Quote:
Originally Posted by Turboflex
70 points is crazy, but if Eller can play as well as Moore I will be estatic. That was a great rental pick up that turned the 3rd line from CRAP to very good. Great PK'er, forechecker, and put in 0.5 PPG, and then some HUGE playoff goals.
If Eller can do the same contributions & overall make our 3rd line respectable then it will be a huge improvment over last season where it was mostly garbage until Moore came.
Hopefully Eller can be our Jordan Staal for now.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tinyzombies
Not sure where this 70 point stuff came from. I've heard that his top end is the second line and he could very well be a third liner.
I'll agree with Fleury (for now), Osgood and Niemi, but that's about it. The other guys played elite hockey and are proven over time to be elite.
Also, Pittsburgh, Detroit and Chicago had teams that are light years away from anything we will produce. All of those teams have at least three franchise players on them. We have maybe one in Markov. You could make the argument that these teams benefited from being the first teams stacked with high picks in the cap era. But we will never have that luxury.
So goaltending for us needs to be elite imo. And Halak showed flashes of elite talent both during the regular season, at the Olympics and of course in the playoffs where it counts. You can't find goalies with the mix of mental fortitude and talent every day. Carey Price certainly has the talent, but he has big holes in his game. Mentally, I think he's done fine with all he's had to put up with, but the fundamental flaws he has are not shared by Halak (positioning, overplaying, tracking, glove hand and ability to make the big save... also, he does not seem to have the urgency Halak has... Halak is always on top of the puck).
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FlyingKostitsyn
I disagree. Look at what the elite goalies accomplished last year. Also look at recent cup winners : Marc Andre Fleury elite? Giguere elite?? Cam Ward elite??? Niemi elite???? OSGOOD? You have to go back to pre-lockout era from 2000 to 2003 to find elite goalies winning (Roy, Hasek and Brodeur in succession). You don't need an elite goalie, you need a good goalie in the middle of a hot streak.
A 70pt two way center is much harder to find than a good goalie (and we still have one anyways). I also think its just as likely that Halak stays an elite goalie than Eller becomes a 70+pt first line center. 70pts is a lot btw, I'll be thrilled if he consistantly produces 50 to 60pts.
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I don't know where YOU guys took that load of crap, but Eller actually has 70 points + potential. Every single Blues fan who followed him say so, and some of them even say he has more potential than any of Perron and Berglund. Many fans throughout the league who followed him mention this as well.
He might not have 70 points this year at the age of 21, but he sure as hell might break it several times in his career.