Quote:
Originally Posted by Huntingwhale
I remember the good ol' days when the great debate was who was better, Phaneuf or Weber. I recall one poster here who once said we can finally lay to rest the argument since Phaneuf > Weber after his Norris nomination season.
Oh how the mighty have fallen. It's a real shame what happened to him since as I recall Phaneuf was the best young defenseman in the game, and might have taken the title of best overall young player if Crosby and Ovechkin didn't exist. Although the return for him wasn't up to par, I'm glad we have moved on past him.
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This is why 'potential' is so dangerous and precarious as an asset.
It was not wrong at the time to say that Phaneuf was better, or that he had a hgiher ceiling. But his growth stopped dead, while Weber continued to improve.
No one - NO ONE - would have claimed that Chara had more potential or a higher ceiling than Phaneuf. Chara was down right awful as a defenseman for quite a few years. Now look at him.
Potential is great. But projecting ceilings for players is dicey at best.