StayAtHomeAv
Registered User
- May 20, 2014
- 6,681
- 127
Nobody wants me to get into it but the bottom line is this especially isn't true. You don't give a damn about the AHL team winning or losing so how can you say this? People can talk to me and justify by saying how worthless Bleackley is and while it's true the org might have decided that, I believe with every fiber of my being that this is not true and was not the right decision. I know what Ive seen in his game, I know the state the AHL team is in and will be in and if they could have used a player like him. I don't like what it says about their organizational and development philosophies, how they evaluate prospects. You don't decide 18 months after a draft a first round pick is worthless, period. It's extremely short sighted, it's a mistake. It goes beyond just using an asset in a trade, many people see that side of it, which is fine they can evaluate it how they want through the lense of their priorities but as someone who cares about the system and the pipeline and results at every level it's wrong. It's funny to me that so many people think getting rid of Pracey just eradicated the drafting problem, like he's the only guy who has any input. The whole scouting staff is still there, the WHL guy who probably saw Bleackley more the last few years than his own children is still there, using the same criteria he used to evaluate him on subsequent drafts. If anyone thinks the pick itself was the problem, this should be alarming to you. What's alarming to me is an organization with a depth and talent problem just so casually throws away and writes off young assets, like they've earned any sort of right to be so arrogant about it. If it's any org that needs to cultivate anything they can get their hands on its this one.
Whatever random European or AHL vet they find, I don't think so.
I honestly believe there is more to it than just his game. I'm guessing they looked at him as the RoR replacement, both on and off the ice. But then he came in that first offseason out of shape. And then this past year he was stripped of his C.