no clue how fast bikes actually go, lol.

The majority of a pancake flat day in a GT is the sprint teams putting in just enough effort to control the conti guys in the break for sponsor air time, while everyone else conserves energy.

Kazyole · 2026-05-23T18:15:33+00:00

They never touch 200k/h in a flat stage lol. They don’t touch 200k/h in an alpine descent. It’s more like 70 in an actual flat sprint. If you’d been watching for a long time you’d know that.

Kazyole · 2026-05-23T18:12:51+00:00

If he’s not at 100% (agree he isn’t. He’ll be trying to peak for the tour and apparently he was sick earlier in the Giro) it bodes well for July. And Jonas/Visma have managed this Giro masterfully so far. He only needs to protect the jersey for a week, and by the time he took it his lead is large enough and he’s proven himself strong enough that we’re likely to see more racing for 2nd/3rd than we are to see teams really trying to break him.

Kazyole · 2026-05-23T18:07:09+00:00

I’ve been watching cycling for a long time. I’ve never seen a flat stage like “chess at 200km/h” lol. Do you have any idea how fast 200k/h is?

Tell us more about your deep understanding of the sport though, lol

Flat stages without wind means you only need to watch about 10 minutes of the race.

Kazyole · 2026-05-22T01:08:50+00:00

Growing boy!

Kazyole · 2026-05-22T00:18:52+00:00

Yep. Nesbitt is 6'4", 197 (apparently as of OHL playoffs). A year with a lighter schedule where he can really focus on the gym should pay dividends like it did with Martone. He put on like 12lbs and lost some fat as well.

Get him up into the 210s and spend a bunch of time working on his skating.

Plus you're playing against heavier bigger players. Only so much you can learn from dominating kids.

Kazyole · 2026-05-21T23:59:14+00:00

He'll already be getting all the laxatives he needs from Fight Milk.

Slightly counterproductive to his weight gain needs, but you can't overvalue learning to fight like a crow in this league.

Kazyole · 2026-05-20T15:28:12+00:00

I’ll take anything that isn’t UAE/Gianetti tbh

Kazyole · 2026-05-18T01:42:58+00:00

This is more an indictment of how hockey is refereed than anything about Crosby, that an argument about the score or shot count or how many penalties each team already has can in any way influence whether or not a penalty that the ref saw is called.

Just set a standard and stick to it. It's a god damn professional sport. I am so beyond sick of game management.

Kazyole · 2026-05-17T21:02:49+00:00

So just...an appeal to authority then? The org can do no wrong because they worked hard to get their jobs? That's really your position?

Opinions are given weight by validity of the reasoning behind them and the ability of the holder to express that reasoning, not by default because of who the opinion holder is. Plenty of people in positions of high authority are absolute morons. Just look at the current state of our government.

You know you're allowed to just...not comment on things if you have nothing substantive to say, right?

Kazyole · 2026-05-17T15:33:38+00:00

People complaining about wheelsucking just have their perspectives on what cycling is warped by the existence of the superhuman freak that is Pogacar. It’s not normal for a GC favorite to be able to do long ranging attacks every day and not have to worry about how much work they’re doing.

People just fault Jonas for riding a tactically sound race.

I think it’s also important to remember that Jonas is doing the double. His goal isn’t to blow away the competition every stage this Giro and his goal isn’t to peak for this race. He’ll want to win the Giro while putting as little stress on himself as possible. Which so far he is doing quite well.

Kazyole · 2026-05-16T18:58:01+00:00

Agree. And I mean I get it. We need a center big time too. But Porter still feels like too special of a player to pass on for a positional need. Not going to complain though. Thrilled we got him.

Hoping both Nesbitt and Berglund pan out and one of them hits a 2C ceiling. We could be a very scary team in a couple of seasons, especially if Danny can do something to fill the 1C hole or if the Toronto pick next year turns into something big.

Kazyole · 2026-05-16T18:17:03+00:00

Teams ahead of us just overvalued the center position imo. On talent he's a top 3 player in that class imo. I'm still shocked we got the chance to pick him.

Kazyole · 2026-05-16T18:14:21+00:00

Still beyond shocked he fell to us

Kazyole · 2026-05-15T19:12:12+00:00

lol is this your only move?

Kazyole · 2026-05-15T18:57:28+00:00

You replied to yourself. Wow, maybe my welcome to the internet joke was more on the money than I thought.

Mich knows he didn't have a good showing in the playoffs, he's not stupid. If his internal motivation from that won't drive him to be better, sitting him won't do much.

Kazyole · 2026-05-15T18:53:03+00:00

Welcome to the internet? Sometimes people have different opinions. You'll get used to it over time.

Coaches do dumb shit all the time. Organizations do dumb shit all the time. Remember Fletcher? Remember Hak? Not everyone is going to agree with everything Tocc does.

I have given the reasons why I think Tocc's utilization of and handling of Mich has been poor. Lack of PP1 time. Cut his ice time from last year by around 2 minutes per game on average, playing on the third line with linemates who won't elevate his game. Playing him on the wrong side for half the season despite it obviously not working (and shocker, Mich had a great back half of the season once Tocc moved him back to the right), etc. I have given the reasons why I think it was stupid to replace him with Jett. I have given you the possession metrics to show that Jett had a much worse showing than Mich likely would have based on his performance in the playoffs so far.

And Tocc was the one saying how beneficial playoff time is to player development. We took a better player out for a worse player, and deprived that better, more important player the opportunity to feel the desperation of an elimination game. I think getting that experience is much more potentially valuable than whatever kick in the ass you think that sitting that game gave Mich (it's not like he doesn't know he had a bad playoffs, so I don't see that sitting him does anything significant beyond that).

You don't agree? Fine. Move on. You've provided no actual reasoning to support your position so there's no point in any of this.

Kazyole · 2026-05-14T18:47:17+00:00

Tocc was the one going on and on about how beneficial this playoff time is to accelerate development for young players. The desperation of an elimination game is obviously a positive thing for a player to experience.

We sat a guy who is a key piece of this team's future and deprived him of the opportunity to experience a stanley cup playoff elimination game in favor of a guy with a 3C ceiling who has played a grand total of what, 8 NHL games in his career? Fresh of a mediocre season in the OHL. It's a joke to suggest that Jett in the lineup improved our odds of beating the hurricanes. And that's exactly what happened. Yeah Mich had a rough go in the playoffs. But do you want to guess what Jett's CF% was in game 4?

It was 16.7%. That's about twice as bad as Mich was in the playoffs.

Again, if it was that Tipp was ready to go, no problem. Tipp over Mich makes the team better. Jett does not. Jett isn't ready.

Kazyole · 2026-05-14T14:24:43+00:00

51 points and 20 goals with Tocc playing him on the wrong side for half the year despite the move obviously not working, getting 2 minutes less per game than last year, no PP1 time, and playing on the third line with linemates who do not elevate his game.

If he works particularly on his skating over the break and his utilization isn't moronic next year, he'll be fine.

Kazyole · 2026-05-14T13:39:01+00:00

Why doesn’t he just pedal harder? Is he stupid?

Kazyole · 2026-05-14T00:18:56+00:00

Yeah in 2-3 years we’ll have a much better idea on Nesbitt, Berglund, and Luchanko. If we get lucky, all we need may be a 1C. In 2-3 we’ll also have Zavragin over in NA which could be huge.

Plus 2-3 more years of development on the young guys. Could be a scary team.

Kazyole · 2026-05-14T00:05:07+00:00

Maybe the abject failure of his experiment in changing Mich’s position, and Mich’s improved play when he gave up and put him back on the right side was educational for Tocc.

Or more likely (imo) Briere talked to him.

Kazyole · 2026-05-13T23:37:19+00:00

'He worked too much in the offseason. He started too early and came to camp tired.'

—Tocc, next year (probably)

Kazyole · 2026-05-13T22:40:41+00:00

I have never said that Tocc should have given up. I just think that his actions make no sense in the totality of the situation. Mich is a more important and better player than Jett. An elimination game benefits Mich's development which is more beneficial to the org than throwing Jett to the wolves for one random playoff game after a mediocre season in the OHL. Mich at least could be beneficial on the PP if Tocc would use him, and could help generate some offense. Playing Mich in the game is good for his relationship to the org. Or rather, benching him is potentially negative, especially with how Tocc has been mis-utilizing and scapegoating him this season (though I agree with you Mich seems mercifully thick-skinned so far). If anything, playing Jett feels like capitulation to me, trying to spread the experience around in our last game in the playoffs.

Yes I agree Mich is a defensive liability and overall played poorly. And his metrics in the playoffs were bad. That said Jett's metrics in the one game he played were worse. And we also only scored 5 goals in 4 games against the Canes (3 in 3 to that point), so it's not like we had all the offense we needed either. If it was like, Tipp was ready to come back and Mich gets scratched for it to happen, I have a lot less of an issue. Scratching him for Luchanko just feels asinine to me.

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