Quote:
Originally Posted by IliketoPuck
Baertschi had one or two rookie mistakes defensively, found himself on the 4th line, and shortly after that in the AHL. Inconsistent.
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If you discount the fighters, Baertschi played, by far the most sheltered minutes of the Flames forwards. Easiest offensive zone starts against the easiest competition on the team. By far. And still had the worst advanced stats - which simply means Flames goaltending was always getting pummelled when he was on the ice.
As far as his line-mates, here are the top 3 (all that extra skater lists)
Monahan 67% of the time
Hudler 59% of the time
Stempniak 19.5% of the time
Anyone else he played with was less than Stempniak. In hindsight, maybe he should have been separated from Monahan, but you can only protect so many players from tough situations, and both needed protecting.
Regardless, all any of the above shows is that Baertschi was not ready to play in the NHL. It doesn't say he doesn't have potential, just that he was some ways from realizing it. Had he ran the show in the AHL, that would have been excellent. Instead, several players passed him there as well.
EDIT: to add player usage chart image (see spoiler)
values at default except 20 game played minimum, showing all forwards
lower = easier competition
right = more offensive zone starts
darker blue = better corsi
darker brown = worse corsi