Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
Fair enough, and for the most part I agree. But I do think that you are selling Baertschi severely short in your expectations. I see no reason whatsoever not to expect him to have a great NHL rookie season. There just doesn't appear to me to be any part of his game at present that will hold him back from making an immediate impact at the NHL level, and that is a HUGE difference from where Backlund was when he began his NHL career.
|
I think the difference is that Bartschi just hasn't faced opponents of this big before and he'll need to learn how to deal with those hits. In the WHL, he seems to be fine just shaking them...in the NHL, I'm a little concerned with how he'll deal with getting bumped by bigger players. I am hopefull though that his excellent lateral mobility plays more to it, as this issue seems to be fought through by players like Skinner and Bartschi easiest.
Not to mention a bit of a depth problem on the Flames wings...Tanguay-Iginla seem to be forever stuck together, leaving Glencross, Bourque, and possibly Comeau and Stempniak to fight with Bartschi for top 6 time. If he actually beats them, great. I'm just not sure he will be able to do it at the age of 19.