Quote:
Originally Posted by Ashasx
Not every player on Chicago plays a complete game. Most of them don't.
Sorry, but Baertschi is not Jonathan Toews and never will be. I'm sure Sven is sorry as well.
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I know, but this season is like an extended training camp where the coaches need to teach the right way of playing and for the management group to evaluate what they see. If guys like Sven and Backlund are pushed but do not respond with a more complete effort at both ends, that's perfectly fine, but you get to know more of exactly what you have.
Backlund is a decent defensive minded player, who has a hard time generating offense. Giving him a hard time might motivate him to find his scoring touch. If that's the case, then you have a solid 2nd/3rd line center that's fairly good defensively. If not, then you have a solid defensive minded 3rd/4th line center. Either is not a problem, it's just figuring out exactly what you have.
Similarly with Baertschi, is he going to be an inconsistent force out there in terms of effort, or is he going to be consistent. The difference between them is him becoming potential 1st line forward or a depth scorer.
That's what needs to be found out right now, so that moving forward you have a better idea of what your actual areas of need are and can they be addressed through the draft/trade or free agency.