On Day Two of the NHL Entry Draft, Bryan Murray and the Ottawa Senators decided to take a chance on Russian sniper Nikita Filatov. Most GMs around the league agree this was a steal by the Sens. Worst case scenario, it doesn't work out and the team is out a draft pick.
Best case scenario they have added a legitimate top six forward that immediately becomes one of the most talented players in the system.
At age 21, it is obviously far too early to call this guy a bust. While things never worked out for him in Columbus, he's going to be given every chance to succeed in Ottawa. He is a shoe-in to make the team out of camp and is expected to find a spot somewhere in the top six and on the team's power play.
Projecting the season Filatov is going to have largely depends on whether or not he can develop chemistry with Jason Spezza. A LW with a right handed shot, I fully expect MacLean to pair the two together early on in camp to see if there's a connection. If those two can click early on, Filatov could have a more productive season than people are expecting.
Success with the man-advantage will be key and with the Sens power play expected to improve under MacLean, Filatov should benefit.
I don't want to call this a "last chance" for Filatov but because the Sens were the only team that showed interest on Draft Day, you have to think this is a huge season for the talented prospect. By all accounts, FIlatov is a motivated player that wants to prove people wrong and the coaching staff in Ottawa is going to give him every chance to do so.
I'm gonna take some heat for this one but here it goes...
2011/2012 PREDICTION- 78 GP 25 G 26 A 51 PTS
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2011/2012 PREDICTION- 78 GP 25 G 26 A 51 PTS"
I think it's a perfectly reasonable prediction if he plays with Spezza for the whole year. And then he gets re-signed.
I'd would LOVE to see it happen, but I just don't feel like it will.
I'm counting on him being a fixture in the top 6 and getting consistent power play time.
Spezza has helped many wingers since joining Ottawa, most noticeably Butler last season. Using Dobber's Line Pairing tool you can see when paired with Spezza (and Greening) they had 14.45% Frequency Strength in production, highest of all Sens pairings. And who can forget Heatley which in my opinion is the main reason for back to back 50 goal seasons.
If a Filatov and Spezza pairing gels, we would have something to be very excited about.
more like 51 Goals... second on the team to Bobby Butler, with 52. and third in points with 84, behind Butler (86) and Spezza (137)
As for Filatov... I say in pre-season try the line combinations of Filatov - Spezza - Butler. The only thing that scares me in the regular season with those 3 is none of them is really a stellar at defense. Spezza has improved a lot.. but I think going against the best lines in the league.. will it be Alfie/Michalek put up on one of those wings.
If Filatov turns out to be the sniper he is rumoured to be and can play with Spezza... those numbers Chirp provided.. could happen.
11 G 42 A 53 pts
:DDDDDDDDDDDD
LMAO!!
On the 3rd line Condra will be under 20pts.
I say 9G 9A 18pts and thats being generous.
They can't all be straight up fools in Columbus.
If he turns into a sniper for us I'll be ecstatic.
In other words, you don't know who the winner is? lol
Well I have the name they gave me, but I didn't want to just assume that they were going to use their real name. For obvious reasons haha
Of course he knows, all entries required your blog name.
The intro is for us readers, its a way to hype up the new poster.
I'm very excited that Alfredsson's back appears to be healed. This will give him speed and strength, two aspects of his game that have been missing.
Oh God no! Greening is not a top 3 talent, damn, our top 6 is already laughable, now you go and add 3rd liner...
Alfie skated like once or twice, you have no clue how his back is doing, I doubt it is completely healed. Remember he is skating by himself and not doing at drills or anything to push it.
Another kid off the street with a name he probably thinks was clever.
Before you go and make an ass out of yourself with your book it! why dont you elaborate on why you think he will have a breakout season.
Filatov has played 44 NHL games, with 6 goals and 7 assists (13points) to his name. Even if he played much more and produced at twice that pace it's still only about 48points. I think at 21 years old, a good season would be 15-20 goals, and ~20 assists earned mainly on the 2nd line and 1st PP unit, with improvement shown in his all around gameplay and defense.
The fan in me wants your projection to come true though and either way he will be fun to watch grow!
You can't really judge Butler from last year, he only played 36 games, no way you can expect a 50 point season in 36 games. But collecting 21 in 36 was pretty impressive.
So you'd rather play a guy on the "two-way line" that you think is all one-way?
I get the idea of balance between the top lines but I'd rather have a loaded top line forcing the other team to play their defensive guys more. "Best defence is a good offence" kind of thing.
For the record, I do not think Filatov will have a 42 goals season. The thing is that he has pure goal scorer habilities and great hockey sense. If paired with Spezza, he realy could have a breakout season, who knows?
Your nametag suggests your 18 but who knows?
Oh and thanks for elborating, I didnt know Filatov was a pure goal scorer (6 goals in 44 games)
Sorry, I'm not quite sure what you mean? I'm assuming a similar 50 point projection for Butler over 82 games this coming season. I think if you expect PPG pace from Butler this year you'd be setting yourself up for disappointment.
You do realize the majority of his playtime was spent on third and fourth line duties, and he was never given any real talent to play with, right?
Exactly why I said at twice the production in much more ice time. Look guys, he's a great prospect, but he's still 21 and a 35-40pt season would be a huge stepping stone for him in the right direction. Expecting him to immediately put up Dany Heatley numbers is just too unrealistic, even for me.
Your nametag suggests your 18 but who knows?
Oh and thanks for elborating, I didnt know Filatov was a pure goal scorer (6 goals in 44 games)
If you look only at his nhl stats, it's absolutely true. But did he ever played with someone worth to be playing with? I saw him play at the world juniors in ottawa and he was by far the best player on the ice. Could he play like that with spezza? We will know soon enough.
Oh and by the way, I feel sorry for you if you're over 18 and your fun is to trash talk people on this site...
I think SC will be a bit off but its hard to say which Filatov will show up.
I say 16G 18A 34Pts
Isnt that what blogs are for? debates? discussion? voice your opinion.
Meet Tookie19. He is single, likes girls? works at SBP but hates the Sens. On TSN he is known as Scotland. He is a Leaf fan who predicted that the Sens would suck last year so feels he has superior knowledge. I also think he knows SENSCHIRP. The thing is, as a Leaf fan, don't you predict the Sens to suck every year? I have successfully predicted the Laughs to suck for the last 6 years. I rule.
Dont hate the player, hate the game! Its not my fault your hockey knowledge is inferior to mine. I also said the Leafs would finish out of the playoffs again, but ahead of the SENS.
I think it will be similar again this year, no reason they should fall way down to where we were and us move up to make the playoffs. They have a more developed team than us and are ahead in the rebuild.
For a big tough guy you sure cant handle the truth well...
That would be fun to watch but I really dont want them to get Yakupov or Galchenyuk....t hat would suck hardcore!
oh and the sens are ahead of the leafsin the rebuild and we have only officially beenrebuildings ince january. compare our prospects to theirs. go sens!
I think SC is a little closer than you in the prediction... I say 35G 19A for 54P... IF he's with Spezza. Spezza is a great playmaker and if Filatov can subscribe to The Stache's style by going hard to the net, Spezza will find him and he will do the rest!
Who cares how people spell, what people say etc. If you don't like it/them, piss off!
GO SENS GO!
Maybe you could try spelling hypocrite.
I could try to spell it, but you already did.
Enough with the bickering between each other is all I'm trying to say. That's what The Sun if for.
Let's keep SC classy gents!
I think 45 - 50 pts for Filatov is realistic.
Columbus sucks at developing players... Rick Nash developed Rick Nash...
Sens have a well documented history of developing high end talent:
alfie
hossa
havlat
spezza
chara
redden
Michalek will not fall to bottom 6.
How can a young guy learn the NHL game when everytime he makes a mistake he is benched.
Nobody knows how it will turn out for him this year.
We have to wait and see. He has all of the offensive tools and he has to be put into a situation to succeed... unlike in Columbus where he was put into a situation to fail. He was rushed in the NHL when not ready. This is not the first -- 1st round pick that Columbus has screwed up with.
McLean will determine who plays with who.
But I can't see Filatov-Spezza- Butler being the top line especially playing against the likes of Sedin line, Crosby line, Stamkos line...They will need some experience there. My guess it will be Alfie with Spezza.
Heard Garrioch on the Team this afternoon he is an idiot.
The Leafs had 6 more wins than the Sens last year (11 pt difference). Considering what the Sens had in net from Oct - Jan -- that really is not that much of an accomplishment.
The Sens should be (will be) better in goal -- so even if the Leafs have the same type of season they did last year.. they will be neck and neck in the standings.
Can't spell hypocrite without spelling grammatical error.
Filatov has to prove me wrong for me to consider otherwise.
Michalek Ziby Alfie or Michalek Ziby Butler for the second first line, Filatov and Michalek can swap but I don't think Michalek Spezza has proven much chemistry.
Comments show as zero until I log in then they all show up, anyone visiting without an account sees nothing I expect.
I hope Alfie stays out till he is 100%, so what if he misses a few games, half healed does nothing for us in the grand scheme of things.
Michalek Ziby Petersson until he is 100%
It will also let us see what Petersson can bring.
Let's not get started on their top guys getting cut from Team USA.
I know its early too talk about but 2012 Nhl draft watching the NHL research camp Nail Yakupov or both Yakupov and Alex Galchenyuk (via trade both ) this team could be unstoppable in 3 years...
Filatov Galchenyuk Yakupov...That could be a exciting line worth price of admission alone
Do you think you are more of a passer or a shooter?
passer
(http://www.formspring.me/filat28/q/211446326439734955)
however he also said he likes to shoot depending on his linemates. he is the type of player that likes to have the puck on his stick, just like spezza, so it will be interesting to see what maclean does with the lines and this new puck possession type of team
Filatov has yet to show he can be a top line player in the NHL. Thus it makes little sense to immediately throw him onto the top line.
If Regin returns to the form he had two years ago, I have a hunch that they may compliment each other very well, particularly if Alfie is their other winger.
Yeah yeah call me out all you want but it is what it is.
"Uh oh, Tookie19 is in the mood to spar. This could get ugly."-Chirp
Agreed, i'm typing on a tablet and its easy to mispell, mis a letter or space and its a bitch trying to correct it.
Chirp is smart enough to actually pull this off. Praise Chirp!
PS: Whatever did happen to Bejamin/Tyrant? Did he take off?
Picking up Drury would've been the biggest bonehead move Murry ever would have made hahahahaha
Not nearly as bonehead as buying out someone who was about to retire. NYR are carrying $3.7M of cap this year and $1.7M of cap next year where they could have gotten rid of all $7M.
He wouldn't have retired if they didn't buy him out. He would have stayed on LTIR to get his cash. He may be finished but he's not stupid.
84GP 20G 31A 51PTS
"Not nearly as bonehead as buying out someone who was about to retire. NYR are carrying $3.7M of cap this year and $1.7M of cap next year where they could have gotten rid of all $7M."
How could they have gotten rid of all $7M? No one would trade for him and he wasn't allowed to be put on waivers until training camp, and at the time they still needed the space to lock down Callahan and Dubinsky.
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=587059&navid=DL|NHL|home
The countdown is now officially on.
Hell's Yeah!
Here's to hoping Filatov can live up to his draft status.
Cheers
Here's to hoping Filatov can live up to his draft status.
Cheers
I'm seeing 75 Games, 23 Goals and 21 Assists from the kid, for a total of 44 Points split between the first and second lines. He has a lot of potential, and great hands. He can easily have a good season in 2011-2012, and if he does I picture him only building off of it and getting better.
He's young, and hasn't been given much of a chance, I see him giving it his all.