Quote:
Originally Posted by TheScorpion
These are all assumptions, though. Sure, they all stand a chance of coming true... but there's currently nobody at the AHL level who's outplaying Phillips. He's the best player on the Heat by a decent margin.
"If he were NHL talent he would be in the NHL"... Mangiapane wasn't in the NHL for a while. So was Dube. They got their chances... and Phillips has produced at the same, terrific rate (and not only in this "very limited AHL season").
He deserves a shot, but he may never get one with this team—and I think it'd be a crying shame.
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The guy is tiny. He's not better than Johnny skill-wise, and Johnny routinely is getting beat in battles in the NHL. Phillips has no chance to be a regular in the NHL IMO.
There's always been guys who dominate the AHL, but just can't get the hang of it in the NHL. We call them tweeners. Kris Kolanos had every tool needed to be an NHLer, yet just could never cut it. Phillips is, at best, a tweener. His shooting % is almost 30%. Lots of smoke and mirrors IMO.