Guessing the other three were Johnston, Robertson and Bourque?
Great piece!
I do think splitting Lindell and Heiskanen is the way to go next season and definitely easing Heiskanen’s PK minutes.
Hopefully Lindell will be as productive or uh, good at not letting the other team be productive and the aging curve won’t creep in too fast for someone playing those heavy minutes.
Late to the party on this article but Esa is one of my favorites! Two questions:
1) What is his all important letter grade? U for underappreciated? R for Reliable?
2) On the PK struggles, have you thought of digging into how much is related to forward deployment? I feel like we had a nice edge in past seasons with forwards like Hintz and Johnaton out there. Feels like that has been a bigger drag than any defense combinations. Wonder if there's anything to back that up.
Helsinki Jokerit Legend Esa Lindell!
He was by far the most popular player when the Stars attended a Jokerit game together in 2024!
Man I wish I could of attended that game, I heard it got a lot of Helsinki Finns into watching the Stars.
Guessing the other three were Johnston, Robertson and Bourque?
Great piece!
I do think splitting Lindell and Heiskanen is the way to go next season and definitely easing Heiskanen’s PK minutes.
Hopefully Lindell will be as productive or uh, good at not letting the other team be productive and the aging curve won’t creep in too fast for someone playing those heavy minutes.
Correct!
I think Ash has it right, that's my guess also for the other 3 Stars to play all 82 games last season.
Lindell is awesome and I agree that the Stars should look to reduce Miro's PK time next season.
Late to the party on this article but Esa is one of my favorites! Two questions:
1) What is his all important letter grade? U for underappreciated? R for Reliable?
2) On the PK struggles, have you thought of digging into how much is related to forward deployment? I feel like we had a nice edge in past seasons with forwards like Hintz and Johnaton out there. Feels like that has been a bigger drag than any defense combinations. Wonder if there's anything to back that up.
Go Esa!
At first blush, the forward deployment thing is a mixed bag. But yes, it's on the summer list.
Added Esa's grade. How did I forget it? HOW?
He IS better than we realize!!