[Mr.Coffee]

Originally Posted by 868904

Huberdeau was bad from the beginning. He was fumbling the puck like a grenade even without pressure. He was moved to the RW because he was ineffective on the LW. Darryl was desperate to try anything to get him going, including playing him with the french canadian prospect who played on the LW.

Huberdeau was bad. His play was bad. He didn't warrant more ice time. He was ineffective on the powerplay at the beginning of the season; Darryl gave him lots of time to "work things out" and he never did. Other players, Toffoli in particular, were much more effective on the PP and so they played more. Huberdeau was really really bad. I hadn't been as frustrated with a player more than him last year. Constantly making bad plays, bad passes, turning over the puck. I was frustrated with Huberdeau, screaming at the tv every time he turned the puck over and did nothing with an opportunity. I can only imagine how frustrated Darryl was.

Now if you say Huberdeau was bad because he couldn't deal with how Darryl is, well that's fine, but it doesn't change the fact that Huberdeau was INEFFECTIVE which is why Darryl had to do some of those odd things like moving him to the RW. And really, moving a winger to his off-wing is not some crazy idea, it worked incredibly well the season before with Tkachuk. Some players just have a special inner competitive drive to excel no matter how they are treated, while others have to be treated a certain way in order to excel.

Huberdeau was bad to start for sure. But definitely the best way to help him out of that slump is to keep him on his wrong wing for 60+ games.