Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
The key part of the assertion from fans about Granlund's ceiling have to do with the fairly well established fact that between the pivotal ages of 22–24, the majority of NHL forwards have hit their target as to what sort of a player they are and will be for the balance of their careers. There is NOTHING to suggest at this point in his development that Marcus Granlund will be anything more than a third line centre at the NHL level, if that. As for Poirer—and also for Shinkaruk—there is still time for them to realistically emerge as more offensive players and better suited to top six roles. Not so for Granlund, whose development looks to have plateaued—he is what he is.
I think that everyone would by and large agree with your call for patience, but because of the disparity in their age and development, there most certainly is more room to be patient with Shinkaruk and Poirer than with Granlund.
As for your last sentence, I would respond with "a longer shot at what"? A NHL career, most obviously, but I would challenge the notion that Shinkaruk and Poirer are longer shots than Granlund to become scoring forwards in the top-six at some point. It seems most likely that Granlund will not ever play in a scoring role at the NHL level, but that is yet to be determined for the other two.
|
So I think you are basically saying that guys like Shinkaruk and Poirier have one more year to prove they can be a top 6 scoring forward in the NHL, because by that point, many had concluded that Granlund would not be.
Since I would argue that Granlund was further along than either player at their current age, both players are much longer shots than he was.
IMO Granlund's value to this team was to make other more expensive players expendable in other deals.