ah. so i don’t agree that we have no players knocking at the door; this is hard to do with covid-19, but i would say smith, bahl, foote, boqvist, holtz and bastian would be ready to make the jump in less than 12 months, and some are probably ready now. that’s excluding nico, hughes, and bratt.
Smith and Boqvist perhaps...But both of them in their previous showing have been extremely questionable.
Boqvist didn't belong in the NHL and it was a horror show...I understand the reasons, like being new to Noth America, young and learning but the results weren't encouraging - excluding the little stretch of success in the AHL before the shutdown there wasn't much evidence of a future contributor...More time is need there. That is understandable.
Similarly, Smith is a strong prospect with lots of very good accomplishments but his showing in last years camp was truly atrocious...So it is hard to say with any certainty that he is even ready to be an NHLer at this point...He came into camp last year dominating the WHL and he is going to do the same this year...It was a sideways year for him. Can't be overly excited based on last year and my perception of his average to below average skating but we'll see what happens.
I honestly don't know enough about Foote to comment...But when I see skating issues in the scouting report I worry.
Bastian I rooted for and still hope he can one day be a contributor...But he just doesn't have the consistency in his game at this point...Maybe it will come? But he is going to be 23 this December and his game is still very hot and cold....When you go invisible for large stretches in the AHL, which I have seen with own eyes that is not good. Time is slipping quickly here and he needs to bring his game up a level in the AHL and at a consistent level. At 23 and 3 full seasons of AHL hockey under his belt, you start to wonder. In Bastian defense I will say he has had 3 straight years of Point production improvement...So that is good. But 80 points in 188 AHL games is pedestrian to say the least.
I don't think Bahl is anywhere close to "knocking at the door" to be honest...We'll see.