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Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina
Ruzicka has had every opportunity to earn more ice time.
His effort level is wildly inconsistent. Always has been.
He earned his way up the line-up and his earned his way down it.
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These kind of statements really irk me. Who's effort was much more consistent over the entire season? Mangiapane? Dube? Kadri? Huberdeau? Lucic? Even Lindholm disappears for multiple games at a time. In my eyes only 3 forwards have been consistent throughout the season: Lewis, Backlund, and Toffoli.
Ruzicka wasn't given "every opportunity". Sutter didn't try him higher in the lineup since the reunion of Mangiapane - Backlund - Coleman, which I agree is better with Mangiapane on it.
It seems like there's just a double standard because he is a prospect. Either that or him and Zohorna were out partying before the game against CHI where Sutter said:
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We should be thankful we got a point considering that a lot of our young players didn't show up... lack of preparation, right? got to take them by the hand some of these guys
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Shortly after Zohorna has been sent down, and now Ruzicka sits. That said, that's purely speculation on my part.
In my eyes, Ruzicka has been creating offense and is one of the positives of this entire season. Moreover, after he was demoted to the 4th line, the 4th line started to look like less of a liability, and even provided more energy. Not to mention that the 4th line with Lewis as the center didn't look great this year. I would take out Lucic, Dube, or Duehr out of the lineup before Ruzicka.