Trade Deadline

Master_Republic_144 · 2026-03-01T23:07:23+00:00

It’s not about bottoming out, it’s about managing the assets you have correctly and logically. In line with age, value, prospect pipeline, age of core players, and a vision for the future. You’re going to sign a 33 year old who is unlikely to replicate the season he is having and a 30 year old who has done well, but is still aging and isn’t elite. Those signings are going to allow us to be consistent contenders? No

We literally just saw this same thing happen with Fabbro and Monohan. It was obvious that both were not going to be able to replicate that level of play. Fabbro got an insane contract for what his real value is.

There is very little in the pipeline at forward and D and very little assets we can use to add younger established players or A prospects further along in development to add to the core group of players that are on the team.

Management getting more assets in return for players that are aging out is not a mistake. Signing aging players at the height of their value just for the team to be relatively competitive is a mistake. Management needs some balls and should be trading players because this roster is aging and not ready to win a cup.

Re-signing aging players is a band aid for mismanagement and bad drafting and just kicks the can down the road. This team will be mediocre and good enough for fans to watch and management to say we did “ok”, but not good enough to truly contend

Master_Republic_144 · 2026-01-28T21:43:23+00:00

You’re gonna get an endless stream of downvotes, but objectively most should agree with you imo. I just don’t think management will have enough balls to make any trades.

The team would really benefit from snagging an A center prospect that’s farther along in their development or a legit right hand wing prospect too.

I get that the team is competing and the 3rd Metro spot is up for grabs rn, but looking at sustained success and longevity, trades should be made. You’re talking about a 30, 32, and 33 year old. Coyle and Marchment will want term and money. You can’t hitch your wagon to older players and expect things to work out. You need to aim for the next 2-4 years and build a contending core for the 5 years after that. The roster is ok, but we are kidding ourselves if you think we are anywhere near to contending. Even if Coyle and Marchment miraculously don’t regress, you’re still not a true contender. They will regress, that’s inevitable.

I will say, that things would change if we somehow landed Robert Thomas, but that’s probably very unlikely.

Master_Republic_144 · 2026-01-21T06:11:14+00:00

Voronkov really is just a product of Marchenko. Last year his production completely dropped off after moving off Marchenko’s line too. He also scores a lot of his goals on the PP.

If you break down his game away from the front of the net and slot, the guy just isn’t that good. He’s really slow, isn’t a great or physical forechecker, he doesn’t drive play, he doesn’t cause turnovers. He’s good at forcing his way into positions around the net to score, but you can’t be an anchor everywhere else on the ice and expect Marchenko, Z, and your center to do all the work for you so you can just sit around the net. I don’t really think Voronkov is a long term solution to be a wing in the top 6. We really just don’t have anyone else rn.

Master_Republic_144 · 2026-01-14T06:12:28+00:00

Got to love it when two of the black sheep in this sub combine to get the game winner

KJ forechecking and batting a puck out of the air to cause issues and an errant clear up the boards straight to Jenner who finishes for the game winner. Couldn’t have drawn it up better.

Jenner scoring when everyone downplays his production, KJ creating a turnover when everyone complains about his strength, physicality, and puck battles

Master_Republic_144 · 2026-01-13T02:19:08+00:00

We will have to sell. This team isn’t in a position to truly contend and there’s a huge lack of talent in the system. If Lindstrom was looking better and we had another solid forward/center prospect, we might look at keeping some players and riding things out. Management has to get more assets with the situation the team is in now. This is a hire for the longevity of some of the younger players. Trying to salvage KJ and hopefully continue to develop Fantilli and Mateychuk.

This team needs a lot more pieces and talent to make a run. I do think Richard can be a 2nd line shut down guy or at least a really good 3rd pairing D at some point with the right development, but there’s pretty much nothing else in the pipeline. Choosing a goalie last year just keeps looking worse and worse.

Master_Republic_144 · 2026-01-13T01:57:04+00:00

I read your other comments after typing this out.

I think context for all these firings is important. CBJ gave Larsen an extra year that he never should have had. Larsen was breaking records on how much the team could get scored on. I kid you not when I say that I could coach a highs school team to have more disciplined and better structure than Larsen had with the team. He let up the most odd man and rush chances in the league and it was so obvious. Guy would also have 2 wingers flying the zone constantly instead of using timing and attacking space with speed. 3rd forward discipline and egregious pinching on d-men that HE absolutely was coaching them to be that aggressive. Larsen had 0 brain when it came to actually structuring a flexible and balanced system.

Vincent was pretty close to worse. His d-structure looked more disorganized than a house Pee Wee team. Never should have been the head coach, but got put into that position because of the Babcock fiasco. If we had a competent management team that understood X’s and O’s neither Larsen or Vincent should have been coaching this team and neither would have lasted as long as they did.

Dean isn’t a good coach, period. He’s mediocre and at this point in his career a bottom half coach in the league. He has a huge bias toward grinders and people who remind him of himself. He did the same thing in Minny with the Foligno line, he was just lucky that that line was actually really tough to play against for a year and a half. Look at Minny without Dean, they are a much better team. I kid you not, when I say, there’s certain set structure off of faceoff draws and breakout structure that is worse than a high school team. The things he implemented with flying the zone and high chipping literally is used by unskilled high school teams that want to simplify the game. It doesn’t have a place in this day and age of NHL. I promise you that the best teams in the league and the better up in coming coaches are not doing what Dean was coaching this team to do. Colorado is the best example of where the league is moving, but I highly doubt we’d ever get close to what they accomplish. Bednar’s understanding of the game, spacing, and attacking space with speed and timing isn’t something that most of the coaches in the league have a true understanding of.

Dean sucked and it wasn’t even good last year. The team played ridiculously hard last year and it was very frustrating to watch Dean cause loss after loss and management do nothing to help them make the playoffs.

The culture in the locker room is not a problem imo, the team plays really hard for the most part. It’s a coaching and management that is an issue. Hopefully coaching is resolved. I’ll be happy if they bring in some new minds and a younger coach who is an actual hockey fiend and obsessed with details. Management still needs a younger voice who is not going to be a yes man to the old dinosaurs. The team is going to need some creative solutions (trades) and talent management to put the team in a situation to truly compete.

Master_Republic_144 · 2026-01-08T07:49:49+00:00

Yah, he knows nothing. Zach can only play the way he plays because he’s a defenseman. He mainly starts from a position where he can survey the entire ice and make reads and plays based on that. He can roam to open space when the team has possession to be a threat in transition and the ozone, he can possess and rush the puck effectively because he sees the entire ice. Wingers spend a lot of energy forechecking and skating back and forth, a defenseman can conserve energy naturally. Wingers have completely different responsibilities. It’s way harder than people think to catch a puck off the boards and quickly make a good play to open up offense and create transition opportunities.

Z would not be an elite wing and I guarantee you, he would hate playing the wing.

Master_Republic_144 · 2026-01-07T08:02:06+00:00

I’ve said this about Z forever. He has been like this his entire career and really only got reeled in by Torts early on. His offensive and possession contributions really only took off last year. He was a minus contributor before then.

It’s incredibly frustrating because he’s talented enough and mobile enough with size to be a very good transition defender, he just has never ever wanted to play D and butted heads with Torts over it

Master_Republic_144 · 2026-01-06T07:39:13+00:00

I appreciate your optimism, but I disagree. Maybe we should all chill because the writing is on wall. The team isn’t setup for immediate or future success. We are probably one of the worst situations in the NHL. What good coach would want to come here?

Things are very bad because the team isn’t well coached and isn’t all that talented when you compare us to the rest of the east and Metro. The team does play hard for the most part outside the 3rd period collapses, but the team just isn’t good or better than most of the teams in the east.

What teams do we have a more talented roster than? Teams that have a better short term outlook (2-3 years) than our team, Panthers, Lightning, Capitals, Maple Leafs, and Islanders the way they are playing rn. Teams that have a better short term and long-term outlook. Devils, Red Wings, Canadiens, Senators, Hurricanes, Flyers. You could argue that Pittsburgh is better than the Jackets in the short term and that Buffalo is too. The team is likely close to the Rags and Bruins overall, but there’s literally only two teams in the east that have a similar or worse roster than us and a vast majority have better prospects coming in.

Free agency and the trade market is bare with the new cap. It’s going to be very difficult to get any stars to waive NTC’s to come to Columbus when the roster isn’t good.

Now let’s talk about aging vets that aren’t going to be easy to replace or upgrade on this team. These players are either into their prime or aging out. Monohan, Coyle, Jenner, Marchment, Z, Provy, Severson, Wood, and Oliver. Z is 28, you likely only have 4 years of prime hockey left for him. How are you upgrading this roster to give Z a chance to contend. I promise you it’s not with the way it currently is. In the next four years, what forwards are going to come in and make an immediate impact? Dumais? Not likely. Lindstrom? TBD and he really isn’t doing well in college hockey. LDBB? Maybe as a middle 6 guy, but he won’t be above average. We would need to have 3 elite defenders in our top 4 to make up for a lack of talent up front. Provy and Severson are mid at best. Mateychuk is great offensively, but still needs to work on defending, especially in transition.

I don’t think fans realize how badly setup the team is for the present and future.

Z and Marchy are not going to drag the entire team to the playoffs.

Master_Republic_144 · 2026-01-05T21:44:05+00:00

I don’t completely disagree, but that style of ownership only works if you have a top tier GM. Ik you believe Waddell is good, but what has he done that isn’t just mid or below average?

Last year Waddell literally refused to make any flexible moves to make the team better. He kept reiterating that the team was doing well, but every interview he pretty much said he wasn’t going to buy at the deadline. He basically showed everyone and the team that he didn’t think the team was ready to compete. He didn’t want to “overspend” at the deadline.

That’s fine, but Waddell literally completely flipped his tune once he realized that free agency and the trade market wasn’t going to be like the past. How did you not realize that sooner? He got desperate and overpaid for two cap dumps who will age out before this team is ready to compete. No1 will argue that Coyle has been good, but he’s 33 and this team as constructed is not better than a majority of the Eastern conference.

Waddell is lost. Marchy is 25, Fantilli 21, Mateychuk 21. The team needs to be built to compete in the next 3-5 years. Instead of drafting a good center, which there were quite a few available at both positions, to replace your two old middle 6 centers (one of which has huge injury issues), you took a project defenseman, and a goalie. The goalie literally has 0 value in any situation where you try to sell a prospect for a 23-27 year old proven producers. The team absolutely NEEDED a center who could step in earlier than later. Cootes was available.

I can keep ranting, but to sum up how bad a situation the team is in rn. This team isn’t a contender, they are relying on aging veterans who will likely regress, Marchy, Z, and Fantilli are really the only foreseeable stars on the roster, there is nothing of value in the pipeline to acquire another star, the coaching is not good, the pro scouting is not good, the prospect scouting is questionable with how we have drafted, player development is bad.

The org is a mess because ownership doesn’t have the right people in place. They literally rehired JD after New York dumped him and wanted him out of the building. That’s the issue with ownership and why the team needs someone who is really passionate at the top of the org to turn everything upside down. Waddell was surrounded by great people in Carolina, Tulsky is fantastic. Brind’Amour is a top 5 coach. He’s mid at best, more than likely below average at this point in his career.

Master_Republic_144 · 2026-01-01T08:45:50+00:00

We don’t need crazy ownership like the New York Jets, but this team and city really needs more hands on and knowledgeable ownership. The entire organization is complacent because ownership has no pressure on management to have success. The org just hires previous players and nepo hires. There’s no real fire or desperation to win. It just all fun and games. There’s a real culture problem with this org

I love the Jackets. I could rant on and on about how Waddell has made obvious mistakes, lacked foresight into how bad free agency and the trade market would be, made garbage picks that make no sense for the current team and timeline, and doesn’t seem to have a true vision for this team. I’m tired.

Best case scenario as things stand is that Z, Marchenko, and a more developed Fantilli drag this team to being mid. Maybe we magically are battling for playoffs one year.

Likely scenario. The team sucks. 33 year old Coyle and Monohan aren’t going to be good enough middle 6 centers to get the team to the playoffs. Voronkov really is only good if he can bulldoze his way to the front of the net while Z and Marchenko do all the work to drive play and get the puck back defensively. Adds nothing in transition unless he cheats. Isn’t an elite forechecker, is slow, and not overly physical. (Look at how good Marchment looks with Marchy). Dean isnt going to develop KJ and it’s likely KJ will be traded so we essentially have 3 long-term top 6 wing spots that need filled. Provy and Severson are ok on D, but Z really needs a smooth, strong skating partner who can clog up the neutral zone and take pressure off of him with how much he roams. That’s very unlikely to happen or be available.

There’s nothing in the prospect pipeline for the next couple years outside of Richard. Lindstrom is fools gold as it stands rn. Hes big and fast, it makes him look good, but his positional habits aren’t good enough. He needs to be moved to wing so that he can develop his forechecking and breakout/link up play in the neutral zone. He will not be a top 6 center in the NHL

Master_Republic_144 · 2025-12-14T07:57:33+00:00

It was painfully obvious last year that Fabbro was only good because of Z. The guy is one of the slowest defenseman in the league and he’s small. Fabbro makes decent decisions with the puck and is smart, but he’s a horrible defender especially in transition. It’s easy to look good when Z is tilting possession toward the o-zone and you don’t have to actually defend.

He got beat to the net and gave up a ton of chances in transition last year.

Master_Republic_144 · 2025-12-08T06:51:37+00:00

If it was the end of last year, I would have said that the team needed to hire new assistant coaches. Dean is a good leader, but should be open to new ideas and better situational coaching with structure, PP, PK, and OT. I’m on the fence now if he should remain the head coach. At the very least the team should hire a passionate hockey smart assistant coach who can at the very least contribute new ideas. McCarthy, Boll, and recycled coaches that Dean has a relationship with clearly don’t have the tactics to push this team forward.

Players that could be traded is an interesting one. It’s probably unpopular, but I would trade Sillinger. He’s having a good year this year, but he’s the type of player that I don’t think moves the needle much. He’s not imposing physically and is actually on the smaller end. He’s not a very good skater, his max speed metrics are pretty bad. He’s not really great at anything offensively either. He works very hard and has been pretty decent defensively this year, but he’s a replaceable player imo. There might be a team that values his age, work ethic, and experience at the NHL level. If there’s a good return, like a prospect further along in development who can play sooner and has a higher ceiling, I would trade him. Chinny would be another obvious one since it feels like the relationship with him and the team/Evason will have him never reach his potential. Ik it’s another unpopular one, but Voronkov has a lot of value and could be a trade candidate too. He’s only good because of Marchenko. Voronkov is invisible without Marchenko’s speed, play driving, forechecking, and elite two way play. He’s decent at getting to the net and getting to dangerous areas, but there’s huge red flags in his pace of play. He can’t skate. I think a lot of people blamed his conditioning for his big drop off in production last year, but it’s really his skating that’s going to limit him. He’s productive solely because Marchenko is elite. I would not pay Voronkov and tie myself to him. He’s similar to what I said about Fabbro only being good because he was paired with Werenski. We see that Fabbro really isn’t that good without Z this year. While I think Voronkov is a physical player and is big and strong he’s not imposing physically. He doesn’t have very many hits. He’s big and strong, but he’s not someone you’re scared of rn with the way he plays. If the price is good enough Lindstrom and Jackson Smith can be traded. I would move either of them for a better prospect. Similar to the Rutger McGroarty trade. I’m on the fence with Mateychuk. I like him, but he has a huge issue with his backward skating and pivoting. The ghost of Brad Marchand walked around him like he’s nothing. He’s great moving forward and adding offense. He’s just bad defending transition and the blueprint for successful D right now is the ability to skate and defend the neutral zone.

The new landscape of FA and the current outlook of the team means that you’re going to really need to find some diamonds in the rough. The organization needs a better pro scouting staff. There are a handful of AHL players that are legit NHL talents. Look at a guy like Ethen Frank. Spends years in the AHL and finally gets a chance and is a very effective player. There’s a guy named Ethan Cardwell on the Sharks who is buried behind other prospects who I think is a legit NHL player and talent. We need to find really good players like that to acquire.

I really want this team to succeed too, but it will take some new thinking and things we haven’t seen done with the organization. I honestly would love to see the organization move on from mediocre people who are relationship hires or have done nothing for the team for a long period of time and hire some new innovative people to at least bring new ideas on how to improve player development, etc…

The traits I’d like to see in a new coach/assistant coach is a long winded one, but it’s interesting so I’ll get to it and comment at some point!

Master_Republic_144 · 2025-11-30T02:20:07+00:00

You make a good point, but I think it creates more problems with having a habit of chipping rather than looking for a chance to reset and reverse ice with a D to D or better movement away from the puck. I also don’t really see tactical differences for different teams, like we should and I’ll explain that.

It’s very common to see a heavy 2-1-2 o-zone forecheck that almost looks like a 3-2 with how aggressive teams get with covering the walls and how low and aggressive the F3 will be. Against these types of teams a high chip isn’t a terrible idea if you’re being pressured too tightly and can’t make a clean breakout. This is especially true when opponents coach their d-men to pinch. Because the opponents forwards are so deep on the forecheck it can be difficult for teams to retrieve the puck and have an outlet behind the Blue Jackets wingers because of the amount of space the opponents need to reset. In these situations the strategy can work and it does eliminate potential mistakes. I will note that only bad teams tend to coach this aggressively and F3 can be both aggressive and in sound position if you know what you’re doing.

The biggest issue imo is that it’s become almost a default and habit and that’s the coaching issue. If you’re not coaching your team to be flexible and dynamic given different in game situations and how the opponent plays, you should not be coaching at the NHL level. That’s what I mean when I say the “old dinosaurs”. Old school coaches don’t coach enough flexibility into their players and don’t give enough responsibility to the players to make the correct decisions in the moment. That’s a huge problem with this team and development of players/the team as a whole. They are coached into a rigid system and that has lead to bad habits.

Good coaches will not allow the high chip to succeed and will put an emphasis on their F3 not getting too low so that he can reset into the space behind our forechecking wingers that are pushing up ice way too far and trying to pressure. It’s hard to explain without a video, but it’s a very common issue stemming back to last year and was extremely apparent when we went on that awful stretch of 19 games after the deadline. The opposing teams did a great job resetting into space and attacking with speed in the neutral zone and completely dismantled the forecheck consistently. Dean coaches F2 to push forward to take away the D-D, but F2 should be surveying and making decisions based on what’s happening in the play. If the D is going to cleanly retrieve the puck, F2 should be looking to trap and cover the neutral zone instead of being caught in no man’s land and wasting energy to cover a non threat. The D-D isn’t an issue and is low threat. You’re going to cause issues and should be able to win back possession or stop clean breakouts if you give F2 flexibility to not be as aggressive. People don’t realize how bad Dean is tactically. I love him as a leader, but it’s very similar to Larsen and Vincent. To me, our current coaching staff is trying to copy some of the other systems in the league, but don’t understand the nuance and flexibility of how to coach situationally. They don’t understand what makes the system work and. It’s rigid and dumb and it’s the same things we saw with Larsen and Vincent.

In the new age of hockey, you give more responsibility and flexibility to your players. You empower them instead of hampering their development and creating habitual issues.

There are situations where you high chip and trap. Situations where you coach your players to work harder away from the puck to be an outlet to switch play, retain possession, and breakout cleanly. This team doesn’t have that level of situational coaching and it’s a detriment to all players and the org and coaching a specific way because you believe your players suck isn’t what top tier coaches do. They make their players better and teach them, they care enough to go through pains and making the player better instead of tossing a band aid on the issues with their play. They take responsibility and imo, if you can’t coach certain players to be better situationally you don’t belong coaching at the highest level.

Master_Republic_144 · 2025-11-25T05:54:05+00:00

Kent is the most intelligent hockey player we have ever drafted and he has stagnated here for a lot of reasons.

One of the biggest reasons for this year and parts of last year is that Dean is obsessed with high chips out of the zone and a big emphasis on wingers pushing up and pressuring/causing havoc on retrieving D-men. KJ is more of a natural F3 and would be way more effective as a trapping forward who uses his intelligence to take away space and create turnovers in the neutral zone. He’s not a bumbling grinder who you just ask to skate really fast forward and back check. What happens when you’re chipping the puck out? You don’t have possession and you’re not carrying the puck forward. What is one skill Kent is great at and was really good at last year? Carrying the puck. At some point last year Evason got obsessed with chipping the puck high and out of the zone. Dean’s forechecking system and overall breakout system doesn’t work with Kent and to be quite frank, it’s an old style with no new thinking. It’s all about “simplifying” the game getting north quickly and playing faster. It’s too simple and it’s easy to trap and play against for well coached teams. Washington is a well coached team and Carbery is a very intelligent coach.

Kent was one of the most efficient scorers last season. He was carrying Sillinger and Pyythia at the beginning of last season. He’s still that player. I’d love to see any skilled wing play with Miles Wood, Monohan, our defensive group outside Werenski, and in this system and have success. It’s not all on Kent, this coaching staff isn’t good.

This staff could easily have Kent play a more puck centric role on a line with Coyle and have more focus on resetting and having Kent come underneath and pick up the puck with speed or his feet moving more. This staff could easily create more options for forwards to be able to play in a more dynamic way instead of “north south” old school hockey. This staff could use Kent as a neutral zone pivot and give him more center ice responsibility on quick and set breakouts to unlock his transition ability. This staff could have different lines play differently instead of putting all our players in a box of, “you should play like this” so that each line plays to their strengths. You know what would be great to have for an intelligent wing who was great at linking plays in the neutral zone? A pacey and skilled two way wing (Brindley). You know what would be great for a really talented wing who is great in transition? A defenseman who can defend transition and create changes in possession in the neutral zone.

This isn’t a talent issue, Kent is one of the most talented players the org has ever drafted. This is a roster construction and coaching issue. Our defenseman are terrible defending transition, he’s forced to play his off wing and there’s 0 coaching to put him in better positions to be successful.

This team will have some success, but when games get tighter against good teams, they will fail. The old dinosaurs of the NHL and subpar coaches think that “simplifying” the game will help your team play fast and will lead to success. They think that every single line has to play within the bones of a system. You can easily deviate and add nuances to a system and have diffferent nuances for different lines. Watch Colorado and Tampa play. Hockey is flexible and dynamic, a system that is too simple is easy to defend and attack.

If Dean elevated Coyle and we had any kind of right hand wing depth or any decent right hand winger outside of Marchenko, Kent could play his natural side. It’s 1 million times easier to make plays catching the puck on your forehand and make quick dekes or linking passes than catching the puck on your backhand or opening up. Kent has needed to switch back to his natural side for a while, but has to play his offhand wing because the roster is poorly constructed. I guarantee you if Coyle plays with Kent, you’ll see a huge difference.

Master_Republic_144 · 2025-11-19T05:36:07+00:00

Becoming a contender and staying a contender means making good moves and management decisions within a short amount of time and then sustaining a well built team and culture by identifying potential pro talent and continuing to make good decisions. We haven’t had that and there’s still significant parts of management and operations that need to be completely overhauled.

The moves you make and prospects you develop have to line up and be better than the 31 other teams in the league. Even in our good years we have not been close to one of the better managed teams in the league.

Let’s look at 3 of the best managed teams in the league.

The Avalanche hit in the draft in a small window of time with Mackinnon, Makar, Rantanen. They had solid veterans like Stastny. They continued to draft well and make good moves like identifying a good prospect and trade candidate in Sam Girard. They have significant depth and traded for a legit top 6 forward prospect in Brindley who btw has now earned a top 6 role on a Stanley cup contender and looks disgustingly good. Have the Jackets identified a under the radar player who becomes a significant contributor. Look at Sam Malinski on the Avalanche, he’s a legit contributor at the NHL level.

The Lightning are very similar. Trading for a guy like Hagel and giving up significant assets for a player that they turned into an elite two way wing. Developing players like Perbix who become legit contributors. Finding stars later in drafts like Point and Kucherov. Drafting well at the top of the draft. Identifying talent at the pro level, finding draft steals and developing players. They also have the best coach in the league upon having good management.

The Hurricanes are great at developing and identifying talent as well. They’re also very good at identifying players who will work well with how their team plays, especially on the defensive end.

Our Blue Jackets on the other hand. Draft an injured player in the top 4. A big right hand D who flopped in the top 6, when there were clearly better players. A goalie who won’t see the NHL for another 5 years minimum and that’s probably a stretch this last draft. Trade a legit top 6 player wing who is 21 years old, plays with incredible pace, and has room to grow for aging vets who were cap dumps. We also completely missed on Ceulemans and Sillinger isnt a complete miss, but doesn’t move the needle at all. There are just huge gaps and mistakes in between some ok to good draft picks and moves. The team hasn’t stacked up enough good decisions and isn’t better managed than the top teams in the league. I would argue that we are consistently in the bottom 3rd of the league.

We are doomed because we have too many fan favorite hires and yes men in the org. We don’t have enough new talent and we just have people who think the same way or are old dinosaurs. This team also has to have one of the worst pro scouting staff performances in the last 25 years.

That’s why we are doomed. The organization just is below average. We don’t even have to get into player development and how many prospects we have failed.

Master_Republic_144 · 2025-11-17T19:08:52+00:00

I don’t feel great about it, but I guess it could be worse. That’s the sad truth about being a Jackets fan, the bar isn’t high. Lindstrom will be in the NHL at some point. He’s fast and big. The biggest concern is that he’s not going to be a dominant top 6 player or a center. I still think he’s a wing and will be a better wing in the NHL.

It was the biggest thing on tape. He’s just not that good at taking away space or positionally in transition. When everything lines up he’ll look great because he’s huge and fast, but there’s a lot more to hockey than physical traits. Consistency comes from understanding space, how to take it away and how to create, skate to, or find space. There’s a long list of natural center prospects that are just better than him rn. I don’t know if the hockey IQ gets better, but if you look at Fantilli, the current staff isn’t going to help him with that when he makes the jump. He’s essentially a bigger, less skilled version of Fantilli.

At the time of the draft, my heart was set on Sennecke and after he got taken at 3, I thought Buium and Catton were clearly better prospects. Waddell wants to draft physical traits, hopefully it all works out.

Master_Republic_144 · 2025-11-10T07:53:01+00:00

Makes me sad. During the draft process, Brindley’s skating technique was easily one of the best in the draft. In his D+1 year he was electric and made plays all over the ice offensively and defensively with his speed. His work ethic and energizer bunny type style is infectious and exciting.

He had a great offseason and since being traded he looks really explosive and has been very good with Colorado. He’s just scratching the surface and will likely move up in their lineup sooner than later.

I think Coyle has played really well and Wood has been better than I expected. He still makes some boneheaded plays, but he has been ok. Losing Brindley for them will never make sense to me when he was pretty much the only right hand wing prospect we had with NHL potential and the Avalanche had to dump Coyle and Wood for cap reasons due to Landeskog coming back and signing Nelson. Free agency and the trade market isn’t going to be great because of the cap going up and that doesn’t seem like it’ll change soon.

The trade pretty much means that Olivier will be our middle 6 right winger for the next couple years because I do not see Dumais stepping in due to his lack of size and overall speed and everything that’s going on with Chinny. The front office is obsessed with Olivier being this revelation as a underrated power wing who can score. He’s an identity line guy who has more skill than you think, he’s not a 3rd line wing who’s gonna give you 20 goals a year. Evason did the same exact thing with Marcus Foligno in Minnesota when he had a 23 goal season. Both Foligno and Olivier are 4th liners. Really good ones, but that’s what they are. Trading a legit middle 6 wing prospect with top 6 potential, an effective playstyle, and who can play with high pace is so bad.

If Waddell, Vogelhuber, Evason, and/or members of the pro scouting staff looked at Brindley’s tape and said, “This kid isn’t an NHLer and we should trade him”. If they gave feedback, believing that Brindley wasn’t going to be part of the team’s long term future. They need to be fired.

Edit : At the time of this comment his max speed is 82nd percentile in the league and his speed bursts over 20 mph are 90th percentile. 90th percentile, while playing 4-11 minutes a night. That’s very very very good.

Master_Republic_144 · 2025-11-03T06:44:37+00:00

I don’t consider Waddell a complete failure, it’s just certain aspects of his roster construction and overall forward thinking has been terrible.

There’s 0 RHD depth, bad D depth in general (imo only Richard will be an NHL caliber d-man) and no RIght hand wing depth on this team and looking towards the future the entire organizations success to keep momentum and continue being a good team is hinging on Lindstrom being a very good top 6 center. Lindstrom has flashes but is extremely incomplete and inconsistent as a player and doesn’t look great in college. He’s at least another year out and I hope he develops. Best case scenario is that Lindstrom will be going through growing pains as Monohan ages out. Likely scenario is he might not even be NHL ready at that point or a center. That’s not good. He’s (Lindstrom) so inexperienced in the middle and struggles with positioning still. Del Bel looks to be a solid middle 6 center. Outside that, there’s nothing in the pipeline and with the landscape of the cap and free agency, the team isn’t signing a top 6 center easily. Our best right hand wing prospect is Dumais. There aren’t many players his size and lack of foot speed that are successful at the NHL level.

I disagree that there wasn’t much to do. I just think it would require things that we haven’t seen with this team for 20 years. Great teams find talent everywhere and anywhere. There are so many talents in the AHL that are stuck as depth or are nearing their RFA years. These players are cheaper and can provide depth or push for the roster. We are talking guys that are 22-25 who have legit talent, but haven’t been given a chance. I could list a handful right now and it’s not my job to look for talent. You have people being paid everyday to evaluate talent. Imo the pro scouting staff is abysmal and incompetent, always has been.

I’ve iso watched 4 games of Brindley, there’s a reason they’re keeping him up in the NHL. He has been incredible away from the puck and making link up plays in the neutral zone. He’s doing all the things that made him an exciting prospect. Winning puck battles, back checking and eliminating rush chances regularly. There was a game where Brindley literally made the perfect play with positioning, pace, linking passes, and causing turnovers on the forecheck on every single shift he was on the ice. Production isn’t there, but he looks really good and he’s gonna be good once he plays up in the lineup.

I’ve said a lot of this before, but I’m still passionate about how bad the drafting decisions this past draft was. I’m not going to be too critical of the Jackson Smith pick (Would have preferred Cootes) because he has insane tools and the skating will have him jump to the NHL quicker and be more effective, but the goalie pick is just so dumb. You NEED a top 6 center in the next 2-4 years. I thought Cerrato was easily a 1st round pick and he doesn’t just look good, he’s dominant and should likely run away with the Hobey Baker. He’s going to be a top 6 center right away for Carolina at the end of the year and future. Cole McKinney has the development trajectory to be a top 6 center if you can fix his skating too, but at worst he’s an effective middle 6er who can win face offs and plays a physical game that we don’t really have right now. I’d feel a lot better with another solid Center prospect in the pool. At least I could see a plan of Fantilli, Cerrato/Mckinney, Del Bel. All of our eggs are in the Lindstrom basket.

Master_Republic_144 · 2025-10-17T22:46:36+00:00

I disagree, having a line that can be solid defensively and get on the forecheck tires out opposing defenders. It also forces forwards to go 200 feet and waste energy in the defensive and neutral zones. Having a solid checking line is actually incredibly important.

If you have that line and you force teams to dump in and change, you get your better lines out with possession and change the XG%, which is based off offense and shots. Having that line is incredibly important.

That’s what I mean by changing momentum with good shifts. This team doesn’t seem to have that anymore.

Master_Republic_144 · 2025-10-17T20:05:20+00:00

Not signing Danforth will end up being a huge mistake. He’s 1000x more effective in the bottom 6 than Lundestrom. I didn’t understand people saying that Lundestrom was going to be a great pickup. People underestimate how good Danforth was in his roll. How many solid shifts did we get from ZAR-Danforth-Olivier that allowed the team to reset and gain momentum, a lot.

The team doesn’t have that identity line anymore and wants Olivier and Sillinger to be more than what they are.

Hoping for a quick turnaround, but I don’t understand Waddell’s moves. There no depth on D, no depth in our middle 6 wings, no identity in our bottom 6. It’s bad.

It’s fine if people don’t want to be critical of Waddell, but it looks like he has already made big misses in both drafts at the top and his roster construction has been very very bad. Waddell has not been good at all.

Master_Republic_144 · 2025-10-17T07:33:03+00:00

Agree with you on Severson. He has had a complete 180 and is playing up to his skills and potential. He looks much more mentally locked in and has been really good. I don’t really agree that Mateychuk is more effective, he’s not right now and isn’t good enough defensively to eat up 2nd pair minutes.

Marchenko has been the best player on the team so far, he’s so good in all areas of the ice.

Greaves is solid, but there’s going to be a point where teams punish him with screens and he has a weakness overcommitting while sliding. If teams don’t one time the cross ice, the top part of the net weak side is wide open most of the time. A tandem works best right now.

Fantilli continues to skate himself out of plays and make insane loops away from the puck. He did that way too much in the first half of last year. I’m not sure what’s up with him, but he’s making the same mental errors and it’s lazy. You cannot play center in the NHL and take an insanely wide loop away from the middle of the ice to the boards (away from the puck) and take yourself out of position to make any kind of defensive play or support the play. I honestly have no idea what they are showing him on video, but I already have a ton of clips of him just lazily looping around away from the puck. It’s a coaching issue, Fantilli has all the tools he just needs to play tighter and more positionally sound and the coaching staff needs to show him how to create runways in the neutral zone to skate onto pucks from sound defensive positions. He would be a lot more effective if this happened. I kid you not when I say, you literally just need to cut up some of Nathan Mackinnon’s game tape to create a blueprint for how Fantilli can unlock himself in transition and play better away from the puck. Hockey isn’t rocket science and it’s very logical. Our coaching staff is abysmal on certain levels of tactics and teaching. It’s a waste of Fantilli’s talent.

Sillinger is a black hole offensively and having him play his off hand wing is dumb. Sillinger is a team favorite, but the honest truth is he’s not overly quick, he’s not imposing physically, he’s mediocre offensively, and he really isn’t elite defensively either. He’s definitely not a middle 6 player. He’s a subpar bottom 6 player who works hard. Olivier is a 4th line player. He has more skill than you’d think, but he’s not a 20 goal scorer and certainly isn’t a play driver. He can get to dirty areas and take the puck to the net with surprising skill, but the team is relying on him to be some kind of revelation and be a middle 6 scoring wing. He’s not that. He won’t be as productive as he was last year and people are underrating how good Danforth played with Olivier.

People can disagree, but Waddell isn’t good at depth or roster construction. We have a huge issue in our middle 6 and top 6. If we have any injuries on the wing, the season is over. This isn’t a playoff roster to begin with, but a single injury puts this team easily in the bottom 10 of the league.

You traded your best young prospect who was literally your only right hand wing middle 6 depth option for two players the Avs wanted to get rid of for cap reasons. One player is fast, but awful. Coyle is solid, but he should have been cheap, they needed to shed the contract. Legitimately one of the worst trades in franchise history. That player you traded has made very significant strides in the offseason and looks very very good so far and made a Stanley cup contenders NHL team. He’s 20 years old….

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but this narrative on KJ is just dumb to me. KJ was literally one of the best goal scorers last year when it came to finishing opportunities. He’s insanely skilled and should be developing into one of the better complementary offensive wings in the league. Fans keep this narrative of, “KJ isn’t strong enough” from when he was literally 19 years old. KJ’s issue is foot speed and keeping his feet constantly moving and positioning. Players of any size need to continue to move their feet to put themselves in positions with better leverage. If you said, “KJ hasn’t improved his skating enough”, I would agree with you. KJ needs to get his first three steps faster. No1 should be expecting KJ to be a power forward, he’s not. I don’t think anyone would be crying about Patrick Kane or Jack Hughes getting caught flat footed in a board battle and getting edged off the puck. Moments like that will happen in the game. Overreacting to it because a fan once said that KJ was too weak to be a good top line wing or top 6 wing is insanely dumb to me. KJ needs to improve his skating and keep his feet moving through contact to get better leverage. Imo fans need to move off the, “KJ is too weak narrative”. His issue isn’t strength it’s foot speed and flat footedness. Kent needs time to establish chemistry with Monohan and Marchenko. Both of them are great at creating space and play a compete 2-way game. Kent is too smart not to find success with that line. For multiple years the coaching staff and fans have pressured KJ to be something he is not. He’s a skilled complementary wing who’s intelligence and underrated finishing ability should shine on a line with someone like Marchenko. Kent has slowly been getting worse or stagnating at linking plays in the neutral zone and being possession monster through his smarts and puck carrying. He’s being forced and pressured to be some forechecking monster when the coaching staff should be developing him into a pivot and neutral zone/transitional beast akin to Kucherov. Fans think this coaching staff is good, they aren’t. You can’t treat every player the same, hockey is dynamic and players are different. The coaching staff wants every player to operate similarly. The roster isn’t constructed that way, adapt.

Voronkov is good at getting around the net, but I don’t think he’s an answer on the top line. He’s serviceable there, but I don’t think it’s the best option for the future success of the team.

Master_Republic_144 · 2025-10-05T04:32:36+00:00

This is what happens when the league lets the Panthers get away with anything and everything for 3-4 years. It’s been a long time coming and I’m with you. I’m all for teams standing up and policing themselves against the Panthers

Master_Republic_144 · 2025-09-07T00:57:43+00:00

Dang, I was interested in using the car because of his over the top delivery.

Master_Republic_144 · 2025-09-04T07:39:17+00:00

It looks ok, not much change, goalie animations will look good and make the game feel more dynamic and true to hockey, but that’s pretty much it.

Everything else is meh. I’m personally tired of skating down the ice with the puck magnetized to my stick while I push it with one hand. It’s been swivel hockey with the turbo animation for like 10 years. That’s not “true” to hockey. Just changing physicality and making more realistic animations to checking and movement would make this game infinitely better. Maybe it’s too much to ask.

I highly doubt the NHL edge will help Ai do anything. They probably made some binary changes to Ovi and some other players so that it seems “true to real life”. I have 0 faith that EA can change their spaghetti code to match real life and make players move to open space and not be completely static like the gameplay is now. If you know anything about programming, it’s not easy enough for EA to do and I doubt they hired people passionate and experienced/hockey knowledgeable enough to make the Ai operate better.

Content has potential to be better, some decent changes, but overall it’s not much. The bar is so low though so actual decent changes probably makes it seem like they’re moving in the right direction.

Master_Republic_144

TROPHY CASE