Quote:
Originally Posted by ComixZone
Hathaway is a 12/13th forward with little to no potential to be more than that.
Wotherspoon is, at best, a #6 d-man.
I'm sorry, but when we're talking about those type of roster spots - who cares. Yes, it's good to have young hungry players, but it's not like we're talking about signing Matt Hendricks to suppress Garnet Hathaway's ability to make the NHL in that roster spot. We're talking about Jaromir Jagr, who is coming off a 46 point season. So to fill that role, we're likely looking at Spencer Foo, Emile Poirier, Andrew Eatbread or so on. None of those players will suffer with an additional year of development down in the AHL. You know what they will suffer from? A year at the NHL where they're expected to score more than the other options available (Jaromir Jagr), and given CP's clear lack of patience when it comes to player development at the NHL level I find it hilarious that some people are lobbying for a scoring roster spot to go to a youngster, none of which have proven to be ready for that type of roster spot in the NHL.
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Yeah I guess we just disagree. A player like Poirier is used to being a star who scores a crapload of points and gets a lot of icetime. These types of players never do get a shot on the Flames because Calgary's constantly been signing vets in the offseason to fill those spots for like the last two decades. So what will happen is a guy like Poirier is going to be expected to crack line 3/4 and be a grinder but that's not the type of player he is or excels at. So yes, signing Jagr does bump a player that possibly could have emerged as a legitimate second line winger and scoring threat who's younger and cheaper.
Not every player "gets broken" by being brought into the NHL too early. These are people and they all have different growth projections once they make the NHL. Some can hack it, some can't, but the Flames usually are really reluctant to give rookies a chance.
Also Hathaway is better than a guy like, say, Bouma. Works harder and energizes the team more. Bouma got paid, got injured, and no longer was interested in doing what he did to get that big contract. That happens a lot, but it shouldn't make him entitled to a spot that I think a guy like Hathaway is outplaying him for. Lastly, you say who cares about these types of roles, but again I disagree strongly. Your bottom forward lines need to be good to properly support your star / scoring lines.