Top 4 for many years to come - throw in Baranka, Lifiton, Pock and one of the best goalies in the league and our defense looks outstanding for the future.
Top 4 for many years to come - throw in Baranka, Lifiton, Pock and one of the best goalies in the league and our defense looks outstanding for the future.
Top 4 for many years to come - throw in Baranka, Lifiton, Pock and one of the best goalies in the league and our defense looks outstanding for the future.
IMHO our defense will have to have some veterans in the mix... I think of the following players, we will only see 4 of them in the mix:
Staal
Sauer
Tyutin
Girardi
Sanguinetti
I mean how many NHL teams have an entire defensive core under the age of 26? I can't think of any...
Tyutin and Girardi have pretty much secured their spots... Staal we know will be a lock.... What's nice is that with Sanguinetti & Sauer we hare an almost sure fire shot that at least one of them will develop into an NHL Caliber defenseman, and a good one at that...
Outside of Staal, I'd be much more nervious if there was just one additional good defensive prospect that we were banking on to make it... But we got 2!
IMHO our defense will have to have some veterans in the mix... I think of the following players, we will only see 4 of them in the mix:
Staal
Sauer
Tyutin
Girardi
Sanguinetti
I mean how many NHL teams have an entire defensive core under the age of 26? I can't think of any...
Tyutin and Girardi have pretty much secured their spots... Staal we know will be a lock.... What's nice is that with Sanguinetti & Sauer we hare an almost sure fire shot that at least one of them will develop into an NHL Caliber defenseman, and a good one at that...
Outside of Staal, I'd be much more nervious if there was just one additional good defensive prospect that we were banking on to make it... But we got 2!
Very true. no team ever completely home grows their defense. Those of you who cant wait to see someone like sauer, dont get your hopes up. Some of these guys maybe traded in the near future.
If Bobby S. pans out, Sauer will definitely be the odd man out because of Sanguinetti's offensive intangibles.... Although I guess it's not out of the question that Sauer could outplay Girardi but who knows...
If Bobby S. pans out, Sauer will definitely be the odd man out because of Sanguinetti's offensive intangibles.... Although I guess it's not out of the question that Sauer could outplay Girardi but who knows...
ideally....
you have Sauer and Staal as shut-down guys, and i assume they could be paired with the Offensive guy(s) to balance the pairings. i dont think Sanguinetti has much on Sauer in terms of getting in his way.
He looks great with the puck. Very smooth and very confident.
Yeah, didn't he?
Smooth like silk.
Staal, Anisimov, Cherepanov, Montoya, Sanguetti and Korpikoski -- thats some talent with got in the pipeline. Amazing. There aren't much not to like about thoose 6. Then we got someone like Dubinsky who is pretty square, but still a very good prospect.
I saw some talk earlier with "fear" of overrating what we got, but we defenitly aren't.
I mean, just look at how many kids we aren't talking about at all basically. Jessiman, Byers, Baranka, Immonen, Dawes, Olver, Ryan, Greg Moore among many others. Thoose 7-8 kids compares with what we had before, like Mottau's and Dube's.
We have had a ton of picks, some high and a bunch of 2nd rounders. Its starting to really pay of and it looks like our scouts are dooing a really good job.
i agree that there will be vets mixed in on the blueline...and one vet likely to be here for a long time is roszival. but i think you guys are dead wrong to just assume that sauer is gonna be the oddman out. sauer is projected to be a LOT better then tyutin and girardi, so if sauer pans out and ends up being better then those 2, what makes you think anyone in their right mind would dump him instead of 1 of those 2? just because they are in the nhl first that doesn't mean they are forever better then the kids to come along later.
i agree that there will be vets mixed in on the blueline...and one vet likely to be here for a long time is roszival. but i think you guys are dead wrong to just assume that sauer is gonna be the oddman out. sauer is projected to be a LOT better then tyutin and girardi, so if sauer pans out and ends up being better then those 2, what makes you think anyone in their right mind would dump him instead of 1 of those 2? just because they are in the nhl first that doesn't mean they are forever better then the kids to come along later.
yeah but in four years, Tyutin and Girardi will be vets! Staal will be one of those young stars like Regyhr.
IMO Sauer definitely makes the NHL. Give him 1-2 years in Hartford. Sangers is looking good too. He'll probably be ready to jump straight to the NHL after his final year in the O this year just like Staal will, but 1 year in Hartford won't hurt. He'll be knocking really hard at that time. We should be set up to make some trades then. Baranka isn't going anywhere. I mean this in that our blueline is too crowded at the moment. He'll have to beat Staal out for that spot and I'm doubting that will happen. Some sort of trade or injury would have to happen for a spot to upon up. And then he has to beat Pock out as well.
I mean, just look at how many kids we aren't talking about at all basically. Jessiman, Byers, Baranka, Immonen, Dawes, Olver, Ryan, Greg Moore among many others. Thoose 7-8 kids compares with what we had before, like Mottau's and Dube's.
We have had a ton of picks, some high and a bunch of 2nd rounders. Its starting to really pay of and it looks like our scouts are dooing a really good job.
That first paragraph is actually one of the best points I've ever seen made on this board about our prospects. You can tell the difference between the top-flight guys in Staal, Monty, Cherepanov, Anisimov, Sanguinetti, etc... then we've got guys no one really talks about anymore... Immonen, Jessiman, Ryan, Olver, etc... back in the day, we would overhype guys like the latter 4, and our expectations wouldn't even come close to being met. But now, we have those top-flight guys as mentioned before, and then we've got tweeners. Guys who are going to be great players, but not at that upper echelon. Korpikoski, Pyatt, Callahan, Dupont, Byers, Dubinsky... guys who could be very important pieces somewhere down the road, but just won't have that top-flight impact. You need those kinds of players. You win with them.
We could arguably see 1 or 2 of either Callahan, Dubinsky, Dupont, Byers, or Moore up with the team next year. Dupont would be an excellent player for our 3rd/4th line as he's responsible in both ends, can score some goals whether it be with his shot or garbage goals, and is an excellent physical presence. Byers and Moore are also along the lines of Dupont. We all know about Dubi and Cally, and what they're capable of doing, as we've seen them both at the NHL level, especially Cally.
We've got an excellent team right now, and an excellent team for the future, waiting to happen. We're in a very enviable position right now.
