Dude, what?
He's a dime a dozen player because he logs 3rd and 4th line minutes and when put on the 2nd line, he brought the line down....
I really hope you don't mean that. Have you seen how AV works? He doesn't often give chances for younger guys to step up into the top 6. A few stints doesn't make or break it. Most of whom have watched Rangers games this year, can easily tell you that Fast does have offensive upside. He always had. Granted he did have a few empty netters, but some of the goals he had this year were deflections and top-circle wristers. Even has slick hands, where we can all recollect the nice goals on Bishop and Khudobin. He wasn't given a chance this year because NYR's bottom 6 was brutal, especially the 4th line. AV pretty much sent Fast down there to clean up the mess and eventually got left there with no help. This year Fast carried the bottom 6 on his back. He most definitely deserves his shot at true offense.
He started scoring more and created better chances when in the top 6, especially when the lines were switched up. I remember seeing a line of Kreider-Brassard-Fast that was all over the offensive zone, granted I think it was against Buffalo. Nonetheless, they thrived off of offensive possession and Fast ended up scoring a beauty slap shot for a goal. In the playoffs last season (14/15 season), he was on a line with Stepan and Miller that also flourished and were the main cognate to those amazing OT goals in the Caps series.
This article has the right idea...
http://www.todaysslapshot.com/nhl-east/metropolitan/rangers-jesper-fast-emerging-unexpected-hero//
Before I end this tirade, there is a specific quote from this article that I absolutely couldn't agree more with....
"
A player like Fast may never win a major individual trophy because he doesn’t have the pedigree to be a league leader, but he has the chance to be a key cog on a Stanley Cup championship team. He’s very similar in style to Ruslan Fedotenko sans offensive upside, and it is funny that the two-time Stanley Cup champion played for both Eastern Conference finalists.
Right now Fast has more than exceeded expectations, because it is unlikely that anyone in the Rangers’ organization thought the former sixth rounder would be playing a vital role on a team poised to return to New York’s “Canyon of Heroes”"
Sound familiar?
* Cough * Cough * Hagelin
Tired of the overlooking of certain players. Hagelin was considered a dime a dozen player last offseason and look how big of a component he was to the Bonino and Kessel line. The Rangers better not do the same thing to Fast.
Marcus Kruger. Another name that could be considered a dime a dozen player, would be a huge loss for Chicago's north/south, bottom 6 threat defensively and offensively. Good thing they locked him up.
Melker Karlsson and Matt Nieto on San Jose, Ondrej Palat and Vladislav Namestnikov on Tampa Bay, Antoine Roussel and Radek Faksa on Dallas. The list goes on.
I promise you, if Fast gets a chance to regularly be in the top 6, you'll understand what I see.