BagHead
Registered User
You have brought up how the window is open for a long time. Where are the forwards in all of this? What about goaltending? Considering there is nothing in Iowa right now to make the jump? Dubnyk is what? 33 years old? We've been down this road before with goaltenders above 30 who start having issues mid contract. Backstrom, Fernandez, Harding...
You are overvaluing talent like crazy. Where do you see Granlund, Zucker, Nino and Coyle as being at worst 2nd line players? Outside of Coyle none of them have done anything this year to warrant that type of assessment.
No it is not. And if you think those questions are based on the last 5 weeks I don't know what team you've been watching the last 5 years...but it isn't the same one I've been watching. He is under the microscope because he has now fired two head coaches he hand-picked. His prospects are doing absolutely squat that he has drafted short of Haula and the argument for Brodin can be made. He's squandered the draft picks for aging veterans who do nothing on the team. And frankly, it is time he got that microscope treatment. And because this post isn't long enough
100% want to see them in the playoffs this year.
I agree with you on most points, especially the bolded one, but there are a few things I just can't get behind. Because your post was as long as it was, I decided to just keep the parts I mean to address.
Dubnyk is not 33 years old, he is 29. That may only be 4 years of difference, but his remaining contract is 5 years, so there's a big difference between it ending when he's 35 and it ending when he's 39.
I'm also not sure I disagree with his assessment of our talent.
Granlund is a center who puts up about 40 points per year, which is 2nd line center territory. The problem with him is that we are trying to force him to be a 1st line center, and he just isn't one.
Zucker is a 20-30 goal scorer (or at least was last year, and looks like he should be pretty regularly), which is a great fit for most 2nd lines.
Nino certainly, like Zucker, looks like he's regressed lately. But the whole team has. He has shown that he has 25 goals per season in him, and I don't think he's quite hit his ceiling yet. So, big body, can score 20+ per season, fast and hits. Yeah, that's a 2nd liner.
And Coyle... well, he looks like he's finally turning into a man out there, instead of the boy who defers, and is definitely a 2nd line talent.
I agree that Fletcher should be under the microscope, because it's his (often heartless) team that he's built, and some of his prospects haven't lived up to expectations, though thinking Granlund was a surefire 1st line center drafted at 9th overall was a bit optimistic in hindsight. Still, I'm not sure I agree with the two prospects you listed as living up to expectations.
First of all, Haula was from his first draft that was widely known to have been a Tommy Thompson draft, not a Chuck Fletcher draft. So while Haula has exceeded expectations for a 7th rounder, he isn't Fletcher's success to claim.
Brodin has not lived up to expectations. Everyone knew he'd be a very good defenseman defensively, but he was expected to have at least some offense in his game. If he didn't have offensive upside, he wouldn't have gone in the top 10.
Beyond that, I would say that Dumba is coming along nicely. Brent Burns looked like a boy lost defensively in his first couple of NHL seasons, too, but is at least now responsible enough that he gets 1st pairing ice time. Dumba has that same type of potential, and is getting better.
As for the rest of them, we've already talked about the young guys currently on the team, and most of the rest are late round talents (like Graovac and perhaps Kaprizov) and recent picks whom we don't know where they'll end up when they're done developing.
Like I said, I agree with most of your points, but these were some I wanted to get off my chest that I didn't. Thanks for your post, whether I agree with all of it or not.
