Quote:
Originally Posted by Nehkara
I'm actually pretty surprised that people think that Baertschi is gone if he doesn't make the team this season.
Especially considering what management has said about giving players more time in the AHL to learn to be a pro.
I think he probably has one more contract after this one before they will consider him a lost cause.
In either case, I think he makes it out of camp... either forcing someone else out or taking the spot of an injured player and never looking back.
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I think Baertschi's situation is unique as it's not just his play against him but his work ethic and attitude. Like I said, there is a bit of a pattern emerging which the Flames do need to keep an eye on in case he does turn into a lost cause and we are unable to move him for something beneficial for us.
You can take a "lesser" player like Hanowski for example who was told his skating was poor last season and so he stayed in Calgary and worked hard and made it his mission to improve it and drop weight to make an effort. While he might not be the same skill level as Baertschi, he's putting in a ton of effort to try to improve himself. If coaches criticize or bench him, he takes it personally enough to signal he needs to change things, but not to the point it crushes his spirit.
Baertschi, he took the criticism from the previous season and didn't seem to change anything or anything very noticeable. No extra work in Calgary with the Flames staff, was pretty adamant he was sticking to his game and just didn't seem to show that "I'm a sponge, give me all the info you can to make me better" attitude that a number of the other prospects have. When benched, he still doesn't seem to say "I need to change something" he still sticks with his game. He's stubborn and unfortunately he hasn't shown enough that he's good enough to be that stubborn. He needs to change that to have a better chance of success.
I still think most of this is because he's young and acting like any other 21/22 year old, however I recall at 22 this excuse starting to wear out and my employers/professors didn't care I was young. I could see the Flames starting to get to that point after this season.