Quote:
Originally Posted by Fire
Bennett will be the best Flames forward in 3-5 years. Gaudreau will challenge but I think Sam is a notch better.
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Don't take this personally, as this is something a lot of people do here. I just feel like I need to write this down, and this is as good a place as any.
Every time somebody on CP makes definitive statements like that about our prospects I cringe. It's been happening a lot lately, and so I'm doing a lot of cringing.
Many here area already salivating over our future as if it's a given that everything will go great, that every one our prospects are destined to be as good as they look now, or better. At worst just a little bit worse. That guys like Josh Jooris and Mikael Granlund and Joe Colborne and Michael Ferland are all going to be NHL regulars and good ones at that.
To me this sounds exactly like what the Oiler fans have been doing. One good streak and every young player they have is destined for greatness. Never go full Oiler, we should know that better than anyone.
Fans crowning young players as established players or future stars is dangerous stuff.
And no, I don't think we'll head down the Oilers path just because fans get excited and like to make definitive predictions. It's the job of the management and the coaches to keep guys grounded and keep them developing, and I feel like we have good people in place. Hartley has already had god-child Gaudreau on the popcorn row, and a veteran in Wideman. (Wouldn't even surprise me if both were deliberate moves to show the team who's got the reins.)
Yeah, getting excited is part of being a fan. I don't even know it if was better if nobody ever got ahead of things with stuff like that.
But people making statements like that still fill me with dread. It feels like bad karma. I don't even believe in karma, and it still feels wrong
Okay, got that off my chest. Sorry. Carry on.
