I'm always puzzled by this line of thinking. How do we know that he's not a viable North American player at this point? What is the harm in bringing the guy over?
Exactly. This is like people complaining about signing Ruhwedel or Flynn back in the day -- what's wrong with adding depth? Not everyone is a star. But for a team with a wicked dearth of players with the balls to go to the net, this kid has shown that in development leagues in Finland. There is no lose to finding and signing these sort of players.
Yep. They may as well have not signed Fitzgerald because he and BC had a complete turd of a season. But instead, they signed someone who played well in pro games down the stretch. Or Gosselin -- he's not even on an NHL deal and yet he's helping the farm club down the stretch in a highly positive manner. No one said those guys would be stars, just nice to see serviceable players getting minutes and showing the scouts might actually have a clue.
That's the objective - make the show. Plenty of players have signed deals and never make it. It's up to the player to produce, yet most of these guys revel at the opportunity to test themselves, to stretch to be better rather than just banking on a sure thing. As for not liking a UDFA depth signing, that's just odd.
