I've been out of this whiny thread because I'll be called a Huberdeau defender. So to start with, he's obviously not producing anywhere near what he should or could be - injury, linemates, losing his steam, whatever.
But there's a lot of hyperbole about how bad he is exactly. A lot of things that are glossed over or even praised for other players are called mistakes for him. A shot that misses, a 50-50 board battle that he doesn't win, a puck thrown to the net hoping for a linemate to tip or shoot, are all called giveaways, when for any other player, they are just plays. Look at Gridin - he had a night that looked a lot like Huberdeau's the game before - he made a number of passes to the slot that were picked off, never reached the target or were simply blind passes. He was on the wrong end of most of his 50-50 board battles. he was close to good chances, but didn't convert. And he made one eggregious play that led to the first goal. But people said he had a decent game and sure didn't call him a replacement level/fringe/AHL level player. And I agree with that assessment. The same could be said about a bunch of guys in the last game.
And yes, more is expected from Huberdeau as a veteran, and yes, he makes a lot of money (which is not impacting the team at all). But he doesn't usually cost the team goals against (like, say Bouchard) - he just doesn't have his production where it should be. So, unless someone is stepping in to produce more (and still not be a defensive liability) there's no real reason to do anything drastic like a bad buyout. And right now, there's no one I can see who would step in as a LW and produce more.
As for "distractions" - that's in fans' heads. There's no indication he's a distraction on the team.
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