Quote:
Originally Posted by Huntingwhale
With his cap hit there are obviously going to be massive expectations. Him and his agent undoubtedly sat in Treliving's office, looked him in the eye and made their case that he would be a franchise-type player they could build around, be a dynamic gamebreaker and a superstar player to go up against the best in the West. That is what 10.5M should get you. I personally don't buy that the blame is on his teammates, or lack thereof, of not finishing his passes. This is the NHL. Every single player makes nice passes each and every game. Almost all players can shoot. If other elite passers in the game can turn their "bum" linemates into goal scorers, for 10.5M, Huberdeau should be able to do the same.
Player's don't get to hide behind the veil of "I need 2 of these guys to live up to my cap hit". If that's the case, then maybe the discussion in BT's office should have been how before I sign on this dotted line, let's make sure I have the proper players around me. Lindholm, Mangiapane, Zary, etc are all good shooters and he has been tried with each. He has failed miserably.
I want the guy to succeed as much as anybody. But this is rough now. Very very rough.
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Well he's never been that player. I
Mangiapane is not a good shooter, and Lindholm has been pretty mediocre for the last season and a half. Yegor is as close as we have. There's a reason the Flames might only have a couple guys who break 20 this year.
What elite passers in the game are playing with guys like Coleman or Backlund? I like Coleman a lot and I think he can be a 20 goal guy but it has nothing to do with having a good shot.
Look at Draisatl. He has just over double the points Huberdeau has. Half of his points are on the PP. How's the Flames PP doing this year? The flames are near the worst in the league. That isn't Huberdeaus fault, it's very clear our PP system is just plain awful.
He's made bad plays, he's made good plays just like Kadri has, this year the difference is Kadri has been lucky to be paired with Zary who's been very good.
Huberdeau needs to be way better but he's never ever going to elevate Coleman and Backlund to 30 goal players.