Majorityof1
Registered User
Depends how he looks. If he doesn't look good, I wouldn't be surprised at all anymore if he was.
Schmaltz is basically Ty Rattie now, who was waived. Kris Russell was waived by the Blues. I hope Schmaltz does make the team but we continue to put him on a pedestal because he was a 1st round pick. Better players than him have been waived. He's not this prized possession that we need to get a ton of value back for, because I doubt he even has much at this point. If he doesn't do enough to make the team in camp and the Blues start offering him around the league, teams will see the writing on the wall that he's basically done here and will just wait to get him for free.
It doesn't have much to do with his draft pedigree for me. I think he has looked dominant in the AHL and not out of place in the NHL, so I want to see more of him in the NHL. Then again, I still think Rattie should have gotten a longer look on a lot of the teams he played with too. Kid has put up decent points given such sporadic playing time over his multiple short NHL stints. Schmaltz might be a nothing NHL player, Rattie probably is worthless as an NHL player. But I believe in giving people who earn it at the lower level a real shot before writing them off. It's not always possible. I get that. But I like to see them get their shot when it is possible. a game or two here for 8 minutes a game, and a game or two there for 9 minutes a game spread over multiple seasons is not a real shot.