Quote:
Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper
Well, that’s my point, is that there’s no guarantee of anything, so you go with what you know you have and that’s Johnny Gaudreau for this and next season, especially if the Flames can land a Jack Eichel, these 2 could make for a dominant duo.
I’m not going to convince you that Gaudreau has had a good season 5 on 5 because it’s simply not true. But I also know the potential he has as an even strength point producer. Just look up EVP since he’s joined the league, he’s up there with some of the best in the league.
You don’t need to be a hockey savant to see that Gaudreau has talent. He has the ability to freeze, breakdown defensive structures and conjure something out of nothing like few players can do in the NHL. He’s a special player and he’s extremely under appreciated around here.
The problem is, he’s not Connor McDavid here. He needs a complete line to maximize his potential. You can’t just throw randoms like Alex Chiasson, Troy Brouwer and etc and expect magic. This line needs someone like a Hudler or a Ferland or a Lindholm to create the necessary chemistry to fuel this line. Josh Leivo, Dominic Simon, Brett Ritchie and Sam Bennett are not that fuel.
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Maybe Johnny is under appreciated on here and maybe coaching and his line has held him back but I don't see him as the same player he was a couple years ago. He's still very good though but just can't see myself liking his new contract at his age. he will be 29 and if he loses a step he could become very ineffective very quickly in his 30s
I more have an issue that this team is close and in win now mode. I thought they would be these past 2 years and next but they haven't been that good. Toronto is a 3rd place team in their normal division and Winnipeg was a wild card team last year after losing half their defense from when they were a cup contender. If they can't make the playoffs in this division they aren't even close IMO to be in win mode now. At some point they need to be realistic that it hasn't worked out.
I wouldn't trade Johnny now, it's more an off season move so maybe we keep rolling and this team proves me wrong but looking at this years competition I just don't see this team having a hope to make it to the playoffs in any of the other 3 divisions.
Also the North division is a very high scoring bad defensive division. McDavid, Drasaitl, Marner, Mathews, Scheifle are all right at the top in scoring (5 of top 6 scorers in 1 division). Ehlers is putting up numbers. Johnny should be over a PPG in this division