Quote:
Originally Posted by looooob
I think this is 3 different games where Sutter had polite at best, less than glowing things at worse to say about Stone- despite a guy who seems like a 'Sutter soldier' many of us seem to be enjoy his (Stone's) adventures more than the coach
with that in mind Valimaki (who of course definitely struggled) was paired with the other guy Sutter isn't all that trusting of- on the other hand Mackey earned the trust to play with the better guy, but also got to play with the better guy (who we know can make others look good). Valimaki and Stone were destined to struggle- could have been worse, for both them and Vladar so I'll take the outcome  |
Putting Mackey with Tanev was likely influenced by Mackey being a left shot. It wouldn’t have made sense to put two guys on their wrong side versus none (by having Stone dropping down to play with Valimaki).
I also think Stone’s been fine — Sutter isn’t going to gush about a player that in his mind is just doing his job. I took his comments yesterday as being happy with Mackey but less so about Valimaki without directly throwing him under the bus. The ice time speaks for itself though.