NotProkofievian
Registered User
- Nov 29, 2011
- 24,476
- 24,599
I keep thinking about how if people are still skeptical on the whole "C or W" thing with Kotka as if the fact he plays a bit on the wing is a red flag that he cant play center...
Evgeny Malkin plays wing ALL THE TIME, doesnt mean he is not still a great center when used there, its just about using good players in key spots in the line up sometimes and if it means temporarily playing wing for a shift or a game, it does not mean the guy is not a center
now after having said all that, i fully and completely understand we just BOTCHED a 6 YEAR experiment in Galchenyuk.. so the confidence isnt exactly high in player development right now... nor should it.
Kotkaniemi is just a lightning rod for skepticism currently. Everyone else is getting off scott-free. Bouchard, for example, exhibits a worrying misunderstanding of his position for a 3rd year OHL veteran of 153 games before the season even began, but the only criticism you'll ever hear about him is ''skating.'' It's neither accurate (his skating is just fine), nor does it address the real issue that he has as a prospect: which is soft as a marshallow, bewildering defensive play.
This is sort of the thing that I don't like about Canadian prospects, specifically late birthdays. You just don't get to see them against a wide range of competition. Canada doesn't play in the friendly tournaments, and even if you're eligible for the U18s you may be unable to play due to the CHL playoffs, we don't have a separate pro-league, and we don't play against college teams. If you're a late birthday, league play is the whole story, and any issues that, say, a stint in a pro-league might expose, go unnoticed until it's too late.
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