Quote:
Originally Posted by 868904
No honestly, I'd rather have Backlund taking Jokinen's ice and Horak too for that matter. If JOkinen were still here, Backlund gets relegated to the bottom 6 forwards again.
Backlund and Horak, both significantly smaller and weaker than Jokinen, are still better options at centre than Jokinen. They both play much better in the defensive end than Jokinen and both have hockey sense that Jokinen can only dream of.
He's currently playing with Evander Kane and has 6 points in 14 games and is minus 6??
I'm not exaggerating at all when I say i'm glad Feaster didn't re-sign Jokinen. Glencross's production is the same with or without Jokinen and Glencross is not a core player you build around anyways.
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My main issue was your calling him bad defensively, which wasn't true at all. I also think that he could provide some of the push that they're missing right now, especially against teams like Phoenix that don't allow you to get cute with the puck. I haven't compared the offensive numbers but in my view playing with him did make Glencross a more solid, dependable player.
They went into the season without proper NHL centers. That's the issue. I have no problem with playing the youngsters so long as you don't pretend that you're supposed to be in a playoff hunt and therefore can't change any core players. As it is, letting Jokinen go was just a cosmetic move. It didn't make the team better but it gave the false impression that the team is moving forward.