Winnipeg Jets

[Excelsior]

I'd love to hear your thoughts on him. Any future fantasy value?

[CascadeFilly]

I'd love to hear your thoughts on him. Any future fantasy value?

I've been impressed with Gregoire from the small sampling I've seen. Decent hands, a nice shot, and pretty good poise with the puck. I could see him cracking the third line this year. Not a given, of course.

To me he seems like a scoring 3rd liner who could fill in on the 2nd in a pinch; maybe kill some penalties and get the odd bit of PP2 time. That's all just a very mildly educated guess from seeing him play in a couple prospect games (and the bits I've read about him). No guarantees, but I see some potential in him.

[dyzfunctioned]

I'm hearing the Winnipeg Jets are considering moving Dustin Byfuglien back to forward this season.

- JoshRimer

I will flip if this comes true. And not in a good way.

[AtlantaSportsFan]

I'm not sure I would agree with moving Byfuglien back to forward just yet, not after what he did last year.

As for Bogosian's fantasy value, well obviously it's pretty low. It's a good low risk high reward opportunity if he is available in your league. I'm sure a ton of people forgot about him. A good season for Bogo next year would be finishing a plus. He's coming off a -27 season and he must improve defensively first. Offensively I think 25 points would be a fine season for him.

[ross10019]

- JoshRimer

I will flip if this comes true. And not in a good way.

No facking kidding, goddammit! I just paid lots of good assets to acquire him because of the potential for that sick amount of SOG from the D position!!!

[dyzfunctioned]

No facking kidding, goddammit! I just paid lots of good assets to acquire him because of the potential for that sick amount of SOG from the D position!!!

Tell me about it. Plus I play cap leagues and even if he puts up 60 points as an F it's not worth the caphit. Ugh.

[ross10019]

Tell me about it. Plus I play cap leagues and even if he puts up 60 points as an F it's not worth the caphit. Ugh.

That is an interesting question though, if he plays forward would he play 3rd line minutes and score in the 30-35 point range with around 200 SOG like he did in Chicago? Or would they put him in the top 6 and on PP1 to give him more scoring opportunities, given his underrated skating and puckhandling skills? My money is on the latter, given what they're paying him for the next 5 years, which means 60 points is not out of the realm of possibility. I know it doesn't help you in a salary cap league, but 60pts and 200-250SOG is a pretty solid depth forward in most leagues (even excluding PIMs).

The Jets top 9, seems to me, looks something like this (when Fehr returns):

Ladd Little Wheeler - pretty set
Kane Antropov Fehr or Kane Burmistrov Antropov (Fehr to 3rd line)

The 3rd line presumably is some combination of Slater Cormier Thorburn Fehr

Where does Byfuglien fit in that equation?

I just watched a YouTube compilation of his 20 goals last year, most were bombs from the point, lots of roving (can't believe how deep he was on some of those plays). I can't imagine they want to sacrifice that bomb slapshot by putting him upfront, but then again they do have Bogosian who eventually can play the same role.

Man, this sucks if it happens, I was really looking forward to having a Dman take 300SOG and win me that category week in week out, I would have been happy with 40 points from him on that basis, getting to 50 would be pure bonus.

Come on Jets, don't mess with what clearly worked last year (at least from an offensive points perspective)!

[dyzfunctioned]

He'd certainly be a serviceable depth forward but I'm not sure where he'd fit and even if he posts the exact same stats as last year it makes him like 10x less valuable.

I could care less if his points drop by 10, as long as he stays at D and keeps up the SOG. That's where his value lies.

[Big Ben]

who's Josh Rimer? is he credible?

[CascadeFilly]

I could care less if his points drop by 10, as long as he stays at D and keeps up the SOG. That's where his value lies.

He could play a combination of both, as mentioned. He could play forward and the point on PP1, and when Fehr comes back he could move back to D full time, perhaps.

I think if Postma is ready for the NHL there's a chance they could consider moving Buff up front. Postma had a pretty great year in the AHL, putting up 45 points in 69 games last year. One would think he's very near NHL ready, if he's not already there.

Do I remember correct that word is Buff prefers playing D? Either way, he's a great asset to the team, and hopefully he retains his D status for you guys.

[dyzfunctioned]

who's Josh Rimer? is he credible?

No clue! Was just RT'd by someone I follow.

[ross10019]

who's Josh Rimer? is he credible?

He's a blogger and host/producer of the NHL show on Sirius radio, and so he interviews lots of NHL players, GMs, etc., and probably has lots of insight. I think he's somewhat reliable, but not sure he has direct insight into this particular situation, although he did tweet "I'm hearing" so I have to imagine he's actually heard about the possibility rather than just speculating. I asked him about the likelihood and he retweeted that he thinks it's a 50/50 chance they move Byfuglien to forward because GM [Cheveldayoff] had him at fwd when he was assistant GM with the Hawks and loved him as a fwd. I'm hoping it's just a hunch he has and not actually something he heard mentioned, but he did tweet "I'm hearing"...

[ross10019]

Can anyone tell us what to expect of Claude Noel (especially as compare to Craig Ramsay, last year's head coach)? Does he have a reputation for favoring any particular style of play by his teams (the Manitoba Moose, most recently)? This obviously could have a big impact on the Byfuglien thing.

And to Cascade Filly's question, I too had read somewhere that Byfuglien definitely prefers playing D, it is after all where he played throughout his minor hockey career, it's only once he came to the Hawks that they switched him up.

[ross10019]

Here is Byfuglien's profile in Hockey's Future - he's always been an offensive Dman, but his conditioning and poor positioning have been his achilles heel:

Dustin Byfuglien
Prospect Grade: 7.0 B (About Prospect Grades)
Profile Contributed By: HF Staff

History
Like fellow WHL alumnus Troy Brouwer, Byfuglien literally came out of nowhere as a 8th round draft pick of Chicago in 2003 to emerge as a legitimate NHL prospect, if not a potential top-4 defenseman.

At Prince George in the WHL, his numbers were typically comparable with much more highly touted defensemen Dion Phaneuf, Cam Barker and Brent Seabrook. In 2002-2003, he scored 9 goals, 28 assists and registered 74 penalty minutes. The following season, his numbers were 16 goals, 29 assists, and 137 PIM. The Blackhawks signed Byfuglien in 2005 and assigned him to Norfolk, where he played well overall, earning a berth in the AHL all-star classic in two consecutive seasons.

He has made a few brief appearances with the parent club in both 2005-2006 and 2006-2007.

Talent Analysis
A true diamond in the rough, many scouts recognized Byfuglien’s exceptional physical skills in his draft year, but shyed away due to his horrible physical conditioning. At that time, he weighed 275 pounds and had a very high bodyfat percentage.

To his credit, between 2005 and 2006, he literally transformed his physique and has become actually a bit of a gym rat.

Byfuglien has a booming point shot, measured in excess of 100 MPH. He has also shown unusual puck skills and offensive instincts, with the ability to adeptly man the point on an NHL power play. Another big plus to Byfuglien’s game is his sheer strength and physical presence; he delivers open ice hits that can really only be compared to those of Scott Stevens.

The downside of his game is poor or inconsistent positioning in the defensive zone— things he had been able to get away with until playing in the NHL.

Future
He could still definitely stand to work on his all-around game and positioning, and could also get a bit leaner, but his skating still is not much of an issue for a man his size. After turning the corner this past season, full-time NHL duty for Byfuglien is nearing reality.

[ross10019]

Here's a video of Byfuglien's presser in Winnipeg today: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/spo...129950258.html

Some excerpts:

- He said that at the end of last season, teams started to protect against his shots a little more by sliding over, etc., so he needs to find more open spots with his teammates.
- No doubt he’d rather play the point than forward, sees the game open up and able to control the game a lot more from back there.
- He considers himself a leader with this group, he’s “gotten to figure out his role around the rink and the room and not afraid to step up and tell someone something or say something”.
- His job is to “bang people around and score”.
- Wants to play 4-5 of 6 exhibition games.
- In response to the last question about SOG, he said if everything goes as smoothly as it did last year, he thinks he might be able to get up there and catch Ovechkin!