Somewhere in the middle between New Era and Ashasx lies the truth about Baertschi.
He hasn't been great, he's been decent. He's shown flashes of being fantastic, followed by long stretches of insignificance.
Is he NHL ready? Eh... nah. I don't think so, but I guess that depends what you expect of him. If we took an Edmonton route and just let him play without much consequence then I'm sure he'd be fine. He could play, make his mistakes and have stretches of lackadaisical play and turn into a serviceable second liner that can be counted on for a good bit of offence and that would be that.
OR... the Flames could take their time, let him learn, teach him the level the he needs to be at before he belongs in the NHL. It doesn't matter if everyone is held to the same expectation. He needs to be held to a higher standard if people want him to produce at a higher standard.
Whether this all results in Sven learning and becoming a great player for the Flames, or being a piece in a trade, I think both parties will come out of this just fine.
It's fantasy to say that he is somehow closer to being traded now than he was two weeks ago. If he gets traded, it will be because he didn't capitalise on the chances he earned. Either way, it's not like we're dealing with Crosby, or Kane, or even a Taylor Hall type of guy. Even if we trade Sven at low value it's not going to set the franchise back a whole hell of a lot. Conversely, even if Sven reaches his full potential with the Flames, we're not getting some irreplaceable game breaker. It would just be nice to bring a guy like that up through development vs. free agency or trade.
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