2024 Off-season trade rumours and speculation thread

[memphusk]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

So if Backlund signed elsewhere he wouldn’t be a good mentor on that team or be able to show them how to do things the right way because he would now be a mercenary ?

He could definitely show them how not to win.

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

The 65% ‘on the fly’ starts are shifts that began with changes on the fly. They are not broken down by zone, so they say nothing at all about where the puck was at the time.

The other numbers are shifts that began with faceoffs. They are broken down by the zone where the faceoff occurred.

The traditional ‘OZ%’ stat takes only two of those numbers – offensive zone faceoff starts and defensive zone faceoff starts – and ignores everything else. All you can tell about Kuzmenko from that number is that Huska likes to save him for offensive faceoffs because he's one of the team's best scorers, whereas he has better options for defensive faceoffs.

It is a technique used by every coach with every offensive player in the league.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

So now the argument is that there are no mentors out there, so you need to hang on to these veterans Calgary has.

What skills does Kadri have in entering young players. He who gave up a few seasons ago and floated through the end of the season? Anderson?

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Hawk Tuah

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Freudian Slip I guess?

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

The traditional ‘OZ%’ stat takes only two of those numbers – offensive zone faceoff starts and defensive zone faceoff starts – and ignores everything else. All you can tell about Kuzmenko from that number is that Huska likes to save him for offensive faceoffs because he's one of the team's best scorers, whereas he has better options for defensive faceoffs.

It also tells us that the reason the Flames have better options for defensive faceoffs is that he is poor defensively.

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

It also tells us that the reason the Flames have better options for defensive faceoffs is that he is poor defensively.

Or their defensive options that they have are quite good. That could be the reason too. It could actually not really reflect on him at all.

[Monahammer]

Fwiw the book on kadri for the vast majority of his career was that he needed "grown ups" around him to control his temper a bit. It's exactly why he was run out of toronto.

He had a bumpy start in Colorado, and one really great season. But in either scenario he wasn't really used as a mentor, more as a hard to face second option. This was the optimization of kadri, untethered him from many larger team responsibilities and narrowed his requirement to be a pest and score. That's the stanley cup season kadri.

Here we tried playing him in a mentor role and it's when he played the worst. He's at his best when he's optimized to being that pest and second scoring option.

To me, that also makes him an ideal target at retention for a near contender. Someone like LA for example. Not sure he's an ideal guy to teach young players to be leaders in the league- no offense meant to the person that's just really not what his career has been at all. He won when he let others take the real leadership reigns and he was a strong contributor.

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

Here we tried playing him in a mentor role and it's when he played the worst. He's at his best when he's optimized to being that pest and second scoring option.

.

Kadri best on the Flames was with the kids line.

[GreenLantern2814]

I think the value is less in Kadri telling these young players how to play and lead etc, than it is showing them.

Play fast and hard. Don’t back down. Don’t be afraid to cross the line.

That’s how you play this game. It’s not for the faint of heart.

[Redrum]

Although it looked like the kids energized him. Not the other way around.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Redrum

Although it looked like the kids energized him. Not the other way around.

Kadri played last season like he played his whole career. I don’t think he did much different than what he has done in the past. Even the season before, he was the best forward on the team for 90% of the year until the frustration of playing with other players who were mailing it in got to him.

If Zary and Pospisil helped Kadri, it was by simply bringing their best effort every night, knowing where to be on the ice, and not making Kadri’s effort futile.

[stemit14]

Hard to argue with the results for Zary and Posposil when playing with Kadri. And give them credit also for playing well with Kadri. My opinion Kadri as a leader/mentor is that he is a good example for a style of play… you can tell that he wants to emulate the Colorado game in Calgary… fast and aggressive. However, I’m not sure playing on a line with him is easy… I recall noticing him being very visibly frustrated with young players on his line when they didn’t get him the puck at the right time - you’d mostly see it when it made him or someone else go offside or if he was open in a scoring area and didn’t get the puck. Again, he wants to play that high tempo game that was successful for him in Colorado so I can see him being frustrated when that stuff happens. He didn’t get to play very much with him but I remember Coronato getting some heat from Kadri near the end of last season for some of that.

It’s not to say it’s wrong for him to give direction to younger players… that’s what being a mentor is. But he does seem to get more visibly frustrated with players at times. And I think I recall Zary and Posposil saying he lets them know if they’re doing something wrong. They were both complimentary of him last year of course - which they should be - but I could see it being tough to play with Kadri sometimes. Where as you rarely ever see Backlund get visibly frustrated with young players and he has excelled at bringing young guys into the league over the years.

Definitely not saying Kadri is a poor mentor for the young players entering the league… just that some might not respond as well as Zary and Posposil did IMO.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

So now the argument is that there are no mentors out there, so you need to hang on to these veterans Calgary has.

The argument is that players who are valuable as mentors tend to be re-signed by the teams that already have them. Players who can't get a steady gig and will sign anywhere for a single year tend not to be good mentors. Is any of this getting through to you?

What skills does Kadri have in mentering young players.

Gee, I dunno. Maybe you could ask Zary and Pospisil, who turned into full-time NHLers playing on his line.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

The argument is that players who are valuable as mentors tend to be re-signed by the teams that already have them. Players who can't get a steady gig and will sign anywhere for a single year tend not to be good mentors. Is any of this getting through to you?



Gee, I dunno. Maybe you could ask Zary and Pospisil, who turned into full-time NHLers playing on his line.

And spent the entire year talking up his positive impact on their confidence and play.

[Jason14h]

You dont need to be a mentor per se to help the kids take their game to the next level/enjoy playing with them/etc

I'm not sure if Kadri is an off the ice mentor very much, but he is certainly a player who has overachieved most of his career and someone young players can emulate on the ice for sure.

He seems more like a role model on the ice then a mentor

[Saqe]

Don't know about his mentoring qualities but I thought it was Zary and Pospisil who made Kadri look like a full time nhler again.

[Paulie Walnuts]

I don't know if Kadri has overachieved, he was a 7th overall pick and has averaged .70 pts per game for his career.

He has been exactly what he was drafted for.

[gvitaly]

Originally Posted by Saqe

Don't know about his mentoring qualities but I thought it was Zary and Pospisil who made Kadri look like a full time nhler again.

He definitely had a slow start, but him going at almost a PPG pace for the last 70 games of the season was due to his play, and him creating offense. Kuzmenko did much better on the Kadri line as well. In fact, it seemed as though Huska used the Kadri line to kick-start players offensively.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by gvitaly

In fact, it seemed as though Huska used the Kadri line to kick-start players offensively.

That does seem to be the plan.

Player needs to figure out his offensive game? Put him on Kadri's line.

Defensive game? Put him with Backlund.