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Originally Posted by Red Menace
This argument is getting very tired.
The facts do show his results were on par or better than Colborne, Monahan, Glencross, Setoguchi and others when he was given quality time.
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First of all, no to the Monahan comparison. That's just plain foolish, especially when you consider the level of competition Sean has faced this year. Setoguchi should also not be comparable because he was given a trial period as a veteran, then banished to the AHL. You could argue point production between Baertschi and both Glencross and Colborne, but points aren't the only thing that wins games, and both those players have a much better 200 foot game than Baertschi, and that's including the fact that both are incredibly inconsistent players.
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Satisfactory results for a 13th overall pick are actually pretty good.
I never said he was a slam dunk, those are your words....but why throw away a blue chip prospect when he is performing as expected when put in his expected role?, and why refuse to give him that role after a brief trial.
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He wasn't playing to expectations because he wasn't giving maximum effort in all areas of the game and all zones. That's a much more subjective analysis obviously, but I have little doubt that clear expectations were communicated to Sven and he failed to execute those expectations. More to the point, Sven did not respond to coaching tactics, and with the amount of positive examples of these tactics around this team, I choose to believe the individual sample is the problem and not the rest of the data.
And quite frankly, there's been a lot of comments that we shouldn't hold a grudge against a player for trying to do whatever he can to make the NHL. Well guess what, I do hold a grudge. He was given chance after chance and had plenty of opportunities in this organization and didn't find a way to hold down a roster spot when the team has iced arguably it's worst forward lines since the Young Gunz era. I badly wanted him to succeed here, and he disappointed time after time.
Instead of looking in the mirror and finding a way to improve or find a new niche like countless others have (Colborne and Jooris on this team just for a quick example) he continued to beat his head against a wall trying to be a purely skilled player type. However, unlike most pure skill players, he was unable to put up dominant point totals, or even be the top scorer for his own frigging AHL team. Christ...David Wolf has more points than Baertschi (in 7 more games, but the point is still obvious). Any player at this point in their career that is trying to fit a mould that they aren't successful in should immediately try to change their mould, if only to be a more effective player, never mind making the NHL.
Sven's biggest flaw is stubbornness and being unwilling to change. He sees himself as one type of player only, but unfortunately his skills at that level aren't good enough for the NHL, and instead of understanding that and adapting to a new role, he bitches and moans about how things aren't working out, and how he has no intention to re-sign with a club that has done its absolute best to help him reach his ultimate goal of being an NHL player. The Flames invested a high draft pick in him, which as we all see has a lot of value these days, but not only that they invested a lot of time, effort, and money in a player to get him to the NHL. He simply had no appreciation for the organization once he was challenged to be better, or god forbid, different than he imagined himself. I take issue with that, and I take issue with his approach as a pro.
That is why I hold a grudge.