Don’t think you realize how good Reilly was in College. And he’s only 2 years older than Wolanin!
Well, impossible to always say everything in just one post... but this was already addressed as I said on this page regarding Reilly "
It's also true that he once was a good prospect"
I also said in the same post "
Difference is he has played 224 NHL games now, while Wolanin has played 52 games. At this point, we know what Reilly is, for Wolanin it's not determined yet"
It's not about the age but more experience in Wolanin's case. As I also explained in this thread, Wolanin's experience related to his age is contextual (drafted as a late bloomer overager, then 3 years in College, then AHL/NHL, then injury, then Covid)
The guy got bad lucked with the timing of his injury. After his solid 30 NHL games stint in 2018-19, he was looking to fully establish himself in 2019-20 but injury + covid ruined those plans.
Man, the hoops people jump thru in here
Preseason very few people had Zub in their proposed lineups. lots of guys pegging Wolanin as a top 4 and i think some guys had him as our second best day. Many had Brannstrom out of the starting 6. More had Brannstrom in trade proposals than playing.
I don't know for everybody but this was from a post I made on November 10th
Chabot-Zub
Brannstrom-Zaitsev
Wolanin-Gudbranson
Reilly-J. Brown
Lajoie-Jaros (Belleville 1st pairing?)
That's what I wanted and it's progressively becoming the case. I watched Reilly A LOT in Montreal and really didn't expect him to play almost all games. A problem with that defense is on the RD, nobody outside of Zub can really help the LD puck movers to get out of trouble or cover their asses
So we're Nick Paul, Mike Hoffman, JG Pageau, Mark Stone, Ryan Dzingel. Works both ways, that's why people want to see these players have a chance. I have seen you personally write off Nick Paul many times. Don't hurt yourself falling off that horse.
Yup it totally works both ways. Of course, not every prospect is going to work out, this is captain obvious material. But personally, if I am running a team and I have
invested a pick, time and ressources in a prospect, I'd rather be the one figuring it out rather than some other team. Exactly like it would be the case if the Sens were going to trade Logan Brown right now. His future is totally uncertain at the moment.
Also, if we shouldn't care about guys like Balcers, Chlapik, Lajoie, Jaros, Wolanin. I'd much rather have them as 13/14th forwards, 7th/8th D-men, on my taxi squad or in Belleville. Rather than have Michael Haley, Josh Brown, Braydon Coburn, Cedric Paquette (who didn't want to be here) or even Artem Anisimov on his last legs. But to each their own.