[Metalhead]

Steve from Glencoe wrote:

Duncan Keith played 99 AHL games and turned out OK, Rinzel can spend a season or 2 in the AHL.

I’ve used Keith as an example for years when it comes to developing defensemen.
No, these youngsters are not likely to become a Hall Of Famer who gets ranked among the best 25 or 30 D-men of all time.
Yes, most of these youngsters (except EDM?) were drafted higher than Keith, which would point to a quicker development.
Duncan Keith played his first ever NHL game 3 months after his 22nd birthday.
KK has been around “forever” it seems. If he stays in RFD and only comes back to the NHL at the beginning of the 26/27 season,
he will still only be one month older than Keith, when Keith made his NHL debut.
And Keith was *not* a finished product even at that point. He still had growing pains.

Hjalmarsson: He came up part time during his 20 and 21 year old seasons, but did not stick until his 22 year old season.
Vlasic: Got 15 games at age 20 and 6 games at 21 before coming up for good at…. age 22.
Kaiser got 32 NHL games at age 21 but still split 57 NHL / 17 AHL last season, at 22.

Seabrook and Leddy are the only home grown D-men of recent memory who came up younger and stayed.

[Metalhead]

Dan Maloneys left hook wrote:

As a guy who doesn’t follow the whole league, how did the Ducks rebuild so fast?

Here’s what I can see—–

Mason McTavish: winner pick at 3rd overall.
Leo Carlsson: picked 2nd right after Bedard, he’s a stud
Cutter Gauthier: relationship w/Phillie went South. Ducks gave up a good young RH D-man in Jamie Drysdale
to get him but the trade went way better for Anaheim than the Flyers.
Beckett Sennecke: not sure if the Ducks have some genius scouting or what, but
he was ranked about 10th in 2024, and they selected him 3rd overall. Worked out great so far.
Jackson LaCombe: young d-man improved greatly.
Dostal got good.

Signed Killorn when TBL had cap constraints. (IIRC)
Traded for Trouba on the cheap when the Rangers fell apart and let everyone know they were open for business.
Good signings of Kreider and Granlund.

[Metalhead]

I’m happy to see that coaching / management has finally seen the light with Rinzel.
This was overdue.

Also, imo it is not about scapegoating Rinzel or Slaggert.
Slaggert was not playing much anyway, he needs more regular action. He’ll get that in RFD.
Rinzel has been showing his lack of experience regularly. He needs top minutes and PP work, even some PK would probably be a good idea.

I’m not wild about the fact that, without a callup, they have only 12F and 6D healthy.
Foligno’s “4 week” recovery timeline would have him ready on Sunday. Maybe he is closer to returning?
They’ve been playing 11F so if one guy went down it would not be any different from most games this year.
It seems very risky on defense, if someone gets sick or twists an ankle at practice.
Wednesday is a home game so they could get someone pretty fast but not instantly.

They gotta have a 7th D-man nearby for Wednesday. It would be reckless not to have a plan for that.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

[Metalhead]

IceMan wrote:

imagine that baguette with some cheese…

oh yeahhhhhhhhhh

[Metalhead]

IceMan wrote:

Good moaning Murica!

Good morning France!
I’m jealous of your long and delicious baguette.

[Metalhead]

monsieurchicken wrote:

Thats because Im deeply in love with you

But now you left your wife and live with me I guess.

Thanks!

[Metalhead]

monsieurchicken wrote:

delete your account and leave your wife and kids

❤️❤️❤️

I’m so happy that you gave me credit for being married and fathering a child.

[Metalhead]

Pat1993 wrote:

Elias Pettersson

He is not worth the risk.
Keep Away.
Hang Up The Phone.

[Metalhead]

Pat1993 wrote:

I thought they were talking about Phillip Danault..?

brain fart, I was thinking of the wrong team

😬

I’ll let myself out now…..

(sad trombone)

[Metalhead]

monsieurchicken wrote:

Can he still play or is he done by now?

Not a good season for him

Keeping in mind the Canucks are a dumpster fire,
he might just play better for a better team?

[Metalhead]

12/02/25 update

This is not to suggest these are guys the Hawks missed out on.
It’s more of a general thread to show how a UFA class looks so great until the extensions start showing up.

Yes, there are some “non-legendary” 2026 UFAs on this list.
They are there to help show how the list diminishes before 07/01/2026.

“2026 Pending UFAs” list:
——————–Connor McDavid extended just before season start
——————–Kirill Kaprizov extended pre-season
——————–Jack Eichel extended just before season start
——————–Kyle Connor extended just before season start
——————–Martin Necas extended late October
——————–Mattias Ekholm extended just before season start
——————–Jake Walman extended just before season start
——————–Niko Mikkola extended just before season start
———————-Adrian Kempe extended
———————-Adam Lowry extended
—————-Mike Matheson extended
Andre Kuzmenko
Rasmus Andersson
Alex Tuch
Patrik Laine
Artemi Panarin
Jacob Trouba
John Carlson
Viktor Arvidsson
Oliver Bjorkstrand
Christian Dvorak
Anders Lee
Boone Jenner

Cam Fowler
Evander Kane
Carson Soucy
Adam Henrique
Charlie Coyle
Jean-Gabriel Pageau
Mathieu Joseph
Trevor van Riemsdyk
Mason Marchment
Radko Gudas
Nick Schmaltz
Jamie Oleksiak
Alex Wennberg
Alex Kerfoot
Michael Bunting
Erik Gudbranson
Ilya Mikheyev
Matt Dumba
Jaden Schwartz
Jordan Eberle
Vlad Tarasenko
Luke Schenn
Logan Stanley
Connor Murphy
Jeff Skinner
***Goalies***
————————-Thatcher Demko extended 2025 off-season
————————-Filip Gustavsson extended just before season start
————————-Anthony Stolarz extended pre-season
————————-Jacob Markstrom extended on Halloween
——————–Scott Wedgewood
Stuart Skinner
Connor Ingram
Vitek Vanacek
Freddy Andersen
Ivan Fedotov
Petr Mrazek
***old guys***
————————–Anze Kopitar announced his final season
Alex Ovechkin
Evgeni Malkin
Patrick Kane

[Metalhead]

KFC was just live on Seravalli’s show.

They asked him about Bedard, Frondell, then Rinzel/Arty, then Blashill.
He didn’t say anything of substance, just supported his people with positive comments.

[Metalhead]

boilermaker wrote:

Bamford’s December listing of Hawks top 20 prospects

Good stuff, thanks for posting.

🤘

[Metalhead]

Thanks as always Totem.

[Metalhead]

kicksave856 wrote:

why are you nervous on saturday the 14th?

So, the first part of the comment was about how I don’t hate Mondays, but Tuesdays bothered me.
Then, in an obviously overly-vague joke, I said I’m nervous on Saturday the 14th
because it comes the day after Friday The 13th. (A day which, like Monday, is the more common “problem day”)

Get it?
hahahahahaha

[Author]

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