Minister of Offence
Registered User
You gotta love how well Silfverberg is adjusting. I had my concerns but no more. I still don't see a star player in him mind you, but the Jere Lehtinen type that was promised seems very plausible at this juncture.
Regarding Patrick Wiercioch and related matters,
Its so easy to see who makes their opinions based on box scores rather than actual viewings. Some of the criticism around this player has been amusing at times and to see him start to produce is a pleasant sight for us beliebers. Now he gets some credit as a guy with 'a future' rather than a forgotten man (just a few weeks ago). He's been a work in progress. That was terribly obvious from the moment he was drafted and was about 6'5 and 180lbs. You don't just grow into that frame over night by natural (or detrimental) means but his talent has always been obvious... if you were watching, that is. I've been watching the guy since his days at DU and from then on I've been giddy about the idea of a 6'5 D with his puck skills and skating ability. Scouting is a projection, not an analysis of who's better in the moment. Wiercioch's strengths are generally those that can't be taught. His weaknesses have mostly been related to strength. It's been easy to project that he'd be where he is right now, at least in my opinion and experience. None of this should be a surprise. He was always NHL bound.
And right now I see the same thing happening on this board that happend to Wiercioch with Mika Zibanejad: knee jerk reactions to numbers and an inability evaluate performances and put them into perspective. The same people bashed PW in the past and MZ now only to gush over them once they like what they see on a stat sheet. Its also why you see absurd hype over players like Rundblad and Silverberg. So, keep Mika in mind when you take a look at Wiercioch's body of work. A mediocre rookie season (while a player is still a teenager) doesn't mean a player is a 'bust'. Look at the progression and what the player is capable of and project where they'll be by the time their NHL club calls on them.
This common sense stuff tends to prevail over the long haul.