Quote:
Originally Posted by curves2000
At what point does this kid say enough is enough and look for another organization? At what point do other prospects look at the scenario and see that for whatever reason, the Flames don't graduate a lot of players from the AHL clubs into the big club?
I am not going to sit here and say that Wotherspoon is the #1 defenceman in the NHL or anything but from his incredibly SHORT period of playing time he has shown to me at least that he belongs with the big club for an extended length of PLAYING time. The kid has played a grand total of 26 games for the Flames, which is equivalent to what, 2 months of a season? Tough to get into a rhythm coming and going all the time.
Maybe he will eventually pan out or maybe he won't but this organization has a serious FLAW with graduating AHL players, end of story. People can point to players like TJ Brodie all they want but at the end of the day, that appears to be a little more of a fluke/player credit than any sort of world class player development from the Flames side. If the Flames and the other teams expected TJ Brodie to be who he is currently, he wouldn't have been selected in the 4th round, he would have been selected much higher.
Looking forward into next year where there will be significantly D turnover, it would be nice to see a player get some playing time where the veterans can offer some advice on the ice during game situations. Sitting in the press box isn't the same thing. I would like to be able to go into next season knowing we have some fresh faces coming in too, helps keep everybody young and excited.
Just my $.02
|
I am assuming he got paid while he was here, got to spend time and work out with the guys. That's a nice little bonus. Not sure why we need to make something negative out of that. If the right opportunity was there for him to play I am sure he would have but lets not make it overly negative.