Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperMatt18
Yup.
I know your feelings on Matthew Phillips but honestly the treatment of Phillips in that two game call up by Sutter tells you all you need to know about Sutter IMO.
This team desperately needed an offensive playmaker all season, and he refused to give him a shot strictly because of size and his personal feelings for the player.
18 minutes of total ice time, all of it exclusively on the 4th line, for the guy that was at 1.5 PPG in the AHL at the time.
I look at Tommy Novak who was given a shot by Nashville down the stretch and he put up 41 points in 49 games.
Novak:
25 Years Old
26 points in 25 AHL game pre-call up this year
135 points in 157 career AHL game (0.86 PPG)
Phillips:
25 Years Old
30 points in 20 AHL games at the time of his call up.
236 points in 262 AHL games (0.90 PPG)
Phillips might never become anything at the NHL level - but this organization's inability to give him a real look when he is at 1.04 PPG over the last three seasons (158 GP) and has helped lead the team to great seasons two years in a row is ridiculous.
Wolf, Phillips, Pelletier, Zary, Jones, Poirier, and even Emilio Pettersen all earned an NHL look at some point IMO...and I really hope we have a coach next year that won't be too stubborn to give some of those guys a look. Sutter's "We're not 10 points up, or 10 points out" comment just killed me earlier this season, such an outdated view of how to get the most of a roster in today's NHL. Honestly his refusal to inject youth in the lineup is the whole reason I hope he's fired this season. This org needs a coach who is going to promote youth.
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I agree with your overall take, but there were very few opportunities for call ups this year too. Usually injuries mount up over a season and the AHL guys get a look, but the forwards were relatively healthy all year long. Only the d-men got injured and that allowed Gilbert to get a healthy look and impress a little.
However, Nashville had prospects playing because they traded guys away. That's one thing Treliving has rarely done because he always believes "the answers are in the room" instead of assessing a poorly performing team for what they really are. I put some of this on him as well for signing plugs like Kevin Rooney, only to bury him a week into the season.