Bergevin said, "He’ll be a defenceman who, at 23, 24 years old, will give us 24, 25 minutes against the best opposing lines, the type of defenceman who we’ll put on the ice to protect a lead or play the last 30 seconds of a power play when you know the opposing team is coming with their big line."
"He’s more of a Drew Doughty type. At the world juniors, a lot of the GMs and AGMs were comparing him to… they said he plays the way Drew Doughty plays," the executive said. "To hit the nail on the head, the comparison with Doughty is to say Romanov wants to take command of the game. He wants to be involved in every facet of the game, and he can be with his skating ability."
"He’s much better than Emelin," said the executive. "Way better skater, much better gap control. His gap control is his best asset, and he has way more offence than people realize."
"I think he’s got way more offence to offer than what you see reflected in his KHL numbers," the executive said. "You release him and let him be involved, and I think he’s really going to surprise. I can’t say for sure, because we haven’t seen it in the KHL, but we saw it at the world juniors.
"At the world juniors, he was always involved in the offence because he makes his pass — and it doesn’t matter if it’s a first pass or a transition pass out of his own zone or neutral zone — as soon as he makes that pass, he’s up in the play right away supporting the offence all the time. He’s always moving his feet, he’s always up in the play, and he makes plays."
"I’m ready to play in the AHL, I’m ready to play in the NHL, I’m ready to play in North America," Romanov added — and in reasonably-spoken English.
Full Article: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/canadiens-romanov-comparable-kings-doughty-says-eastern-conference-exec/sn-amp/
My Thoughts:
Romanov is coming. Going off of Bergevin's Analysis of Romanov as well as comments from the anonymous Eastern Conference executive, Romanov has the potential to be a top pairing defenseman.
Perhaps he can fill the role Bergevin see's for him in the future next season: Playing top minutes (with Weber in this case), 2nd wave PP unit with our best defensive lineup.
Worst case scenario, Romanov plays 3rd pair D or goes to Laval to develop with our other prospects and we go with Mete (another year older), Kulak and Chiarot again.
The team still has $6.6M in cap space plus whatever they get from the player that is replaced from additions, what should they do with it.
I'm going off the assumption that MTL believes in Romanov, and with other prospects like Norlinder, Harris, Struble, etc. LD is not the biggest organizational need (long term).
That's what every GM is going to say about their top prospect. It's what Bowman has been pumping out about Ian Mitchell for months, so take it with a grain of salt. I would refer to Pronman or Wheeler's assessment of him (which is still highly positive) over Bergevin
I just hope that MB doesn't try to give him a tight leash. He needs ice time to develop. He's going to make mistakes and that's ok. Everyone makes mistakes. You can see his hockey IQ and vision when he plays, but playing the #7 Dman last two years getting 13 min ATOI isn't a good thing. Give him the ice time he needs to develop...even if that means Laval to start the season. He's got the talent. Develop him the right way now that he's signed.
Didn't he say something similar for Mikhail Sergachev? Really hope he learned from his mistakes from saying both Subban and Sergachev were "untouchable" and that Romanov remains w/ the Habs as long as Markov...oh and No "baptism by fire" just like they did with Victor Mete for the sake of Romanov's development.
I just hope that MB doesn't try to give him a tight leash. He needs ice time to develop. He's going to make mistakes and that's ok. Everyone makes mistakes. You can see his hockey IQ and vision when he plays, but playing the #7 Dman last two years getting 13 min ATOI isn't a good thing. Give him the ice time he needs to develop...even if that means Laval to start the season. He's got the talent. Develop him the right way now that he's signed.
Exactly, if you truly see him as this type of player than give him a role in the NHL he can grow into, or let him grow into that role in Laval. Sticking him on the 3rd pairing with no powerplay time isn't going to make him a star.
Part of me wonders what Mete's value would be if the habs gave him powerplay time. He doesn't even get a look on one of the worst powerplays in the league over the past two years. Then people wonder why Mete "hasn't progressed".
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