Quote:
Originally Posted by Enoch Root
Huberdeau has had a terrible season - everyone agrees. But I think there are a myriad of reasons for that - some on him, many external. Ice-time is one. Linemates are another. Changing teams is a challenge. Completely changing your style of play, at 29, is extremely difficult. Struggling with your new team, in Canada, when you're supposed to be 'the guy' must be an incredible burden.
My point is that there are lots of problems, and Huderdeau is getting more of the blame than he deserves. And for the blame that should fall to him, I think much of it is beyond his control. And I think one of those things is ice-time, and when someone brought it up, you dismissed it.
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And my point is that guys go through the same things Huberdeau is going through all the time and don’t completely crater. As I said, he’s been tried with everyone but Dube and he seems to make everyone but Lucic worse. I’m not meaning to dismiss anything about ice-time or whatever, I just have trouble buying it as an explanation for the 180 the player has taken.
I think part of what I’m struggling with in having the conversation is exactly what you said: “He’s getting more blame than he deserves, and the blame that should fall on him is out of his control” which is basically saying none of it is his fault. He’s a $10M elite playmaker. Suggesting nothing is truly his fault just seems absurd to me. If he can go from a 115 point player to a 55 point player over 82 games and none of it is under his control… I don’t know… kind of seems like a disaster of a contract already. Some of this has to be in his control.