Quote:
Originally Posted by SeanCharles
It’s comical how most everyone is piling on the only players who consistently produced any semblance of offence for this team.
So many people arguing over Gaudreau, Tkachuk and Lindholm.
These are the only players, along with Mangiapane, who I would say consistently produced when they were put in the right situations.
Yes, they had stretches of ineffective play but in general they have been good, especially when put together.
When the other 8 forwards barely produce any offence is it any surprise we sucked?
Just cause a team fails doesn’t mean every player on said team can’t be part of a team that succeeds.
Building a team with a handful of good forwards, some youngsters who will have ups and downs and a bunch of 4th liners isn’t a recipe for sucess.
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Yes, this is where people are the most dense, but it goes both ways. People rightly pick on the top guys not producing, because they are the big ticket players who consume most of the salary. It's hard to blame a guy like Ritchie, for example, for not producing when he was signed at league bottom dollar and given a specific role. Conversely, a guy like Lucic that really does very little compared to his salary, and makes more mistakes than anyone on the team, gets many times a free pass. There is no consistency because people don't understand the significance of the cap hit and the expectations that should come along with that cap hit.
Another thing that really hurts this team is the lack of high caliber players from within the system. This team has drafted and developed players poorly because they give up so many top end picks that should be filtering into the system and providing some high level skill on those lower lines, where the small salaries are expected to be, and provide support to the top lines and salaries. This is the greatest failing of this hockey team and why it continues to struggle to find depth throughout the lineup. We might se a small spike in the next couple years as we get some of our 1st and 2nd round picks pushing for positions, but they may also disappear if we pursue players like Eichel. It's a double edged sword where most people only care about the leading edge, not recognizing the trailing edge can cut just as deeply.