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Originally Posted by Fire
I'm a bit surprised with all the support that Stajan gets by some people. I admit he has been fine as the 4th line player, but Hartley puts him on the 4th line (and the occasional healthy scratch) and hardly on the top 3 lines for a reason.
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Because he's not the fastest skater, and he makes the other 4th liners perform better with his defense, forecheck, and passing.
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I'm not saying Stajan is hurting the team, but he wouldn't be missed as much as some people would think. The Flames were 12W - 4L when Stajan was injured this season. Somehow the Flames survived the missed leadership and great defensive play.
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It's about having intelligent veteran players to learn from as the young'uns go forward. Just as Gio learned from Sarich, Boowmester etc, guys like Jooris, Bennett, Monahan, Colborne etc are only going to improve playing with Matt Stajan and competing with his example for playing time.
The worst thing you can do is put young guys' development on intellectual paralysis and just let them go wild. Works for a short while of adrenaline, but eventually catches up to you. See: Taylor Hall, Nail Yakupov, Jordan Eberle, Justin Schultz etc.