Quote:
Originally Posted by activeStick
Very much agree with your sentiment. Though I seem to recall that his bad penalties seemed to drop off last year (I could be wrong). Regardless, yes, if he can become a legitimate offensive threat, which he hasn't been, and if he can show some patience in his game, that would be great for the Flames.
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Only 18 players in the entire NHL had more minors than he did last year.
487 players averaged more TOI/GP.
He was a train wreck in this regard.
And the issue, IMO, isn't that he took these penalties...its why. His hockey IQ is looking to be way below where it needs to be and as such he put himself in position to take them because he wasn't in the right spot etc. His skating is good enough that he shouldn't constantly be using his stick illegally or having to grab on to guys.
Yet, he has been this way the last 3 seasons to varying degrees as over the course of that time he sits 29th worst among all players for minors taken. 1200 different gys have played in that time (obviously a good % of them not very many games) but even then...way way over the top and not in a good way.