Quote:
Originally Posted by Rando
Valimaki's injuries worry me, Kylington has a long way to go and Hanifin hasn't progressed in his almost two seasons here at all.
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to play devil's advocate Kylington has already come a long way, now he just needs to add a bit more consistency and I think he will be very effective. And as for Hanifin, it might be pretty hard to progress when you are behind a Norris winner and also playing with Hamonic your entire time here.
He has never been given the opportunity to become that number one. I don't think a lot of guys become that playing second pair minutes with no pp time. But now we are back to the he has to earn it to get those opportunities argument and that can go back and forth forever. (see every Bennett discussion)I just don't think there is much a guy can do to "earn it" when you are directly behind the reigning norris winner.
To me the Flames have always been bad at giving young players what they need to break out. Monahan and Gaudreau were lucky that the team was so bad when they came in they almost had no choice. But for a team that has seemingly been drafting really well over the last 4ish years we have no impact players to show for it. Like we talk about these late first/second-third round steals that are blowing up the league and wish we had them, when we might in fact have them but haven't given them a chance to do it yet. (that might be reaching a bit, but...)
Mangiapane, Dube, Andersson, Valimaki, Kylington and Hanifin (although not drafted by us) all look like they might have that in them but are stuck playing 3rd line/ 2nd pairing with either no power play time or 2nd power play if they are lucky.
I haven't been able to watch every game since Gio went down but I actually think the young guys (particularly looking at defence) have responded well to the increased role and could be finally showing progression since being given those increased roles.
in the 8 games since Giordano went down here are their point totals
Hanifin:5A, +3
Andersson: 1G 3A, +4
Kylington: 1G 2A, +3
I think that is a pretty good indication of what these guys are capable of and in those same games, from the ones I saw they have passed the eye test too, maybe aside from the atrocious Chicago game. But even including that game they are still plus players in that time.
So I think it's a little of column A and a little of Column B. When talking about progression, or lack there of, guys both need to earn it but sometimes they either need to be given it, or thrust in a position like they are now where they are counted on to do it because of outside factors.
As an example to my point: Fox has 31 points in 60 games for the rangers. If he had somehow stayed in the Flames system, I bet just based on the whole pecking order of the Flames Defence that he would not be close to 30 points right now. Maybe 20 but I don't believe the Flames would have given him the minutes (especially on the power play) he needed for him to be on pace for 40 points.
