Few points:
- Järnkrok & Pulkkinen coming over next season and if not ready for the NHL will play in GR.
- Bäckman will play in Linköping next season and is "2-3 years away from being ready (for the NHL) if he continues to develop at this pace".
- On Marchenko: "We'll make a decision on bringing him over, if he wants to come. Good chance for next year. A lot will depend on him.'' "He must decide whether to come to North America, where he would be playing in Grand Rapids, or remain in the KHL, where he'd earn more money."
“Let them come to camp and see where they fit in,'' Nill said. “If they're ready, good. If not, they'll go to Grand Rapids.''
No roster spots available --> they go down no matter what.
And that's a good thing.
Only expansion draft could change the situation, where we lose two players for new Seattle and Quebec teams. Could that be the reason why Holland hoarded so many UFA forwards?
Through 2 games so far Ouellet is tied with Rielly for the defense lad in points for Canada. Both have a goal and 2 assists. I havent watched the game today yet but its on TSN at 12, got a message from a buddy saying he had a pretty sick assist against slovakia though
That puts him in the defensive scoring lead for the tourny I believe
Don't agree that Backman is a finesse player with no physical play. Even if he's not a hitter he has a very aggressive play the body style along the boards. He's using his size well in that respect and will only get more effective with weight.
Wings are also taking this U22 thing to play in AHL very literally.
Don't agree that Backman is a finesse player with no physical play. Even if he's not a hitter he has a very aggressive play the body style along the boards. He's using his size well in that respect and will only get more effective with weight.
Wings are also taking this U22 thing to play in AHL very literally.
I don't see how they're going to keep Jarnkrok and Ouellet down in the AHL till they're 23. Both look much more seasoned than your typical prospect.
I don't see how they're going to keep Jarnkrok and Ouellet down in the AHL till they're 23. Both look much more seasoned than your typical prospect.
I meant this transfer agreement that says players U22 taken after the 1st round can return to their SEL team if they don't make the NHL. I.e. Backman could next season negate going to the AHL, therefore Wings make is sound like he's not eligible to play there.
There's by the way a newspaper article today about player salaries in the SEL(they're not made official by the teams). They've categorized the players and Calle fell into the category making between $90k-180k/yr. Very good deal for his team to say the least.. A select few players in the league make up towards $500k/yr.
Don't agree that Backman is a finesse player with no physical play. Even if he's not a hitter he has a very aggressive play the body style along the boards. He's using his size well in that respect and will only get more effective with weight.
I agree with you on this but I guess that's their way of saying that he doesn't hit etc. I've actually been surprised how much more aggressive he seems compared to last season. Even though he doesn't shy away from contact, he likes to use his positioning, pokecheck and smarts instead of simply running over guys. He still needs to add weight and get stronger.
Pulkkinen got an assist on their OT-winner tonight. Pulled a couple of opponents on to himself and then passed to an open D-man who scored. He set up some chances earlier such as a breakaway for his linemate but no goals. Karlsson will play his last game tomorrow so it will be interesting to see how they change their first PP unit. With Karlsson they have only 1 d-man so if they move to two it might mean taking Pulkkinen off that unit. They play again tomorrow against local rival HIFK.
There's by the way a newspaper article today about player salaries in the SEL(they're not made official by the teams). They've categorized the players and Calle fell into the category making between $90k-180k/yr. Very good deal for his team to say the least.. A select few players in the league make up towards $500k/yr.
Does this mean Jarnkrok would earn more $ in the AHL than the SEL? I know he may make the jump straight to Detroit but it would be nice if he wasn't ready for the NHL that he would be willing to go to Grand Rapids for a bit.
Does this mean Jarnkrok would earn more $ in the AHL than the SEL? I know he may make the jump straight to Detroit but it would be nice if he wasn't ready for the NHL that he would be willing to go to Grand Rapids for a bit.
If he signs same contract as Tatar (I presume he will, both were 2nd round picks) his siging bonus would be $90k and his AHL salary $65k. He would get $155k for sure.
If and when he gets a chance in NHL, his NHL salary would be 640k.
So if he'll get ~20 games in NHL and stays in AHL the rest of the season, he could get 25% of the NHL salary (160k), 75% of the AHL salary (48k) and that signing bonus (90k)
Total of $298k. That beats his Elitserien earnings pretty easily. It's not really a money thing. He will get his millions later.
***
For Marchenko, there could be a huge difference. He is much much more far away from NHL than Järnkrok and KHL can pay much more than SEL for him. I understand it better. But Marchenko had some willingness to come and is interested about English and American culture. I read something like that about his background. He is interested to come, not a shy typical Russian with language problem who doesn't wan't to leave his home-coutry, if good money and spot to play is available there.
Few points:
- Järnkrok & Pulkkinen coming over next season and if not ready for the NHL will play in GR.
- Bäckman will play in Linköping next season and is "2-3 years away from being ready (for the NHL) if he continues to develop at this pace".
- On Marchenko: "We'll make a decision on bringing him over, if he wants to come. Good chance for next year. A lot will depend on him.'' "He must decide whether to come to North America, where he would be playing in Grand Rapids, or remain in the KHL, where he'd earn more money."
Good info. I wonder how much of Nil's opinion is based on each player and/or the player's agent. For instance Jarnkrok and Pulkkinen seem intent on coming over and that's why Nil suggests they will come over. Jarnkrok certainly seems ready however Pulkkinen doesn't seem anywhere close to being NHL ready IMO. If they are coming over regardless it helps to explain Nil's comment on it's either NHL or AHL for both players.
With Backman perhaps there's less interest playing in GR and he's not a surefire guy like Jarnkrok so Nil comments he'll spend at least 1 more year in Sweden or could need 3 more seasons to become an NHL caliber d-man. My take has tended to be that Backman wouldn't come over until he's a good bet for the NHL roster but that's based on absolutely nothing, just a guess on my part.
With Marchenko he has always expressed interest in coming to NA and as Nil points out he would have been Russia's #1 dman in the WJC if not for injury. The talent is obviously there but Marchenko may not be keen on coming over if he's not likely to make the big club. So that might be why Nil is more circumspect and doesn't sound as confident on Marchenko coming to NA as he does in regards to Jarnkrok and Pulkkinen.
At least most of them are showing solid improvement and are in the conversation for playing in NA within the next few seasons.
Xavier Ouellet's back door feed to Rattie was sick. I really like what I have seen from his defensive game as well.
I was watching my hometown OHL team tonight so I didn't watch any of the Wings prospects but I do plan on taking advantage of the free views and check in on some of them tomorrow.
