BagHead
Registered User
Stewie also had a couple of 28g seasons, yet he's a 4th liner here. Ennis's best years were under Lindy Ruff and his all offense, and defense optional philosophy. He's a lesser skilled Vanek.
Ennis is useful on the PP, but he'll have a hard time beating out: Coyle, Granny, Koivu, Nino, Parise, and Staal (imo).
He's just an odd fit for the Wild:
-smaller perimeter player
-can score
-no defense
-health questions
-not a good passer
-handles the puck well, but will hold it too long
-not afraid of playing a physical game
-even, but not an improvement at anything compared to: Koivu, Staal, Granny, Zucker, Nino, Coyle, Parise (last year version), and maybe Cullen.
Oh man, that player comparison bolded above is so wrong that it is almost physically painful to me. One is a slow, net-front, fancy play, weak-in-the-corners-player, the other is a fast, physically aggressive (but fragile) player that plays all over the place. Both may be poor defensively, and in the corners, but that's all they have in common. They're not even poor at it for the same reasons. One is lazy, the other just doesn't know what he's doing and is physically weak compared to those he plays against.
I agree that he is an odd fit for the Wild, but he was the player Buffalo needed to move back in order to take on Pominville's salary. Even with that salary off the books, we're darn close to the cap, still needing to sign a 4th liner. I hate that it's true, but it had to be done. This is the consequence of having too many overpaid players. I'm not sure what else Fletcher could have done this off-season that was better than what he did do. If we're playing the hindsight game, he probably never signs Pominville for so many seasons at that price.