"The Winchester Rifle" Conor Sheary

[DegenX]

Dan Rosen article about Sheary, Kuhn, Murray and Rust. Quotes from Fitzgerald mostly, but also Hynes.

"When Conor was a senior, my son was a freshman at BC so it was easy for me to get info him," Fitzgerald said. "I was like, 'Geez, this kid has some Johnny [Gaudreau] in him.' It was always like, 'If we put him in this lineup, I wonder what he'll do.' "

 

[Shady Machine]

Dan Rosen article about Sheary, Kuhn, Murray and Rust. Quotes from Fitzgerald mostly, but also Hynes.

That was a really good read. Cool to hear from Fitzy and Hynes on those guys.

 

[XanderCrews34]

Part of me is just thrilled with how these young guys have developed and contributed. The other part of me looks back a little more fondly on Ray Shero for finding most of these guys which helped get the team where I'm sure he tried to envision.

Yet another part of me wonders if we would have ever gotten to this point if Shero were still around throwing long term contracts to aging players. How many Shearys, Rusts, and Kuhnhackls have been wasted due to the bizarre organizational fixation on experience? I suppose we'll never know and I should just be happy we eventually got where we are.

 

[Giskard]

How we went from years of Veilleux, CPZ, Hanowski, Caputi, Moon, Petersen, etc. to Rust, Kühnhackl, Sheary, Wilson, is still baffling me.

 

[DegenX]

Part of me is just thrilled with how these young guys have developed and contributed. The other part of me looks back a little more fondly on Ray Shero for finding most of these guys which helped get the team where I'm sure he tried to envision.

Yet another part of me wonders if we would have ever gotten to this point if Shero were still around throwing long term contracts to aging players. How many Shearys, Rusts, and Kuhnhackls have been wasted due to the bizarre organizational fixation on experience? I suppose we'll never know and I should just be happy we eventually got where we are.

Ironically enough ...

"I don't think (having the green light) has ever been an issue," Shero said. "My thing is, I said to Josh and David and continue to say it, it's spending at the right time. That's more important to me than just having a green light to spend.

"It has to be done the right time and in the right way so, two years from now, we're not having a conversation where we're asking, 'What are you going to do with those two guys who are 34 years old now that you signed as free agents two years ago?'" Shero said.

Full article is here

 

[Shady Machine]

Part of me is just thrilled with how these young guys have developed and contributed. The other part of me looks back a little more fondly on Ray Shero for finding most of these guys which helped get the team where I'm sure he tried to envision.

Yet another part of me wonders if we would have ever gotten to this point if Shero were still around throwing long term contracts to aging players. How many Shearys, Rusts, and Kuhnhackls have been wasted due to the bizarre organizational fixation on experience? I suppose we'll never know and I should just be happy we eventually got where we are.

Not many Shearys, Rusts, and Kuhns were wasted. Shero traded away most of our picks that could turn into them.

I don't get these sudden fond memories of Shero. If anything, these guys' success pisses me off about Shero even more. We lost several seasons because we didn't have any forward youth worth a damn in the system.

 

[ColePens]

Dan Rosen article about Sheary, Kuhn, Murray and Rust. Quotes from Fitzgerald mostly, but also Hynes.

Awesome read

 

[XanderCrews34]

Not many Shearys, Rusts, and Kuhns were wasted. Shero traded away most of our picks that could turn into them.

I don't get these sudden fond memories of Shero. If anything, these guys' success pisses me off about Shero even more. We lost several seasons because we didn't have any forward youth worth a damn in the system.

Well as I said, it's a mixed feeling for me. It seems he did well enough getting these guys into the organization but was too stubborn to use them.

I definitely thought it was time for him to move on as the whole club clearly stagnated. However, for years and years the refrain was that there was no forward depth - even going into this season. Apparently that wasn't entirely true.

Makes me wonder if there were other guys that could have been successful in a Sullivan-system that we all had assumed were non-prospects. That's all.

 

[dueling mullets]

Great bump! Makes me want to find that Kunitz thread...

 

[Shady Machine]

Well as I said, it's a mixed feeling for me. It seems he did well enough getting these guys into the organization but was too stubborn to use them.

I definitely thought it was time for him to move on as the whole club clearly stagnated. However, for years and years the refrain was that there was no forward depth - even going into this season. Apparently that wasn't entirely true.

Makes me wonder if there were other guys that could have been successful in a Sullivan-system that we all had assumed were non-prospects. That's all.

I think you are missing my point. For many years, there wasn't any forward depth. These guys weren't ready until this year. When you draft players in the 3rd-6th rounds (especially college bound guys), they are long shots and take years to develop. The bigger issue was that we didn't have many mid round picks to draft these guys with between '07 and '10.

Credit to these guys and the development staff (Hynes in particular) for finding a niche in the NHL for these players.

 

[XanderCrews34]

I think you are missing my point. For many years, there wasn't any forward depth. These guys weren't ready until this year. When you draft players in the 3rd-6th rounds (especially college bound guys), they are long shots and take years to develop. The bigger issue was that we didn't have many mid round picks to draft these guys with between '07 and '10.

Credit to these guys and the development staff (Hynes in particular) for finding a niche in the NHL for these players.

You're probably right. But not many people thought much of this current crop of guys even as recently as December. I think it's plausible that if a guy like Sullivan had been the coach all along, a couple of guys in years past might have actually done something positive for the org.

Maybe I'm trying too hard at revisionist history but seeing how much the WBS players have exceeded expectations (who saw Sheary with Crosby or Rust/Kuhn making up a dynamic bottom-6 line?) I think it's at least fair to wonder.

 

[Shady Machine]

You're probably right. But not many people thought much of this current crop of guys even as recently as December. I think it's plausible that if a guy like Sullivan had been the coach all along, a couple of guys in years past might have actually done something positive for the org.

Maybe I'm trying too hard at revisionist history but seeing how much the WBS players have exceeded expectations (who saw Sheary with Crosby or Rust/Kuhn making up a dynamic bottom-6 line?) I think it's at least fair to wonder.

I suppose it's possible. We just didn't draft many of those guys between '07 and '10. Rust and Kuhn took 5.5 years to become full time NHLers. I suppose Rust could have been an NHLer last year, but not Kuhn. Our top forward prospects in the AHL were Paul Thompson and Brian Gibbons not too long ago. That's uh, not good.

 

[billybudd]

I think he probably is, but either way, assuming this level of play either continues, I don't know how important it is to get him a bigger name LW. You could get a Boedker for example, but that's going to cost quite a bit.


Two 2nd's for Douglas Murray is the trade that killed Shero for me. I realize that means I'm slow on the uptake, but it was just so baffling to me that he thought spending quality futures on a marginal defenseman was a good idea. The guy had no idea what he was looking for in players, and just wanted TDL cliches "vets and size".

Makes more sense if you think of it a part 1 of a two part trade, that in its totality is

2nd
2nd
Kennedy

for

2nd
Murray


On the topic of Sheary, he's been great for us going on about six weeks now, but the invocations of St Louis or Theo Fleury don't strike me as any less off target now than they did a year ago. He's playing at a level closer to what you see out of Atkinson than to two guys who were both better than a Getzlaf or a Giroux.

 

[XanderCrews34]

I suppose it's possible. We just didn't draft many of those guys between '07 and '10. Rust and Kuhn took 5.5 years to become full time NHLers. I suppose Rust could have been an NHLer last year, but not Kuhn. Our top forward prospects in the AHL were Paul Thompson and Brian Gibbons not too long ago. That's uh, not good.

Ah, Bilbo Gibbons.

Fun times.

 

[madinsomniac]

I think the point one should take rom this is that guys dont need a first or second round draft pedigree or a specific body type to excell in the nhl... Iur top line had 2 ufas on it for the better part of the bylsma era.. Guys like datsyuk or zetterberg have to get a chance to play before you rule them out... Too often with us a late rounder or ufa gets at best a cup of tea on the 4 th line then banished for some waiver wire nobody...

 

[888 98 twins]

How we went from years of Veilleux, CPZ, Hanowski, Caputi, Moon, Petersen, etc. to Rust, Kühnhackl, Sheary, Wilson, is still baffling me.

Oh man, great references. I thought CPZ and Veilleux would be playing with Sid and Geno right now.

 

[harmonica]

Sheary deserves a yearly bump on this thread. Looking forward to see where he will be in a couple years.

 

[Gurglesons]

Is this the one player nearly all of will eat crow on?

I thought he worked last year in the playoffs because of Crosby, but clearly he is part of the reason Crosby went on a tear. Really happy that after many years we've finally seemed to find a young player that compliments Sid's game in terms of intelligence rather than physicality.

 

[spcastlemagic]

Yeah, its funny to look at some of those early posts. Now the question is will Sheary be merely a top-six winger or will he be a star in this league...

 

[Speaking Moistly]

The evolution of people's feelings about Sheary is pretty cool to see.

 

[spcastlemagic]

I think it just goes to show how thin the margins are, the difference between making it and not. There are tons of ways that Sheary's career could've broke that don't end up with him near the lead in EV points per 60... but he's maxing out what makes him unique (ludicrously soft hands in close, elite vision and passing, edge work, an inability to get hit and stay down) making the most of his opportunity, and here we are, with our own Tyler Johnson out of nowhere.

 

[SEALBound]

Undersized.. game doesn't translate to NHL, etc.. Chris Conner, Chris Bourque, Brett Sterling, Gibbons, etc..

If you're getting excited about the prospect of him tearing things up in the NHL, curb your enthusiasm.

There's a lot to love about this post

Completely forgot about Brett Sterling...oh man...

Always figured he would be like the MacDonalds and Pesonen. AHL glory, NHL stumbler.

Shut the bleep up SEALBound. You know-nothing dimwit.