Quote:
Originally Posted by CSharp
Biggest knock against Gaudreau is he won't go into the hard areas - earlier in his career, maybe - the last 5 years, no way. Sure, on a regular season Gaudreau is a playmaker 75% of the time. Come playoffs with tight checking, that playmaking ability goes down to like 20-30%. I'm not saying Foresberg is exactly the same as Gaudreau, but Foresberg can bring several tangible assets that Gaudreau don't have in addition to skills. If you're talking $10M+ for Gaudreau and comparing him to the likes of McDavid, Drai, or Crosby at their prime, you'd be nuts to do so.
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“Going to the hard areas” is always such a weird argument to me when talking about a player like Gaudreau.
His value comes from creating offense out of nothing. Zone entries/exits, elite edges, hockey sense, passing, etc. Gaudreau gets the puck to high danger areas more so than 95% of the league.
Why would any coach want Gaudreau dumping the puck in and trying to muck it up. His value comes from him carrying the puck and having it on his stick.