Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperMatt18
The weird part of it is he is so much more effective offensively as well when he is playing that physical game.
Had a couple flashes of speed and skill this season that do leave you wondering if there is more room for offensive growth.
Biggest thing for me is that he needs to work REALLY HARD to play the game the way he has played this year and IMO that will hold back his offensive production.
He can play that way for 11 minutes a game, but not sure he can play that way for the 16/17 minutes that he would need to play to be a true top 6 forward.
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I think it's a lot to ask of any player to be able to bang for 16/17 minutes and still maintain intensity. It's one of those things where if he had more offensive upside the coach could sacrifice some of the physicality and give him more TOI. However he seems to be at his best when he's playing hard, physical hockey so I think right now he's being used perfectly by Gulutzan. I expect the longer he plays in this role the better chance for his confidence to grow and the better the chances of unearthing any untapped offense in his skillset. Time will tell but he's night and day better than last season for sure.