Anybody think Jake could push past Gunnar this year? Or is he the call up for the left side? His college numbers are impressive, and he has a championship. He also got points in the few Wolves games he played last year.

I wonder what kind of RW we could get for Gunnar and some pieces?

Did you forget about Dunn?

Agreed Tim, highly unlikely that Walman jumps ahead of Dunn on the depth chart. Hoping they both outplay Gunnar and make him expendable though.

I think Dunn is ready to make the jump. He had like 13 goals and 45 points his first year in the AHL, I mean that's pretty impressive.

I'll be very disappointed if Dunn isn't a full time starter by the end of January.

Army had a strong off-season and I would hate him to go safe again and just sit on everything.

If Gunnarson is still starting for us come playoff time, then that is not good news Blues fans.

Unless Dunn just comes to camp unprepared and totally blows it, he should have an edge over Walman considering he's got a full year of pro hockey under his belt.

39hurricane wrote:
I wonder what kind of RW we could get for Gunnar and some pieces?

I'm thinking Gunner would net us a 4th round pick & that's about it. Maybe a 3rd but that might be a stretch. Just my opinion.

Most teams use between 8 and 10 defencemen over the course of a season.

Pietrangelo, Bouwmeester, Edmundson, Parayko, Bortuzzo, Gunnarsson, Dunn, Prosser, Walman, Schmaltz.

If we're on a good spot heading into the playoffs, Armstrong won't trade a "reliable" veteran like Gunnarsson.

I would bet if Walman and Dunn make good impressions this year, Gunnersson will be off our roster next summer.

Article on THN about Walman today.

http://www.thehockeynews.com/news/artic ... ng-nhl-gig

Excited about the future of our blue-line and team in general with all the quality prospects we have coming up.

Terrorsenko wrote:Article on THN about Walman today.

http://www.thehockeynews.com/news/artic ... ng-nhl-gig

Excited about the future of our blue-line and team in general with all the quality prospects we have coming up.

Nice - Thanks!................. I agree, this off-season has really changed the landscape for the team.

The 3rd LD spot seems to be the most interesting roster battle coming into camp. Aside from how well Dunn/Walman play, the question will be how Army wants to handle the 7th spot. Would he keep Dunn/Walman up with the big club to sit in the press box most nights if they haven't quite made it to the top 6? That doesn't seem very Army-like. I suppose I could see him going that route with Dunn for a while since he had a full year in the AHL, but I'd assume he wants Walman playing as much as possible at this point. Gunnar and Bouwmeester are both under contract through the 2018-19 season, so its possible we're having this conversation again next fall if a move isn't made.

NHLTIM wrote:Unless Dunn just comes to camp unprepared and totally blows it, he should have an edge over Walman considering he's got a full year of pro hockey under his belt.

Dunn probably has a slight edge right now because of last year, yeah. I think Walman will be a better player going forward though. I like em both, mind you.

Really excited for Walman and Dunn. I wasn't aware that Walman is at 200lbs now, that's great.

I would go ahead and make the package Gunnar Bortz plus plus for a very strong RW with all these prospects who are just about ready.

SpacemanSpiff wrote:Most teams use between 8 and 10 defencemen over the course of a season.

I've seen this type of a comment thrown out many, many times in many different places (so I don't want to give the impression I'm singling you out) but I feel it gets a bit misrepresented. If a team is using 10 defensemen in a season it is typically because they want to or can't find guys who will stick, not because they need to. You would have to have had four different defensemen go down with injuries at the same time to NEED to use 10 defensemen. If you have 7-8 guys that can play and not be a total liability, that should be fine. If you need more than this, you can generally find un-signed 6-7 guys that you can bring in for league minimum in a pinch, or you can trade a meh prospect for one. Keeping a guy like Gunnarsson around after he has been passed on the depth chart (assuming one or both of Dunn and Walman does that) is just too much money to spend on "catastrophic injury insurance" in my view.

I like Walman to be a Matt Dumba type of player for us. If that happens I'll be very happy. Dunn will be Kevin Shattenkirk like but a little more physical. The best thing is that both of these guys are going to provide offense for us, much more than what Jaybo, Gunnar and Eddy can provide.

NHLTIM wrote:I like Walman to be a Matt Dumba type of player for us. If that happens I'll be very happy. Dunn will be Kevin Shattenkirk like but a little more physical. The best thing is that both of these guys are going to provide offense for us, much more than what Jaybo, Gunnar and Eddy can provide.

I like those comparisons a lot and think the Walman one is pretty spot on. It's pretty great to think our worst defender in a couple years might be Schmaltz, who still has top 4 potential. Loving the job Bill Armstrong has done so far.

NHLTIM wrote:I like Walman to be a Matt Dumba type of player for us. If that happens I'll be very happy. Dunn will be Kevin Shattenkirk like but a little more physical. The best thing is that both of these guys are going to provide offense for us, much more than what Jaybo, Gunnar and Eddy can provide.

I really haven't seen either of these kids play but if Walman ends up like Matt Dumba then I will be thrilled! And it's nice you can spell out Dumba on this forum and it doesn't get kicked back

Have only seen highlights of Dunn but if he's like Shattenkirk in terms of overall point production, then that would be a success but I expect him to play a faster pace than Shatty and I'm thinking at even strength he may be more productive. Just a hunch.

NHLTIM wrote:I like Walman to be a Matt Dumba type of player for us. If that happens I'll be very happy. Dunn will be Kevin Shattenkirk like but a little more physical. The best thing is that both of these guys are going to provide offense for us, much more than what Jaybo, Gunnar and Eddy can provide.

I really like the idea that in a couple more years our defense should be more balanced between the left and right side in terms of offensive production and overall ability (skating, passing, and shooting). It seems that opposing teams have learned to smother our right side defenders as a fairly effective strategy the past several years. Back when JBo was in his prime that really helped us. You really noticed it during the playoffs when guys like Jackman and Eddy were outscoring our other d-men.

NHLTIM wrote:I like Walman to be a Matt Dumba type of player for us. If that happens I'll be very happy. Dunn will be Kevin Shattenkirk like but a little more physical. The best thing is that both of these guys are going to provide offense for us, much more than what Jaybo, Gunnar and Eddy can provide.

I think, after watching him in the playoffs last year, that Eddy has a little bit more offensive potential. Maybe the coaches were having him stay on the defensive side for safety. I think he could get to 7 goals, 25 ish assists.

Especially if Eddy/Colton pass Petro/Bouw.