Quote:
Originally Posted by joe_mullen
Backlund? He of 51 career points at the age of 24? A little too early to call him a success. Also, an arguement could be made that he would be much further along if he was treated differently.
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1. He's 23.
2. He's the best forward on the team at moving the puck forward and maintaining possession. Nearly every player on the team that plays with him gets more scoring chances with playing on a line with him than when they don't. Petty impressive. This is the part of his game that might not have developed as quickly if he was treated differently.
3. He's finally shooting at a more normal shooting percentage. I expected him to take a step forward by this metric this year based on the players his career path has paralleled so far, and he has not disappointed.
I think that qualifies as a successfully developing a NHL Player. It's much too early to determine how great of a success it was, but just getting a solid NHL player that can drive possession on any line and score a few goals matches reasonable expectations for a late 1st round pick.
On topic, once Beartchi scores a goal or two, I think you'll see him get his swagger back quite quickly. He's going to have to learn to fight through scoring droughts as they happen to nearly every player.