I’m very torn on Sam. He was right from the start over rated skill wise his draft year and so the expectations were to the moon before he even began. I think at the time the only thing we were waiting on was for him to put on some muscle.
His true fit does seem now to be a perfect playoff third line player but I really do think there has been mismanagement of him where his confidence has taken major hits. It’s easy to say he should play his way into being on a higher line, but if you’re constantly expected to fail so it’s a check mark off management’s list so they can say they tried and he failed, well, ultimately he’s going to be gripping the stick tight and he’ll fail. Most of us are in the same bucket. Perhaps he doesn’t have the psychological makeup to be more aggressive but frankly management hasn’t handled him well time after time and it’s quite annoying. This year has made it worse where he was among the few that excelled in the playoffs last year, and he was rewarded the fourth line with Lucic. It’s now broken his back and it’s time to do what he should have requested a long time back. He’s not first line material. But he should be on the third line for every NHL team. His career hasn’t quite worked out to his draft position, and that’s a huge miss on most scouts not seeing his lack of skill or hockey sense.
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