Quote:
Originally Posted by Fire
Horak has never shown that he can produce enough points to be in the top 2 lines. In junior he did ok but for me I don't think it translates into a lot of points in the NHL. Probably tops out to be 15-20g 40pts player. A good 3rd liner. Poirier and Klimchuk both have good chances to be 2nd liners.
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Horak currently is the 24th highest scoring NHLer from the 2009 draft. He has 18 pts in his 81 NHL games.
At the start of the AHL season where the AHL was stocked with all the good young players that were eligible... Horak had 10 goals in his first 8 games.
For comparison: Eberle had 6, Nino NIEDERREITER had 5, Toffolli had 3, Taylor Hall 5 in their first 8 games.
No I don't think that Horak will outscore Baertschi, He is working to be a regular NHL player and having 3rd and fourth line skills gets him more games with the big club.
Baertschi was not good enough to get top 6 ice time - Iginla, Hudler, Glencross, Tanquay, Cammalleri and Stempniak so Horak has to be able to play gritty and be responsible defensively to stay with the big club.
I don't think he was asked to or given the opportunity to score a lot in the NHL so far in his career. Doesn't mean that it won't happen.