Are you serious? Maybe I'm missing something, but between Filppula and Hudler (both drafted the same year as Ericsson) he seems to be developing fairly slowly, and still have some pretty major flaws in his game, maybe he still has alot of upside and it's just taken him longer to get going, he was admittedly a late draft pick.
I just personally did not see the defensive ability that I would hope to see in a future first liner this year in his NHL games.
Defensemen take longer to develop. I personally think he has the top pairing poise. Its a reach at the moment. But give him 3 years of NHL play time he might be a top pairing guy. Hard to tell.
Are you serious? Maybe I'm missing something, but between Filppula and Hudler (both drafted the same year as Ericsson) he seems to be developing fairly slowly, and still have some pretty major flaws in his game, maybe he still has alot of upside and it's just taken him longer to get going, he was admittedly a late draft pick.
I just personally did not see the defensive ability that I would hope to see in a future first liner this year in his NHL games.
Ericsson has only been a defenseman for 7 years. He was originally a center, but turned defenseman at the age of 18.
Ericsson just started playing defense like 2 years ago. He got almost zero playing time in Sweden so he essentially just started developing when he got to GR. I think offensively he is definitly good enough to be a top 4 right now. If he can work on his positioning he'll be a top pairing dman. He just has to learn how to use his size better in regards to positioning. He already uses his stick well but he needs to get out there with Stu and Lids for awhile to get his d game going. Remember this guy came in with like 10 games experience and looked very good in the playoffs for a rookie play 15-20 min a night.
Defensemen take longer to develop. I personally think he has the top pairing poise. Its a reach at the moment. But give him 3 years of NHL play time he might be a top pairing guy. Hard to tell.
To be honest I didn't see Ericsson make many mistakes during the playoffs. The one that he did was because Osgood was an idiot and passed it to him when he wasn't ready. That responsibility of the goalie giving it to the defensemen for the outlet pass is a mutual responsibility, and there were 2 opposing players roaming the zone.
He played tremendously for a Rookie, let's not forget he didn't even play much in the Regular Season. He was, in essence, thrown to the wild. Imagine him with a season under his belt.
He has good hockey IQ, good skating for a big man, good lateral ability, size, medium speed, great vision.
You'll see. I'm very surprised that more people don't see how good this kid will be. He played well when Lidstrom was gone against Chicago. All the seasoning.
To be honest I didn't see Ericsson make many mistakes during the playoffs. The one that he did was because Osgood was an idiot and passed it to him when he wasn't ready. That responsibility of the goalie giving it to the defensemen for the outlet pass is a mutual responsibility, and there were 2 opposing players roaming the zone.
He played tremendously for a Rookie, let's not forget he didn't even play much in the Regular Season. He was, in essence, thrown to the wild. Imagine him with a season under his belt.
He has good hockey IQ, good skating for a big man, good lateral ability, size, medium speed, great vision.
You'll see. I'm very surprised that more people don't see how good this kid will be. He played well when Lidstrom was gone against Chicago. All the seasoning.
Naw. I'm a quote-agreer-type. Usually I quote to support, not argue. Haha. Happens often in rela life when people agree with me, since I elaborate and express my opinion anyway
Kobasew is a fun player to watch, and I really hope Boston doesn't deal him. Pretty underated considering he can notch in 20 goals and plays a gritty game. But unfortunately to Bruin fans if you make 2.5 million you have to score 40 goals or play like Neely.
That said, if they do trade him and the deal has Lebda coming to Boston in any capacity I think I'll cry.
Kobasew is a fun player to watch, and I really hope Boston doesn't deal him. Pretty underated considering he can notch in 20 goals and plays a gritty game. But unfortunately to Bruin fans if you make 2.5 million you have to score 40 goals or play like Neely.
That said, if they do trade him and the deal has Lebda coming to Boston in any capacity I think I'll cry.
Kobasew is a fun player to watch, and I really hope Boston doesn't deal him. Pretty underated considering he can notch in 20 goals and plays a gritty game. But unfortunately to Bruin fans if you make 2.5 million you have to score 40 goals or play like Neely.
That said, if they do trade him and the deal has Lebda coming to Boston in any capacity I think I'll cry.
Wings fans are the same way. But since Kobasew is A) Canadian, and B) is good for 100+ hits in a season, he'll likely garner the Dan Cleary treatment instead of the Mikael Samuelsson greeting.
And to make this post more relevant, I think in light of the 3.3M addition of Morris, a Kobasew trade is looking more and more likely. Bump.
Wings fans are the same way. But since Kobasew is A) Canadian, and B) is good for 100+ hits in a season, he'll likely garner the Dan Cleary treatment instead of the Mikael Samuelsson greeting.
And to make this post more relevant, I think in light of the 3.3M addition of Morris, a Kobasew trade is looking more and more likely. Bump.
Only 2 things I didn't like about Sammy. His shot selection left something to be desired; the chest protector thing got annoying. His consistency was the other thing.
He was horrible on the point IMO, but I fault Babcock for that, not Sammy.
Kobasew would look great in Detroit IMO. Speed, grit, touch around the net. Plus, he's a right handed shot. Cap hit might be an issue, unless salary's going back to Boston(which I don't think they want/will take).
Only 2 things I didn't like about Sammy. His shot selection left something to be desired; the chest protector thing got annoying. His consistency was the other thing.
He was horrible on the point IMO, but I fault Babcock for that, not Sammy.
Kobasew would look great in Detroit IMO. Speed, grit, touch around the net. Plus, he's a right handed shot. Cap hit might be an issue, unless salary's going back to Boston(which I don't think they want/will take).
I'm pretty sure the salary is ok. Considering we were trying to retain Hossa at 4M per, and then Hudler at 2.5-3M per, it seems that Holland would be comfortable with that salary.
I also wouldn't be surprised if Holland fully expects Lilja to be on LTIR for at least a good chunk of the season, if not all of it.
Why the bleep would the Bruins even consider trading Kobasew for Detroit's spare parts again? They aren't over the cap, right? Unless they're a mil or so over the cap, there's no rational reason to move the guy. He's productive for them, and he's fairly cheap.
Edit: Ah, the Kessel thing. Gotcha.
If Boston was serious about moving someone they should move Ryder, or maybe Sturm. I'd rather have Kobasew at what he makes than Ryder or Sturm at what they do.
Heck, they should move Bergeron before they move Kobasew.
Edit: Yeah, moving Kobasew doesn't really help the team enough if they are going to sign Kessel to a big contract. They have to move one of the bigger salary guys.
Why the bleep would the Bruins even consider trading Kobasew for Detroit's spare parts again? They aren't over the cap, right? Unless they're a mil or so over the cap, there's no rational reason to move the guy. He's productive for them, and he's fairly cheap.
Edit: Ah, the Kessel thing. Gotcha.
If Boston was serious about moving someone they should move Ryder, or maybe Sturm. I'd rather have Kobasew at what he makes than Ryder or Sturm at what they do.
Heck, they should move Bergeron before they move Kobasew.
Edit: Yeah, moving Kobasew doesn't really help the team enough if they are going to sign Kessel to a big contract. They have to move one of the bigger salary guys.
1. Kobasew is who Boston fans think they are going to trade.
2. They're not going to trade Bergeron as a salary dump.
3. Sturm has a NTC.
4. The Bs have 3.5M in cap space this season with bonuses included, if Kobasew goes, which includes bonuses to players like Wheeler. Defer the bonuses, and they a lot more. Wheeler alone has 2M in bonuses on his contract.
Kobasew is a gritty, second-line caliber RW for most teams. Lebda is a small, non-physical, #6 defenseman for most teams.
That's why.
and Boston has a full stable of defenceman, making Lebda unnecessary. If they were dealing one of their blueliners for Lebda and there was a significant salary difference, it'd make sense, but it's not something Detroit needs, either.
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I think Boston is fairly well screwed here and they need to make a hard decision. They won't get fair value for Kessel, partly because I don't think any team will offer it up and partly because Boston isn't in position to absorb a ton of salary. I know their cap situation is good if you push the bonuses back to next year but, at that point, you're robbing peter to pay paul. And next year they need to re-sign Savard, Wheeler and Lucic.
