Quote:
Originally Posted by wretched34
Personally, I'd like to see Hathaway, Mangiapane would be a close second. Hrivik could even be worth a look.
There's also Klimchuk, Shinkaruk and Poirier who could be called up (not the top of the list but available). Why does it need to be a star player replacing a 3rd liner?
Ultimately our bottom 6 has been terrible all season. While Jagr isn't the worst of the bunch, we just simply are not moving Bennett, Jankowski, Lazar or Brouwer because of potential and contracts. So that leaves Versteeg and Jagr, and Versteeg has been the better of these two, and is used on the top powerplay (ridiculous but true). So the odd man out is the 45 year old on a 1 year deal who has already stated he's 99% sure he's done after this.
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Our forward prospect depth at the AHL level is rather weak. Outside of Mangiapane none are trending towards becoming much more than 4th liners. Hathaway is not going to add much to the team outside of some hard work and hitting, we saw with Glass that doesn't quite translate to a successful line that can contribute offensively.
Mangiapane is the only legit prospect we have on the farm. Poirier, Klimchuk, Shinkaruk and Foo might still develop but Hrivik and Hathaway are not going to change much on the big club.
In time when the CHL kids take the next step things will look less bleak but for now Jagr, Versteeg and the like are not taking any time away from prospects. Eat bread will be better served dominating in the AHL this year and he and Dube can fight for spots on the big club next year.
I do agree in the sense that I feel like we could upgrade on players like Lazar, F. Hamilton, Stajan and even Brouwer in the forward ranks but the answers are not yet on the farm IMO.