Quote:
Originally Posted by Blaster86
And he'd be a legitimate top six winger on a good team.
Or are you implying he would suddenly suck on a good team playing top six minutes?
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There are plenty of players who are moderate sized fish in a small pond type of players who look bigger by comparison. Look at Matt Stajan for instance, very few people would consider him to be a good top 6 player at any point in his career, but he was able to put up a 55 point season with Toronto in 2009 playing on a dreadful team. As every single NHL player is really, really, really good at hockey, even the worst player on the worst team is still really good at the sport, with ice time there are bound to be goals and points. The test will be whether Baertshi will continue to be a top six player on a good team or just be a top 6 player on a team that has fewer other options for ice time.
He is putting up points, playing well defensively and has been clicking with Horvat. Personally I don't see anyone on the Canucks right now who would be a top offensive player for the future but to dismiss the potential for a 23 year old player who is flirting with 20 goals out of hand is quite foolish on the part of Flames fans. If Jankowski were to put up a season like Baertshi is next year the expectations going forth would be sky high and they would both be in their same draft + 6 season. (has it been that long!)