I understand some of the arguments against Peluso. I won't be thrilled if he takes regular shifts.
However, you can't use his lack of offensive production against him. It's absolutely not expected that he will produce anything. If he does end up sticking on the roster, and gets 0 points during the season, it is still possible that he performed his assigned job well. And realistically, yeah it would be wonderful for a 4th liner to put up numbers, but most don't. So if we are going off the assumption that very, very few points come from guys doing intermittent spot duty on the 4th line, and Peluso is certainly not the guy expected to put up points, I think it's time to reassess why he's around.
Realistically, who do you think the players would prefer on their bench? 12 pt Curtis Lazar? 13p Garnet Hathaway? If a 4th line player can be reasonable defensively and bring an 'it' factor, they immediately gain value. I bet some of the Flames would rather a 0 pt Peluso over either of those two. And I'm not convinced that the offensive difference between 12 pt Lazar vs. 0 pt Peluso would actually impact the season's outcome. The team swagger and momentum, however, can certainly impact results.
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