Quote:
Originally Posted by Oil Stain
With Hall it wasn't really anything outside his already established ability level.
He finished 9th in league scoring in his third season.
Tied for 6th in league scoring his 4th season.
This season he finished 6th in league scoring, but he did it on a team that barely made the playoffs.
I think it's fair to say that most NHL forwards show what they have by their 4-5 season.
Lindholm likely is what he is. He may be the rare case that breaks out further, but he wasn't buried on the depth chart in Carolina. Played with Aho and got top 3 PP time.
Bennett for sure isn't a closed book. If there is a player there I think you should expect to see some improvement this season.
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When did Taylor Hall win the Hart Trophy when he was with the Oilers? Must have missed that one.
Yeah you better believe the Oilers don't trade Hall to the Devils if they foresee him becoming a Hart candidate, let alone a winner.
The vast, VAST majority of hockey forwards don't meet their potential until they are at least 25. Using games played in the NHL from 18-21 as a reliable indicator of a player's ceiling is misguided.
EDIT: Iginla's first 4 NHL seasons (96-99), 311 GP and never cracked 30 goals. At age 23 he hits 31 and scores 30+ for 11 seasons. And that's just a superficial numbers look at his game. Any of us who watched his whole career that it was until the 03-04 season (age 26) that he met his ceiling. Meaning overall Iginla age 26 was >> Iginla 22.