DEL ? Seriously? If Cervenka from far far superior KHL didn't work , this wouldn't work at all. In DEL you have to dominate till the age of 20 to be nhl calibre talent. 18 years old Marian Hossa was ppg in very similar slovak league.
It's worth a gamble. The worst thing it could do is improve the Heat.
Well, no... the absolute worst thing it could do is make the Aces worse. He improving anything is contingent on him actually being better then the person whose spot he'd otherwise be taking which is probable, but not an outright certainty, the futher down the depth chart you go.
I like moves like this but like I called it earlier... it's a lotto ticket and most often a lotto ticket just leaves you a bit lighter in the pocket.
DEL ? Seriously? If Cervenka from far far superior KHL didn't work , this wouldn't work at all. In DEL you have to dominate till the age of 20 to be nhl calibre talent. 18 years old Marian Hossa was ppg in very similar slovak league.
The only negative I can remotely think of is that this would burn one of our 50 contracts. No big deal really.
Oh, and I'm sure that the Flames' pro scouts gave this some thought and actually watched this player. You know, rather than completely dismissing him based on nothing more than a bias against the standard of European leagues.
DEL ? Seriously? If Cervenka from far far superior KHL didn't work , this wouldn't work at all. In DEL you have to dominate till the age of 20 to be nhl calibre talent. 18 years old Marian Hossa was ppg in very similar slovak league.
This is totally non-sensical... Hossa is a #1 RW, superstar player... I don't think the vision for Wolf needs to be anywhere near that level for this to be considered a good idea.
And the comparison to Cervenka is silly... It appears as though Wolf is a completely different player that would look to fill a completely different role.
The only opinion 99% of us are capable of having is "oh, never heard of his dude, hopefully he works out."
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... Eakins' claims Gagne's line played Kessel's line even...
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Yeah, Gagner's line was -4 and Kessel's was +4, so it all evened out.
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DEL ? Seriously? If Cervenka from far far superior KHL didn't work , this wouldn't work at all. In DEL you have to dominate till the age of 20 to be nhl calibre talent. 18 years old Marian Hossa was ppg in very similar slovak league.
Cervenka and Wolf are 2 different players brought in for different reasons.
Cervenka is 5'11, 185 lbs.
Wolf is 6'2, 220 lbs.
I don't think Burke is looking for point production from Wolf, so it doesn't matter that Wolf doesn't dominate the DEL. However, maybe Wolf dominates physically and is capable of bringing that aspect to the NHL.
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People are way too critical of this. It's not a risky move. Worst case is he doesn't pan out and goes back to Europe. much like Cervenka. Difference is that Cervenka was a small and skilled Player without any two-way game - Wolf is practically the anti-Cervenka. Better chance that he'll be a solid NHL player.
Philadelphia sure doesn't regret giving Michael Raffl, a player with similar style, the same chance at the same age. Nashville also doesn't regret signing Simon Moser, who is also similar in age and who recently played his first NHL game.
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As someone else in this thread has mentioned, realistically Wolf is probably a Westgarth replacement at the NHL level.
He may have a little more offensive upside than Westgarth and may develop into a 3rd liner, but for anyone expecting him to be more than that is being very optimistic.
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I think this move is going to be more like replacing Westgarth next season. Hopefully this guy can actually skate well enough to keep up with the play.
Edit: How did I get Sureloss'd on my own opinion? Witchcraft!
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Cervenka and Wolf are 2 different players brought in for different reasons.
Cervenka is 5'11, 185 lbs.
Wolf is 6'2, 220 lbs.
I don't think Burke is looking for point production from Wolf, so it doesn't matter that Wolf doesn't dominate the DEL. However, maybe Wolf dominates physically and is capable of bringing that aspect to the NHL.
Yeah, I don't think anyone would expect Wolf to step into a top 6 role like they did with Cervenka.
His role will be that of a bottom 6 energy player... make hits, add toughness and probably kill penalties. If he can also get 10-15 point in a season, then gravy.
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"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
Criticizing the strategy seems pretty ridiculous to me. The fact that Cervenka didn't work out does not mean that all attempts will fail.
The fact is that most do fail. So what? If you try it once a year and it fails 10 times but works out once, then it was well worth it.
The only cost is the 50 contract limit, which isn't currently a concern.
And as several people have said, the odds are probably significantly better for a large, role player type to make the jump than they are for a smaller, top-6 skill player.
Its puzzling how some are bothered by this because he will take up a contract.
The Flames constantly looking for free assets is what I have liked under the new regime, we all know Sutter didnt take chances on players of this ilk. Ya they usually don't work out but the trick is finding the 1% that do work out..
Giving him a contract isnt a big deal considering players like MacDonald, Street, Jones and Smith are all UFA's on the farm. Also players like David Eddy, Ryan Howse, James Martin and Mark Cundari are RFA's who are unlikely to even to qualified.
Some of the above will be retained but not many, I'd say Jones and Street are the only two with a real chance.
Then there are players like Stempniak, Cammalleri, Reto Berra, Galiardi, Westgath and Butler who's futures here are undetermined.
Giving one contract out of 50 to this, big bodied, youngster isn't a concern at all.
We will have plenty of contracts available.
Right now we have 12 players in the NHL signed next year, 15 if you count Bouma, Colborne and Russell who will all be re-signed.
On the farm we will re-sign Ortio and Hanowski and give contracts to Arnold, Agostino and Gaudreau, uping our contract to 20.
We have 11 players signed on the farm right now with Roy, McDermid and Billins as potential players to re-sign. For arguments sake we will say all three get re-signed so we will be at 34 contracts, one of which is O'Brien.
There is Poirier, Klimchuk and Kanzig on ELC's that haven't kicked in yet either. Poirier's contract may slide if he plays in the AHL and the other two are unlikely to play in the AHL next year so we are likely still at 34.
At the end of the day the ones with a chance at a contract left are Byron, Galiardi, Breen, Westgarth, Stempniak, Butler Cammalleri, Berra, Jones and Street.
Even if we re-signed all of them we would still have over 5 contract unused.
Contracts are better used on new players to the organization than players like Eddy, Martin etc. that we already know have no future here..
Get your panties out of a bunch and be happy a young big guy that could be a bottom-6 option may be coming here. Even if he doesnt work out this is how you build up a franchise, by giving chances to players of interest and cutting bait on ones who have been evaluated and are trending in the wrong direction.
His name alone makes me like him more than the David Eddy's of the world.
Last edited by SeanCharles; 02-07-2014 at 10:21 AM.
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