JULIUS HONKA - Defenseman - 23 - RFA in 2019-2020
LAST UPDATED 8/17/19
Despite falling out of favor with two straight Dallas coaches and being unable to cement himself as a full-time NHL player, I'm still optimistic about Honka's outlook as an NHL player. He simply just has some rare tools that are difficult to teach, despite all of his warts. He's a smooth skating defenseman with strong puck moving abilities. He has the potential to be a huge asset in the zone exit and zone entry game, so while his lack of size and overall lack of defensive awareness makes him a slight defensive liability, his ability to generate a high volume of zone exits massively helps his defensive value, even if valuing zone exits as very valuable defensive contributions is still a little progressive. Honka has shown the ability to be a strong scorer at the CHL and AHL level, and given all of his tools I still believe he has 40 point potential at the NHL level. That being said, there are things that cloud Honka's future. His inability to win over coaches is a major issue, as having a long leash and being able to sort out his mistakes on his own will be key to his development. Honka is not made for a win-now environment at this stage of his career. He needs to be able to gain confidence and learn how to harness his tools, even if it damages the team's ability to win in the immediate future. It's about building for the future with Honka, and it'd be a smart investment for a rebuilding club to acquire Honka and give him 82 games at the NHL level, allowing him to work freely on the ice and allowing him to find his rythm with regular NHL action. If he's able to do that, I think he could blossom into a power-play specialist #4 defenseman, but if he wants to become that, I think he needs to leave Dallas, a team with legitimate near-future Stanley Cup aspirations.
Despite falling out of favor with two straight Dallas coaches and being unable to cement himself as a full-time NHL player, I'm still optimistic about Honka's outlook as an NHL player. He simply just has some rare tools that are difficult to teach, despite all of his warts. He's a smooth skating defenseman with strong puck moving abilities. He has the potential to be a huge asset in the zone exit and zone entry game, so while his lack of size and overall lack of defensive awareness makes him a slight defensive liability, his ability to generate a high volume of zone exits massively helps his defensive value, even if valuing zone exits as very valuable defensive contributions is still a little progressive. Honka has shown the ability to be a strong scorer at the CHL and AHL level, and given all of his tools I still believe he has 40 point potential at the NHL level. That being said, there are things that cloud Honka's future. His inability to win over coaches is a major issue, as having a long leash and being able to sort out his mistakes on his own will be key to his development. Honka is not made for a win-now environment at this stage of his career. He needs to be able to gain confidence and learn how to harness his tools, even if it damages the team's ability to win in the immediate future. It's about building for the future with Honka, and it'd be a smart investment for a rebuilding club to acquire Honka and give him 82 games at the NHL level, allowing him to work freely on the ice and allowing him to find his rythm with regular NHL action. If he's able to do that, I think he could blossom into a power-play specialist #4 defenseman, but if he wants to become that, I think he needs to leave Dallas, a team with legitimate near-future Stanley Cup aspirations.
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