Quote:
Originally Posted by Vinny01
What I am saying is Sven should not be treated the same as every other player. He is a key piece of the future and is hopefully being groomed to be a first line 2 way player. So often this season he has been knocked off the puck with ease trying to dangle his way past defenders where it seldom works if ever. He has been benched only 6 times all year so once every 6 games that is not crazy at all.
Burke challenged him at the start of the year and he has made some strides but still has a ton of holes in his game. The problem I see is when he is not generating offensively he is invisible and often on the ice who there is sustained pressure against.
I think Sven should probably go to the AHL and be the top winger on a top team rather than fight to get in the lineup on the big squad. He needs to get bigger and work on his defensive game. Personally I still have very high hopes for his ability to be a top line player in the future but he is not going to do it as quickly as many including myself hoped.
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You have not answered my question. If you are going to use the logic that he should be held accountable, or is not playing the right way, can you please provide a few examples of this that are glaring enough to justify sitting him 6 times?
Can you expand on your idea that he should not be treated like any other player because he is a 'key' piece of the future? In what way should he not be treated the same as other players? Do you think sitting him in the NHL is better for the development of a key piece than sending him to play in the NHL?
Being "knocked off the puck" is not a reason to sit a player. Sven is not Lance Bouma and neither is he 6'3 and 200lbs. He will get bodied off the puck until he has played enough to learn the NHL game. I don't see anyone here, or Hartley trying to get Bouma to dangle around defenders, so why is there this expectation for Sven to play like he's a hard nosed grinder. Every team has players who fill that role, and players who are finesse player. Just like they have a player who is shut down D man, or one who is a PK specialist, or someone who specializes in killing penalties. The defensive part of the game takes years to sink in to most players. My point is, you need to let players do what they are good at. I'm not saying to hang around the red line looking for breakaway passes all game. I have watched Sven in every game he's played and yes he makes mistakes but that's kind of how you learn. Scratching him once, twice sounds reasonable. But to constantly make him sit is detrimental to his development and will create resentment when he is the only one being singled out.
People in here seem to think that the coach can never make mistakes and there must be a reason why Sven is being treated this way. Coaches are human, and they make mistakes. Sven is a human and this kind of weird and illogical treatment is going to get to him in a negative way eventually. It would to anyone.