Quote:
Originally Posted by bigrangy
He has the same reasons for his discontent as did Drouin. He's talented and can play higher in the lineup, but due to depth, has been forced by his coach into unproductive bottom 6 time with less talented players. His earning potential is suffering because of it. Give him time in the top 6 and he'll be juuuuuuust fine.
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I actually side with the players on this one. The lengths of their careers are so small and the line between regular top six and career AHLer is so thin.
Quite frankly a lot of the management are complete hypocrites about this too. Steve Yzerman didn't spend several years in a bottom six role developing. Even guys like Lindy Ruff were given major opportunities right away.
The fact of the matter is that guys like Drouin and Nichushkin should be given top 6 roles right away. Nichushkin will be going into his fourth year in the NHL, which is where players start to peak. By 26 the average top end offensive player begins to decline. Expecting him to spend half of his prime in an energy role is absurd.
Dallas should never have acquired Hemsky.