Quote:
Originally Posted by Britflamesfan
He has definitely been miss handled by the Flames (nothing unusual) prior to this season he had played 80 NHL games and I do not remember any great criticism of him at the time. Surprise young D men make mistakes. Last year the flames had him sat on side lines and not playing (clearly they had all but given up on him, because you do not develop sitting watching games) and they also waived him recently. Thank goodness he has stuck around because we are now seeing what he is made of, this very nearly became another Marty St lewis. If I was him I would be looking for a very good pay rise to take me to UFA and then I would see what others were prepared to pay me.
Going to be a very interesting few years with a lot of players due to be payed significant amounts as their contracts come to an end. Who is going to be off because the team cannot afford all of them.
|
He is doing really well for a guy that was miss-handled.
Kylington has blossomed this year, and is being rewarded with ice time and opportunity as a commensurate result. He was not that player last year. No matter how much some people want to believe that he was, he simply wasn't.
Has he shown signs, from the beginning, that he could be this player? Yes of course. The signs were there. But until this year, his on-ice performance was that of a #6-7 replacement player. He showed enough to keep getting some ice time, and dressing 80 times, but he never seized the opportunity and ran with it.
Until this year. He has performed at a completely different level this year. And as a result, his ice-time, and his role implementation have ratcheted up significantly.
Kylington is not a failure for this organization. He is a success story. Despite possessing tremendous tools, he dropped in the draft from top-5 in his class, to being selected 60th. The Flames nurtured him and developed him, and now - at 24, still young for a defenseman - he is turning into a good, and potentially great player.
How is this, in any way, a miss-handling?