Adam Klapka

There isn't even close to a Naz walking through that door.

So he needs to show that he can do it on his own or else like, it feels like Klapka's passed him.

Right.

And they have like, I, I want to see what Stromgren can do this season.

I could be very easily convinced that Cairns wins that over him.

But this was just the way to get Hanzik on the roster.

So I had Hanzik, Pospisil and Klapka and then Siplikov in the trade as the extra forward.

I like this because we're going to have very different forward lines here.

[laughs] Um, besides that, like, I, I feel like Backlund with Feraby, that just feels like the n- the, the Blake Coleman you have at home.

Um, but then who plays with them? And where does everyone else go in? If Zary continues to have some of the struggles that he had from last season, can a, a Klapka take his spot? Can a Pospisil take his spot? Where does Sharon Govich fit in this? So I feel like at forward, and tell me if you disagree with this, John, but I feel like at forward, the pieces are all kind of there.

It's just a matter, matter of where they all fit into the puzzle.

Mm-hmm.

... like if, if you're looking for the big power forward guy on your team-

Yeah

... we got Adam Klapka, who's a power forward in basketball, who can kinda fill that role too.

So it's a matter of trying to like get this guy in, and I'm hoping with him and with Zary too, that not having to rehab during the off-season and being able to actually focus on skill development What do I need to do to be an impactful NHL player instead of, please oh please, can my brain and or kneel heal, uh, knee heal in time? I, I, I f- I hope that that actually helps these guys get back to the ceiling that we saw from them a couple of years ago.

I wonder if there's guys on this roster, though, that can play their way off of it.

We saw a struggling Klapka at the end of last year.

We saw a struggling Pospisil throughout the year, even though the injuries weren't part of that involved.

Is Siplyakov ready to be a full-time NHLer? Or can he be a full-time in each other? What is Tyson Gross? Those type of players.

If you're not going to sign and put yourself in a good spot to get the season off to a hurry, you're going to get passed in an absolute hurry.

That makes training camp so important for a few of these veterans.

The Conor Zeri conversation, the Postle conversation I just went down, the Klapka conversation, the Siplykov conversation.

There are a lot of guys here that on paper, they should be on the NHL roster.

It just makes perfect sense.

Colton Baxter also says, upgrade on Klapka.

Let's work.

Not a Klapka fan.

Would much rather have Nylander.

Completely, completely different players.

I think heading into this season, I'd almost prefer what Klapka brings compared to Nylander.

But everyone is entitled to their own opinion, of course.

Do you have that written down?

... with Klapka and probably Tyson Gross as your four C.

Do you have that written down?

Every day.

So I would be definitely open to seeing what he could do on the power play at some point.

The other guy I was kind of thinking about, be curious to get your thoughts is, and we've seen it a couple times in the past, is what about the idea of Adam Klapka as a net front guy? Just parking that 6'9 gigantic frame in front of goalies and trying to cause havoc.

We've seen them try it.

We've seen them try it.

The thing is, you have to get Klapka to commit to it as well, right? I...

Please don't give me hate for this.

I am not an Adam Klapka guy.

I am not.

I can get that.

At least with Klapka and with Pospisil, who I think probably project out... closer to fourth line than first line, there are at least traits and skill sets that you can put them up on a top line for a little bit.

And it can be a bit of a spark.

They can play kind of up and down the lineup, which is sometimes a bit of an overused thing.

But with those guys, like Pospisil's speed, really good shot.

You put him with a couple of like good fits on the wing and at center, and he can be someone you can trust higher up in your lineup if you're trying to spread out more of the talent depth throughout.

Same thing with Klapka because he's fucking huge.

You can spread that out a little bit too, right? So with all of that, Like, I don't mind giving those guys opportunities on the fourth line when there's an opportunity that they can move up a little bit further.

There are enough young pieces here that if that scenario plays out and if they're getting there, again, maybe you're not going to be able to draft that center, but I think overall it will still be a positive thing for this team.

And if this young group is able to, if it looks sustainable, right? Like if it's the Findaway Flames and they're coming back from a bunch and they're getting outshot 43 to 15, but Dustin Wolf makes 41 saves and the puck happened to bounce in off of Klapka a couple of times.

Then no, don't do this.

But if this team is legitimately improving and battling their way to...