Yeah I know, and I get that it's not an apples-to-apples sort of comparison. It's just that he's reminding me of Skoula, especially this year. I still think it applies insofar that Skoula was more effective when he dialed it back, and I agree with Henchy that Bo has to do so as well. I unfortunately don't think the ceiling isn't as high as we all hoped, even with all the major injury setbacks. Whatever the case, the way he's playing now is simply not working.I'll just point out that I've seen you make this comparison to Skoula before, and even though I disagree strongly with it, I didn't respond to it, because I know it's just an opinion, so I don't take much issue with it.
Just my 2 cents, but Skoula played that way into his 30's, and probably beyond. Bo is 22 and the most games he's played in a regular season is 42 last year. He hasn't had any stability at all in his pro career, which is very important for young players.
He's still got to work things out, and has growing pains to get through, like all young defenseman, and that's hard to do when you're bouncing in and out of the lineup for long periods of times, with serious injuries that have made him question whether or not he wants to keep playing.
And while it has been mythologized to the point of absurdity, he DID play a more dialed-down version of his game in the Cup run, and was indeed excellent.
Admittedly, Skoula displayed his best defense alongside a Rob Blake who was playing out of his GD mind (and I will forever remain insanely bitter about that f***ing ASG in Minnesota that year but I've beaten that horse to death several times) so maybe it was all a friggin' mirage...