Confirmed with Link: Avs acquire Casey Mittelstadt for Bo Byram

[Hasbro]

Guess we just have to disagree. Roope Hintz for example was 87th amongst forwards in pts/gm. He is a clear cut 1st liner to me. Brad Marchand was 84th, same thing.

Obviously he has to continue producing but I think he is absolutely 2nd line production right now and in the thick of it.

32 teams x 3 forwards= 96 first liners.

 

[SoundwaveIsCharisma]

I hope the Avs find a way to get this guy consistent linemates. Felt like every time he’d start building some chemistry Beds would move the winger to MacK. Beds needs to realize he can run multiple lines, you can’t expect these guys to just magically flip a switch in the playoffs when your go to is to always load up the 1st line.

I liked a lot of what I saw from Mitts. He’s got good hustle and vision, battles hard and you can see that awareness defensively and offensively. He needs to cut out those soft passing/chip plays since the Avs as a whole are a bunch of hockey dumb dumbs that aren’t going to read that well. I’d love to see him shoot more, but everyone knows he’s primarily a playmaker, please surround him with shooters

 

[henchman21]

If you want the points from Mitts, the solution is very simple. Give him PP1 time. That'll add 15 points per 82 with ease. If he gets that, he's going to put up a career high in points. If he doesn't, he will hover roughly where he is at. Which is clearly 2nd line (if not better territory). This season Mitts finished 47th in the entire league including all positions in ES points (if you push that to listed centers he's 25th and at least 5 of those guys rarely, if ever, play center... IE Guentzel and Nyqvist are listed at center). He is still 7th in ES points in the playoffs. In the regular season some names he was ahead of: Makar, Suzuki, Keller, Tavares, Jarvis, Boldy, Eichel, Kopitar, Jack Hughes, JEE, and Hintz. Some guys he was tied with: Boeser, Horvat, and Nelson. Guys he was 3 or less points behind: Barkov, Duchene, and Stutzle.

If you don't think his offense is up to snuff, you're not paying attention or willingly blind because he was traded for Byram.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

Yeah Mitts' offense is not an issue. This team needs 5v5 production and he provides that. Yes it would be nice if he shoots more but I think that will improve next year. Drouin has been shooting more under Bednar. Same thing should happen with Mitts.

For what he brings overall I like him better than Kadri.

 

[the_fan]

Yeah Mitts' offense is not an issue. This team needs 5v5 production and he provides that. Yes it would be nice if he shoots more but I think that will improve next year. Drouin has been shooting more under Bednar. Same thing should happen with Mitts.

For what he brings overall I like him better than Kadri.

Kadri brings more in the playoffs though with his grit, not mention he had a 87 point season. Will Mitts ever come close to 80 points with the Avs?

 

[henchman21]

Kadri brings more in the playoffs though with his grit, not mention he had a 87 point season. Will Mitts ever come close to 80 points with the Avs?

In that 87 point season, Kadri had 29 power play points. If Mitts hits that power play mark, not out of the question at all.

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

I hope the Avs find a way to get this guy consistent linemates. Felt like every time he’d start building some chemistry Beds would move the winger to MacK. Beds needs to realize he can run multiple lines, you can’t expect these guys to just magically flip a switch in the playoffs when your go to is to always load up the 1st line.

I liked a lot of what I saw from Mitts. He’s got good hustle and vision, battles hard and you can see that awareness defensively and offensively. He needs to cut out those soft passing/chip plays since the Avs as a whole are a bunch of hockey dumb dumbs that aren’t going to read that well. I’d love to see him shoot more, but everyone knows he’s primarily a playmaker, please surround him with shooters

Injuries and PAP didn't help with that. I felt like he developed some chemistry with Lehky and Nuke, only for JD to get hurt, so Nuke got moved up. Then Nuke went on a bender, so Lehky got moved up. He played like 90% of his games with one of Parise or Duhaime on his wing.

 

[the_fan]

In that 87 point season, Kadri had 29 power play points. If Mitts hits that power play mark, not out of the question at all.

Without Val he might get his chance on PP 1

 

[cccoltsicehockey]

Without Val he might get his chance on PP 1

Maybe? You still need a guy that does what Val did on PP1 and Mitts will never be that guy so not a great swap really. Mitts and Drouin are more alike on the PP and you can't really afford to have two guys out there like that.

 

[henchman21]

Without Val he might get his chance on PP 1

Yeah it is a real possibility. Mitts at this point is roughly a 2.25 p/60 guy 5v5. He's done it through various minutes, workloads and matchups, and ended around there. Given the minutes he projects to play next season, that should put him around 50-55 points ES. From there his production will simply rely on how many power play points he gets. If he gets PP1 time the whole season and stays healthy, 25-30 PP points is not unreasonable. It matches what has happened in the past with players and pacings from less than full seasons. If he gets PP2 time with how the Avs utilize their 2nd unit, he may only get 5-10.

So I see a range of roughly 55-85 points that is nearly entirely dependent on PP1 time. If he gets it, the expectation should be 70+, with 80 being a great season. If he doesn't, 55-60 should be the expectation and 65-70 a great season.

An interesting fact in these playoffs... Mitts was 2nd to Cogs in P/60 5v5 on the Avs at 2.13. Lehky was the only other guy above 2. His short stint in the regular season was 2.23. Which besides Tufte and Foudy who only played a handful of games, was only behind MacK and Rants. This is with guys on his wings that couldn't bury chances he was setting up. His slot passes rate was through the roof compared to anybody else. This simply shows that this idea that he doesn't produce offense as incredibly misguided and not based in reality. His even strength production is very close to a 1st line level. I get that he frustrates people by not shooting enough, but that shouldn't cloud the reality that he's producing a lot and really only behind the two elite forwards on the Avs.

Maybe? You still need a guy that does what Val did on PP1 and Mitts will never be that guy so not a great swap really. Mitts and Drouin are more alike on the PP and you can't really afford to have two guys out there like that.

Mitts does some of his best goal scoring work in that same area. Tips and utilizing quick hands to gather rebounds to get greasy goals. IMO given the skill sets of both, Mitts should be ahead of Drouin on the PP too. Just as good of passer, better on the boards, better battler and better tipper of the puck.

 

[NOTENOUGHRYJOTHINGS]

Avs are built as a top heavy team. When the going gets tough MacK and Rantanen and Makar do get shut down for at least two games in a series.

As good as they are they ain't McDavid and Drai who just can't be contained.

Second line scoring needs to come through to make it in a run.

The bottom six of the roster doesn't need to bring a lot. That's just not where the cap is allocated.

But Mittelstadt and Lehkonen (assuming Drouin MacK and Rant are the top line) will each need to contribute a lot if there's a deep cup run expected.

 

[SoundwaveIsCharisma]

Avs are built as a top heavy team. When the going gets tough MacK and Rantanen and Makar do get shut down for at least two games in a series.

As good as they are they ain't McDavid and Drai who just can't be contained.

Second line scoring needs to come through to make it in a run.

The bottom six of the roster doesn't need to bring a lot. That's just not where the cap is allocated.

But Mittelstadt and Lehkonen (assuming Drouin MacK and Rant are the top line) will each need to contribute a lot if there's a deep cup run expected.

That's the problem though. When you don't put your offensive depth in a position to build confidence and consistency, when you need them they aren't going to be there. I'm hoping the Beds starts to play Mitts more and more to get him reps, and to put him in positions where he knows he's one of the go to guys.

 

[NOTENOUGHRYJOTHINGS]

That's the problem though. When you don't put your offensive depth in a position to build confidence and consistency, when you need them they aren't going to be there. I'm hoping the Beds starts to play Mitts more and more to get him reps, and to put him in positions where he knows he's one of the go to guys.

Everyone will say all the right things. But when the chips are down Mittelstadt is just going to get the leftovers of whatever MacK doesn't want on his wings.

 

[SoundwaveIsCharisma]

Everyone will say all the right things. But when the chips are down Mittelstadt is just going to get the leftovers of whatever MacK doesn't want on his wings.

I don't disagree, but I also think that's just the dumbest way of doing things. If you're going to be top heavy, I think you build off pairings rather than a trio. Get Mitts a steady shooter and I think you have two really strong lines, versus one strong line and a guy that can look good, but also often gets stuck with the leftovers and can't build momentum.

 

[Ararana]

I'd like to see management show they understand the player and get him a shooting winger this summer to suit cMitts skillset. I don't trust Bendar to give him Rantanen full time.

 

[lionsDen]

Does mittelstdata play style mesh with the Avs north south style? How does this affect the flow of the game?

With Mack, mittelstdat, Colton and Ritchie stabilizing the c depth long term. Do they emphasize more on D and W?

OO does he have an even remote chance to play with mittlestdat? Let lehky, Kandy, drouin do all the heavy lifting and being. OO being essentially the burky.

 

[26Mats]

I'd like to see management show they understand the player and get him a shooting winger this summer to suit cMitts skillset. I don't trust Bendar to give him Rantanen full time.

Nikushin?

 

[Pokecheque]

Does mittelstdata play style mesh with the Avs north south style? How does this affect the flow of the game?

With Mack, mittelstdat, Colton and Ritchie stabilizing the c depth long term. Do they emphasize more on D and W?

OO does he have an even remote chance to play with mittlestdat? Let lehky, Kandy, drouin do all the heavy lifting and being. OO being essentially the burky.

Yeah he fits just fine. Plenty of times he was able to skate his way through the Dallas trap and into the attacking zone. He just needs more time to adjust and better linemates.

Nikushin?

There's an obvious joke here but I just can't do it.

 

[the_fan]

Avs are built as a top heavy team. When the going gets tough MacK and Rantanen and Makar do get shut down for at least two games in a series.

As good as they are they ain't McDavid and Drai who just can't be contained.

Second line scoring needs to come through to make it in a run.

The bottom six of the roster doesn't need to bring a lot. That's just not where the cap is allocated.

But Mittelstadt and Lehkonen (assuming Drouin MacK and Rant are the top line) will each need to contribute a lot if there's a deep cup run expected.

McDavid was contained pretty good vs Vancouver. He had 7 points in 7 games but 4 of them came in game 2 and he had 3 assists in game 6 I believe. So he was held scoreless in 5 of the 7 games

 

[the_fan]

Maybe? You still need a guy that does what Val did on PP1 and Mitts will never be that guy so not a great swap really. Mitts and Drouin are more alike on the PP and you can't really afford to have two guys out there like that.

Maybe Landy comes back which will help with that. He can do what Val did on PP

 

[Foppa2118]

It's going to be very hard for Mitts to get more PP time. He's not beating out Nate, Mikko, Landy, and Drouin on PP1. if they lose a guy like Landy, they'll want Lehky as the net front/bumper guy too.

If you're blaming Mitts lack of production on not getting PP time, and you said you didn't care if Byram gets any PP time, you're just showing how your bias impacts your commentary.

 

[Pacman33]

Yea im skeptical he gets pp1 time. I want him to just dont think it happens if drouin is back

 

[NOTENOUGHRYJOTHINGS]

McDavid was contained pretty good vs Vancouver. He had 7 points in 7 games but 4 of them came in game 2 and he had 3 assists in game 6 I believe. So he was held scoreless in 5 of the 7 games

But Draisatl kicked their asses.

Overall the number of points don't matter as much as how much offense Mittelstadt can create.

Putting him on the PP might pump up his numbers but he won't exactly be making the PP better.

At the end of a 7 game series how much the guys produce away from the top line will determine who wins it.

Mittelstadt showed some flashes even against Dallas. There's potential there for him to be a net positive against most second lines in the league. And if he develops chemistry with Lehk and can be used as more of a shut down guy depending on the matchups that's a big help as well.

And if Rossco and Wood can manage to not be a 6.5 million dollar boat anchor for 12-15 minutes a night anything is possible.

 

[BobRossColton]

Lehky Nate Mikko Colton Cale
Gabe kovalenko Drouin mitts Girard

 

[RockLobster]

Lehky Nate Mikko Colton Cale
Gabe kovalenko Drouin mitts Girard

Yes, these are all players that play, or have played (if Drouin isn't back) with the Colorado Avalanche.