Quote:
Originally Posted by New Era
The problem with Gaudreau is Gaudreau. PERIOD. The guy spends more time blowing snow and making button hooks inside the blueline than any other player in the league. He plays scared and is doing this all on his own.
Nolan Patrick is a bust. Just nothing there, and with his migraine issues is a non-starter for an environment like Calgary. But that would be so Calgary, trade for a player with no future a la Gary Leeman.
Yes he is. They hoped he would be a stud, but he ended up being a dud.
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Johnny Gaudreau is what he is, he’s an ultra elite offensive talent who can freeze defenders, break down defensive structures, draw defenders and create offense from nothing. The majority of Flames players we’ve seen pass through here have to play within the boundaries or the “rules” of the game to produce offense, Johnny and other elite offensive players like him can go Matrix at times and break those “rules.”
Since his arrival to the league, there are only 5 players ahead of him in even strength scoring. Kane, McDavid, Crosby, Kucherov and Marchand. That’s says a lot about where Gaudreau ultimately stands in the grand scheme of things, he’s up there with the elite of the elite and this organization has failed to nurture his abilities and over the last couple seasons he’s regressed because of it.
Gaudreau’s time with the Flames looks to be all but over at this point and I put that mostly on management for not recognizing and finding the right mix for him to succeed. The physical, dump and chase game was never going to work with Gaudreau because he has his own set of flaws. But the things he can do, are pretty spectacular and he isn’t going to be able to accomplish these things under the current circumstances.