I hardly think that benching a 21 year old player that even if you asked him would admit that he wasn't playing well at all. While he has the puck he's doing some nice things, but the rest of his game has suffered this year and it goes back to the pentictin tournament.
The Flames are trying to get players to work hard all over the ice in every situation, its the culture that they want going forward. I don't know if Sven is working hard or not, but I don't think he's working smart at all.
Putting a young player in the press box when they're struggling can be a good thing, they can see the game from a slower perspective, and they can understand from coaches messages that what they're doing simply isn't good enough..
Its up to Sven at some point to bring his game up, we've seen him do it, and its not something that we can wait for the final third of the season when games don't count for it to happen. He has to start producing and being a factor all over the ice.
Again I'm not trying to slag the kid, its way too early in his career to do that. But we've seen what happens to young players when the three zone big effort thing isn't followed through with the stick at times, its called the Oilers young core.
I'm on side with Hartley here, was Burke's message unduly harsh? Maybe, but that's what happens when your a top ranked prospect.
|