There's really no debate anymore, he's an NHL player. Mentally, he's always been there of course, but he's taken great physical strides to get to where he needs to be. He's still not the strongest guy and gets knocked around a bit, but that's no reason to discount him, as some on our own board have done with that reach.
One play the stood out to me was against Toronto (I think?) where he took a pass at the offensive blue line and just exploded to get into decent position for a shot with a defender on him, and launched a shot going high far side but was saved. Obviously not that noteworthy, but it just shows how different of a player he is compared to his 9-game trial last season.