Quote:
Originally Posted by YyjFlames
Yeah, I agree there wasn't a ton of opportunity under the previous coach (how Sutter handled Pelletier and even Phillips as small as he was was really poor) -- I just don't think that Zary's time in the minors hurt him and I don't think that, other than during the Sutter years and a year or two where management thought they were in a place to win, Treleving was against young players stepping in to play.
He just didn't have a lot of young players ready to take the step because he traded so many high picks. I also agree with your broader point that the scouting staff has been really fantastic with what they were given for picks.
As an aside on Valimaki, it wasn't a lack of opportunity, but the guy was injured so much during his development time and then he wasn't a top 6 d-man when he was healthy enough to get a shot. Was it wrong to send him down? Sure, him getting picked up by Arizona for free was a bad result, but him eating popcorn as a number 7 in the NHL just to protect his rights wouldn't have been good for the player or the team.
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I don't know how much we can say that Sutter 2.0 as coach held back young players.
Duehr, Ruzicka, Kylington all seemed to do rather well under him.
Phillips sure doesn't look like an NHLer.
Maybe Pelletier could have played more but I might argue he was developing fairly well before the change to Huska and this injury year.
Valimaki maybe. Good or bad, his coaching yielded no results from Valimaki at all.