Article: It's Game On If Either Danila Yurov Or Marat Khustnidinov Can Play Center

[Justin Wiggins]

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[WIWild]

Ouch. Listened to the end of the Baby Wild last night. The Wall gave up 8, and IA scored once. Sounded like The Shawman did not fare well in the fight he was in.

[Burnt Toast]

To highlight what a good idea this is try taking the opposite approach. Slow roll prospects for a couple of years then throw them in a line blender and see what works. Burn through half a season experimenting with line combinations including PP 1&2. All the while your biggest priority ( extending KK, hangs in the balance.) I realize there are a lot of variables in play with younger players but if they’re game then I’d vote Game On. 

[Citizen Strife]

The main thing is Rossi has proven to be a decent scorer so far.  He may not have had the consistent game changing impact Faber had, but he's still 3rd in rookies in points (funny enough, one behind Faber).  That alone puts another center position in good hands.  While it would be nice to have both Yurov or Khus be lights out, it doesn't have to be a life-or-death thing like it would have been a season ago.  Ek and Rossi are pretty dang good options.  But hey, the more great players, the better.  Especially on the cheap while they can.

Edited February 3 by Citizen Strife

[Dean]

I’m really curious to see knuts . Heard a lot of good things about.  However I’m not a big fan of undersized centers. The  wild don’t get to the middle or defend the middle due to lack of size and strength. I hope the kids do well but I think this team is just so undersized that adding another couple small wingers to play with our non centers except for ek , isn’t going to move the needle . Maybe one or both become decent centers. However like Rossi it will take awhile to put on the strength needed. I like Rossi but do not ever see him being a # 1 center. He has another level to achieve to accomplish that. 
    The wild aren’t even close to solving there center problems and now they need to draft real d man with size like the rest of the nhl has. We have scoring wingers. We don’t have good big centers or good big d men  with size and length that our undersized team has such a problem with . Billy seems to be building the smallest nhl team . When every year it’s the big d and heavy play that wins cups. 
      The other problem I see is who is going to develop these kids. The guy who couldn’t coach a coherent power play? Who was then given a whole team of prospects to coach?  From what people were writing when Hynes was signed, he’s not good with youth. (Hughes) . Then does Bill even know if he has money for these kids or does he need to ask nhl to help him with the math.  Hopefully the kids make this clown show organization look a little better 

[Imyourhuckleberry]

6 hours ago, Citizen Strife said:

main thing is Rossi has proven to be a decent scorer so far.  He may not have had the consistent game changing impact Faber had, but he's still 3rd in rookies in points (funny enough, one behind Faber).  That alone puts another center position in good hands.

Are we certain that Rossi shouldn't move out to wing though?

He only has a 44.1% faceoff percentage, and his 5'9" height doesn't screen the goalies as well as a 6'+ player might. I'm fine with Rossi staying at C, but they'll need to consider all options for optimizing lineups once additional guys arrive who are skilled and capable of playing C.

Edited February 4 by Imyourhuckleberry

[Citizen Strife]

You only move Rossi off to wing if Khusnutdinov or Yurov prove to have more chemistry or consistency with the top two lines.  Yurov is definitely bigger, and probably gets first dibs, but it would depend how much speed and playmaking ability Khus has over Rossi, which we won't really know until they are on the ice together.

Either way, they don't lose out.  Having all of them on the team at once is better than nothing.

Edited February 4 by Citizen Strife

[Burnt Toast]

1 hour ago, Dean said:

s. The  wild don’t get to the middle or defend the middle due to lack of size 

Charlie Stramel should help though probably not a 1C. He’s a very aggressive and intense player. Personally I think he’s going to be a big addition for the Wild. 

[FredJohnson]

1 hour ago, Burnt Toast said:

3 hours ago, Dean said:

The  wild don’t get to the middle or defend the middle due to lack of size 

Charlie Stramel should help though probably not a 1C. He’s a very aggressive and intense player. Personally I think he’s going to be a big addition for the Wild. 

Stramel and JEE would be a couple tough Cs.

[Mateo3xm]

14 hours ago, Citizen Strife said:

The main thing is Rossi has proven to be a decent scorer so far.  He may not have had the consistent game changing impact Faber had, but he's still 3rd in rookies in points (funny enough, one behind Faber).  That alone puts another center position in good hands.  While it would be nice to have both Yurov or Khus be lights out, it doesn't have to be a life-or-death thing like it would have been a season ago.  Ek and Rossi are pretty dang good options.  But hey, the more great players, the better.  Especially on the cheap while they can.

If you really want a Cup contending team neither JEE or Rossi should be your number 1 center.

this team still lacks a true number 1 center but Yurov could be that player.

[Mateo3xm]

8 hours ago, Dean said:

I’m really curious to see knuts . Heard a lot of good things about.  However I’m not a big fan of undersized centers. The  wild don’t get to the middle or defend the middle due to lack of size and strength. I hope the kids do well but I think this team is just so undersized that adding another couple small wingers to play with our non centers except for ek , isn’t going to move the needle . Maybe one or both become decent centers. However like Rossi it will take awhile to put on the strength needed. I like Rossi but do not ever see him being a # 1 center. He has another level to achieve to accomplish that. 
    The wild aren’t even close to solving there center problems and now they need to draft real d man with size like the rest of the nhl has. We have scoring wingers. We don’t have good big centers or good big d men  with size and length that our undersized team has such a problem with . Billy seems to be building the smallest nhl team . When every year it’s the big d and heavy play that wins cups. 
      The other problem I see is who is going to develop these kids. The guy who couldn’t coach a coherent power play? Who was then given a whole team of prospects to coach?  From what people were writing when Hynes was signed, he’s not good with youth. (Hughes) . Then does Bill even know if he has money for these kids or does he need to ask nhl to help him with the math.  Hopefully the kids make this clown show organization look a little better 

I agree with a lot of what you said.

I completely agree with the size thing.

we are going to be a team of smurfs.

if you have small centers then you need some big wingers.

i think have big defenders is probably the most important area to have size in.

i do think Yurov could potentially be a number 1 center.

 

[Mateo3xm]

I don’t think people realize how incredible Yurov is doing in the Khl.

hes on pace to have the best U20 Khl season ever.

better than Tarasanko, Kaprizov, Kuznetzov, Buchnevich, Panarin, Kucherov etc.

he really has no flaws. 
he’s incredibly smart, responsible defensively, elite skating, playmaking and a good shot.

the only thing I’ve hear ppl nitpick about is his shot but he has shown he’s got an incredible shot by scoring 22+ goals so far.

[Mateo3xm]

8 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Are we certain that Rossi shouldn't move out to wing though?

He only has a 44.1% faceoff percentage, and his 5'9" height doesn't screen the goalies as well as a 6'+ player might. I'm fine with Rossi staying at C, but they'll need to consider all options for optimizing lineups once additional guys arrive who are skilled and capable of playing C.

You e got to remember this is Rossi’s first full NHL year.

hes nowhere near the finished product. He doing an excellent job as a rookie all things considered.

[Mateo3xm]

6 hours ago, Burnt Toast said:

Charlie Stramel should help though probably not a 1C. He’s a very aggressive and intense player. Personally I think he’s going to be a big addition for the Wild. 

It’s still early but he’s not exactly an offensive force right now.

he seems like he’ll be a solid 4th or 3rd line center.

if you look at his stats throughout his career he’s never been a big scorer so I’m not so sure he’s going to have a big impact on this team.

[B1GKappa97]

On 2/3/2024 at 12:09 PM, Citizen Strife said:

The main thing is Rossi has proven to be a decent scorer so far.  He may not have had the consistent game changing impact Faber had, but he's still 3rd in rookies in points (funny enough, one behind Faber).  That alone puts another center position in good hands.  While it would be nice to have both Yurov or Khus be lights out, it doesn't have to be a life-or-death thing like it would have been a season ago.  Ek and Rossi are pretty dang good options.  But hey, the more great players, the better.  Especially on the cheap while they can.

I think Rossi would benefit more from getting moved out to wing at some point, personally. Just like we saw with Granlund. I mean its great that he's put up points this year but I think a lot of that is due to playing on the top line for a good chunk of the season. 

If Khusnutdinov can recapture the form he had last year, and that's closer to how he plays in the NHL than the point totals he put up this season, then I could see a future top-line of OVees: Khusnutdinov-Yurov-Kaprizov

That'll leave Boldy-Ek-Rossi (BEER?) for the 2nd which would still be a pretty great secondary scoring line. 

Gaudreau/Hartman-Hartman/Gaudreau-Foligno as 3rd line is pretty gritty.

4th line is whatevs, that can be whomever. They'll have guys for those roles.

[B1GKappa97]

On 2/4/2024 at 3:11 AM, Mateo3xm said:

It’s still early but he’s not exactly an offensive force right now.

he seems like he’ll be a solid 4th or 3rd line center.

Which is fine, especially at his size. We will need a future 4th line, after all 😛

It would be disappointing if that's all he ever becomes but that's still a pretty key cog in any championship run. 

[mnfaninnc]

On 2/3/2024 at 7:26 PM, Dean said:

I’m really curious to see knuts . Heard a lot of good things about.  However I’m not a big fan of undersized centers. The  wild don’t get to the middle or defend the middle due to lack of size and strength. I hope the kids do well but I think this team is just so undersized that adding another couple small wingers to play with our non centers except for ek , isn’t going to move the needle .

I agree with you on undersized centers, but I do not consider short undersized. We do not have good measurables on Dino and Yurov, mainly because they are in Russia. However, we do on Rossi. 5'9" hurts him in reach, but could help him with his edges. However, if he's stocky and playing at 190 that's not too undersized, and if he's playing at 200+ that's really thick. 

I believe Kaprizov is a really thick player who is shorter or more average in height. I'd be looking for strength/weight from both Dino and Yurov. I can't imagine that Dino is still 165 and playing with all those points (mostly from last year) in the K. He's got to be stronger.

But, for Rossi to really take that #1 slot, I think he still needs to put on strength/weight. His faceoff percentage is low at 44.xx, but he definitely has the leverage on most centers and can be the lower one. He just needs training here. He can also cut into players on defense and use the low center of gravity for hip checks and getting into a larger player's personal space. 

It take a different mentality to do that, but you can have large-short players too. Max Domi is a good example of that. Rossi made significant strides this past offseason, but even Ek took 2 offseasons to fully grow into his frame. Rossi needs another similar offseason to this last one to put on strength and good weight, probably 5 lbs. upper and lower body, to get even better. His explosion has been noticeable. 

Kaprizov came over built like a tank. My hope is that both Dino and Yurov had similar training in the gym, especially when their icetime was compromised. 

Speaking of them, Yurov has boosted his points to 45 in 60 games now. He's got 8 games left and a couple of points to go before he reaches Tarasenko. Firstov also chipped in another goal as he has 17 now. Dino only has 9 games left, let's see if he can catch a little fire.

Also, with Dino, his season ends on the 25th, but I'd be surprised if he didn't have a little time to get signed, move over here and have a few practices. I think we'll see him in uniform right before the deadline. 

[BravoSix]

On 2/4/2024 at 3:06 AM, Mateo3xm said:

I don’t think people realize how incredible Yurov is doing in the Khl.

hes on pace to have the best U20 Khl season ever.

better than Tarasanko, Kaprizov, Kuznetzov, Buchnevich, Panarin, Kucherov etc.

he really has no flaws. 
he’s incredibly smart, responsible defensively, elite skating, playmaking and a good shot.

the only thing I’ve hear ppl nitpick about is his shot but he has shown he’s got an incredible shot by scoring 22+ goals so far.

100%.  I don’t get how people aren’t getting this yet.  On paper this is the dream scenario, he comes in and is an instant stud and our long awaited #1 and Kaprisov goes Supernova.  Hell if Rossi grows next year into a 60+ point player he may be #2.  No knock on Ek but Rossi was drooled over more than Boldy then Covid happened and it set him back.  I think Yurov is going to be a game wrecking player eventually and this team finally starts to get deep

[PiranhasOnIce]

What about Ras Kump (our big Finn)?  Not included in anyone's conversation here...anyone have line of sight to his development?