Using C as "meets my expectations at the start of the year"
Jiri Hudler: A. Creative, talented, and great instincts offensively. He's a huge shakeup to a fairly linear minded forward core.
Roman Cervenka: A-. I did not expect him to be anywhere near where he was. At best, I was hoping for a 30 point over 82 game forward. Glad I'm wrong.
Alex Tanguay: B. The experiment at centre is going better than expected. He's back to that excellent vision on ice and is making passe I would expect no other Flame to make. Really needs to stop looking for the perfect play though and shoot himself...something he's worked on more and more, but still needs to practice using his own good wrist shot.
Jarome Iginla: C. This is basically what I expected out of a 35 year old power forward-turned-sniper. He's not fast enough to burn past skaters, not strong enough to muscle through them, and needs to rely on cherry picking a bit more.
Curtis Glencross: B-. Same old inconsistent player. He'll be a dominant force every once in a while, but shows that he can't be relied on to carry the team as he'll vanish for stretches. I'm pretty surprised he's on pace for just under 40 goals this year.
Mike Cammalleri: C-. Aside from his last game, he's been pretty disappointing. He's trying. Nobody is giving him that. But he's also seeming more inconsistent than he was when he potted 39 goals.
Mikael Backlund: A-. If only he had hands. Backlund is showing exactly why he was drafted in the 1st. Solid mentality, good skating, and isn't as weak as he was last year. It's too bad his great season was ruined by an injury.
Lee Stempniak: B. See Glencross. He's inconsistent, but a real threat when he's doing well.
Matt Stajan: B+. Did not see this coming. Stajan just had a career resurrection when he got a chance with players who seem to play a game more suited to him.
Blair Jones: C. Really, the energy line has not been doing anything good or interesting for the most part. Jones included.
Tim Jackman: C. See Jones.
Steve Begin: C+. See Jones. Begin gets a little more leeway because I expected him to look old and slow. Instead, he just looks like another Jackman.
Blake Comeau: D. Not hitting much and not performing well on the PK. Those were his only two assets he could bring to the team. It seems he completely forgot the crash-the-net mentality that got him 20 goals with the Islanders of all teams.
Sven Baertschi: N/A (or C if I need to enter a value). I think nobody expected him to be an all star this year. He's showing flashes of brilliance, but needs to get bigger, stronger, and more experienced in his own end to be a real impact NHLer.
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