Quote:
Originally Posted by Vulcan
To tell the truth, I'd almost written Baertschi off as top prospect. He's redeemed
himself with this camp and even if he gets sent down, he should be one of the
first to be recalled.
and not thanks to gilligans_off for ruining this page with his oversized picture.
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Why though? Was it because of Burke's comment last year? Was it because that horrific coach Ward misused him almost all year in the AHL? If you look at his AHL season last year, the moment Sven got put back to his natural position, he began producing again. I know it's not the best excuse, but some players do struggle greatly when then get moved away from the position they've played their entire career.
I'll never understand why fans are so fickle when it comes to prospects. Sven has the exact same amount of points as Monahan did through the same number of NHL games. Monahan was sheltered (heavily) last season, as I'm sure Sven has been as well. By all accounts prior to Burke opening his mouth last year, all we had heard were glowing comments about how hardworking and talented Sven was. Then Burke makes one comment and a lot of fans - on CP and around the city, instantly discarded him in favour of putting Monahan up on a pedestal.
Look around the league - specifically at Detroit. Nyquist (at age 24), and Tatar (at age 23) took a long time to develop and are now being praised, as is Detroit, for developing into high-end players. It's no "surprise", there's no magic water in Detroit that made these kids turn out. Detroit invested a lengthy period of time building these two players in the AHL. Now go look at Sven's development path - it's all over the place. We mock Edmonton for not being able to develop players "the right way", but look at how the Flames have managed Sven. The kid has 24 points in 51 NHL a games as a 21 year old (now a 22 year old as of today), and we have people talking about him like he's a bust.
Jeepers.
If Sven spends the entire season in the AHL, I'd almost be happy. Give the kid a consistent environment, let him spend an entire season with one coach and one system and let him develop into the player he can be.