Upshall is not a stop-gap, because he does not fit the gap we have in any way. We lost scoring and an offensive driver. We already had a lack of those things. Of our top 6, Tarasenko is really the only one who drives the play. Schwartz can do a lot, but he is very often too passive and doesn't really create opportunities by himself on a consistent basis. Stastny is a great playmaker, but needs space. Steen is a solid- 2-way player but not a wizard carrying the puck. Schenn is definitely a complimentary piece, and does better with someone who can drive the play so he can clean up rebounds and the like. None of them turn a regularly play into a dangerous chance by themselves often. Fabbri could use his skating to make defenders miss, creating odd-man chances and offensive opportunities. Nobody else has that besides Tarasenko (who uses his strong skating to cut into high danger areas and his dangerous shot to turn a tiny window into a scoring chance). Upshall does not provide what we lost in Fabbri.
Still, if he is just an extra body because the youngsters weren't ready, that's fine. My concern is that to Armstrong, he is the solution. DA had a good off-season. He recognized some mistakes in the past, and worked to rectify them. He turned a 4th liner into a promising young potential top-6 talent. That is so not the old Army. So I was heartened. But signing Thorburn shows he's not totally ready to leave his rugged veteran days behind. And so does signing Upshall. When he needed to fill a gap, he immediately turned to a familiar bottom 6 player on the downside of his career, whose game will not age well. There was an opportunity to grab a less proven guy who could potential fill some of what we lost off Waivers, in Agostino. Agostino created plays when he was with us for those couple games. He had an amazing season in the AHL. He could be a stop gap as a 2nd/3rd line tweener. He's not a guarantee though. Instead of grabbing a riskier player who could potentially help fill the gap we need, Armstrong went with a choice where he knows what we will get, its just not what we need.
So the move itself is inconsequential (almost literally, it won't be good or bad, it just is). However, I am worried that Armstrong will pass up better opportunities while waiting to see how things unfold. Now is a time where a few cheap moves could be made as there are a few RFAs still holding out (either get the RFA or help the team clear cap) and players are being waived. In a time when teams expect those guys to clear straight through, we could have our pick of them. And if we did make a trade, who cares how they would fit long term. We could always trade a player down the road to get a pick/prospect back. But we have to start planning as if Fabbri might not be back. I am hoping he will, be there is always a chance he won't. There is also a chance that Stastny might not re-sign. So there is a chance we will definitely need someone for our top 6 next year with no guarantees the kids will be ready.
