Quote:
Originally Posted by GranteedEV
I don't believe Valimaki has shown enough to burn an ELC year. He was good in a sheltered role, but the only justification for burning a year would be if he's playing top 4 minutes, or legitimately making the team better on the PP or something. Judt shoeing he can hang doesn't mean he has shown to be an impact player.
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If he's better than Kulak, Prout and Andersson (which he has been), he should be on the roster. Talk of burning a year is such a non-factor for this Flames team that needs to start winning games and taking advantage of their star players while they can. Valimaki isn't just hanging, he's been aggressive and is clearly gaining confidence every game he plays.
There has to be a succession plan in place at some point and there's no better opportunity than now to ease Valimaki into full time duty in a third pairing role. I can't recall many rookie D that haven't gone first overall that don't start in a sheltered role.....nothing wrong with that. Even if he were to play all year in the AHL, he wouldn't simply step into a top 4 role out of the gate next year either. That hardly ever happens.