vadim sharifijanov
Registered User
- Oct 10, 2007
- 28,585
- 15,948
Whole post is fantastic reasoning, but this is a whip smart point. Recchi and Stevens weren't stars going into the 90-91 season. Just young players coming off pretty good seasons.
I'm sure it was easy to fall into the trap of thinking Cullen was a guy who could get the most of his wings, when in reality, he just happened to be a pretty good player fortunate enough to be on a line with a future first team all-star and an eventual Hall of Famer having simultaneous breakout seasons. Stevens and Recchi were both late rounders--nobody thought they'd become what they did, even in Pittsburgh.
Two years later, both wings would have 50 goal, 120 point seasons playing for two different hockey clubs.
Cullen still posted 70 something that year, which underscores that he was definitely not some scub, but he wasn't Recchi or Stevens, either.
Kind of reminds me of how Benn was thought to be something of a product of Eriksson early in his career.
was just thinking about this: i think history will show that tyler johnson is kind of a cullen, while palat and kuch are the real deal.