Hodgson does have NHL talent. He has been abused for a while. This situation is no different than Dubnyk who was not given a decent shot here. Hodgson was not given talented players on his lines for long enough to make a difference. Moved to wing where I knew the guy was going to fail
It is suprising to me that no one took a chance and picked him up. Hes not going to be a 50 to 65 point guy but he could manage 40 in the right situation. Jarnkrok, Wilson, Smith, Fish are all going to be luck to have 30 to 35 this year and those were the guys Hodgson played with for the most part with a lil ELC guys sprinkled in. Theres just no way to expect more from Cody we knew goin in he needed productive linemates.
I know nuttin' about Dubnyk, but have noted that PL clearly has certain slots for certain players he knows well. With the exception of the new 1C, I can't think of anyone under PL who was brought in or up for a certain role, slotted into it and allowed half a real chance to show what he could do before PL decreased, decreased, decreased and eventually drummed out the ice time. Comparably, guys who PL is familiar with (ala Jarnkrok, Wilson, Smith, Nystrom, and Gaustad in particular) can seemingly do nothing to warrant a decreased role and in fact persistently get shots up when the top 6 goes cold.
Under PL I just don't expect any of the newbs to get a real shot to see what they can do, whether it's a newb ala new signing Hodgson or a newb as in prospects Fiala, Kem, etc. Instead, we'll see Jarnkrok playing above his grade, Nystrom magically turned into a 3rd liner, Gaustad seeing OT (and please, let's not really pretend his faceoff efforts are the deciding game factors, lol), and Smith & Wilson pushed to be more than they are.
And speaking of Wilson, btw, his situation is basically the prime example of my take on PL - Wilson has been gift-wrapped top 6 ice-time and been a lock for the 2nd PP unit but has what, 2 ES goals in nearly 40 regular season games (going back to March 2015) that WAS NOT an empty-netter and only 1 PP goal this season? Comparably, Hodgson averaged 8-10mins a game with barely a sniff of special teams, yet had 3 ES goals and was waived. Hodgson produce more with far less (and far more per minute of course) but gets waived while a kid who the coach is familiar with doesn't skip a beat no matter how long the drought.... Yeah, not seeing any of the prospects getting much of a real chance under PL to show what they've got.
Don't get me wrong either, I don't necessarily fault PL for sticking to what he knows and who he knows. It's just that when the team flounders for long enough doing same old, PL is apparently not the type to use the chance for a real change up. Things are fine right now, everyone's happy with a 4 game win streak, yadda, yadda. But I suspect that'll flip the other way soon enough and rather than shove Fiala (presuming he's recalled) up the line or ever trying to see if former 1st rounder Watson has at least as much in him as Jarnkrok or Smith, PL will just stick to same old. I don't think it's that PL doesn't have the players he needs to run an offensive styled game. I think he's afraid to change things up, take a risk, and so persistently reverts to his familiars.
Going back to Hodgson specifically, I do recall you prediction he'd fail at wing, lol. But I'm still not sold that it's the position (center vs wing), so much as the role and caliber of ice time.
As for needing productive line mates, yup. But then name me a guy who doesn't need productive line mates to be successful and bets we're talking about the true game changers. Most guys are in Hodgson's spot - need quality around him to be at his best. In Hodgson's case though, I think he's kinda worse off than most. I mean, I think he needs to be in an offensive role to be relevant because he's just not go enough of a heavy or speed game to stand out above the Nystroms, Jarnkroks, Smiths, etc. in the bottom 6.