Gaudreau Progress / Development

[Simon96Taco]

Originally Posted by Red-Mile-DJ

Why does this thread exist? It's been 4 games.

...start worrying after the next one...

Exactly. 4 games is FAR too few to pass judgement on a player. If he hasn't scored a hat trick by his 5th though, send him to the minors.

...........

[Calgary4LIfe]

He has played poorly at times, he has been great at times. Just what I expected from a rookie. He will get his game together in the NHL eventually, or the Flames will send him down to give him more minutes at the AHL level for a while. Doesn't change my expectations for him becoming an important piece for the future.

Sometimes prospects just take a bit of time. Let's just relax and show a bit of patience. I am just happy he has shown flashes of what he can do, even if he hasn't scored. Kid oozes talent, and just has to figure out his way in the NHL, that's all.

[Nehkara]

I think it is likely he is still recovering from the flu. It takes some time.

[Tinordi]

The trouble has been ridiculous fan expectations.

Let him be a rookie and let him emerge into his own player.

[calumniate]

Originally Posted by flylock shox

My guess is he's used to being "the guy" and playing a certain way.

Now he's not "the guy" and he's likely being trained out of his old habits and into new ones.

As a result, he's probably having growing pains. So long as they don't end up like Sven's, he'll be fine.

I agree. He just wants it too much, but knows he has limited ice time and needs be responsible. Can be tough.. generally when you learn new things in sports, some of your ingrained skills will take a dive.

To me it's a good thing. He's listening and learning how to be a team player and take short shifts, which is a skill in itself. I really hope he stays with the team. Flames are a character team first. Just think of the uncoachable yakupov complaining about his minutes. That should instantly make everyone feel better :-)

[Greybeard]

We used to have a guy who wore #12 that always was slow coming out of the gate and everyone was wondering why Jarome had not scored a goal in his first 5-10 games and what the big problem was.... this is a rookie adjusting to the NHL on the road.... meals, travel, new teammates, and the speed and size of the game at it's most elite level. Give the guy some time... there is no problem.

[Hugh Jahrmes]

This thread is embarrassing as f###

[DeluxeMoustache]

Not worried. Some good points.

He is doing well defensively and certainly the team is not overmatched in terms of scoring chances against vs for when he is in the ice, which is a very common problem with young prospects.

Being on a road trip means you don't control the matchups and can't optimize his chances to succeed.

No harm in limited minutes as 82 games is something very new to Gaudreau. Why burn him out early?

Hartley is not Brent Sutter. He recognizes that Gaudreau brings certain things that you can't teach, and I am sure will find a way to put Gaudreau in a position to acclimatize, leverage his strengths and succeed over time. That is in the best interests of the team. I anticipate the breakthrough will come after a good number of home games.

[SHOGUN]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

The trouble has been ridiculous fan expectations.

Let him be a rookie and let him emerge into his own player.

People were expecting him to be the best player for the Flames this season... don't blame them, as he has done everything right to show that to the fans in the preseason/college/tournaments, but the reality is that he is struggling with the smaller ice surface. I think he needs some time in the AHL to adjust a bit, but that's just me.

[Tinordi]

Originally Posted by SHOGUN

People were expecting him to be the best player for the Flames this season... don't blame them, as he has done everything right to show that to the fans in the preseason/college/tournaments, but the reality is that he is struggling with the smaller ice surface. I think he needs some time in the AHL to adjust a bit, but that's just me.

yes and all this talk about playing in the same "style" as Gretzky and being the next Paul Kariya does nothing but add to those ridiculous expectations

[Imported_Aussie]

The best Flames forward in recent years also had sketchy Octobers...

Remember that whilst this is a guy who has dominated every level he has played, this is the biggest leap he has made - NCAA to NHL. A lot of players who had dominant NCAA careers had to develop more in the AHL - look at Nyquist, 2 seasons in Grand Rapids before lighting it up in Detroit. Gaudreau has a higher skill level than Nyquist, but he will still take time, especially due to the way he played in NCAA - being the go to guy, having more time and space than he will get in the NHL and playing against bigger, faster players, which makes his size more of an issue.
Gaudreau has shown glimpses of his skill and is doing a lot of the other things right. He is adjusting. I would be more concerned if he was trying to make constant highlight reel plays and being a defensive mess - then he would be out of the league fast

[Hanna Sniper]

Aside from eating the boards twice I've thought hes played extremely well. Don't think he could be off to a better start.

[terminator]

[FlamesAddiction]

I don't see why people are so offended by the thread.

Gaudreau is still a prospect at this time (and looks like one) and the OP was just tossing out ideas on how to best develop him.

It's true that we shouldn't expect instant results, but at some point it might be worth switching him out with another prospect so that he can get some prime minutes in the AHL. Treliving has on several occasions said that he is a big believer in not rushing prospects, so it is a realistic possibility.

[FBI]

This post is embarrassing as f***

Why do some people have to be complete asses these days?? Instead of being a dick, why not either A) not visit the thread
B) provide ideas on how you think we could improve Johnny's development or just stay with status quo which is fine too

Originally Posted by Hugh Jahrmes

This thread is embarrassing as f###

[Scoutski]

Don't think his lack of scoring has anything to do with being sick, that's not really a good excuse.

That said, happy with how he's playing, he hasn't found himself frozen or lost and his puck retrieval is tenacious. He backchecks hard, he will be more than fine. A head coach would be very foolish to let a new player to the league jump straight into the top minutes in all situations because he has to prove that he's not a liability on defense/offense first. This is a process.

The coach has to stick with consistency from the guys he knows, he will earn his way up if he's worth it. Review how he's doing halfway through the season, for now he's progressing fine.

[Igster]

Originally Posted by FBI

This post is embarrassing as f***

Why do some people have to be complete asses these days?? Instead of being a dick, why not either A) not visit the thread
B) provide ideas on how you think we could improve Johnny's development or just stay with status quo which is fine too

Exactly. Get so sick of threads being brought up on a "discussion" forum and all the dick posts or posts to see how many thanks they can get. Really wish this forum would do away with the Thanks option to maybe stop some of the trolling.

Now as to the thread, he does look a little timid. Hopefully with a bit more time, things will get better.

[Finger Cookin]

Regarding PP time, he's averaging 1:36 of PP ice time per game over four games, which ranks him 6th among our forwards. That's more PP time than Backlund, Byron, and Setoguchi are averaging.

So -- over four games -- he's on average been on our second unit. Which forward should he replace on the first unit? Monahan, Glencross, or Raymond? Baring in mind that -- again, after only four games -- Glencross is our leading scorer on the PP amongst forwards.

[Poe969]

Completely agree about people coming to a thread to complain about that thread, same thing happens in the trade thread.

As for Johnny, I think he just needs time to get used to the system and the system needs to get used to him too. He isn't getting the chances most of us think he deserves but is that because they're on a road trip and coach can't get the match ups he wants or is it that the coach doesn't want to use him in certain situations. It's too early to tell either way but I think Johnny is going to have to do something drastic to make an impression in order to be given those chances.

I think as soon as he figures it out, he'll be our most offensive player (mostly because we don't have many other options)

[Buff]

MacKinnon started out last season with about 13-15 minutes of ice time per game. As he learned the game he gained ice time and was playing 18-20 minutes per game at the end of the season. Obviously MacKinnon did it quicker because he is a much higher ranked talent but even the top ranked talents don't step in and play in all situations right away. Everybody takes time to learn the game.

Joe Thornton had 7 points in his 1st year and he played 4th line minutes. The big thing was about how the Bruins are ruining him. He turned out to be a fairly decent point producer.

You can find so many examples of players who get sheltered minutes in their rookie year and slowly develop into the NHLer that people expect him to be.

Johnny Gaudreau isn't on the same level as the aforementioned players so we shouldn't expect him to step in and lead the team right away, especially when history shows that most players take time to adapt to the NHL level. Each player has their own pace. Johnny Hockey is young, small and needs time to adapt. Within a couple of years he'll be getting 60-70 points and we'll all have forgotten about the slow start in his first 5 NHL games (and likely more.)