Quote:
Originally Posted by ricardodw
Blashill and Babcock disagree that Adbelkader is a fringe 2nd line forward. They are giving him the 3rd most TOI after Zetterberg and Datsyuk fo all of last year and continuing on for this year.
Last year Backlund was not considered by Hartley to be a fringe 2nd liner. He had the 3rd most TOI after Monahan and Hudler and just a bit more than Johnny G and Glencross This year Backlund is playing like a fringe 2nd liner. b
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Very flawed logic. He gets top line minutes because he fills a specific role. Its just like when they played Holmstrom with Datsyuk and Zetterberg. Not because Holmstrom was the 3rd most talented forward they had, but because he offered a skill set that was complimentary to the line.
The problem with overpaying for Abdelkader is two fold. First, his skillset is not really all that unique. You are paying for something that most other teams have. Unfortunately for the wings they are averse to playing anyone with grit. Secondly, giving a large contract to someone that is relied upon as the sole source of physical play is a big risk as his body and play will have a much increased chance of decreasing over the life of the contract.
And lets not forget, before last year he had never scored more than 10 goals in a season. It took him top level linemates to get to 23 goals. And the problem is that top talent is aging and will be gone for a good chunk of the contract. While guys like Nyquist and Tatar have grown into good players, I don't think they will make it to the level like Datsyuk and Zetterberg where they can be among the top 15 or 30 forwards in the league.