Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
I wonder if the team might have a longer view of this problem in light of some of his problems with injuries in the past two years, which quite likely have had a palpable psychological impact on his game.
I suspect that the team exercises some flexibility in their employment of this rule to each player individually. We will see, but based on what we have heard compared to what we have seen, the team seems to take a much more focused individual approach to each player's development. For all we know, circumstances and history have affected the hard and fast employment of this rule for a player like Baertschi.
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I completely agree with what you are saying. There is likely no hard and fast rule here. I think what does come into play is the waiver issue and not wanting to lose the player if he is not yet ready. I suspect that if Baertschi isn't showing he is ready, by say Christmas, he may be traded for a player in a similar position, but better addresses team needs (RW or RD). I doubt they want to be pushed into the waiver corner a la Colborne. Hopefully this is all a moot point and Baertschi comes to camp and blows the doors off everyone.