Quote:
Originally Posted by Bingo
So what's the assumption then?
They have players they know can help but they won't use them?
They have players they think can help down the road but don't want to rush them?
They don't feel the players in the system are better than what they have?
This isn't to you specifically, but I've literally seen this every year I've had a website. Fans want the young guys up, but sometimes they're just not good enough to be up. Gawdin looked behind the play in processing speed, Ruzicka doesn't play with pace. I'm all for giving Phillips a look, he's a great story.
But I don't get the feeling that anyone in the system is being held back at this point.
I keep bringing it up, but people on Calgarypuck were convinced Sutter was out to lunch when he wasn't bringing Dustin Boyd up a dozen years ago. He went on to do very little.
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I'm not sure these guys are the answer either to be honest.
I just think the last two years they have been blocked by guys like Leivo, Nordstrom, Simon, Richardson, Pitlick, Ritchie who also aren't the answer.
And if we are going to be dressing players that are below replacement level I'd rather it be a player that was young that maybe has upside, vs a player that is just a warm body that we know doesn't have any upside.
No-Upside Veterans vs Unknown Rookie is the dilemma, and I'd rather roll with unknown rookies in this scenario. The safe move is to play the veterans here, but honestly I don't think any NHL team has ever had much success by playing it safe.
If it doesn't work guys like Richardson or Ritchie tend to be floating around waivers all season long anyways.
And for your example...Dustin Boyd got 192 NHL games with the Flames to prove that he was an AHL tweener. I'm just saying that these guys need some games to prove it one way or another. Michael Bunting was a guy that was a "NHL-Tweener" too. Now he finally got a real shot at 25 years old and has 36 points in 61 NHL games.
Sometimes you don't know for sure until you actually play the guy at the NHL level and give him 5-10 games to actually adjust and acclimatize to the increased pace at the NHL level.
Giving guys like Gawdin or Ruzickia 2 games at a time and then going "You can't adjust to the pace" isn't really giving them a shot. Even top end elite players take time to adjust when getting their first taste of the NHL game.
Sometimes I think about this team has talked about how they were a game away from sending down Gaudreau in his rookie season when he was pointless with 1 SOG in his first 5 games in the 14-15 season and didn't look good at all. How different does that 14-15 season look if they send down Gaudreau before that game against the Jets and he doesn't get 64 points that season.