[News] Gaudreau will head to the Worlds for USA Hockey.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I have to shake my head when a post like this generates multiple thanks. The guy had a down year. Happens to even the best. He's the most exciting player this organization has seen since Iginla, should we run him out of town because he only got 60 points? He's one of the smallest players in the league that plays in a line with one of the streakiest centers in the league and a bunch of RW's that amny fans outside of Calgary haven't even heard of.

60+ in his first 3 seasons...3rd time ever for a Flame

Kane, Toews, McDavid

all with 2 points in four games

not saying he didn't struggle but, it happens to the best of them

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I have to shake my head when a post like this generates multiple thanks. The guy had a down year. Happens to even the best. He's the most exciting player this organization has seen since Iginla, should we run him out of town because he only got 60 points?

Lol. Could you raise the level of drama a couple of notches? You're close but not quite hysterical.

Had a bad playoff series, people speculated it's because he was hurt, turns out he's not.

Terrible fans! Trying to run him out of town by literally just talking about his performance and injury status!

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

Lol. Could you raise the level of drama a couple of notches? You're close but not quite hysterical.

Had a bad playoff series, people speculated it's because he was hurt, turns out he's not.

Terrible fans! Trying to run him out of town by literally just talking about his performance and injury status!

Who speculated he was hurt? Lame post is lame post.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I have to shake my head when a post like this generates multiple thanks. The guy had a down year. Happens to even the best. He's the most exciting player this organization has seen since Iginla, should we run him out of town because he only got 60 points?

the guy had a down year and still scored at a .847 PPG clip during the regular season and .5 PPG during the playoffs.

He has played 3 seasons of professional hockey.

You'd think with how some people around here are villainizing him that he had just pushed ol Pete Maher down the stairs on a trip back from the urinal or something.

I struggled with patience earlier in the year when it came to my support of Gully - but I've learned my lesson. You'd think with all the vitriol thrown towards our players around here this year, and then consequently all the crow that guys like Monahan and Hamilton threw down people's throats...well, you'd hope that those vitriol spewing fans would take the freaking hint and show some patience with player development.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Who speculated he was hurt? Lame post is lame post.

It's lame to talk about our players and whether they are injured?

Do you even know why you're butthurt or is it just force of habit at this point?

[Yamer]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Who speculated he was hurt? Lame post is lame post.

Actually a number of posters were pondering if his lack of jump and execution had to do with a nagging injury of some sort because Johnny just wasn't Johnny. We weren't used to seeing him in that position.

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by bigrangy

Gaudreau-Eichel/Matthews-Kane

Good luck Canada

McDavid will be there.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

It's lame to talk about our players and whether they are injured?

Do you even know why you're butthurt or is it just force of habit at this point?

It seems you are getting pretty defensive for a person accusing the other of being butthurt.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by soulchoice

He will definitely have a good tournament. Playing on a bigger ice surface with less physicality will allow him to shine.

The NHL needs to move to the big ice surface. The game would open up so much more.

[Jacks]

He'll probably do better when he isn't getting slashed 20x a game.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by flamesfever

I think there is far too much expectation for Johnny. People expect him to come up with these spectacular news reel plays once a night. In spite of a few giveaways and defensive gaffs, here and there, I see him continually making passes that no other player seems to be able to make...

I generally agree with your post, but it should be pointed out that the reason people expect Gaudreau to make highlight-reel plays on a nightly basis is because that is exactly what happened in his rookie season and last year.

I am not down on Gaudreau. He is a top player in the NHL and he will continue to be for a long time. However, I am a little disappointed that he did not have as impactful a season as I would have hoped. He will be better next year, and I expect the nightly highlight reel to be spinning at full speed when he does.

[calgaryblood]

Gaudreau played horribly? News to me. Yes, he didn't deke out defenders out of their pants but that rarely happens in the playoffs and he is playing in a tight defensive minded system where that isn't really wanted or needed.

I think people's expectations are out of whack because of his first season under pond hockey Hartley.

[Vinny01]

Hope he does well. This year was probably the most adversity Johnny has faced in sometime. Sure he was always the smallest guy but quickly he would elevate and be one of the best players in his league. He took the USHL, NCAA, and NHL by storm. This year he was a focal point and took far more hits, seemed more tentative, and frustrated this season.

I think he comes back rejuvenated and ready to bounce back next year. I do expect steps forward for Gaudreau and Monahan offensively next year

[GreenLantern]

I think it is more than fair to hold Johnny accountable for his performance in the playoffs, down year or not. We needed more out of one of our top players and we didn't get it, it is really that simple. Nobody is brandishing a pitch fork and chasing him to Notre Dame for Sanctuary, just asking for accountability.

That being said, he did face a lot of new challenges this year and I can't remember the player, maybe Cogliano? Said in the post game interview that their #1 priority was shutting Johnny down 5 vs 5. So when you have an entire team that is very physical dedicated to shutting you down, it's tough, I get that. He's knew to that feeling. However, it isn't going to change any time soon, so he needs to figure out how to compete despite that.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

I guess this means he didn't play terribly because he was injured.

Gaudreau's season was frustrating but even healthy and playing "terribly" he still put up over 60 points, and that's a high mark in this league. There are only 37 forwards who had more points then him and only 19 wingers. He was still a top line forward, struggles and all.

His playoffs sucked but that happens. Jonathan Toews had two points -5 in four games. Connor McDavid had two points through four games, now five in three. Leon Draisaitl had zero through four, now 2 in 5. It's a small window to judge when you get swept. Not making excuses, it was a tough sledge through some stretches but he was still a positive factor many nights.

The main thing is being healthy and ready to go day one of training camp. Him and Monahan missing the entire thing and all pre-season games put us behind such an eightball. Gaudreau - Monahan - Versteeg was our top line in game one and NONE of them played a licked of preseason games for us or training camp.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

I generally agree with your post, but it should be pointed out that the reason people expect Gaudreau to make highlight-reel plays on a nightly basis is because that is exactly what happened in his rookie season and last year.

I am not down on Gaudreau. He is a top player in the NHL and he will continue to be for a long time. However, I am a little disappointed that he did not have as impactful a season as I would have hoped. He will be better next year, and I expect the nightly highlight reel to be spinning at full speed when he does.

If we've learned anything over the last 25 years in the NHL is that head coaches have become very good at figuring out ways of stifling offensive players. Johnny took the league by storm initially but teams have adjusted as they know what gets under his skin and how to take him out of the game. The fact that the league has no answer for tapping means that he's always going to have to overcome getting hacked and whacked on a regular basis. It's probably the reason he's developed some hesitation in his game and quite frankly he hasn't handled adversity well but it's a mental thing and he's not the first young player that had to mature as Crosby had his issues as well in the earlier stages of his career. He also needs to work on his conditioning and fitness. I doubt he's ever going to be a physical specimen like Martin St. Louis but he does need to strive to get stronger.

[flamesfever]

Besides Johnny's special hockey skills, the one thing I really admire about him is his extreme competitiveness. After the last game, to me he looked the most disappointed of any of our players.

[Love]

He's going to lead the tournament in scoring.

[Love]

Originally Posted by calgaryblood

Gaudreau played horribly? News to me. Yes, he didn't deke out defenders out of their pants but that rarely happens in the playoffs and he is playing in a tight defensive minded system where that isn't really wanted or needed.

I think people's expectations are out of whack because of his first season under pond hockey Hartley.

He actually was generating a lot of chances, especially in game three. He just was gripping the stick a little bit too tight.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Who speculated he was hurt? Lame post is lame post.

Loads of people on this forum were speculating that Gaudreau was still hampered by his broken hand.