DucksFan_08

I saw part of the USA-Sweden game yesterday. Stating the obvious but Carlsson is a huge kid. What stood out to me apart from that was that he always seemed to be in the right spot to create a play, whether he had the puck or he was making himself available for a teammate. He seemed to know where the puck was going to go. I also saw him win a puck along the boards. It was more stickwork than physical play but I don't think he'll be pusehd around. As Spencer stated his goals were nothing too special. The 1st one was a nice onetimer but he had a lot of net to shoot at. The 2nd was an attempted pass that maybe Getzlaf could have made but it was near impossible. On the one hand you can say bad choice because it was a very difficult pass. On the other hand he did score so well done. When the puck gets deflected in that area more often than not it goes towards the net but it was really lucky. More telling to me is that Carlsson was also on the ice for the tying goal. With 2.5 minutes remaining and down a goal his coach trusted him enough to have him out there. It may also simply have been a 'go with the hot hand situation'. Either way he's not being sheltered. And lucky or not, he did score 2 goals against the team that has dominated the tournament so far. I've said it before and now that I've seen him play I'm even more convinced that picking between him and Fantilli isn't that easy. I know many people have Fantilli going 2nd without hesitation but I see the attraction to Carlsson. What Fantilli has going for him is the fact that he's used to a North-American sized rink. That's a transition he doesn't have to make but Carlsson has played against men and performed well. And if the scouting reports about his unbelievable hockey IQ are true that transition shouldn't be a problem. I'm glad I'm not PV.

I hope the Barkov injury is nothing too serious. I want Florida to win it all.

So dubas is out. Not really out since he was in the last year of his contract but I did not expect that. Interesting development in Toronto.

I really thought this might have been the oilers's year. Sure the East was stacked but once you reach the finals anything can happen. And none of those stacked teams made it through. Sucks for McDavid and Draisaitl (and the others but I really want those two to win The Cup). Skinner was good in the regular season but I can't help but think the oilers would still be playing if they had Gibson in goal. Anyway moot point because he's still with us (which I'm grateful for). I really don't see Seattle or Dallas as much of a challenge to Vegas so I think they make it to the finals again. My money is on Las Vegas - Florida.

Leo Carlsson with a goal tonight against Austria in a 5-0 victory. 3 SOG and I think he led all forwards in icetime.

I don´t see a rebuild coming. That would be dumb. But they do have stuff to figure out. They have the stars and they added some grit to their line-up and it still wasn´t enough. Their D needs work. Goaltending too probably. I´m pretty sure keefe is done but I´m curious what moves they are going to make. Next season will definitely be the last chance for the four core. They can only hope that they all stay healthy because outside of JT being taken out by Perry I think they´ve been pretty fortunate in that regard.

They did break the curse but that is already in the back of their minds. And they only broken it because Vasilevsky wasn´t his usual self. Interesting scenario in Toronto. I think the core stays intact and that Keefe goes. But that´ll be their last chance for sure.

Pretty remarkable what the hurricanes have done. They may have been lucky to play the islanders who were probably the weakest team in the playoffs but the devils were doing pretty well. And they´ve done it without Pacioretty, Svechnikov and Teuravainen.

Agree on the skating part but the stats comparison doesn´t work in this case. Fantilli has had a great year but he has a physical advantage over a lot of his peers. He uses that advantage - to his credit- to physically dominate those peers. But that size advantage will diminish in the NHL. That doesn´t mean he can´t be an elite centerman but I do think he´ll have to change his game (which is very probable he can). Carlsson on the other hand has played against men for two seasons. His stats aren´t as impressive as Fantilli´s but you see you can´t compare them. I agree we need to add some sandpaper to our line-up and especially our top 6 which Fantilli will bring. But we also need defense. Both from our D men but also from our attackers. We need players who make the smart plays. that is something Carlsson brings. Not advocating picking one over the other. I´m not familiar with either of them but what I do know is that it´s harder than just looking at their stats. That´s why I´m looking forward to the WC. Same circumstances for both.

I never said I´d pick Carlsson over Fantilli if he has a good tournament. I said the choice for PV might be much harder. While Carlsson is also a center he has mostly played wing in the SHL from what I´ve read. And of course I´d pick Bedard if we had #1. Even if we already had 4 centers. He´s the best prospect to come along since McDavid. You don´t pass on that. At this point I´d be happy with either one of Fantilli or Carlsson but whereas a lot of people on this board seem to think PV will pick Fantilli without hesitation l´m not so sure about that.

If our scouting staff has done its job good we already have our top 2 centers in Zegras & McT. We have Gaucher in the system and Strome for the foreseeable future. There's also Lundestrom and perhaps Groulx who can still come up. We are very thin on wing however. Tracey and Perreault will probably not be the top 6 wingers we hoped for. Pastujov maybe. You can always move Zegras to wing but why not draft a winger (who can also play center)If ? He might not play with an edge like Fantilli but Carlsson is a big guy. He has played against men the past two seasons. Fantilli is a great skater but PV thinks everybody can learn how to skate. Add Carlsson's supposedly tremendous hockey IQ and the choice becomes much harder I think. If Carlsson has a better WC than Fantilli I'm not so sure PV picks Fantilli. It would have been much easier to pick 1st...

Landeskog out for the season. Will the avs replace him from within or would they be looking for outside help? Perhaps someone like Henrique (who I don´t like to trade btw).

Canes up 3-1 now. Pretty good given their injury situation. Do they have what it takes to go all the way?

I haven´t seen them play but from what I´ve read the knock on Fantilli is that he has tunnelvision and sometimes tries to do it all by himself. He´s of course super young and can work on that. On the bright side: he has size and doesn´t shy away from contact. On top of that he´s apparently a tremendous skater. But Carlsson supposedly has a very high hockey IQ and is ahead of Fantilli defensively. He´s bigger and 2 months younger. Not a lot but still. And while he doesn´t appear to have a mean streak he does use his body well to shield the puck. I get that PV wants to think this over and I´m looking forward to how they will perform in the WC.

I hope PV doesn´t take too long. A lot has to happen. New HC, new contracts for Zegras, Terry & Drysdale, the draft and preferably sign some UFA´s / make trades. And all of that has to happen before the start of training camp if we´re allowed to be picky.

While I agree with this, could the upcoming World Championship change PV's mind? Both Fantilli and Carlsson will be there. Say Carlsson plays one heck of a tournament and outshines Fantilli. I can't imagine PV not picking Fantilli but I'm going to keep track of their performances.

Regardless of what happens this year I think the oilers aren't that far off from being a potential Cup winner. Especially with Bouchard stepping up. Depending on the development of Skinner they perhaps could use an upgrade in net. In bringing in Hyman, Kane and Ekholm oilers managment has given McDavid signals that they're serious about winning. I don't think he says no to that. Apart from the oilers I don't see that big a hurdle for the oilers in the West outside of Vegas and the Avs when healthy and recovered from their Stanley Cup hangover. Don't know about the kings. They have some prospects who could make an impact but on the other hand age will catch up to Kopitar and Doughty eventually. As for the leafs it's too early to speculate. Should they get eliminated they all have to question themselves. I think it's the 7th consecutive year they made the playoffs (all with Matthews) but depending the result in this round - regardless of beating Tampa (because Vasilevsky broke down) it would be a 7th consecutive disappointment. I think they should re-sign Matthews at all cost but I don't know about Nylander and Marner. If Florida wins this one it's going to be an interesting summer in toronto for sure.

Funny how there are no new posts in this thread after the lottery Hockey has been played. Surprised to see the oilers got blown out at home. To stay on topic about the whole goalie discussion: I do not want to trade Gibson but quite a few teams who are still in the playoffs could have really used him.

I´m fine with not getting #1 overall. It´s a lottery. Not saying it doesn´t sting. Especially not after missing out on Crosby. But it is what it is. What really irks me is that chicago gets it. All they got for that abuse case was a damn fine. Giving up draft picks, that´s a sanction. Anyway it´s done. Small silver lining is that chicago is more than one Conor Beddard away from being relevant.

Not a good week for players scoring 4 goals in a game only to watch their team come up short.

If the kid wants to play in a hockey market my guess would be Vancouver or Montreal. Vancouver first because of the hometown connection. If he doesn't care about that, Anaheim is as good a place as any. We have one of the best ranked prospect pools so one might assume the success will start coming.

Too bad for Boston. I´m one of the few people outside of Boston who was rooting for them. But I have no problems with the panthers. I just hope they have what it takes to beat the leafs because they have gone far enough.

No on trading Fowler. Right now he´s our best D man. No matter how great our prospects look, they are still just prospects. Not all of those kids are gonna turn out to be top 2 D men. Especially not in 1-2 years.

Exciting hire. Also gutsy. Very curious to see what he can do.

I did not expect that outcome in the MIN-DAL and LAK-EDM games. Very curious to see how those series are gonna end.